The sci-fi genre typically contains theoretical, science based themes within its narrative. It typically sets itself in the future and therefor uses the governing powers, futuristic elements and future technologies to explore current social, economic, philosophical and political issues. The story is usually set on earth, out in space, on another planet or all of them at different points such as in the Star Wars franchise. Iconography can also heavily feature within the films such as the symbols in the film Arrival and the icons for the empire and rebels in Star Wars. The use of icons and symbols help to gives a visual representation of ideas.
Iconography is an important feature of many sci-fi films as it gives a visual aesthetic for hypothetical organisations, objects and more. Examples of common iconography in sci-fi include, high-tech gadgets, holograms, weapons of mass destruction, spaceships, teleportation, time travel, robots and visually striking locations, costumes and characters.
A large amount of sci-fi films follow similar narrative themes, characters and plots. It will typically feature a hero and a villain where the hero has to overcome obstacles to complete the quest in an unfamiliar location (new planet or spaceship). This is most obviously seen in a film like Star Wars which has its protagonist (Luke) have to complete a quest (destroy the death star) which causes him to visit unfamiliar locations. Characters can range from future humans, aliens, robots, androids, humanoids, artificial intelligence, and sidekicks.
The narratives of sci-fi films often try to ground themselves within scientific principals and ideologies. They also often address issues such as the destruction of the earth, alien invasion and the development of a new technology the resulting consequences of it.
Sci-Fi films can also take these genre tropes and use it to subvert the audiences expectation. An example of this being done is in the film Moon. In the film, the character of Gerty is featured frequently throughout. Voiced by Kevin Spacey, Gerty is a robotic A.I who’s supposed to help Sam. Although his purpose is to serve Sam, we as the audience don’t trust him and are suspicious of him from the very start. His voice is similar to that of H.A.L from 2001 A Space Odyssey which causes us to automatically make links to his character and in turn; deviant A.I. We don’t trust Gerty but our negative judgement of Gerty is challenged when he later helps Sam to escape. By pulling from previous Sci-Fi films and its conventions, Duncan Jones is able to subvert the audiences expectation of the narrative. This is an example of post-modernism within modern sci-fi whereby the film plays with our expectations and is self-reflexive.
Overall, the sci-fi genre is full of widely recognisable iconography, narrative themes and characters which repeatedly feature in many of the films. This makes the sci-fi genre one of the most easily recognisable genres out there and it has a clear visual aesthetic.
