Retro Nostalgia: Sunshine (2007) and Science Fiction’s Supreme Optimism
I’ve argued before that science fiction is a naturally optimistic genre. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that SF almost always imagines a future in which we still exist. While watching Sunshine, however, my position became more nuanced. It’s not that we are still alive; it’s that we’ve survived. Sunshine is […]
Retro Nostalgia: The Fascinating Paradox of Sphere (1998) (Or, Why Science Fiction Makes Us Think)
I recently re-watched the 1998 film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Sphere (starring Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson, among others). What fascinated me about the film was that despite all its flaws, it is still an example of science fiction doing what it does best: explore the big ideas (Wikipedia tells me this is […]