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The relationship between Hollywood's Film Industry and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. By Gianni Powell Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix. The sci-fi genre is an increasingly important genre in the movie industry. Some of the top grossing movies in The U.S.A have been science fiction films. Of the 5 top grossing movies of 2005, two of them were science-fiction movies. The movies were //Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of// //the Sith//, which was number 1, and //War of the// //Worlds,// which was number 4. Of the top 10 movies in 2006, two of them were science-fiction: Superman Returns and X-Men: The Last Stand(source: IMDb). The popularity shows that society is interested in science and technology and that science fiction has become a respectable genre of film and literature.

During the Golden Age of Science Fiction, you really didn't see many science-fiction movies. You mainly saw science fiction books and raido plays. People did not start really watching science-fiction movies at the theaters until the 1960s, after the Golden Age of science fiction ended. Books were the main form of science fiction "art". Science-Fiction just wasn't respected enough to be put onto film. there were a few sci-fi movies published during the Golden Age.

//Flash Gordon conquers the Universe,// a movie set in the future, released in 1940 starred Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon, and is about a mysterious plague known as the Purple Death that ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks.

//War of the Worlds,// released in 1953 was an adaptation of the book that goes by the same title written by H.G. Wells in 1898 and was also a radio play broadcasted 1938 by Orson Wells. It's about the resisdents of a small town who are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills. Thier joy is tempered some what when they discover it has passengers who are not very friendly. The movie itself is understood better when you consider it was made at the height of the Cold War - just replace Martian with Russians.

Back in the day, science fictiom movies had a huge focus on ailens, space exploration, technology, and the future. Now, most science fiction movies are more focused on other things but they, still like the future and technology as a movie theme.

Now, science fiction movies are one of the most respected and well-known genres of movies, an improvement from the 1930's thru 1950's. You can still find decent science fiction stories in print like __Who Goes There,__ but some people find nothing better than going to a dark movie theater, spending $7.50 and watching a good, quality science fiction movie Sources: 1) [|IMDb.com] 2) [|www.flickr.com/photos/heilemann] 3) http://warchild13.com/?cat=10