Lecture 07/10/19: Adaptation

Lecture: Adaptation

I have added in photos to explain the lecture.

The Gernsback Continuum (William Gibson, 1981)

• Sci-Fi
• Psychological
• Set in America

Tomorrow Calling (Tim Leandro, 1993)

Above: Protagonist of the film (Portrayed by Colin Salmon)

• Adapted from the short story The Gernsback Continuum, by William Gibson.
• Adapted and directed by our lecturer, Tim Leandro.

Tomorrow Calling and The Gernsback Continuum - Similarities

• Male Protagonist
• Photographer
• Voice over with a lot of dialogue from the text.

Tomorrow Calling and The Gernsback Continuum - Differences

• Set in the UK (Not USA)
• Mobile Phones (Mobile Phones didn't exist in the 1980s)

Race:

• In the short story, we presume that the protagonist is a white male
• William Gibson (Author) was a white middle-class male
• Photographer was an elitist calling

Theme:

The Gernsback Continuum tells the story of a man projected into an alternative present as imagined in the past by sci-fi. Writers and futurologists. It's a nightmare. A sinister totalitarian and scary place to be

Sci-Fi Culture and Monoculture

• Futurologists - 1930s
• Imagining the future
• Never imagined our world
• Envisioned a utopia
• Sci-Fi isn't about the future at all - it's all about the present culture
• Star Trek - 'Wagon Train set in space'
• Western in space
• Present concerns

TOP: Star Trek (Original) Left: Captain Jim Kirk (William Shatner), Middle: Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Right: Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelly)

BOTTOM: Star Trek (Reboot) Left: Captain Jim Kirk (Chris Pine), Middle: Mr. Spock (Zachary Levi), Right: Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban)

Sci-Fi is about today

• War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells, 1897)
• Fear of Invasion
• Fear of the coming wars (WWI, WWII)
• Metaphorically talking about the present.

  

Left: Book (H.G. Wells), Right: War of the Worlds (Steven Speilberg, 2005)