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Popular Culture and Philosophy #33
Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up?
Amid the suffocating for of conformity that descended over America following 9/11, only one voice was able to reach the masses with honest commentary about the war on terror and the profound moral dilemmas involved in invasion, occupation, and resistance. This was the rebound TV science-fiction series, Battlestar Galactica.
Who counts as human? Is killing an intelligent non-human murder or garbage disposal? Can we really know who we are until we know what we are? Battlestar Galactica confronts the reality of the twenty-first-century world system, where any one of us may discover, at any moment, that we are not what we thought we were, that our identity has been fragmented, corrupted, lost, stolen or deleted.
Battlestar Galactica has been hailed by Time magazine and other critics as the smartest and most thought-provoking show on television. As well as thoughtful analysis of every aspect of the saga, Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy provides abundant background information and looks at every report from the Battlestar Galactica universe: all three TV series, the movie Razor, webisodes, novels, comics, video games and fanfic.
Who counts as human? Is killing an intelligent non-human murder or garbage disposal? Can we really know who we are until we know what we are? Battlestar Galactica confronts the reality of the twenty-first-century world system, where any one of us may discover, at any moment, that we are not what we thought we were, that our identity has been fragmented, corrupted, lost, stolen or deleted.
Battlestar Galactica has been hailed by Time magazine and other critics as the smartest and most thought-provoking show on television. As well as thoughtful analysis of every aspect of the saga, Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy provides abundant background information and looks at every report from the Battlestar Galactica universe: all three TV series, the movie Razor, webisodes, novels, comics, video games and fanfic.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
423 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2008
14 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 29, 2008
I've been getting a number of the Popular Culture and Philosophy books. I haven't really studied classical philosophy. I didn't take a basic Philosophy class in college.
So, seeing different philosophies shown through the prism of another subject I really like has been really interesting. There's no central theme to the book. You don't get a progressive look at different philosophies over time as illustrated by BSG. What you get is a series of essays grouped broadly into different topics that examine different philosophies through BSG. The approach here is fairly in-depth and the essays are well-written and thought provoking. There were a number of times that I found myself wanting to engage in a dialog with an essayist. Sometimes to dispute a point about the show or the application of a certain philosophical point to the show. Other times, it was just wishing for more explanation or clarification of a point that was confusing or fuzzy to me. But the main point is that the essays do make you think actively about the essayist's position or thoughts. That made the book a worthwhile book to read for me.
So, seeing different philosophies shown through the prism of another subject I really like has been really interesting. There's no central theme to the book. You don't get a progressive look at different philosophies over time as illustrated by BSG. What you get is a series of essays grouped broadly into different topics that examine different philosophies through BSG. The approach here is fairly in-depth and the essays are well-written and thought provoking. There were a number of times that I found myself wanting to engage in a dialog with an essayist. Sometimes to dispute a point about the show or the application of a certain philosophical point to the show. Other times, it was just wishing for more explanation or clarification of a point that was confusing or fuzzy to me. But the main point is that the essays do make you think actively about the essayist's position or thoughts. That made the book a worthwhile book to read for me.
July 7, 2008
I'm biased because I wrote two of the essays in this book.
October 11, 2010
There's lots of interesting viewpoints presented here, but the book loses points for some seriously sloppy copyediting. There are duplicated sentences, missing commas, and even characters names spelled wrong. I know things slip through the cracks sometimes, but it got to a point that I could no longer ignore it.
I also wish it had been compiled after the new series was finished, it only goes through season three, but a some of the arguments presented necessarily change with information presented in the final season. Not all of them, obviously, but I still think a complete view of the series would inform many of the articles more fully.
I also wish it had been compiled after the new series was finished, it only goes through season three, but a some of the arguments presented necessarily change with information presented in the final season. Not all of them, obviously, but I still think a complete view of the series would inform many of the articles more fully.
January 15, 2009
because i'm that much of a nerd
December 5, 2018
There's often great chapters in these "[Insert topic here] and Philosophy" books, but they generally are pretty mixed bags. Sometimes they're weighted more toward the good quality. This one, not so much. There are some chapters that are definitely worth reading, including the opening chapter written by Daniel Milsky, but then there's some chapters that just don't really seem worth it.
August 1, 2009
Very hit and miss with some of the articles and Ideas presented. Fun read for the most part
November 4, 2012
Very well written n thought provoking
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews