Science Fiction and Bodies of the Future: Alternative Gender Realities in Hollywood Cinema

The science fiction genre has traditionally exemplified alternative forms of sexuality and/or gender identities, providing with the ideal forum for any criticism on gender biased societies and behaviors. Taking into account that futures are always based on the present and the ways it is envisioned, we will focus on how gender identities are constructed in contemporary Hollywood cinema, an hegemonic discourse that dictates how femininity and masculinity should be (subjected on many occasions to mere marketing strategies). For this purpose, we will adopt a critical post-structuralist perspective on how images of the body are represented in popular science fiction films released in the last few decades. We further aim at illustrating how some science fiction films released at the end of the millennium and current century propose alternative gender realities, suggesting at the same time the idea that the oppressive patriarchal structure that govern most contemporary societies can be deconstructed and changed, or at least silenced, in these movies.