Screening Space: The American Science Fiction Film Paperback – September 1, 1997

I recommend anyone who is interested in Science Fiction to at least glance at this book. Yes, glance. What I enjoy most from this book is how it provides pictures of movie scenes, corresponding them with the points and theories presented. It does it in a way to make what may seem overbearing (to some people mind you) rather interesting and insightful. The visualizations help things 'click' so well. The reading becomes more and more bareable as you read on once you get used to the structure. It's great. Even if you don't like reading, buy it for the pictures it presents; just by looking at them and the small, bold explainations below will help you gain a whole new outlook on Science Fiction. Besides the visuals, I would say it is the best critical response of the Science Fiction film I have read. Other books I checked out seemed boring and unattractive. This book caught me when I looked at it. In fact, I was doing a paper in college for a History through Film class and my Instructor asked for the Catalog information. So I guess I'm not the only one. Other then that, the seriousness of the book gives the genre what it diserves while retaining your interest to read on. Most importantly, though, it helps clear up thoughts I've had for years and makes it presentable in words. Very gratifying. Check it out.

great book and it was helpful last semester. i learned about film and how to be a good movie critic. would recommend this book to anyone.

Ignore the complaints about the second section. The academic jargon does get ramped up, but I think to incredibly intelligent ends. Regardless of whether you think it's overdone, there are ideas here which you will not encounter in your regular life and consequently there's only a risk that the second half of the book opens up your eye with regards to some very interesting trends in how science fiction operates. For example, Sobchack analyzes the movie 'Back to the Future' as being retrograde in the fact that they never get go to the future, but instead dwell within the fantastic small-town/sit-com Americana of the 50s, only to return to what is essentially an 80s reproduction of family ties, suggesting the incredible self-referentiality and lack of sense of history which is perpetrated by the Spielberg age of science fiction. I know. This isn't for everyone, but it's so freakin smart that I can't recommend the second half of the book highly enough.

Sobchack does a handy job writing about the language and symbols of science fiction in film, with a clear backing in the language and imagery of science fiction books and comics. Sobchack also uses the sci-fi film as a way of writing about life when the movie was made, and the anxieties that such films might expose. For instance, a movie about evil robots reflects anxieties about the rapid pace of technological advancement.The major flaw with this book is that with each major new science fiction film, it becomes out of date. Sobchack's takes are interesting and insightful enough that the book unreasonably suffers from the simple fact that there's not enough space nor enough time to cover every science fiction movie. What would Sobchack think about a film like Avatar, or Interstellar, or the Mad Max series? We may never know, unfortunately.

I used this book in a SciFi film class. It was a great tool to have.

While it is a bit dated, "Screening Space" gives some interesting insight into the Science Fiction film world. I felt that sometimes the "critic" in the author often looked for connections and symbolism that wasn't always there. Yes, there are times to view a work of art critically, and sometimes do so can impact the ability to suspend disbelief to be entertained.