Utopia and Reality: Documentary, Activism and Imagined Words

281 Pages·2020·7.415 MB·English

by  Simon Spiegel, Andrea Reiter and Marcy Goldberg

New Dimensions in Science Fiction
Utopia and Reality
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New Dimensions in Science Fiction
Series Editors
Professor Pawel Frelik
University of Warsaw
Professor Patrick B. Sharp
California State University, Los Angeles
Editorial Board
Grace Dillon
Portland State University
Tanya Krzywinska
Falmouth University
Isiah Lavender III
Louisiana State University
Roger Luckhurst
Birkbeck University of London
John Rieder
University of Hawai‘i
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Utopia and Reality
Documentary, Activism and
Imagined Worlds
Edited by
Simon Spiegel, Andrea Reiter
and Marcy Goldberg
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2020
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© The Contributors, 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and
whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication)
without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for
the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication
should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry,
King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-524-6
eISBN 978-1-78683-525-3
The rights of the Contributors to be identified as authors of this
work have been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Marie Doherty
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham
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Series Editors’ Preface
Science fiction (SF) is a global storytelling form of techno-scientific
modernity which conveys distinct experiences with science, technol-
ogy and society to a wide range of readers across centuries, continents
and cultures. The New Dimensions in Science Fiction series aims to
capture the dynamic, worldwide and media-spanning dimensions of
SF storytelling and criticism by providing a venue for scholars from
multiple disciplines to explore their ideas on the relations of science
and society as expressed in SF.
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Contributors xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction: Utopian Realities 1
Andrea Reiter and Simon Spiegel
1 Reality and Utopia: A Conversation with 17
Lyman Tower Sargent
Lyman Tower Sargent and Simon Spiegel
Part 1: Tracing Utopia
2 Utopia Revisited: Reading Dziga Vertov’s Man with 27
a Movie Camera in the Light of the Utopian Tradition
Susanna Layh
3 Neither Fact nor Fiction: Made in Secret as a Utopian 56
Education in Desire
Peter Seyferth
4 The Utopia of the Caliphate: Reading ISIS Propaganda 85
Videos as Utopian Texts
Simon Spiegel
Part 2: Alternative Documentary Politics
5 Living and Dying with Water: Indigenous Histories 115
and Critical Bioregionalism in The Pearl Button
Matthew Holtmeier
6 Prospectivity in Political Documentaries 138
Andrea Reiter
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viii CONTENTS
7 Practising Hope: Ecofeminism, Documentary and 167
Community Engagement
Chelsea Wessels
Part 3: New Forms of Documentary Activism
8 Trans-utopia: Documenting Real and Imagined Cities 191
Daniel Schwartz, Klearjos Eduardo Papanicolaou,
Alfredo Brillembourg and Hubert Klumpner
9 Post-utopian Interventions by Students: Interactive 211
Documentary and Micro-revolutions
Dale Hudson
10 Documentary Dreams of Activism and the Arab Spring 238
Jane M. Gaines
Index 259
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Illustrations
2.1 Kino-eye (00:14:13) 30
2.2 In the viewing hall (01:03:33) 39
2.3 The cameraman, creator of the city (00:56:13) 42
2.4 The camera monitoring the city (00:27:06) 43
2.5 The demolition of the past (01:05:17) 48
3.1 Screening party with Muffy LaRue, nerdgirl and 64
J. D. Superstar (screenshot is lightened up for
printing purposes; video is much darker) (08:41)
3.2 Kissing scene with Professor University, Mr Pants 66
and Monster (with camera) (29:46)
3.3 Discussion scene with nerdgirl, Hugh Jorgen, Muffy 74
LaRue and Professor University (and Mr Pants’s knee)
(1:20:43)
3.4 Manifesto scene with Monster (02:12) 78
4.1 Health Services in the Islamic State 94
4.2 One of the many charts in The Structure of 97
the Khilafah
4.3 The title of Return of the Gold Dinar 100
4.4, 4.5 Return of the Gold Dinar mixes different kinds of 101
source material
5.1 Landscape shots that emphasise the beauty of 119
the Chilean coast and water’s role in shaping
the bioregion
5.2 Supposed stars as they coalesce into waves 124
5.3 The archipelago of rain viewed from the troposphere 125
5.4 The stomach/bellybutton of one of the painted 133
Selk’nam
5.5 Speculative rumination on what is ‘unreal’ 135
6.1 TV music video clip during the Croatian military 145
offensive
6.2 UN General Alain Forand recounts the situation 147
6.3 Žbanić talks to a Sarajevan resident 152
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