Conference Program
Friday, July 3
5:00 p.m. Conference Opening
5:15-6:15 p.m.
Keynote Lecture by Prof. Eric S. Rabkin (University of Michigan), “American Science Fiction Film: No Final Frontiers”
The keynote speaker for our Undergraduate Conference is Eric Rabkin, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He studied at Stuyvesant H.S., Cornell University (A.B., 1967), and the University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1970), before he joined the Michigan faculty in 1970. His most important areas of specialization include fantasy and science fiction, graphic narrative, the quantitative study of culture, traditional literary criticism and theory, and academic computing. He has published books on The Fantastic in Literature (1976); Science Fiction: History, Science, Vision (with Robert Scholes, 1977); Mars: A Tour of the Human Imagination (2005); and Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind (audio/video lecture series, 2007).
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Panel 1: Understanding the Impact of Change
Chair: Andreas Hey (Göttingen)
- Lars Schiemann (Göttingen), “Space Technology Makes Us Lonely: Human Communication and Social Life in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey”
- Gina Ziebell (Göttingen), “’Do You Believe in Fate, Neo?’: Constructing Identity in The Matrix”
- Benjamin Ulonska (Siegen), “The Corporeality of Alien-Invaded Humans: The Horror Motif in Don Siegel’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Its Remakes”
7:45 p.m. Reception
Saturday, July 4
9:00-10:30 a.m.
Panel 2: The Look and Sound of Science Fiction Film: Audio, Visuals, and Special Effects
Chair: René John Kerkdyk (Göttingen)
- Jörn Piontek (Göttingen), "’There was a world once, you punk’: Visual Subversion in Fleischer's Soylent Green”
- Fabian Grumbrecht (Göttingen): “’What Are You Doing Dave?’: The Confrontation of Dave Bowman and HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey”
- Daniel Badeda (Göttingen): “Postindustrial Decay vs. Technological Advance: The L.A. Cityscape in Ridley Scott´s Blade Runner (1982) as an Allegory for a Dystopian Future”
- Dennis Edelmann (Göttingen): “Like Alice in Wonderland: Special Effects in the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix”
Coffee Break
10:45-12:15 p.m.
Panel 3: Exploring the Boundaries of the Human Experiences
Chair: Florian Döring (Göttingen)
- Hannes Dinse (Göttingen), “Alien Invasion or Mental Illness? Dr. Bennell and How He Started to See the Aliens”
- Yamina Ketteler (Siegen), “Tracing the Origami Unicorn: In Search of the Sixth Replicant in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner”
- Tanja Hamkens (Göttingen), “’More Human than Human’: Memory, Emotion, and Identity in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner”
- Dennis Paetz (Göttingen), “Paradox at Its Best: Minority Report”
Lunch
1:45-3:30 p.m.
Panel 4: Contesting Spaces: Social and Political Commentaries in Science Fiction Films
Chair: Steffen Krumwiede (Göttingen)
- Florian Gesang (Göttingen), “’If you're not a cop, you're little people’: Police and Corporation in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982)”
- Alexander Müller (Göttingen), “It Used to be a Man's World: Manhood and Masculinity in Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
- Philipp Stückrath (Göttingen), “’What keeps us safe also keeps us free’: State Control vs. Personal Liberty in Spielberg’s Minority Report”
Coffee Break
3:45-5:15 p.m.
Panel 5: Probing the Genre: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols I
Chair: Johannes Hartmann (Göttingen)
- Solveig Burfeind (Göttingen), “Becky Discroll: femme fatale?”
- Heike Schöpperle (Göttingen), “Modern Film Noir: The Female Characters in Blade Runner”
- Franziska Förster (Göttingen), “The Matrix: The Oracle’s Messages and Their Influences on Neo”
- Anne Britten (Göttingen), “Come and Watch the Rain With Me: Water in Minority Report”
Coffee Break
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Panel 6: Probing the Genre: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols II
Chair: René John Kerkdyk (Göttingen)
- Johannes Hartmann (Göttingen), “’I'm really not at liberty to discuss this’: The Character of Dr. Heywood Floyd in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey”
- Stefanie Schwarz (Göttingen): “’Can you see?’: The Importance of Vision and the Eye Motif In Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report”
- Iris Schäfer/Dennis Kogel (Siegen): “The Doppelgänger Motif in Science Fiction: The Mirror Universe of Star Trek”
7:30 p.m. Conference Dinner
Sunday, July 5
9:30-11:00 a.m.
Panel 7: Contemplating Science and Technology: Religious and Philosophical Dimensions
Chair: Daniel Badeda (Göttingen)
- Martin Gerecht (Göttingen), “’Going Home’: The Meaning of Death in Richard Fleischer's Soylent Green”
- Moritz Emmelmann (Göttingen), “Religion in Soylent Green“
- Benjamin Bandelow (Göttingen), “God is in the TV: Religion in The Matrix”
- Dinah Reetz (Siegen), “The Fallacy of Precognition: Determination and Free Choice in Stephen Spielberg’s Minority Report”
Coffee Break
11:15-12:00 p.m. Final Discussion
Conference Venue:
Tagungszentrum Historische Sternwarte
Geismar Landstraße 11
37073 Göttingen
Germany
Organizers:
Kathleen Loock, M.A.
Seminar für Englische Philologie
American Studies
E-Mail: Kathleen.Loock@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Sonja Georgi, M.A.
Fachbereich Sprach-, Literatur- und Medienwissenschaften
E-Mail: georgi@anglistik.uni-siegen.de
