Abstract
Science fiction films as a mass medium for public consumption have disseminated cautionary parables of technological dystopia rooted in existing social and economic conditions. Metropolis (1927), Blade Runner (1982), Terminator (1984), and The Matrix (1999) illustrate transformations of the genre. The theme that ties them together is the representation of technology and its effect on human society in the future. Each film deals with the subject in different ways that ultimately relate to its cinematographic style, technical advancements, and the story line. And yet, the theme of the failed quest for utopia remains morally unresolved in the depiction of the rise of a technological dystopia and its effect on human society in a world to come, playing on the incommensurability of philosophical, religious, political, economic, and literary narratives of scientific progress.
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Trifonas, P.P. (2020). Technological Dystopia in the Science Fiction Genre. In: Trifonas, P. (eds) Handbook of Theory and Research in Cultural Studies and Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01426-1_41-1
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