Inventing Armageddon: Technology As Apocalyptic Threat in Science Fiction Movies

University of Siegen Faculty I Master’s Thesis Inventing Armageddon: Technology as Apocalyptic Threat in Science Fiction Movies Dominik Schäfer Literaturwissenschaft: Literatur, Kultur, Medien (English) First Corrector: Prof. Dr. Stefan L. Brandt (University of Graz) Second Corrector: Dr. Cathy Waegner (University of Siegen) Table of Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 2 Hiroshima: The Day that Changed the World… and Science Fiction ......................................... 9 3 The Day the Earth Stood Still: The Fear of a Nuclear Apocalypse ........................................... 12 3.1 Between ‘Nuclear Trance’ and Arms Race: Technology in the 1950s ................................... 15 3.1.1 Nuclear Trance: Peaceful Nuclear Technology at the Beginning of the Cold War ........ 16 3.1.2 Awakening from the Nuclear Trance: The Nuclear Arms Race ..................................... 22 3.2 “Klaatu Barada Nikto”: Between Techno-Optimism and the Nuclear Apocalypse ............... 27 4 WarGames: Computerization as Apocalyptic Threat ............................................................. 39 4.1 1980s: ‘The Years of Living Dangerously’ – On the Brink of a ‘Hot War’ .............................. 44 4.2 A Paradigm Shift from Techno-Optimism to Computer Criticism in WarGames .................. 49 4.2.1 Act 1 – “Take the Men Out of the Loop”: The Computer Take-Over ............................ 50 4.2.2 Act 2 – Tic-Tac-Toe: About Nuclear Futility and Technological Disillusion ................... 57 4.2.3 Act 3 – The Last Stand: Machine Rationality and Human Intuition .............................. 62 5 The Matrix: A Post-Human Techno-Apocalypse .................................................................... 68 5.1 Technology in the Digital Age: The 1990s between Reality and Virtuality ........................... 71 5.2 “Welcome to the Desert of the Real”: Technology in a Post-Human World ........................ 73 6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 81 7 References .......................................................................................................................... 84 7.1 Works Cited and Consulted ................................................................................................... 84 7.2 Filmography ........................................................................................................................... 89 7.2.1 Primary Sources ............................................................................................................. 89 7.2.2 Secondary Sources ........................................................................................................ 90 8 Index .................................................................................................................................. 94 1 Introduction When we think of science fiction stories, whether in literature or film, what are the first things that come to mind? Scenarios range from extraterrestrial creatures visiting planet earth (E.T. the Extraterrestrial) to full-blown alien invasion movies (Independence Day). The plots can feature robots (Blade Runner), monsters (Godzilla) and mutants (The Fly). There is science fiction comedy (Men in Black) and science fiction horror (Alien). The story may take place in a distant future (Planet of the Apes) or in the present (Close Encounters of the Third Kind). The setting can be highly technologized (Star Wars) or it can be guided by our contemporary technological standards (Signs). When it comes to stories, characters or scenarios the possibilities are endless and manifold, yet the result will always be recognized as ‘science fiction.’ In the entire history of film, since the dawn of the earliest cinematic technologies to contemporary big-budget high-end 3-D blockbusters, whether it is Georges Méliès’ black-and-white silent film Le Voyage Dans La Lune (1902) or James Cameron’s state-of-the-art CGI-excess Avatar (2009), science fiction has always been a highly popular genre, both on film and on paper. What is it that makes science fiction such a popular and successful genre? As Ray Bradbury, one of the most celebrated science fiction authors of the twentieth century once said in an interview with The Paris Review,1 science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn't exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.2 British writer Kingsley Amis further specified Bradbury’s statement by claiming that science fiction creates a “situation that could not arise in the world we know, but which is hypothesized on the basis of some innovations in science or technology, or pseudo- science or pseudo-technology, whether human or extraterrestrial in origin.”3 The crucial aspect of science, of course, already becomes self-evident by the name of the genre itself and the various descriptions it had in its early stages. H.G. Wells, who today is considered to be one of the fathers of modern science fiction, called his stories ‘scientific romance,’ 1 This interview was first conducted in the late 1970s by William Plummer, but remained unpublished for almost thirty years. In 2010, Sam Weller stumbled upon the manuscript while doing research for a biography about Ray Bradbury and decided to publish it, supplementing it with parts of new interviews taken from his collection of Ray Bradbury interviews called Listen To The Echoes. 2 Weller n.p. 3 Sobchack 19. 3 J.-H. Rosny aîné chose the term ‘le merveilleux scientifique’ and readers of the inaugural issue of the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories (1926) decided for the name ‘Scientifiction.’4 Either way, from those three historic examples it already becomes apparent that the aspect of science was a central ingredient of these stories that would later be known as science fiction. At the core of any science fiction story lies the question of “What if…?”. What if a certain idea became realized? What if a particular event came to pass? Science fiction generates scenarios of hypothetical concepts and presents possible outcomes or consequences of such scenarios. As Sam Moskowitz, science fiction editor and writer, points out, it is “the ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ on the part of its readers by utilizing an atmosphere of scientific credibility for its imaginative speculations”5 that evokes a feeling of possibility, maybe even probability of these stories. Its progressive nature and the fascination with speculations about future events are just some conceivable reasons for the continuous interest in the science fiction genre. However, these scenarios and story concepts do not necessarily have to be of a positive nature. As I will argue in my thesis, the science fiction genre has over the course of its history developed a strong tendency towards apocalyptic scenarios which can be explained by crucial historical events. In my paper, I am going to explore this negative tendency and scrutinize the influence of the historical context on the movie’s atmospheric undertone and message, because “if science fiction is about science at all, it is not about abstract science, science in a vacuum. In the SF film, science is always related to society, and its positive and negative aspects are seen in light of their social effects.”6 As Moskowitz says, science and an atmosphere of “scientific credibility” is a defining character of science fiction, as the genre’s title already indicates. What is a crucial element of science? ‘Technology.’ As expressed in Amis Kingsley aforementioned quote, technology is a crucial stepping stone in a science fiction story to create a conflict or a problem of some kind and thereby, “technology in science fiction film narratives is often an active force within the diegesis.”7 In the following part of my introduction I will elaborate on the relevance of technology for the science fiction genre in general and its particular representation as a threatening element of apocalyptic science fiction stories. 4 Cf. Slusser 27. 5 Sobchack 19. 6 Ibid. 63. 7 Johnston 17. 4 The Title of this Study: An Explanation The title “Inventing Armageddon: Technology as Apocalyptic Threat in Science Fiction Movies” consists of four main terms and phrases that require further explanation in order to elucidate the purpose of my work. These four words determine the role that technology plays in my analysis of apocalyptic science fiction. In the following, I will dissect the title of my paper and approach each of those parts individually. First of all, there is the term ‘science fiction movies’ which specifies the scope of primary sources that will be the objects of study. Right at the outset of my thesis it needs to be clarified that I will not attempt to give an irrefutable definition of the term ‘science fiction’ because, as Bill Warren has pointed out, “that way madness lies, and the effort has ruined better minds than mine.”8 I will, however, narrow down the most commonly accepted characteristics and cornerstones of the science fiction genre as an essential point of reference for my subsequent discussion which I have already touched upon in the aforementioned quotations by Bradbury,

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