Final Frontiers: Computer-Generated Imagery and the Science Fiction Film
Abbott, Stacey. "Final Frontiers: Computer-Generated Imagery and the Science Fiction Film." SFS #98 = 33.1 (March 2006): 89-108.
From the end of Abbott's Abstract:
In this article, I trace how sf films have contributed to the rise of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and then consider how the genre has responded to the domestication of the technology by turning away from brave new worlds to explore the new frontier of CGI, the representation of the human body. By focussing on such films as Blade (1998) and THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy (2001-2003), as well as the American movies of Asian superstar Jet Li, I further demonstrate that the use of computer imagery specifically transforms genres such as horror, fantasy, and martial arts into a form of hybridized science fiction. (p. 108)
Quotes Brooks Landon in The Aesthetics of Ambivalence on future SF film in which the media offer the "realization rather than just the representation of SF narrative" (p. xxv), whereas she believes "[...] the real developments and applications of computer technologies within film production at the turn of the twenty-first century have increasingly led to a convergence between 'realization' and 'representation.' This convergence is located within this preconception of the body both on-screen and off, as the traditional sf cyborg has escaped the confines of the representational space and entered the real worlds of film production, where actor and computer technology are increasingly being merged into a new form of digital/human hybrid" (pp. 90-91).
Abbott's Conclusion includes the assertion that in the closing decades of the 20th c. there was both the hope and fear that CGI or other technology "would eventually be so sophisticated as to make actors obsolete," replaced by what we today (in 2022) might call VR performers. Abbott believes her discussion of what has actually taken place has
demonstrated that the situation is becoming more complex than this simple replacement. Actors are not obsolete but are increasingly called upon to interact with FX technology, either by performing in soundstage environments destined to be supplanted by computer-generated virtual worlds — as in Sky Captain [...], Sin City (2005), and the recent Star Wars films [...] — or, more significantly, by having their performances technologically mediated through an enhancement of their physical bodies or through the creation of actor/computer cyborgs (e.g., Gollum [in the LORD OF THE RINGS films] or [...] the robots in I, Robot and the vampire brides and Mr. Hyde in Van Helsing (2004). [* * *]
As a result of this mediation, film genres have become increasingly hybridized as the new technology facilitates a rethinking of the body and transforms genres such as horror, martial arts, and fantasy into a form of science fiction. The interdependence of humanity and technology is seen not only in the stories projected on the screen but in the production process itself, with its creation of ever more elaborate CGI cyborgs. The very techniques of filmmaking are increasingly the science fiction of today. (pp. 104-05)
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Abbott's Filmography for this article (pp. 107-108) contains some 65 entries (by our rough count) and includes a number of films cited on this wiki: THE ABYSS, A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ALIEN, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, CONTACT, E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, THE FLY (1986), I, ROBOT, JURASSIC PARK III, THE MATRIX, THE MATRIX RELOADED, THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS,METROPOLIS, MINORITY REPORT, STAR WARS: EPISODE I—THE PHANTOM MENACE, STAR WARS: EPISODE 3—THE REVENGE OF THE SITH, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, STAR WARS also A NEW HOPE (initially released as STAR WARS), STARSHIP TROOPERS (film), THE TERMINATOR, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, TITANIC (1997), TOTAL RECALL (1990), and TRON (1982).
RDE, finishing, 6Nov22
