Lars Schmeink

'Biopunk Dystopias' contends that we find ourselves at a historical nexus, defined by the rise of biology as the driving force of scientific progress, a strongly grown mainstream attention given to genetic engineering in the wake of the Human Genome Project (1990-2003), the changing sociological view of a liquid modern society, and shifting discourses on the posthuman, including a critical posthumanism that decenters the privileged subject of humanism. The book argues that this historical nexus produces a specific cultural formation in the form of "biopunk", a subgenre evolved from the cyberpunk of the 1980s. Biopunk makes use of current posthumanist conceptions in order to criticize contemporary reality as already dystopian, warning that a future will only get worse, and that society needs to reverse its path, or else destroy all life on this planet.

Genetic Engineering, Society, and Science Fiction

Biopunk Dystopias

Graham Murphy

Anna McFarlane

"This companion collects original entries that engage cyberpunk's diverse 'angles' and its proliferation in our life worlds. With technology seamlessly integrated into our life and our selves, and social systems veering towards globalization and corporatization, cyberpunk has become a ubiquitous cultural formation that dominates our 21st century techno-digital landscapes. To put it directly: we are living in inescapable cyberpunk futures bleeding into the interstices of our present, and these cyberpunk realities intersect with our mainstream culture at every possible angle. The Routledge Companion to Cyberpunk Culture traces cyberpunk through its historical developments as a literary science fiction subgenre to its spread into other media such as comics, film, television and video games. Moreover, seeing cyberpunk as a general cultural practice, the Companion provides insights into photography, music, fashion, and activism. Cyberpunk, so the chapters presented here argue, is integrated with other critical theoretical tenets of our times, such as posthumanism, the Anthropocene, animality, or empire. And lastly, cyberpunk is a vehicle that lends itself to the rise of new futurisms, occupying a variety of positions in our regionally diverse reality and thus linking as much as differentiating our perspectives on a globalized technoscientific world. An international range of contributors examine with the cultural formation of cyberpunk from micro-level analyses of example texts to macro-level debates of movements, providing readers with a snapshot of cyberpunk culture and also cyberpunk as culture"--

The Routledge Companion to Cyberpunk Culture

Ingo Cornils

New Perspectives on Contemporary German Science Fiction demonstrates the variety and scope of German science fiction (SF) production in literature, television, and cinema. The volume argues that speculative fictions and explorations of the fantastic provide a critical lens for studying the possibilities and limitations of paradigm shifts in society. Lars Schmeink and Ingo Cornils bring together essays that study the renaissance of German SF in the twenty-first century. The volume makes clear that German SF is both global and local—the genre is in balance between internationally dominant forms and adapting them to Germany’s reality as it relates to migration, the environment, and human rights. The essays explore a range of media (literature, cinema, television) and relevant political, philosophical, and cultural discourses.

New Perspectives on Contemporary German Science Fiction

Graham J. Murphy

A collection of engaging essays on some of the most significant figures in cyberpunk culture, this outstanding guide charts the rich and varied landscape of cyberpunk from the 1970s to present day. The collection features key figures from a variety of disciplines, from novelists, critical and cultural theorists, philosophers, and scholars, to filmmakers, comic book artists, game creators, and television writers. Important and influential names discussed include: J. G. Ballard, Jean Baudrillard, Rosi Braidotti, Charlie Brooker, Pat Cadigan, William Gibson, Donna J. Haraway, Nalo Hopkinson, Janelle Monáe, Annalee Newitz, Katsuhiro Ōtomo, Sadie Plant, Mike Pondsmith, Ridley Scott, Bruce Sterling, and the Wachowskis. The editors also include an afterword of ‘Honorable Mentions’ to highlight additional figures and groups of note that have played a role in shaping cyberpunk. This accessible guide will be of interest to students and scholars of cultural studies, film studies, literature, media studies, as well as anyone with an interest in cyberpunk culture and science fiction.

Fifty Key Figures in Cyberpunk Culture

"Cover" -- "Title" -- "Copyright" -- "Dedication" -- "Contents" -- "Acknowledgments" -- "Contributor Biographies" -- "Foreword: Cyberpunk and its Visual Vicissitudes" -- "Introduction: The Visuality and Virtuality of Cyberpunk" -- "PART I "Image/Text Concatenations" -- or, From Literary to Visual Cyberpunk (and Back Again)" -- "Part I Introduction" -- "1 Beyond the Heroics of Gonzo-Journalism in Transmetropolitan " -- "2 Embodying Failures of the Imagination: Defending the Posthuman in The Surrogates " -- "3 Cyberpunk Urbanism and Subnatural Bugs in BOOM! Studios' Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? " -- "4 "Today's Cyborg is Stylish": The Humanity Cost of Posthuman Fashion in Cyberpunk 2020" -- "5 "Silhouettes of Strange Illuminated Mannequins": Cyberpunk's Incarnations of Light " -- "PART II "Tactics of Visualization" -- or, From Visual to Virtual Cyberpunk (and Back Again) " -- "Part II Introduction" -- "6 "My Targeting System is a Little Messed Up": The Cyborg Gaze in the RoboCop Media Franchise " -- "7 Kusanagi's Body: Dualism and the Performance of Identity in Ghost in the Shell and Stand Alone Complex" -- "8 The History of Cyberspace Aesthetics in Video Games" -- "9 Playing for Virtually Real: Cyberpunk Aesthetics and Ethics in Deus Ex: Human Revolution" -- "10 "We Are Data": The Cyberpunk Imaginary of Data Worlds in Watch Dogs" -- "PART III "Emerging World Orders" -- or, Cyberpunk as Science Fiction Realism" -- "Part III Introduction" -- "11 1980s German Cyberpunk Cinema: Kamikaze 1989 and Nuclearvision" -- "12 Afrocyberpunk Cinema: The Postcolony Finds its Own Use for Things " -- "13 Cyberpunk and "Science Fiction Realism" in Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and Zero Dark Thirty " -- "14 Cyberwar: The Convergence of Virtual and Material Battlefields in Cyberpunk Cinema" -- "15 Afterthoughts: Cyberpunk Engagements in Countervisuality

Cyberpunk and Visual Culture

Simon Spiegel

Laura Zinn

Jacek Rzeszotnik

Zeitschrift Fur Fantastikforschung 2/2015

Hans-Harald Müller

Until recently, scholars were hesitant to take the fantastic seriously. But since the 1990s, the increasing presence of the fantastic in mass media has spurred growing academic interest in the subject. This book discusses that new interest and brings together recent research in various disciplines. It provides an overview of current approaches and debates in the research of the fantastic. By taking stock of the present state of this young discipline, it also helps to ensure its future.

Wege und Räume der Fantastik im 21. Jahrhundert

Fremde Welten

Astrid Böger

Even though the fantastic (in its most inclusive definition) has been a part of our culture for as long as it exists, it has not been a prominent feature of European academic interest. With its inherent transgressive moment the fantastic allows for an ideal space of the cultural negotiation of political, social and physical boundaries, which should place it at the center of popular cultural research, not as is the case, at its periphery. But the commencing boom of fantastic themes in contemporary media production has facilitated a paradigmatic change in research, prompting a wide interest in the fantastic in all its forms, from fantasy to horror, from fairy tale to science fiction. This volume addresses this growing interest by reviewing the status of research on the fantastic in Europe so far and by providing a necessary outlook for the future. In the essays current trends, such as the liminality debate, as well as established discourses, as for example on genre theory, are brought together to show interested researchers a network of interdisciplinary (from literary, media and social studies) approaches towards the fantastic.

Establishing Research on the Fantastic in Europe

Collision of Realities

In this companion, an international range of contributors examine the cultural formation of cyberpunk from micro-level analyses of example texts to macro-level debates of movements, providing readers with snapshots of cyberpunk culture and also cyberpunk as culture. With technology seamlessly integrated into our lives and our selves, and social systems veering towards globalization and corporatization, cyberpunk has become a ubiquitous cultural formation that dominates our twenty-first century techno-digital landscapes. The Routledge Companion to Cyberpunk Culture traces cyberpunk through its historical developments as a literary science fiction form to its spread into other media such as comics, film, television, and video games. Moreover, seeing cyberpunk as a general cultural practice, the Companion provides insights into photography, music, fashion, and activism. Cyberpunk, as the chapters presented here argue, is integrated with other critical theoretical tenets of our times, such as posthumanism, the Anthropocene, animality, and empire. And lastly, cyberpunk is a vehicle that lends itself to the rise of new futurisms, occupying a variety of positions in our regionally diverse reality and thus linking, as much as differentiating, our perspectives on a globalized technoscientific world. With original entries that engage cyberpunk’s diverse ‘angles’ and its proliferation in our life worlds, this critical reference will be of significant interest to humanities students and scholars of media, cultural studies, literature, and beyond.

Within the expansive mediascape of the 1980s and 1990s, cyberpunk’s aesthetics took firm root, relying heavily on visual motifs for its near-future splendor saturated in media technologies, both real and fictitious. As today’s realities look increasingly like the futures forecast in science fiction, cyberpunk speaks to our contemporary moment and as a cultural formation dominates our 21st century techno-digital landscapes. The 15 essays gathered in this volume engage the social and cultural changes that define and address the visual language and aesthetic repertoire of cyberpunk – from cybernetic organisms to light, energy, and data flows, from video screens to cityscapes, from the vibrant energy of today’s video games to the visual hues of comic book panels, and more. Cyberpunk and Visual Culture provides critical analysis, close readings, and aesthetic interpretations of exactly those visual elements that define cyberpunk today, moving beyond the limitations of merely printed text to also focus on the meaningfulness of images, forms, and compositions that are the heart and lifeblood of cyberpunk graphic novels, films, television shows, and video games.

Lars Schmeink

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