Geraghty, Lincoln

English

Portsmouth University Research Portal (Pure)

James Chapman and Nicholas J. Cull, Projecting Tomorrow: Science Fiction and Popular 
Cinema (London: IB Tauris, 2013), pp. 240, ISBN: 978-1-78076-410-8 (pb), £15. 
 
Chapman and Cull’s Projecting Tomorrow should be considered as a follow-up to their 
previous collaboration, Projecting Empire (IB Tauris, 2009), which dealt with cinematic 
representations of empire and imperialism. Using historical archives, production notes and 
other reception materials they intricately weave a convincing narrative that focuses not only 
on the significance of the science fiction genre in cinema history but also its value as a 
cultural form, reflecting and interrogating the important historical, social and cultural 
moments of our time. Indeed, as the authors assert in their introduction, ‘The history of 
cinema and the history of science fiction have run parallel ever since their simultaneous 
points of origin at the end of the nineteenth century’ (1); therefore we might understand that 
cinema is, in its very essence, a science fiction medium. Throughout Projecting Tomorrow 
Chapman and Cull make the case that the films they discuss are evidence of the increasingly 
sophisticated technologies of modes of production used to make them, and highlight the 
changing attitudes to film as a medium for cultural critique and social commentary:  
Futuristic narratives and images of SF cinema are determined by the circumstances  
of their production… SF cinema functions in a similar way to the historical film as  
a commentary on the times… [and] cinema’s imagination of the future has […] 
functioned as a mirror of the present (7). 
 
The book is divided into twelve chapters that each focus on a particular film, drawn from a 
well-known list of seminal British and America productions. The authors admit themselves 
that the list could have been considerably larger or even completely different, but 
“nevertheless all the films are of interest for their narrative and visual representations of the 
future… and for their role in shaping the genre” (7). So, with a list of case studies that 
includes Just Imagine (1930), Things to Come (1936), The War of the Worlds (1953), The 
Quatermass films (1955, 1957, 1967), Forbidden Planet (1956), 2001: A Space Odyssey 
(1968), Planet of the Apes (1968), The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971), Logan’s Run (1977), Star 
Wars (1977), RoboCop (1987), and Avatar (2009) Chapman and Cull acknowledge that an 
alternative list could have provided the book a different set of case studies: The Day the Earth 
Stood Still (1951), The Omega Man (1971), Westworld (1973), Dark Star (1974), Close 
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Blade Runner (1982), The Terminator (1984), and 
Starship Troopers (1997). While I wouldn’t argue against the contents of either list it would 
have been nice to see a filmic example from the 1990s included in the final volume. There is 
almost a twenty-year gap between chapter eleven’s discussion of RoboCop and twelve’s 
analysis of Avatar which might have been filled with a film like The Lawnmower Man 
(1992). Since Projecting Tomorrow is pitched at uncovering the production histories of 
science fiction cinema and its use of new technologies to imagine the future, a film like The 
Lawnmower Man - marketed at the time for its use of the latest cutting-edge CGI technology 
- would surely fit well. 
 Nevertheless, Projecting Tomorrow deftly negotiates the key films discussed; the fact 
that some of the films have been repeatedly picked apart elsewhere does not detract from 
Chapman and Cull’s analysis of any. Their chapter on Star Wars, for example, provides a 
fresh and illuminating account of the film’s production history and cultural impact. 
Unpacking how it was received by critics at the time, they recount how its message of 
morality and faith was not ignored: ‘Gene Siskel in the Chicago Tribune hailed the film as a 
work of moral value in Platonic terms that expresses “ideals like goodness and virtue so that 
we are able to imagine them once again”’ (171). It is important to record such positive 
examples of contemporary reception as a corrective to the negative reactions the film 
received, as defined by other reviews Chapman and Cull also discuss relating to race and the 
“‘black-lash over Star Wars’” (172). Much scholarship on Star Wars follows the line that 
since it was received as pure entertainment it must only ever be considered as that, lacking in 
any serious cultural worth, and that George Lucas was simply being nostalgic for his own lost 
youth. Yet, Chapman and Cull remind us that the impact the entire franchise has had on the 
entertainment industries is unparalleled and that, while “the films still trade on nostalgia… it 
is no longer nostalgia for a lost world of pirates, westerns, samurai or wartime heroics. Today 
Star Wars trades on nostalgia for Star Wars” (175). Whether one thinks this is necessarily a 
bad thing is open to debate, but thankfully the authors leave it up to their readers to make up 
their own minds. 
 By way of conclusion to their work the authors highlight a number of tensions within 
the genre on screen. Firstly, they argue that the literary and cinematic versions of science 
fiction have seldom sat well together. Tensions between adaptations and literary sources have 
often meant authors have fallen out with producers, directors and studios. Frequent cases of 
copyright infringement suggest that science fiction as a popular genre also attracts popular 
press coverage and controversy. The second tension surrounds science fiction film’s 
relationship to the small screen, and how television has often been more successful in 
adopting generic tropes and visual techniques to present varied interpretations of what the 
future might bring. Thirdly, tensions have arisen between science fiction audiences and its 
producers, not least embodied by the repeated fall-outs between Lucas and Star Wars fans 
over countless fan edits and movies. However, Chapman and Cull are keen to point out the 
importance of fan audiences within the history of the genre on screen (extending the lifespan 
of both its popular and less well-known texts), arguing that new technologies of fan 
production and sharing (such as social media) are integral to Hollywood’s continued 
proliferation of science fiction films. Finally, the authors recognise the tension between 
British and American productions. In many cases it is difficult to completely associate one 
country with the production of a particular film. 2001 was a joint enterprise: American 
money and British crew; similarly, Star Wars was an inherently American text but filmed in 
the UK and replete with British acting talent.  
Perhaps, in documenting these tensions, we can better understand how important the 
genre still is in terms of global film production and its devoted fan audiences. The market for 
science fiction is bigger than ever: UK and American films share the stage with Japanese, 
Russian, Canadian, French, Danish, Belgian and Australian science fiction films, television 
series, comics, games and graphic novels. Indeed, while Chapman and Cull conclude, “After 
a century or more of SF cinema there is still a universe to discover” (221), it might be said 
that future histories of the genre should look to its transmedia evolution in order to offer 
further insight to its continued success and popularity. For now, Projecting Tomorrow is an 
excellent addition to the world of science fiction scholarship and should be required reading 
for all those who consider themselves enthusiasts of the genre. 
 
Lincoln Geraghty (University of Portsmouth) 
 


<b>Book Review: </b><i>Projecting tomorrow: science fiction and popular cinema</i>

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