The relation of science fiction and the utopian tradition has been a point of some contention among critics of either field—Darko Suvin, for example, famously argued that “utopia is not a genre but the sociopolitical subgenre of science fiction” (61). And Peter Fitting refutes Suvin’s simplistic conflation, instead arguing “that there is not a necessary […]
Fallout: Post-Apocalypse for the Atomic Golden Age From its inception, the Fallout series has been entrenched in feelings of nostalgia for an era long gone, or one might argue, for an era once imagined to come. In effect, Fallout is a case of “retrofuturism,” a cultural form that “highlights nostalgia, irony, and time-bending dislocation … engaging the […]
Deus Ex: Cyberpunk and the Choice of a Transhuman Future With the rapid changes in computer technology, popular discourses reflect an anxiety about the future and the role of humans in the world. Cyberpunk—a mode of science fiction highlighting information technologies and degrees of social disorder—in some ways captures these anxieties. The societies imagined by […]
1. Background 1.1 Terminologies and Definitions As with any literary genre, a clear-cut definition of cyberpunk is hard to find. Among scholars of science fiction (sf), many differentiate between a historical group of writers who met at the beginning of the 1980s, were originally known as ‘the Movement,’ and consisted of William Gibson (*1948), Bruce […]
Vortrag auf dem PAN Branchentreffen in Köln, gehalten am 19.04.2018 als Impuls zur Diversität in der Fantastik vor einer Paneldiskussion zum Thema “Rassismus – Sexismus – Homophobie – welche Verantwortung hat die Phantastik?” — Angesichts der Twitterdiskussionen im Nachgang und der notwendigen Auseinandersetzung habe ich mich – entgegen meiner normalen Praxis – dazu entschlossen den […]
Mit seinem Buch Deleuze and Baudrillard zeichnet Sean McQueen Bewegungen kritischer Positionen nach, wie sie in den letzten Jahrzehnten die intellektuelle Auseinandersetzung mit zeitgenössischer Kultur bestimmt haben. Seine Arbeit fokussiert dabei eine Entwicklung, die am besten anhand der sie eingrenzenden Pole beschrieben ist – er selbst formuliert sie als ein „cognitive mapping of the transition from […]
As a scholar of zombie fiction, one tends to get hung up on one’s specific method of dealing with the shambling dead – prefer a gun, a baseball bat or rather a sword? Academically speaking that means that once you look at the hordes of undead roaming in popular culture with an eye for consumerism, […]
Seminarbaustein “Medien” im Fernstudium Master Kultur- und Medienmanagement am KMM Hamburg, Wintersemester 2017
Einführungsvorlesung für alle Erstsemester der HafenCity Universität Hamburg, Wintersemester 2017/18
Seminarbaustein “Medien” im Masterstudium Kultur- und Medienmanagement am KMM Hamburg, Wintersemester 2017