Aliens in Popular Culture

Aliens in Popular Culture
Author: Michael M. Levy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release:
Genre:
ISBN:

An indispensable resource, this book provides wide coverage on aliens in fiction and popular culture. The wide impact that the imagined alien has had upon Western culture has not been surveyed before; in many cases the essays in Aliens in Popular Culture are the first written on the topic. The book is a compendium of short entries on notable uses of aliens in popular culture across different media and platforms by almost 90 researchers in the field. It covers science fiction from the late nineteenth century into the twenty-first century, including books, films, television, comics, games, and even advertisements. Individual essays point to the ways in which the imagined alien can be seen as a reflection of different fears and tensions within society, above all in the Anglo-American world. The book additionally provides an overview for context and suggestions for further reading. All varieties of readers will find it to be a comprehensive reference about the extra-terrestrial in popular culture.

Alien Encounters

Alien Encounters
Author: Mimi Thi Nguyen
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 380
Release: 2007-04-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780822339229

DIVA collection of essays that examine the production and consumption of Asian American popular culture, from musical expression to television cooking shows./div

Aliens in America

Aliens in America
Author: Jodi Dean
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 1998
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780801484681

Discusses the social and political implications of widespread belief in unidentified flying objects, extraterrestrials, and government cover-ups, and considers what they reveal in a culture of mass media and conflicting evidence.

Alien Universe

Alien Universe
Author: Don Lincoln
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2013-10-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1421410737

Are alien civilizations really possible? If extraterrestrials exist, where are they? How likely is it that somewhere in the universe an Earth-like planet supports an advanced culture? Why do so many people claim to have encountered Aliens? In this gripping exploration, scientist Don Lincoln exposes and explains the truths about the belief in and the search for life on other planets. In the first half of Alien Universe, Lincoln looks to Western civilization's collective image of Aliens, showing how our perceptions of extraterrestrials have evolved over time. The roots of this belief can be traced as far back as our earliest recognition of other planets in the universe—the idea of them supporting life was a natural progression of thinking that has fascinated us ever since. Our captivation with Aliens has, however, led to mixed results. The world was fooled in the nineteenth century during the Great Moon Hoax of 1835, and many people misunderstood Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast, The War of the Worlds, leading to significant anxiety among some listeners. Our continuing interest in Aliens is reflected in entertainment successes such as E.T., The X-Files, and Star Trek. The second half of the book explores the scientific possibility of whether advanced Alien civilizations do exist. For many years, researchers have sought to answer Enrico Fermi’s great paradox—if there are so many planets in the universe and there is a high probability that many of those can support life, then why have we not actually encountered any Aliens? Lincoln describes how modern science teaches us what is possible and what is not in our search for extraterrestrial civilizations. Whether you are drawn to the psychological belief in Aliens, the history of our interest in life on other planets, or the scientific possibility of Alien existence, Alien Universe is sure to hold you spellbound.

Signs of Aliens

Signs of Aliens
Author: Daniel Bernardi
Publisher: Pearson Learning Solutions
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780558258399

Little Gray Men

Little Gray Men
Author: Toby Smith
Publisher: UNM Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780826321213

Explores how the rumors of an alien spacecraft landing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 led to American society's obsession with extraterrestrials and the rise in popularity of science fiction movies, television shows, and books.

Representations of the Post/human

Representations of the Post/human
Author: Elaine L. Graham
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2002
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9780813530598

This work draws together a wide range of literature on contemporary technologies and their ethical implications. It focuses on advances in medical, reproductive, genetic and information technologies.

American Cosmic

American Cosmic
Author: D.W. Pasulka
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2019-01-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0190693509

More than half of American adults and more than seventy-five percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. American Cosmic examines the mechanisms at work behind the thriving belief system in extraterrestrial life, a system that is changing and even supplanting traditional religions. Over the course of a six-year ethnographic study, D.W. Pasulka interviewed successful and influential scientists, professionals, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who believe in extraterrestrial intelligence, thereby disproving the common misconception that only fringe members of society believe in UFOs. She argues that widespread belief in aliens is due to a number of factors including their ubiquity in modern media like The X-Files, which can influence memory, and the believability lent to that media by the search for planets that might support life. American Cosmic explores the intriguing question of how people interpret unexplainable experiences, and argues that the media is replacing religion as a cultural authority that offers believers answers about non-human intelligent life.

Aliens in Popular Culture

Aliens in Popular Culture
Author: Michael M. Levy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2019-03-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 144083833X

An indispensable resource, this book provides wide coverage on aliens in fiction and popular culture. The wide impact that the imagined alien has had upon Western culture has not been surveyed before; in many cases the essays in Aliens in Popular Culture are the first written on the topic. The book is a compendium of short entries on notable uses of aliens in popular culture across different media and platforms by almost 90 researchers in the field. It covers science fiction from the late nineteenth century into the twenty-first century, including books, films, television, comics, games, and even advertisements. Individual essays point to the ways in which the imagined alien can be seen as a reflection of different fears and tensions within society, above all in the Anglo-American world. The book additionally provides an overview for context and suggestions for further reading. All varieties of readers will find it to be a comprehensive reference about the extra-terrestrial in popular culture.

Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist

Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist
Author: Aaron John Gulyas
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2013-05-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1476601682

Since the 1950s, men and women around the world have claimed to have had contact with human-like visitors from space. This book explores how the "contactee" subculture has critiqued political, social and cultural trends in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Not merely quaint relics of the 1950s Atomic Age, contactees have continued their messages of transformation into the 21st century. Regardless of whether these alleged contacts took the form of physical meetings or channeled paranormal psychic communications, or whether they actually happened at all, contactees have provided a consistently relevant source of commentary on this world and beyond.