Müge Turan

From Forbidden Planet to Solaris: Tracing Speculative Film Müge Turan

There is a need for a more far-reaching and broad-minded name than science fiction (SF) to describe many SF films. Following this motivation and exploring the playful ?staging? of Sigmund Freud?s notion of the id in science fiction cinema, this study attempts to define ?speculative film? or a film that intertwines the notions of psychoanalysis and fantasy with a focus particularly on the theme of the inner mind within the terminology of SF cinema. This twofold exploration is based mainly on an analysis of Stanislaw Lem?s book Solaris (1961) and its two film adaptations: Andrei Tarkovsky?s Solaris (1972) and Steven Soderbergh?s Solaris (2002). Following the 40-year evolution of the same text allows one to inquire about the term ?speculative film? within the concurrent perspectives and aesthetics of SF. Making radical departures from reality or radical speculations about what reality might be like or might have been like; speculative films contain a depth of narration with multi-leveled and ever changing impossibilities. Investigating this new term, this project runs as a guide amongst the various lines of thought within the genre of SF.