UNCANNY AND RETROFUTURISTIC SPACE IN DYSTOPIAN SCI-FI CINEMA

Abstract

This study aims to provide an additional perspective to the architecture and urban expression of dystopian sci-fi cinema, by focusing on the impact of uncanny and retrofuturistic space on the image of the home and the city, while discussing how architecture communicates through space and contributes to the narrative in cinema. Retrofuturism’s contribution to the concept of ‘escapism’ offered by sci-fi works and its role in fictional space is generally unclear. Additionally, its fictional classification and purpose are under-theorized. The thesis proposes a classification for retrofuturism and clarifies its purpose. Furthermore, it offers additional insight and references into the concepts of alienation, homelessness and modern anxiety tied to uncanny spaces.Using the literature review method, the research examines the concepts of uncanny, alienation, and homelessness which are related to the aesthetics of architecture and space; first, from utopia to dystopia, second, from a critique of Modernism to the modern anxiety of future city. It discusses how these concepts are narrated in the sci-fi cinema. The study continues with spatial readings of selected films in the case studies using narrative research method. It compares the narrative of cinematic and architectural spaces, real spaces, set designs, or computer-generated cine-scapes, through semiotic analysis of their physical and social structures (spatial layers).