AS Film StudiesAmercian Cinema: Comparison

of two Sci-Fi films

The exam question will ask you to comment on the MACRO aspects of the two films you have studied. MACRO aspects:1.Narrative2.Genre3.Themes4.Issues

 The examiner wants you to compare and contrast the two films studied in class.

Sci-Fi Mood BoardProduce a mood board collage of Sci-Fi film posters from the 1950s and more recent Sci-Fi film posters.

What themes and issues do your selected films deal with? Are there any similarities between your chosen films? Are there any differences?

Would you say that Sci-Fi films have changed with the times? Give reasons for your answer

Major themes in sci-fi films Major themes:1. Science;2. Social concerns;3. Technology;4. Rationality;5. Politics and Ideology;6. Humanity versus science;7. Utopia and dystopia;8. The future

Which themes do you think are found in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Invasion?

Mainstream sci-fi films have dealt with lots of fears and concerns within society.  Although it is a very formulaic genre (many of the narrative themes are repeated); it has proved flexible and popular enough to embody different fears at different times. 

What fears do you think Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Invasion deal with?

You can think of explicit fears (those that are obvious in the film); and implicit fears (the wider societal fears the film might be dealing with).

Produce a table of ideas:

  

FILM EXPLICIT FEARS IMPLICIT FEARS

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The Invasion

Sci-fi has been very good at including different genres; lots of recent sci-fi films rely heavily on action/adventure films; other sci-fi films have horror, zombie and thriller elements;

Films that mix more than one genre are known as film ‘hybrids’.  They are blockbusters with A list stars and lots of special effects; What started as low-budget B-movies have grown into multimillion dollar film franchises with merchandising and video games.