Through a comprehensive analysis of popular contemporary science fiction television series, this book underscores the genre's unique potential to both reflect and shape cultural perceptions of masculinity.
Each of its essays, written by a host of international contributors, analyse key series ranging from Firefly (2002) to Star Trek: Picard (2020-23). Employing anti-patriarchal and pro-feminist perspectives, they scrutinize the limited diversity among male characters in science fiction television, shedding light on the underrepresentation of non-heteronormative, non-white, and transmasculine characters, while also highlighting notable exceptions such as Altered Carbon (2018-20), Doom Patrol (2019), and The Umbrella Academy (2019).
Against the backdrop of current discussions regarding toxic masculinity, this book highlights the ways in which divergent masculinities shape and are shaped by the science fiction genre. In doing so, it argues the significant role played by the genre in ongoing discourse surrounding traditional and alternative forms of masculinity.
Introduction: Men of the Future as Imagined in SF TV - Sara Martín (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) & Michael Pitts (University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic) 1. Complicating Masculinity in Firefly (2002) - Michael Pitts (University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic) 2. Remodelling the Cyborg’s Masculinity in Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009) - Marianne KacVergne (University of Picardie Jules Verne; Amiens, France) 3. Masculinity’s Reimagining of the Present and Turning It into a Future: The Case of Black Mirror (2011-2023) - Hasan Gürkan (University of Girona, Spain and Istinye University, Turkey) 4. “Am I A Good Man?” Regenerating Masculinity in Doctor Who (2014-2017) - Jonathan Hay (University of Chester, UK) 5. Liquid Masculinities in Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s Sense8 (2015-2018) - Juan Carlos Hidalgo-Ciudad (University of Seville, Spain) 6. A Different History but the Same Old Story? Rethinking Hegemonic Masculinities from the Fascist World of The Man in the High Castle (2015-2019) - Miguel Sebastián-Martín (University of Salamanca, Spain) 7. ‘What Am I Now If I’m not a Father?’: Fox Mulder’s Ageing Masculinity in The X-Files (1993-2002, 2016, 2018) - Sara Martín (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain) 8. The Black Man and the Man in Black: Black Masculinity in Jonathan Nolan’s and Lisa Joy’s Westworld (2016-2022) - Amaya Fernández Menicucci (University of the Basque-Country, Spain) 9. Commanding the Masculine Space: Leadership, Power, and Gender Performance in The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-) - Kimberly Yost (Antioch University, USA) 10. Envisioning Masculinity and Caring in Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams (2017) - Paul Mitchell (Universidad Católica de Valencia San Mártir, Spain) 11. The Commodified Male Body: Altered Carbon (2018-2020) - Rocío Carrasco (Universidad de Huelva, Spain) 12. Larry Trainor and the Queer Spirit of HBO’s Doom Patrol (2019) - Elyce Rae Helford (Middle Tennessee State University, USA) 13. ‘You Know What They Call a Superhero Who Works Alone and Doesn’t Listen to Anybody? A Villain’: Deconstructing and Reconstructing (Hyper)Masculinity in The Umbrella Academy (2019) - M. Isabel Santaulària i Capdevila (Universitat de Lleida, Spain). 14. Perfection, Paterfamilias, and Picard (2020-2023) - Bridget Kies (Oakland University, USA) Conclusion: Looking Towards a New Future for Masculinity Bibliography
Michael Pitts is Lecturer at the University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic. He is author of Alternative Masculinities in Feminist Speculative Fiction: A New Man (2021). His research interests are positioned at the intersection of gender theory, speculative fiction, and utopian studies. Sara Martín is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Cultural Studies at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. Her books include Masculinity and Patriarchal Villainy in British Fiction: From Hitler to Voldemort (2020), Representations of Masculinity in Literature and Film: Focus on Men (2020), American Masculinities in Contemporary Documentary Film: Up Close behind the Mask (2023). She is co-editor of Detoxing Masculinity in Anglophone Literature and Culture: In Search of Good Men (2023, co-edited with M. Isabel Santaulària).
