World-Horizon Expanded: Astronautics, Earth-Ground, and the Space Exploration Science Fiction Film
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World-Horizon Expanded: Astronautics, Earth-ground, and The Space Exploration Science Fiction Film Chaorong Hua A Thesis in The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada August 2018 © Chaorong Hua, 2018 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY School of Graduate Studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Chaorong Hua Entitled: World-Horizon Expanded: Astronautics, Earth-ground, and The Space Exploration Science Fiction Film and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Film Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Dr. Marc Steinberg Examiner Dr. Colin Burnett Examiner Dr. Masha Salazkina Supervisor Dr. Martin Lefebvre Approved by Chair of Department or Director of Graduate Program Dean of Faculty Date: ABSTRACT World-Horizon Expanded: Astronautics, Earth-ground, and The Space Exploration Science Fiction Film Chaorong Hua This thesis explores the issue of world-horizon, as well as its essential role in the interaction and interfusion of film experience and everyday perception. By examining the images of Earth and Space in the science fiction films belonging to the subgenre of Space exploration and those in non-fictional footage produced in the context of live television broadcast and scientific astronautics, I attempt to show how the perceptual and the imaginary worlds infiltrate and influence each other. I argue that Fritz Lang’s 1929 Frau im Mond (Women in Moon) played a crucial role in the history of this subgenre and in the broader horizon of real astronautics, for it blazed the trail of the embodied tradition that served as an alternative to the speculative methods used in many other science fiction films, expanded the horizon of the general public by treating science and astronautics seriously, and even contributed directly to modern rocketry and Space programs through its sponsorship of research in real rocket and its use of visual codes and syntagmas that later became the standard visual syntax and semantics for live television broadcasts. In turn, live television broadcast later established the standard for the audiovisual experience of real astronautics, whose visual codes and syntagmas then went back into more contemporary Space exploration films, such as Gravity and Interstellar. The latter films made full use of those established audiovisual codes and created a kinaesthetically affective and emotionally immersive world-horizon by pushing further the embodied tradition that had started with Lang’s film. Although I find in this particular subgenre the inherent logic of the world-picture that tends to turn Earth and Space into mere objects, an alternative way can be found through close analyses of these two contemporary Space exploration SF films. These films also reveal a possibility for us to reconnect with the earth as ground instead of Earth as the object. To all the brave hearts and all those who lost their life exploring outer space: animals and humans ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Since the autumn of 2016 when I began my study at Concordia, I have spent two most exciting years with the best cohort of film buffs, a company I had never before dreamt of. My project was begot in such an environment of cinephilia so that every day I spent writing turned out enjoyable. I hereby express my gratitude to the film studies program, teachers, and fellow students at Concordia. Thanks for your guidance and company. The thesis would not have been possible without Martin Lefebvre’s supervision and his guidance since my entrance into the program. All the lectures, in-class discussions, and conversations I had with him have contributed to this final product. My reflections and deepened understanding of film, semiotics, and phenomenology would be impossible without his help. Words are not enough to express my gratitude to his unwavering support for my study (both now and future), his extremely scrupulous readings of my writing, and his quite substantial revisions of and suggestions for the thesis draft as well as all my other essays. My thanks also go to Marc Steinberg who helped me initiate this project in his Methods class and offered insightful suggestions for its development, David Morris who expanded my previously limited conception of phenomenology and introduced me into the philosophical problem of time. Catherine Russell, Thomas Waugh, and Maria Corrigan have taught me each of their own specialties which find their ways into this thesis (the archival perspective, the political angles, and the historical awareness). I also want to thank my fellow members in the thesis workshop: David Leblanc, Mathieu Bédard, Oslavi Linares, and especially Jordan Gowanlock who guided every session, offered extremely detailed comments, and proofread my chapters. Finally to my girlfriend Zixuan, who never failed to encourage me and help me straighten out my thoughts every time I lost myself in the ocean of ideas, without your support this thesis would have been so much more difficult. My love and thanks. H.C.R. Montreal TABLE OF CONTENTS Literature Review and Three interventions ................................................................................. 2 1. Cinematic Science Fiction and Space Exploration ............................................................. 2 2. Making Husserl Present in Film Phenomenology ............................................................... 5 3. World-Representation and World-Experience .................................................................... 9 Methodology and Chapter Synopses ......................................................................................... 15 %$ # ! The Speculative Space and the Rise of Cinematic Space SF .................................................... 19 The Birth of the Embodied Tradition ........................................................................................ 26 The Formative Power of the Imaginary ..................................................................................... 34 & " ! Footage of Science and Footage of Fiction ............................................................................... 45 Embodied World-Experience and Spatiality ............................................................................. 58 ' # World-Picture (Weltbild) and “Earthrise” ................................................................................. 78 From V-2 to Saturn-V, From von Braun to Nolan .................................................................... 86 The World-Picture in Interstellar .............................................................................................. 93 Saving Home as an Alternative ................................................................................................. 99 Experience, Horizon, and World ............................................................................................. 111 The Opening ... at the End ....................................................................................................... 116 " LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Screenshot from Frau im Mond, the first photograph of the Moon by J.W. Draper, and snapshot from NASA’s Apollo 8 footage...............................................................................29 Figure 1.2: Screenshot from Frau im Mond, screenshot from Destination Moon, screenshot of from NASA’s “The Journeys of Apollo,” and screenshot of from BBC’s docudrama Space Race...............................................................................................................................................39 Figure 2.1: Snapshots from NBC’s live broadcast of the launch of Apollo 11 and snapshots from NASA’s footage of the launch of space shuttle Atlantis for STS-129..........................................50 Figure 2.2: Screenshot from Interstellar and snapshot from Apollo 4’s footage of the first stage separation.......................................................................................................................................52 Figure 2.3: Screenshot from Interstellar and snapshot from NASA’s Apollo 11 footage............52 Figure 2.4: Screenshot from Gravity.............................................................................................53 Figure 2.5: Screenshot from Hubble..............................................................................................54 Figure 3.1: “Earthrise” by the Apollo 8 team................................................................................84 Introduction Space1, in its cosmological sense, mesmerizes people particularly. It is regarded as either some sort of extension of our everyday spaces—my bedroom, my apartment building, the backyard, the street, the grocery store, schools, and office buildings—or as something entirely different, something that has little to do with the everyday use of the term. Despite the scientific knowledge we now possess about the cosmos, people still subconsciously subscribe to the notion that cosmic space is very different from “ours.”2 The image of Space, or “outer space” as we are more inclined to call it, has changed enormously in the last century and it is still constantly being revised today. What I will argue in this thesis is that scientific