PROJECTIONS: Science Fiction Cinema – Outer Space as Inner Space

Science fiction films portray phenomena that reach beyond the provable realms of mainstream science, featuring artificial intelligence, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, advanced technology and intergalactic travel. Such stories sometimes produce political or social commentary, expressing complex philosophical concerns related to the human condition. Depicting endless possibilities in the vastness of the cosmos, science fiction is a unique genre in cinema, revealing insights about our collective unconscious and inner worlds. In this 2-day course, we will regard outer space as a grand metaphor for the human psyche, relying on psychoanalysis as the theoretical framework to uncover hidden emotional activity manifested in symbolic form. Sigmund Freud believed that, because of the unconscious, we are aliens to ourselves. Beneath the threshold of awareness, there are irrational fears, buried memories, conflicting desires and secret dimensions to ourselves that we would rather not confront at an individual level and in wider society. This might explain the tendency in science fiction cinema to convey extraterrestrial lifeforms as hostile, invading and threatening the human species – it is simply a manifestation in outer space of an internal perception. The process of creating and watching these visual metaphors involves catharsis, releasing psychic tension.

Suitable for
18+

Admission
Full price £95.00 Friend of the Museum £85.00 Student/concession £77.00 Student Friend of the Museum £67.00

Website
https://www.freud.org.uk/event/projections-science-fiction-cinema-outer-space-as-inner-space/

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/se000274?id=EVENT587512