David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are back in ‘The X Files’ (Ed Araquel/FOX)
Do you know how much “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has grossed? Nearly $2 billion – and it’s not even the highest-grossing film of all time. “Avatar” is at $2.8 billion. If you count the number of science fiction/fantasy films in the top 100 grossing films of all time, the number exceeds 70, not counting the many animated versions.
Have you taken a gander at what plays on TV? It’s populated with shows like “Supergirl,” ‘The Flash,’ “Orphan Black,” ‘Mr Robot,’ “Dr Who” and more. Heck, the “X-Files” just got dusted off and relaunched. Now consider how popular “Game of Thrones” is. When comic book conventions draw tens of thousands of people (hello San Diego) and get the media coverage they get, you know something is resonating deeply in our culture. Clearly science fiction is the genre of our time.
If you’ve read my scribblings before, you are aware that I have a vested interest in talking about this. I am the festival director for the country’s oldest science fiction film festival. SciFi has always intrigued me, from my reading of the popular ’50s kids book “Danny Dunn & the Anti-Gravity Paint” to the films I see today.
Science fiction is about “what if?” What would happen if we time traveled? Or if we could raise the dead? Or if we went to galaxies far, far away? Its potential is only limited by imagination. It is timeless. It is for all people. It is not segmented by sex, race or age. It speaks to wonder. It speaks to the child within. It accepts different life forms and styles. It can be escapist, and often, it is optimistic. It is universal and hopeful.
Yet it is only a structure, or as Alfred Hitchcock would say, “The MacGuffin.” It is the vehicle in which a story is wrapped around. The story is truly about us, an exploration of the human condition. These are stories about love, loss, friendship, betrayal, loneliness, heroism, achieving and exceeding.
In a deeper sense, SciFi is about myth creation. Joseph Campbell wrote about this. He created a popular idea circulating in Hollywood today: The hero’s journey, the lone person questing for meaning in life. Campbell asserted that this myth has a role in society, and in it are universalities that transcend time and place. Campbell concluded that myth binds a culture together.
When Star Wars took elements of Campbell’s writings and applied them to Luke Skywalker et al they created a modern myth. Like space abhorring a vacuum, modern science fiction films fills a void. This is one of the reason is why science fiction so popular.
The other reason it’s so popular: The special effects are wicked awesome.
— By Garen Daly
Garen Daly, is the director of the 41st Boston Science Fiction Film Festival & Marathon. Feb 5-15 at the Somerville Theatre.
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