Science fiction or reality?
In the movies, the genre has foretold actual events
By RENEE LePERE
Staff Writer
"We are always looking into the future; the present does not satisfy us. Our ideal, whatever it may be, lies further on." -- Ezra Gillet
Sixty-seven years later, science fiction became reality when U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong took "one small step for man but one giant leap for mankind" on July 20, 1969 when he was the first man to leave a boot print on the moon without a moon man in sight.
"Science fiction tends to rush things things and set it close in the future with a great deal of change or set it far in the future with little change," said Josh Calder, a consultant or "futurist" for Coates & Jarratt, a Washington D.C.-based organization that studies the future. "A lot of movies have been conservative in the future of communications. Even when there are phone with visual capabilities, the callers have to sit at some sort of console. Some people now have phones that are voice activated. And no one saw the (Inter)net coming."
"Never before has the future so rapidly become the past." -- Arnold Glasow
According to Dr. Will Miller, an on-air spokesman for "Nick At Nite" who studies pop culture, the issues alive today influence our reaction to the millennium -- just as they have in the past.
In the 1950s, invasion became a common theme in both movies and television with such stories as "Invaders from Mars," "Invasion U.S.A. " and the classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," reflecting a communist threat.
"It wasn't just the Cold War," Will said. "Russia was representative of a very egnamatic mysterious culture. It was also perceived as the incredibly potent enemy, who were either equal or surpassing us in power. The fear also begins with a fear that they surpass us in intelligence, which is totally irrational."
"War of the Worlds" would also re-emerge as a 1953 film during the Cold War. The original radio version was broadcast in 1938, when the rising nemesis was not Russia but Germany.
"It had a lot to do with the nervousness with Hitler," said Mickie Edwardson, retired University of Florida telecommunications professor and former Gainesville Sun movie critic.
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" ran counter to the Red Scare hysteria. In the 1951 film, an alien lands in post-World War II America and tells Earthlings they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
It flopped.
"People were not willing to accept aliens as friendly visitors," Edwardson said. "Friendly visitors would come later in 'E.T.' (1982) and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977)."
By the 1960s, man had stopped waiting for aliens to find us; we started to go out and find them.
As psychedelics and the civil rights movement came in, so did expansion themes with such endeavors as "Star Trek," "Planet of the Apes" and "2001: A Space Odyssey." Surprisingly, the newly launched space program didn't have much effect on sci-fi.
"The space program did not captivate the country," Will said. "There was a new generation that was free wheeling and wanted to break free from tradition. There were a lot of ideas of expanding realities."
"Star Trek" is considered to be ground breaking by many sci-fi experts. Set in the 23rd century, the crew of the "Enterprise" was a harmonious mix of sex, race and species. The series served as not only as a hopeful glimpse for the future but also as a hall of mirrors for a country divided by segregation and the Vietnam War.
"If you were uncomfortable talking about race relations, you could talk openly and bluntly in a sci-fi setting," Will said. "It was a pivotal show. It touched a cord so deeply with so many people."
In 1969, "Marooned," another anti-Cold War movie, would appear. During the course of the film, the United States and the U.S.S.R would work together to save three astronauts played by Gene Hackman, Gregory Peck and Richard Crenna, who are stranded in space.
"We were in the middle of the Cold War, and the movie showed cooperation between U.S. and Russia, which was very much out of time," Edwardson said.
By the 1970s, the country was tired of Vietnam and disgusted by Watergate. Sci-fi moved from tackling social problems to avoiding them.
"'Star Wars' was escapism," Calder said. "It didn't need to be in a time or place. The future could be good."
The 1980s saw a post-nuclear holocaust society through the "Mad Max" series, as Mel Gibson played a former Australian cop struggling through a dystopia. The theme would be picked up again until "The Postman" in 1997. In both, the past is somewhat romanticized.
"In 'The Postman' and 'Mad Max,' society is scrambling for what went before," Calder said.
Even with the Soviet threat gone, by the 1990s, sci-fi became almost singularly negative, according to Calder. Fear of being dominated by social control, environment or big corporations had set in.
Miller said a strong economy may have developed a trigger reaction of doom and dread connected to the millennium, which may have also fueled Y2K fears. He also said there is common perception among Americans that the popular culture is morally debased and corrupt, which would in turn raise the spectre of some inevitable divine retribution to punishment with an apocalyptic event.
While 1997's "Deep Impact" and "Armaggedon" depicted the Earth being destroyed by asteroids, "Independence Day" went back to aliens, and "Waterworld" chose global warming.
"From the 1939 World Fair to Disney World, we've kind of exhausted our belief in a perfect world," Calder said. "The flying cars and the jet packs never arrived."
Though not sure of what trends in science fiction may come next, Calder did venture an opinion.
"We might take a break from predictive science fiction."
"Replicants are like any other machine -- they're either a benefit or a hazard. If they are a benefit, it's not my problem."
-- Harrison Ford, "Blade Runner."
And there are technological predictions yet to be fulfilled -- some sooner than others.
"Interstellar travel doesn't seem likely anytime soon; it won't be here for at least another century," Calder said. "Transporters (as seen in Star Trek) are a matter of energy conversions, and the energy obstacles to that are impossible. With the best current technology we have now, we would need trillions of miles of floppy disc to be able to transport."
Calder said "2001: A Space Odyssey" had a realist approach to space travel. The ships were large and ungainly, spending months on voyages. The sentient computer HAL, which killed several members of the crew, is not due anytime soon, even in benevolent form.
"I've heard scientists say artificial, sentient intelligence is four to 400 years away," Calder said with a laugh. "However, the robot dog seen in 'Sleepers' is very similar to what the Japanese are making right now. And we are eating genetically modified food every day."
Genetic engineering and biotechnology are practices that are now in their infancy, but are growing. Cloning was considered "way out," according to Calder, only up until a few years ago.
In 1997, scientists cloned a sheep. The 1982 movie "Blade Runner" shows androids, known as replicants, serving as slaves. But human cloning will not come as quickly. Calder points out with only 20 years to go, we are nowhere near that point of replication, but the movie serves as an accurate direction in which biotechnology is going.
"It won't be like 'Multiplicity' where there are clones with the same memory and personality until we can record a brain and download it," Calder said. "The best we can do is get a clean start with the same genetic material."
The movie "Gattaca" is also an excellent example of some of the dilemmas we will face as genetic engineering becomes more advance. The movie is a story of legalized discrimination based not on race or sex, but on genetic information. Classes become stratified not by socioeconomic classes but by superior genetic information. "Faith births" -- those who have not been genetically engineered for the best possible pool -- are the bottom of the food chain.
The beginning of that technology -- genetic readouts -- is only about 10 years away, Calder said.
"We will really feel strong impulse to modify genes of children," Calder said. "It could be good to get of rid Tay-Sachs or other genetic diseases, but to what extreme do we take it? Do we correct that eyesight? Shortness? Left-handedness? There will be some cultures that outlaw it and there will be some that embrace it. We're going to have to start asking ourselves a lot of hard questions."
Brain technology will also continue to advance. Calder said though downloading modules of information to and from the brain like in 1999's "Matrix" is not going to be practical soon. Brain-to-neuron interface and supplemental intelligence, as in "Demolition Man," "Sleepers," "Robocop" and "Cyborg," are possible, but the machine will enhance the human not override it. He sites the current research on artificial retinas as an example of the technology.
Science also will play a role in law enforcement. In "Demolition Man" monitors ticket residents of San Angeles for cursing. Though Calder doesn't see America embracing such stringent control, some inner-cities have incorporated similar monitors for gun shots.
Though "The Phantom Menace" is supposed to take place in the past, he said the movie actually predicts the future. Holographs will be coming not before too long, Calder said. And it also depicts plausible future military technology.
"Except for the 'Phantom Menace,' the future of military technology hasn't been dealt with in any credible way," Calder said. "The movie 'Starship Troopers' was actually retro."
Anyone with dreams of a self-cleaning house like in "The Jetsons" may as well forget it -- in the first part of the millennium, anyway. Calder said the closest to that he sees is dust sensors and small cleaning units, such as self-propelled vacuums.
"Cheer up! The worst is yet to come." -- Philander Johnson
Although science fiction frequently predict doom and gloom, it is a genre that remains popular.
Edwardson seems to know why.
"Terror and horrors are great things -- they're exciting to watch and they make for great special effects," she said.
Dr. Glenn Sparks, professor of communications at Purdue University, said there is also a psychological factor to watching approaching catastrophe on screen.
"Sci-fi is a way of confronting fear," Sparks said. "Millennium films introduce themselves to resolve those fears or not. They are a way we can vicariously experience those fears and walk out of theaters and say we survived it."