Otherworldly Politics

<p>In <em>Otherworldly Politics</em> Stephen Benedict Dyson examines the fictional but deeply political realities of three television shows: <em>Star Trek</em> <em>Game of Thrones</em> and <em>Battlestar Galactica.</em></p><p>Dyson explains how these shows offer alternative histories and future possibilities for humanity. Fascinated by politics and history science fiction and fantasy screenwriters and showrunners suffuse their scripts with real-world ideas of empire war civilization and culture lending episodes a compelling intricacy and contemporary resonance.</p><p>Dyson argues that science fiction and fantasy television creators share a fundamental kinship with great minds in international relations. Screenwriters like Gene Roddenberry George R. R. Martin and Ronald D. Moore are world-builders of no lesser creativity Dyson argues than theorists such as Woodrow Wilson Kenneth Waltz and Alexander Wendt. Each of these thinkers imagines a realm specifies the rules of its operation and by so doing shows us something about ourselves and how we interact with one another. Combining intellectual and real-world history with lucid theoretical analysis the book is a vital challenge to scholars and a spur to creative thinking for fans of these three influential shows.</p>