How do we depict prehistoric life, or imagine the development of future lifeforms? How would life look on a planet completely different from us?
Illustration by Dougal Dixon – Man After Man : An Anthropology of the Future (1990)
We can paint a picture using science, keep to the facts as far as we can. Though eventually we’ll reach a point where that’s not enough anymore. Where we feel the need to rely on our imagination to depict these worlds that are so different from what we understand.
How should we go about that though? Where lies the point where fact and fiction meet? And how do we portray them in media? Not only considering depictions of past and future life on Earth, or life on other planets. But also how we use this knowledge as a foundation in genres such as fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, and the like. Creating fictional worlds that feel believable and have a real impact on the viewers.
Approach
- Research of scientific depictions of the past, future and life on other planets
- Research of fictional depictions of the past, future and life on other planets
- Media Analysis
- Comparison
