Science Fiction Cinema in the Twenty-First Century

This book critically analyses the role of transnational interactions and cosmopolitan ideals in the science fiction cinemas of twenty-first century. It looks at how cosmopolitan concerns been used to address issues of dystopian societies, natural disasters, apocalyptic scenarios, aliens and monsters, time travel and teleportation, and supernatural abilities.

The book approaches cosmopolitanism as an imagination that places human rights, social and environmental responsibility, well-being, openness, and mobility at its center. It discusses themes like transnational science fiction film; contesting global neoliberalism; biopolitics of climate change; interplanetary romance and kinship; cosmopolitan potential of human networks; and ambivalent cosmopolitanism. This book not only draws attention to the multiple ways in which recent science fiction films use the cosmopolitan imagination to tackle contemporary challenges, but also questions the seeming cosmopolitanism of these narratives and exposes how they sometimes reproduce social hierarchies and exploitative practices.

Part of Studies in Global Genre Fiction series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of film studies, English literature, cultural studies, media studies, post-colonial studies, political philosophy, and sociology of media.