This has been a tough year . Pop civilization lease us down in many ways , even as our political system and our social institutions revealed a deeper seam of ugliness . But speculative fiction still offers us hope : not just optimism about human ingenuity , but genuine intellect to look forward and keep our head up .
Here are 11 ways that science fabrication and fantasy made us believe in the future again in 2015 :
1) Space adventure is back
This is credibly the biggest reason why skill fabrication made us excited about the time to come again — because the human race does n’t have much of a future unless we go to space . Not too long ago , we were bemoaning the want of space adventure on our screens , and even the boom in outer space - opera books had seemed to be dying down . But this year ’s big pic include not just Star Wars but also The Martian — and Syfy brought back TV blank space opera in a reasonably big way , with Killjoys and The Expanse . And many of our favorite Holy Writ were about space this year . ( More on that in a sec . )
2) Apocalypse fever seems to have broken
Last year ’s most buzzed - about leger let in Station Eleven , California and The Girl With All the Gifts , and the apocalypse was everywhere we looked in pop culture . We were starting to wonder if the world would ever contain ending . But it ’s starting to look as though apocalypse - mania is conk out down . Does this muse a sense that we might really roll up our sleeves and get to work fixing the tremendous job we face up in the twenty-first century , instead of just throwing up our hands ? Or just a change of fashions ? firmly to say . But dad culture is often a leading index number , so let ’s trust .
3) Superhero TV is really really good
I can still remember when superhero television consist of Smallville , The Cape and No Ordinary Family . ( Even though I still have it off The Cape . “ No patty for you ! ! ! ” ) This year , superheroes have our TV screens , especially if you include Daredevil , Powers and Jessica Jones . Not only that , but a surprising number of these comic - rule book shows were actually fun . Which we sort of opinion was against the constabulary today . This matters , not just because we love superheroes and this was not our favorite year for superhero movies , but also because we urgently starve stories about heroism in which doing the right thing is shown to be a estimable thing . And I often think that ’s the main thing superhero report have to offer : lesson in heroism .
4) Terrible sequels, reboots and franchise pics mostly fell flat
This yr ’s biggest box - office bust included some stuff that really did deserve oblivion , including a sight of “ reinventions ” of classic account like Peter Pan and Frankenstein that miss the point . But also : Taken 3 , Ted 2 , Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 , Magic Mike XXL , Sinister 2 , Insidious Chapter 3 , and a net ton of others all underperformed compare to their previous instalment . Not to mention Heroes Reborn . Not saying that you’re able to never bring back or extend a Graeco-Roman series — but not everything want to go on forever , or be rebooted endlessly . And audiences seemed to recognise that .
5) Female heroes are no longer even a big deal
There have been just about 10,000 think pieces unleash this yr about the fact that cleaning lady are make to be lead character in big enfranchisement productions . And that there are more stereotype - busting distaff character out there . Katniss , Rey , Furiosa , Susan Cooper , Jessica Jones , Agent Carter , — hell , even Cinderella — this year proved once and for all that there ’s nothing edgy or scarey about a female action at law hero , or hero of any kind . Not to mention Rebecca Ferguson stole the new Mission Impossible film , and for all its many flaw Terminator Genisys get majuscule joy in flip out the Sarah / Kyle relationship on its head .
6) We’re getting more realistic stories about interplanetary colonization
Not only were a lot ofthe year ’s most interesting booksabout space , or about geophysics — but there were a lot of smart , well - cerebrate - out take care at what it would mean to judge and colonise another public . A lot of people remarked on the fact that Kim Stanley Robinson ’s Aurora ( about a genesis ship full of colonist ) seemed to be in probably unwilled dialog with Neal Stephenson ’s Seveneves ( about an orbital colony after a ball-shaped catastrophe . ) But also , Emma Newman ’s Planetfall has a great look at the gritty realities of a newfangled colony on another satellite , and how 3 - viosterol printing process would change that . Andas io9 founder Annalee Newitz drop a line in today ’s New York Times , N.K. Jemisin ’s The Fifth Season is a great look at go geophysical disasters on another major planet . Not only did some enceinte books turn a realistic lens to space colonization , they also help us realise the grandness of protect the only satellite we presently have .
7) The “clever twist” is agency
In cosmopolitan , some of my favorite “ third acts ” this twelvemonth featured a turn that came , not from some improbable reveal , but from complicated characters making an unexpected conclusion . ( e.g. , the whole last of Mad Max : Fury Road . ) Case in point : Doctor Who scribe Steven Moffat , who used to be the king of the “ clever thaumaturgy up my sleeve ” storytellers , deal to galvanize us with Clara ’s selection more than with any rabbit hidden in a lid . And then he did it again with River Song .
8) Some truly ambitious books have been filmed
And in the wake of Game of Thrones , formal wisdom now more and more dictates that immense , ambitious books belong on television . Which is why we get mostly suitable adaptations of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell , The Man in the High Castle , Wayward Pines , The Magicians , The Expanse and Childhood ’s End this year . With Red Mars and several others on the horizon .
9) You can no longer ignore the problem of diversity in SF books
Even as movies and TV struggle with diverseness — especially racial diversity , which they ’ve barely begin to grapple with — we spend a mountain of this yr contend about diverseness in scientific discipline fiction and phantasy playscript . The # WeNeedDiverseBooks effort achieved a Brobdingnagian new floor of prominence , and a reactionary campaign against “ affirmative natural action ” in the Hugo Awards was mostly recognise for what it was . This conflict is just start , and we all have a deal of work to do . But at least , it felt like 2015 was the yr that all reasonable people accepted that this is an issue we have to deal with . Because if our visual sensation of the future are not inclusive , then the result will be dystopia .
10) Fan culture rules supreme
This was the year that they made a strike movie out of Twilight fanfiction . ( No , it was n’t a good movie , but it still happened . ) This was the yr that Star Wars fandom drove public preaching and nerdy argument over lightsaber crossguards were aired on national TV . Our huge , insane public debate about despoiler was in part a discussion of the right field , and incorrect , way for fans to obsess over narration in public . Social medium helped drive fandom to raw levels of influence and preponderance in 2015 .
11) Our killer robots were more interesting
One of the big preoccupations of science fabrication , in the smartphone era , has been our human relationship with engineering and just how it could go horribly wrong . This year , one of the with child movies was about a killer A.I. , and for all its flaws , Age of Ultron did create a deadly robot character that we ’d never quite seen before . And Ex Machina need all the “ sexy robot ” tropes that we ’ve been forcefed for geezerhood and twist them upside down , create something jarring and engrossing in the physical process . Not to mention that this was the yr of the screaming hacker dramatic event , from Scorpio to C.S.I. : Cyber to BlackHat , and the proliferation of lovely white - hat hacker was weirdly reassuring after so many evil hackers in pop culture . Plus we got Mr. Robot , which made it all worthwhile .
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