Excavating the Future: Archaeology and Geopolitics in Contemporary North American Science Fiction Film and Television

by Shawn Malley

Overview

Well-known in science fiction for tomb-raiding and mummy-wrangling, the archaeologist has been a rich source for imagining 'strange new worlds' from 'strange old worlds.' But more than a well-spring for SF scenarios, the genre's archaeological imaginary invites us to consider the ideological implications of digging up the past buried in the future. A cultural study of an array of very popular, though often critically-neglected, North American SF film and television texts - running the gamut of telefilms, pseudo-documentaries, teen serial drama and Hollywood blockbusters - Excavating the Future explores the popular archaeological imagination and the political uses to which it is being employed by the U.S. state and its adversaries.

By treating SF texts as documents of archaeological experience circulating within and between scientific and popular culture communities and media, Excavating the Future develops critical strategies for analyzing SF film and television's critical and adaptive responses to post 9/11 geopolitical concerns about the war on terror, homeland security, the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq, and the ongoing fight against ISIS.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786941190
Publisher:	Liverpool University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Series:	Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies LUP , #57
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Shawn Malley is Professor in the Department of English, Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. He is author of 'From Archaeology to Spectacle in Victorian Britain: The Case of Assyria, 1845-1854' (Ashgate Press, 2012).

Table of Contents

List of Figures xi

Acknowledgements xv

Introduction 1

Part 1 Battling Babylon: Military SFFTV and the War on Terror 19

1 Manticore 31

2 Stargate SG-1 44

3 Transformers 2: Revere of the Fallen 59

Part 2 Of Artefacts and Ancient Aliens 73

4 Ancient Aliens 82

5 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 95

6 Smallville 112

Part 3 Cyborg Sites: The Case of A.I. Artificial Intelligence 135

7 Battlestar Galactica 145

8 Prometheus 167

Envoi 191

Works Cited 198

Index 223

Editorial Reviews

"[A] provocative and fastidiously researched monograph... Invoking such heavy-hitters as Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, and Homi Bhabha, Excavating the Future is best for scholars or advanced students already acquainted with a fair amount of theory. Nevertheless, Malley maps rich territory at the intersection of literature, media studies, history, and geopolitics."
Pedro Ponce, SFRA Review

"This volume should prove to be of interest not only to SF scholars but to film, television, and general popular-culture scholars as well...Not only does this study convey SF's enormous potential for social influence and criticism, but it also captures the zeitgeist of the early 21st century, when we are poised at a unique time in history for unthinkable change."
James Hamby, Fafnir-Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research

From the Publisher