Space Oddities

<br/><p><em>Space Oddities</em> examines the representation of women in outer space films from 1960 to 2000 with an emphasis on films in which women are either denied or given the role of astronaut. Marie Lathers traces an evolution in this representation from women as aliens and/or assistant astronauts to women as astronaut wives to women as astronauts themselves. Many popular films from the era are considered as are earlier films (from <em>Aelita Queen of Mars</em> to <em>Devil Girl From Mars</em>) and historical records literary fiction and television shows (especially <em>I Dream of Jeannie</em>). Early 1960s attempts by women pilots to enter the Space Race are considered as is the media drama surrounding the death of Christa McAuliffe. </p><br/><p>In addition to its insightful film scholarship this is an important addition to current reassessments of the Space Race. By applying insights from contemporary gender race and species theories to popular imaginings of women in space the status of the Space Race as a cultural construct that reproduces and/or warps terrestrial gender structures is revealed.<br/></p>