There are spoilers ahead! For many films I'm afraid.
I would especially avoid the episode until you have watched Ex-Machina (which you really really should immediately it really is phenomenal) as Jes does talk directly about the ending between 53:23 till 53:46.
I have made a list of the films and books mentioned below.
This is another detour episode and perhaps you're thinking I'm trying to avoid the very big task of recording 2001: A Space Odyssey content. And perhaps you're right. But I hope you enjoy this discussion.
If you try to think of a futuristic city your mind may be drawn towards a real place but it could just as easily be drawn towards the great science fiction films that render our future on our screens.
Films like Blade Runner, Minority Report, Fifth Element and (the granddaddy) Metropolis have all shown us what human futures could look like. Sometimes these visions are intimidating, terrifying or occausionally aspirational. These images in turn can affect and inform own understanding of what an unwritten future should be like.
I have two wonderful guests to talk through the somewhat symbiotic relationship of science fiction and architecture
Amy Brookes is an architect and an Associate Professor at the University of Reading. She has written extensively about architecture and one of her special interests is Architecture in science fiction literature and film.
Jes Deaver is an award-winning architect as well as a filmmaker and writer. She is the author of the article The Architecture of Imagination which explores the parallels between science fiction and architecture.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:32 The SF-Architecture connection
06:40 How the symbolism of the tower changes
14:38 Anxieties in architecture
17:00 The reciprocal relationship
27:10 Fears of suburbia
30:27 Non place and virtual space
33:43 Apocalyptic futures
40:02 Hopeful alternatives
49:04 Favourite architectural sci-fi films
53:46 Recommendations
Recommendations:
And He Built a Crooked House by Robert Heinlein
Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements
Films mentioned in the episode:
- Metropolis (1927)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Minority Report (2002)
- Chappie (2015)
- District 9 (2009)
- Attack the Block (2011)
- Fifth Element (1997)
- Just Imagine (1930)
- Gagarine (2020)
- Atlantics (2019)
- Tommorowland (2015)
- Truman Show (1998)
- Stepford Wives (1975)
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- Soylent Green (1973)
- Don't Look Up (2021)
- Children of Men (2006)
- Snowpiercer (2013)
- Hunger Games (2012)
- Robocop (1987)
- Nation Estate (2012)
- Silent Running (1972)
- High Rise (2015)
- Ex Machina (2014)
Books mentioned:
- Rem Koolhaas (Remment Lucas Koolhaas) is a Dutch Architect and author of the book Delirious New York published in 1978.
- Ready Player One by Ernest Kline. (Made into a film by Steven Speilberg in 2018)
- Every Version of You by Grace Chan.
- Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver.
- Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 by Eman Abdelhadi and M. E. O'Brien
- Mouldiness Manifesto by Friedensreich Hundretwasser
TV Shows mentioned:
Other links of interest:
NEXT EPISODE!
The next episode will be about Destroy All Monsters which features lots of Kaiju, a Japanese Moonbase, evil aliens who look like beautiful women and groovy 60s outfits. You can rent the film on Apple TV (at least in the UK) but take a look at Just Watch and Rotten Tomatoes to see where the film is showing in your region. DVDs and Blurays of the film are also available for relatively reasonable prices.
