Hollywood (and science fiction) helped make the world we see today — and the vivid tomorrows that are unfolding, for well and ill.
McFarland, 2021
Scroll down to purchase Vivid Tomorrows.
film & media queries
Vince Gerardis
Created-By Agency
email: rightsqueries@gmail.com (with cc: to DAVID BRIN at books@davidbrin.com)
Do you dare dissect how and what Hollywood teaches?
David Brin's 3rd non-fiction book reconnoiters famous SF media — from E.T. and Star Trek to The Arrival and Gattaca — and how they help craft a civilization that's obsessed with self-criticism, suspicion of authority, individualism and tolerance, along with appreciation of ecology and diversity... values that might save us all! But shouldn’t we at least understand how these relentlessly proselytized values made us unique among all human societies, across 6000 years?
Can science fiction — especially sci-fi cinema — save the world? It already has, many times. Retired officers testify that films like Doctor Strangelove, Fail-Safe, On the Beach and War Games provoked changes and helped prevent accidental war. Soylent Green and Silent Running recruited millions of environmental activists. The China Syndrome and countless movies about plagues helped bring attention to those failure modes. And the grand-daddy of "self-preventing prophecy" — Nineteen Eighty-Four — girded countless citizens to stay wary of Big Brother.
It’s not been all dire warnings. While optimism is much harder to dramatize than apocalypse, both large and small screens have also encouraged millions to lift their gaze, contemplating how we might get better, incrementally, or else raise grandchildren worthy of the stars.
Come along with legendary science fiction author and astrophysicist David Brin on a quirky quest for unusual insights into the power of forward-looking media.
How does the romantic allure of feudalism tug at the men and women who benefited the most from its decline?
Why does almost every Hollywood film preach Suspicion of Authority, along with tolerance, diversity and personal eccentricity?
How do these seemingly-contradictory messages help keep us free?
Though some critiques are offered from a lifetime of respect and love and gratitude, no one is spared scrutiny — not Spielberg or Tolkien or Cameron or Costner... nor Dune or demigods or zombie flicks. And certainly not George Lucas or Ayn Rand!
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table of contents
Prologue
Science Fiction and Cinema: Saving the Future by Believing There Will Be One
Part One: A Flickering Light on the World
1. The Self-Preventing Prophecy: How a Dose of Nightmare Might Tame Tomorrow's Perils
2. Society and Citizens Are Fools! The Favorite Cliché of Cinema and Fiction
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey: Shining Light on How Far We've Come
4. Living in a Science Fictional World: Biology and Destiny and Life 'n' Such
5. A Quirky Must-see Guide to Science Fiction Movies
Part Two: Admirable (But Flawed) Blockbusters
6. J'accuse George Lucas ... or Zola Meets Yoda
7. Avatar. Just Avatar.
8. Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien vs. the Modern Age
Part Three: Grinding Axes
9. Roll Over, Frank Miller: Street Kids Are Better Than Those 300 Spartans!
10. Atlas Shrugged: The Hidden Context of Book and Film
11. Demigods and "Chosen Ones" ... Would It Hurt If Humanity Got to Play, Too?
12. Getting Science Fictional About a Better World: Marxists and Feminists and Feudalists and Libertarians, Oh My!
Part Four: Heroes and Villains
13. Name That Villain: Bad Guys and Aliens in Sci-Fi Movies
14. King Kong Is Back! The Ape in the Mirror
15. The Matrix: Tomorrow May Be Different
16. A Mini-Rant: Why All Those Zombies Mean You'd Better Vote!
17. Buffy the Old-Fashioned Hero
Part Five: Dark Visions and Hope
18. Dune: What This Classic Teaches About "Point of View"
19. The Postman: The Book vs. the Movie
20. Man Against Machine: Surrogates, Clones and Dittos
21. Gravity: Unbearable Lightness ... but Solid Storytelling
22. Great Opening Lines from Science Fiction Tales
23. From Metaphor to Movie Magic — or Why We're Such Good Liars
a brief intro to science fiction author DAVID BRIN
To learn more, visit his books page, or see his "about me" page or detailed biography.
novels
David Brin's science fiction novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula and other awards. At least a dozen have been translated into more than twenty languages. They range from bold and prophetic explorations of our near-future to Brin's Uplift series, envisioning galactic issues of sapience and destiny (and star-faring dolphins!). Learn More
shorter fiction
Short stories and novellas have different rhythms and artistic flavor, and Brin's short stories and novellas, several of which earned Hugo and other awards, exploit that difference to explore a wider range of real and vividly speculative ideas. Many have been selected for anthologies and reprints, and most have been published in anthology form. Learn More
Contrary Brin blog
Since 2004, David Brin has maintained a blog about science, technology, science fiction, books, and the future — themes his science fiction and nonfiction writings continue to explore. Learn More
social media influencer
Who could've predicted that social media — indeed, all of our online society — would play such an important role in the 21st Century — restoring the voices of advisors and influencers! Lively and intelligent comments spill over onto Brin's social media pages. Learn More
scientist
David Brin's Ph.D in Physics from the University of California at San Diego (the lab of nobelist Hannes Alfven) followed a masters in optics and an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Caltech. Every science show that depicts a comet now portrays the model developed in Brin's PhD research. Learn More
transparency expert
Brin's non-fiction book, The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy?, continues to receive acclaim for its accuracy in predicting 21st Century concerns about online security, secrecy, accountability and privacy. Learn More
speaker & consultant
Brin speaks plausibly and entertainingly about trends in technology and society to audiences willing to confront the challenges that our rambunctious civilization will face in the decades ahead. He also talks about the field of science fiction, especially in relation to his own novels and stories. To date he has presented at more than 200 meetings, conferences, corporate retreats and other gatherings.Learn More
future/tech advisor
Brin advises corporations and governmental and private defense- and security-related agencies about information-age issues, scientific trends, future social and political trends, and education. Urban Developer Magazine named him one of four World's Best Futurists, and he was cited as one of the top 10 writers the AI elite follow. Past consultations include Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, and many others. Learn More
