Complex Temporalities and Science Fiction

April 15, 2024 (Monday), 3-4:45 pm @ UTC 109

Presented by Hye Jean Chung (Associate Professor of Cultural Studies, Kyung Hee University)

Moderated by Seung-hoon Jeong (Assistant Professor of Film and Electronic Arts, CSULB)

The genre of science fiction, which is often rejuvenated in different forms throughout history, stays relevant by engaging with how we envision technological and social change. This talk will discuss how science fiction is well suited to presenting complex narratives because of its interest in illustrating movements across time and space. The speaker will examine the complex temporalities that play a significant role in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival (2016) and how they manifest in thematic and visual forms in the film. She will also consider Villeneuve’s film in conjunction with its source material, Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” and compare it to other science fiction films that creatively depict our experiences and perceptions of temporality.

Hye Jean Chung is a professor at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, where she teaches courses on film and media, image technologies, animation, and documentary cinema. Her research interests include digital cinema, visual effects, film production, transnational cinema, and Korean cinema. Her book, Media Heterotopias: Digital Effects and Material Labor in Global Film Production (Duke University Press, 2018), discusses the material conditions of global pipelines and digital film production. Her work has been published in Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of Popular Film and Television, and Visual Studies.