From "Multiverse" to "Abramsverse": Blade Runner, Star Trek, Multiplicity and the Authorizing of Cult/SF Worlds

Matthew Hills

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Cult films inhabit four categories that are not mutually exclusive and may come into tension with one another. These categories depend on differing processes of cult development: world-based, auteur-based, star-based, and production-based. This chapter focuses on the first two, examining how world-based and auteur-based cults operate in relation to two exemplary science fiction (sf) texts, Blade Runner (1982) and the rebooted Star Trek (2009) franchise. What is so fascinating about auteur-based and world-based cults is that these potentials can be activated around the same series of texts — whether Star Trek or Blade Runner — and yet exist in tension with one another, as some fan audiences stress authorial vision while others emphasize the narrative universe that they love exploring, documenting, and speculating about. Cult/sf is not just a doubling of categories; cult sf really can mean different things to different (fan) readers.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationScience Fiction Double Feature
Subtitle of host publicationThe Science Fiction Film as Cult Text
EditorsJ.P. Telotte, Gerald Duchovnay
Place of PublicationLiverpool
PublisherLiverpool University Press
Chapter1
Pages21-37
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9781781382363, 9781781384640
ISBN (Print)9781781381830
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Jun 2015

Publication series

NameLiverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies
PublisherLiverpool University Press
Number52

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