ABSTRACT
The use of Black people in popular Western science fiction narratives indicates unspoken desires in authors and readers to create and accept fictional, and by extension, real worlds, where the absence or presence of blackness marks differing types of human-ness. The persistent retention of perceived ‘universal’ bodies, which qualify to represent Humanity in response to alien bodies and considerations, are not ultimately accidental. Where the Black body is present, its role remains suspect, as extant stereotypes and allusions of dispensability remain in place, and its absence allows the continuation of normality. This paper will explore these concerns, interrogating how widely accepted science fiction films and stories reproduce racialised conceptions of the future.
