Why We Should Watch Science Fiction Films to Change Racial Ideologies.

Adilifu Nama

 This week I focused on the reading, "Black Space: Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film," by Adilifu Nama. This reading explores the representation of race in science fiction films. Nama analyzes the ways in which science fiction films have represented blackness, and how these representations have evolved over time. 

Nama argues that science fiction films often have negative stereotypes and radicalized representations of blackness. Although he does argue this he also says that three have been significant efforts to make a more positive and nuanced portrayal of blackness in science fiction films. It is important to analyze these films because it helps shape our understanding of race and racial identity. Science fiction films have the potential to change racial ideologies and stereotypes and make a more inclusive future. 

Some films Nama looks at are Birth of a Nation and The Time Machine.  Nama uses many different films to support her argument. Films such as Birth of a Nation is used as an example of stereotypes in films. Nama writes, "The seminal film Birth of a Nation (1915) exemplifies the type of
antagonistic film representations of blackness in early American Cinema, with its blackface stereotypes and unabashed veneration of the Ku Klux Klan." This quote highlights the importance of analyzing the representation of blackness in films and recognizing how it reflects and shapes attitudes and ideologies. The film The Time Machine shows the "anxieties surrounding the redistribution of power and privilege that the civil rights movement represented, the demise of the separate and unequal world of Jim Cros racial segregation." Science fiction films can be used as a way to see cultural anxieties and fears. Both these films show White Americans' anxieties who felt threatened by the civil rights movement and the possible loss of the privilege and power they have. 

Figure 1: Shows an image from the reading showing a negative racial ideology.

Watching and analyzing these films will give us a lens that we can use to understand cultural attitudes and anxieties surrounding race and social justice issues. It can help change racial ideologies and negative stereotypes around race, and racial identity.