Imagined spaces: Entertainment and utopia in science fiction films and television series of the 1980s and 1990s

Since the late nineteenth century, when modern literary utopias began to locate their ideal societies in a future time rather than a distant space, the form has become increasingly intertwined with science fiction. A number of recent studies have stressed the potential for social critique resulting from the convergence of science fiction and utopian literature, particularly in feminist science fiction. Such studies often rely on the work of Ernst Bloch, who considers utopianism---the longing for a better life with its implied critique of the existing one---in a broad sense that includes a wide range of cultural artifacts, from folktales, to popular music, to architecture. Bloch has also been foundational for critics, such as Richard Dyer and Fredric Jameson, writing about the appeal of entertainment and considering its dual relation to both ideology and utopian longings. Richard Dyer's work on the Hollywood musical relies on Bloch to explain the appeal of entertainment and considers "utopia" in a broad sense that includes popular films that strive to create a sense of "what utopia would feel like rather than how it would be organized." This dissertation examines the convergence of the utopian aspect of entertainment with the utopian and dystopian thematics of literary science fiction in the context of four case studies: Blade Runner (1982), Brazil (1985), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987--1994), and Babylon 5 (1993--1998). In keeping with Fredric Jameson's work on science fiction, these films and television series are considered not as attempts to predict the future but rather in relation to their various strategies for estranging the "present" historical moment of post-industrial capitalism. This study is particularly concerned with the ways in which these media science fiction products both represent and participate in mass culture. Because the focus is on the intersection of utopia and entertainment rather than on a genre study of science fiction, the dissertation brings together many different strands of utopian thought that often remain separated. This dissertation examines the implicit and explicit critique of contemporary consumer culture embedded in these works while fully acknowledging their popular entertainment appeal.