Simultaneous Worlds by Jennifer L. Feeley

Since the 1927 release of Fritz Lang's pioneer film Metropolis, science fiction cinema has largely been regarded a Western genre. In Simultaneous Worlds, Jennifer L. Feeley and Sarah Ann Wells showcase authors who challenge this notion by focusing on cinemas and cultures, from Cuba to North Korea, not traditionally associated with science fiction. This collection introduces films about a metal-eating monster who helps peasants overthrow an exploitative court, an inflatable sex doll who comes to life, a desert planet where matchsticks are more valuable than money, and more.

Simultaneous Worlds is the first volume to bring a transnational, interdisciplinary lens to science fiction cinema. Encountering some of the best emerging and established voices in the field, readers will become immersed in discussions of well-known works such as the Ghost in the Shell franchise and Neill Blomkamp's District 9 alongside lesser-known but equally fascinating works by African, Asian, European, and South American filmmakers. Divided into five parts that cover theoretical concerns such as new media economies, translation, the Global South, cyborgs, and socialist and postsocialist cinema, these essays trace cinema's role in imagining global communities and power struggles.

Considering both individual films and the broader networks of production, distribution, and exhibition, Simultaneous Worlds illustrates how film industries across the globe take part in visualizing the perils of globalization and technological modernity. Ultimately, this book opens new ways of thinking about world cinema and our understanding of the world at large.

Jennifer L. Feeley is an independent scholar.

Sarah Ann Wells is assistant professor of Portuguese and Spanish at the University of Notre Dame.

"Jennifer L. Feeley and Sarah Ann Wells have done a marvelous job of bringing together established scholars with emerging voices to create a unique critical collection on global science fiction cinema, which they show is neither an impossible dream nor an artificial unity, but rather a major way to think about science fiction cinema in the new millennium."-N. Katherine Hayles, Duke University

"A detailed filmography and robust index make the book practical for the classroom"-CHOICE