SFContario 3 Panel Schedule
The weekends are full of cons! Next weekend is The World Fantasy Convention, and the weekend following is SFContario 3. It'll be my first time attending both of these cons, and I'm looking forward to discovering what they have to offer. I don't know much about the genre of fantasy, so I'll have on my learning-hat at the WFC. For SFContario, however, I'm back in my familar SF world and will be a panelist. Below is my preliminary schedule (with moderators still be added, and some of the panelists may change):
Others Among Us. Harry Potter and Hunger Games sell like tribbles reproduce. Woody Allen’s most successful film in years deals with time travel. Game of Thrones has attracted an enthusiastic audience among people who have never expressed interest in fantasy. Superhero movies make millions, and Comic-con has become a hip destination. Have SF and Fantasy become cool? Or does the new audience remain hostile to the hardcore fans? (Kathryn Allan, Herb Kauderer, Violette Malan, Matt Moore) Saturday 11:00 AM, Courtyard
Science Fiction in Pop Music. Pop singers, like Kayne West, Lady Gaga, Nicki Manaj, and even Taylor Swift, have all incorporated science fictional imagery and themes into their songs and music videos. SF is no longer a quietly ignored sub-genre of entertainment. How do these huge pop music culture uses impact the science fiction being produced today? Is it easier to identify as an SF fan today ... or is it just annoying to see our subculture being capitalized on? (Kathryn Allan, Christopher J Garcia, Kari Maaren, John Zaniol) Saturday 3:00 PM, Gardenview
SF and Gender. How has SF influenced and reflected the changes in gender and gender roles over the past half century? As we look back to the work of writers such as Ursula LeGuin and Joanna Russ in the sixties and seventies, what can we say about their impact and that of their heirs today? (Kathryn Allan, Timothy Carter, Shirley Meier, Lynna Merrill) Saturday 6:00 PM, Solarium
Hat cultures and cosmic stereotypes. A good deal of popular Mass Media SF and fantasy, and a certain amount of the written stuff, feature alien species and demihuman races whose members all look and act more-or-less alike. Even when those races do not resemble known racist stereotypes, they still uncomfortably recall and perhaps reinforce our prejudices. Is such simplification of the alien other inevitable? And what problems does it present? Which writers, films, and shows have avoided the most serious problems? (Kathryn Allan, Richard Baldwin, Jeff DeLuzio, Herb Kauderer, Neil Jamieson-Williams) Sunday 12:00 PM, Courtyard
Disabled bodies and prosthetic technologies in SF. Drawing examples from TV, film, and literature, how do we see people with disabilities being portrayed in SF. Are the technologies that aide the disabled body the defining characteristic of the character (like Star Trek Original Series' chair-contained Captain Pike) or do are they treated as assistive tools? Can we look at SF for ideas on how to better develop new prostheses and adapted environments for people with disabilities? (Kathryn Allan, Sarah Ennels, Peter Fitting, Susan Forest) Sunday 2:00 PM
