If you woke up one day and realized that the world you lived in wasn’t what you thought it was, how would you react?  Of course, it all depends on what you thought your world was and what you discovered it really is.  So then what if you were used to the world you live in right now, and then discover that your world does not exist, it is fabricated, reproduced… what would you do then?  Would you even know what to do?

            Many science fiction films of today, more particularly the films post-1990, have began using a common trope that has developed over the years along with genre’s development through the years: the post-modern, hyper-real world.  Many recent science fiction films have incorporated a fabricated world into the story, where the protagonist discovers that the world is not what it appears to be.  This idea of the post-modern, hyper-real world, a world that is unrecognizable to those that are unaware of their surroundings and have never tried to understand their place in the world, took shape from several sources including the emergence of post-modernism, dystopic views of the world, and the new technologies of virtual reality.

But most importantly it took shape from the words of Walter Benjamin in his essay from 1935 “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”  The fabricated city in many of these science fiction films are very much a metaphor mechanically reproduced art, as the city in these films can actually be seen as mechanically reproduced art.  The essay, in fact, is important the development of the science fiction film genre, and has a profound effect on science fiction especially in today’s digital and post-modern age.  But ultimately, Walter Benjamin’s essay is important to the progression of post-modern science fiction film, as his thoughts on reproduced art are often used metaphorically in the genre, most notably when the science fiction story focuses on a hyper-real, virtual world as a catalyst.

            Ever since the release and eventual influence of the film Metropolis (1927), the city has become one of the more important elements of science fiction film, with an emphasis on the representation of the city and how important it is to the story.  After Metropolis filmmakers discovered that the city in science fiction film was not just a setting, “but to contain narrative, provide spectacle and sustain atmosphere.” When you look at more modern-day science fiction films like Blade Runner, The Terminator, and Gattaca, the city, though not necessarily important to the progression of the story, have a special context within the story that can have a special meaning or just sets the mood of the movie.  The city is a very important element in science fiction film even today, to the point where the city may be the only evidence of human civilization in the story, even though it may appear to be alien when first viewed.

            More recently, though, the image of the city in science fiction film has become more dystopic.  When post-modernism took shape, so did many pessimistic ideas and views especially of the city.  The 1980’s were a time when society was quite divided between upper- and lower-class structures, and those structures were clearly defined within each and every major city.  Many people were not fond of where they lived and often had pessimistic views of the city and how it was run, and they wanted to see improvements, though they knew that was easier said than done.  Concerns of overpopulation, claustrophobia, high crime rates, dinginess, and a growth of industrialism and pollution that come with urban growth are many trends that embodied the pessimistic view of the city.  This notion found its way into science fiction stories, where the genre responded in two ways; one was that no improvement was made and the city gradually became worse and unlivable, and escape was imminent, as nothing can be done to save it.

Post-modern science fiction films tended to have a pessimistic view of the future, where the world just gets worse despite the rapid growth of technology.  In movies like Strange Days (1995), Brazil (1985), and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), the story takes place in a world that has become more negative from the world we know today, like it has de-evolved over time.  It “heralds a dystopian urban future characterized by [a] kind of social disintegration.” It is a common trope in post-modern science fiction films, along with other tropes that are seen as pessimistic.

            The other reaction science fiction had to the population’s pessimistic view of the city is that a utopia city does exist amongst this pessimism, but is only a utopia because it is fabricated, and individual would have to escape it as well or simply just adapt to it.  The ‘virtual city,’ or ‘hyper-real’ world, “represents a future urban environment liberated from the constraints of place-bound interaction.” It can also be a utopic city where major difficulties are at a minimum.  Yet it is a problem to live in a virtual city, as it is not real, that it may look like reality but it is far from it.  And though it may seem utopic, people would normally resist it simply because it is not real and they would not feel real.  This becomes a problem, though, as humans are in some way forced to interact in this fabricated world, whether they need to do it for survival or they do it against their will.

In the science fiction stories that have this kind of trope, a race different from humans creates an altered perception of reality for the human race to interact with, often because their interaction with each other gives off an energy, an ‘aura’, that helps the other beings survive in one way or another, as well as for their own amusement.  The cities are created from scratch, where the creation of the cities themselves are an art form, then the humans are placed in the city, unaware that they are living in a fabricated world, and are made to interact within this world and ‘pretend’ to live a normal life.  It is usually when an individual notices that the world does not seem right and begins to suspect something that he can’t figure out.  This protagonist usually has issues with himself as an individual living in this world and feels that if he can understand the world more and his place in it then he would be content with what he finds.  Yet, what the protagonist finds is more than he or she bargains for, where their life is suddenly in jeopardy due to what they discover about the world, and the city, that they live in.  They then must decide if they will allow themselves to be seduced by the hyper-real utopia (a kind of virtual prison) that they discovered or if they will resist it so that they can live a more real, human life and feel freer despite the dystopia that awaits them on the other side.

This kind of science fiction story has only begun to take shape in the last several years, with films like Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), and Open Your Eyes (1997).  Each of these films as with so many other post-modern science fiction films, have a hyper-real world setting where the main character must adapt to this alternate perceptive would or simply escape it.  These kinds of films fall along the same lines as paranoia and conspiracy films, but are completely unique on their own.  This new trend in science fiction cinema will always be known as one of the more pessimistic tropes in the genre’s history, and will most likely be a trope that will used repeatedly for years to come.

So what does Walter Benjamin have to do with post-modern science fiction?