Three types of Science Fiction: Raymond Williams

Three types of Science Fiction: Raymond Williams

There are three types of SF according to Raymond Williams. They are, Putropia, Doomsday, and Space Anthropology.

By Putropia he meant the characteristic 20th-century corruption of the Utopian romances. They describe stories of a secular paradise of the future.  Zamyatin's We, Huxley's Brave New World, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and Orwell's 1984 are the most famous examples.

Putropia, however, stops a little short of Doomsday. Doomsday is the immensely popular genre which, with considerable ingenuity and variety, disposes of life altogether. There are catastrophes which stop just short of this, and move into putropia.  Mr John Wyndham's Day of the Triffid’s is an example. Here, the great majority of human beings are struck suddenly blind, and the Triffids-locomotive stinging plants, sources of vegetable oil, developed by Russian scientists-take over. The sighted minority has to decide whether to try to save the blind masses, who, characteristically, have taken to drink and so on, or to abandon them, to regroup the few who can see, and start making a better society.

Putropia perhaps, is to be rationalized as a warning against combined science and war while the Doomsday is the familiar nightmare of mechanism; nobody does anything wrong, but we are finished all the same.

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Top Ten Fantasy Movies

        Top Ten Fantasy Movies 

        

          1.   Life of Pi (2012)

       Life of Pi, based on the novelby Yann Martel, tells the fantastical story of Pi Patel, a sixteen-year-old South Indian boy who survives at sea with a tiger, named Richard Parker, for 227 days. While cast away, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with the fearsome Bengal tiger. It’s the story of their relationship and survivel.

Directed By:  Ang Lee

 Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irfan Khan, Tabu

2.   The Hobbit- An Unexpected Journey (2012) & The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

The Hobbit  is an epic fantasy adventure film based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. It tells the tale of Bilbo and his journey to the Lonely Mountain with Thirteen Dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf the Grey, to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug.

Directed by Peter Jackson.

Cast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage

          

           3.   The Lord of the Rings Series

       The Lord of the Rings is a film series consisting of three epic fantasy adventure films adapted and directed by Peter Jackson and based on English author J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Set in the fictional world of  middle earth, the three films follow the Frodo as he and a fellowship embark on a quest to destroy a ring, and thus ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord.

Director: Peter Jackson

 Cast: More Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen

         

          4.   Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

         At the end of the Spanish civil war, a young girl meets the god Pan, who gives her three challenges. If she fails, she will never prove herself to be the the true princess and will never see her real father, the king, again.

Director:Guillermo del Toro

 Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez

5.   Pirates of the Caribbean series

           Pirates of the Caribbean is a series of fantasy films stories following the adventures of Jack SparrowThe films take place in a fictional historical setting; a world ruled largely by an amalgam of alternative, evil versions of theBritish Empire and the East India Company, with the pirates representing freedom from the ruling powers

Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom

6.   Harry Potter series

      The young Wizard Harry Potter’s quest to overcome the Dark wizard whose aims are to become immortal, conquer the wizard world, subjugate non-magical people, and destroy all those who stand in his way.

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe

7.   King Kong (2005)

       The film tells the story of an overly ambitious filmmaker who coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter, King Kong a legendary giant gorilla. Captured, he is displayed in New York City, with tragic results

Directed by Peter Jackson

Cast: Naomi Watts, Jack Black

8.   X-Men series

        The X-Men series tells the story of a team of mutant superheroes and their adventures.

Cast: Hugh Jackman, PatricK Stewart, Ian McKellen

9.   The Avengers (2012)

       Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. assembles a team of superhumans to save the planet from Loki and his army.

Director:Joss Whendon

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans

10. Wrath of the Titans (2010)

       Perseus, a son of Zeus, lives as a fisherman after the death of his wife with his young son, Helius. He is called again, this time to rescue his father Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

Directed: Jonathan Leibesman

Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson