The relationship between myth and science fiction is a complex one. Frequently, the boundary between these two correlates of our imaginary seem to blur; all the more since the beginning of the industrial revolution when the usual extraordinary scenarios of the mythical stories were also represented by science fiction. It seems as if the relentless progress of this genre threatened the existence of myth. This attempt of usurpation runs in parallel with the exponential advances in empirical science. A scientific study is therefore necessary to analyse its common features and determine its limits, especially within the context of the new society dominated by images.

1. MITO Y CIENCIA FICCIÓN

2. Trivium. Biblioteca de textos y ensayo
Dirección:
Dr. José Ramón Trujillo - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Basilio Rodríguez Cañada - Grupo Editorial Sial Pigmalión
Comité científico:
Dra. María José Alonso Veloso - Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Dr. Carlos Alvar - Université de Genève (Suiza)
Dr. Rafael Bonilla Cerezo - Universidad de Córdoba
Dra. Françoise Dubosquet - Université Rennes 2 Haute-Bretagne (Francia)
Dra. Ruth Fine - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
Dr. Ángel Gómez Moreno - Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Dr. José Manuel Lucía Megías - Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Dra. Karla Xiomara Luna Mariscal - Colegio de México (México)
Dr. Ridha Mami - Université de la Manouba (Túnez)
Dr. Fabio Martínez - Universidad del Valle (Colombia)
Dra. María Payeras - Universitat de les Illes Balears
Dr. Marcial Rubio Árquez - Università degli Studi «G. d’Annunzio» Chieti - Pescara (Italia)
La colección «Trivium» se rige por un proceso de evaluación y revisión anónimo realizado por
dos especialistas en el área (revisión por pares), uno de los cuales pertenece a su comité científico
internacional. Todas las ediciones críticas y artículos científicos publicados en la colección han pasado esta
revisión por pares y siguen los criterios de estilo y los estándares éticos establecidos en su constitución.
Editorial evaluada en Scholarly Publishers Indicators in Humanities and Social Sciences
(SPI), Lingüística, literatura y filología (2018): puesto 44, ICEE 9.
© de los textos: José Manuel Losada y Antonella Lipscomb (eds.)
© Colección Trivium de Textos y Ensayo, 2021
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Dirección de la colección: José Ramón Trujillo y Basilio Rodríguez Cañada
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Hecho en España (Unión Europea)

3. JOSÉ MANUEL LOSADA
ANTONELLA LIPSCOMB (EDS.)
MITO Y CIENCIA FICCIÓN
Trivium
Biblioteca de textos y ensayo, 47
ial ediciones

4. Comité científico / Scientific Committee
Pilar Andrade - Universidad Complutense
Leon Burnett - University of Essex, R.U.
José María Contreras - Universidad de Sevilla
Christina Dokou - The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Grecia
Ana González-Rivas - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Teresa López Pellisa - Universidad de Alcalá
Asunción López-Varela - Universidad Complutense
Francisco Molina Moreno - Universidad Complutense
Paloma Ortiz de Urbina - Universidad de Alcalá
Luis Alberto Pérez-Amezcua - Universidad de Guadalajara, México
Magdalena Polo Pujadas - Universidad de Barcelona
Luis Unceta - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
0HWND=XSDQĀLĀ8QLYHUVLWRI$ODEDPD((88

5. ÍNDICE
JOSÉ MANUEL LOSADA: «Introducción. Mito y ciencia ficción:
una convivencia compleja».......................................................................... 9
JOSÉ MANUEL LOSADA: «Introduction. Myth and Science Fiction:
A Complex Coexistence» ............................................................................. 15
CRISTINA CORIASSO MARTÍN-POSADILLO: «El síndrome de Frankenstein
en dos criaturas del cine de Bong Joon-ho»............................................... 21
MIGUEL GÓMEZ JIMÉNEZ: «De la mujer natural a la belleza artificial
en el mito de Galatea y el cine de ciencia ficción»...................................... 29
JOSÉ MANUEL LOSADA: «La trascendencia de la ciencia ficción».................. 39
JON MENTXAKATORRE ODRIOZOLA: «Trascendencia y tecnociencia:
la trilogía cósmica de C.S. Lewis».................................................................... 47
LUIS UNCETA GÓMEZ: «Ody-C de Matt Fraction y Christian Ward: sexo,
género y binarismo en una reescritura CF de la Odisea» ............................ 59
YING TAN: «Heroísmo en la ciencia ficción china contemporánea:
La Trilogía de los tres cuerpos»........................................................................ 73
SAUL ANDREETTI: «Golems or replicants? The life of words as the message
of La Vie éternelle, roman»............................................................................ 83
LEON BURNETT: «“The weight of God”: consciousness in Galatea 2.2 and
Destination: Void» .......................................................................................... 93
CHRISTINA DOKOU: «Amazonoclonomachia in Brian K. Vaughan’s
Y: The Last Man».......................................................................................... 103
EVANTHIA GKILNTIRIM: «Romanticizing Science Fiction: Dreaming of
Prometheus and Artificial Morality in Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein».... 113
ANGELIKI ROUMPANI: «Modern Pygmalions, Cyborg Sameness and
the Delusion of Artificial Felicity in Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives»............ 123
0(7.$=83$1ÿ,ÿ «Wim Wenders, Until the End of the World (1991):
Apocalypse and Beyond?»........................................................................... 133
AGRADECIMIENTOS / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................... 143

7. 15
INTRODUCTION
José Manuel Losada
MYTH AND SCIENCE FICTION: A COMPLEX COEXISTENCE
THE relationship between myth and science fiction is a complex one.
Frequently, the boundaries between these two correlates of our imaginary
seem to blur; all the more since the beginning of the industrial revolution when
the usual extraordinary scenarios of the mythical stories were also represented
by science fiction. It seems as if the relentless progress of this genre threatened
the existence of myth. This attempt of usurpation runs in parallel with the expo-
nential advances in empirical science. A scientific study is therefore necessary to
analyse its common features and determine its limits, especially within the con-
text of the new society dominated by images.
Consider, for example, a distortion that affects equally both myth and science
fiction: the predominant role of entertainment, occasionally parasite of narra-
tion; the reader remains absorbed by the wonders that lie before his eyes. An
immediate consequence is that the message of the myth is sidelined in favour of
the dramatic effect. The outcome repeats itself in science fiction. This genre
underlines the progressive reign of science as research moves forward; even dys-
topias rivet, by contrast, this same scientific reign. Such is the case of the first
science fiction texts: the Icaromenipus by Luciano features an adventurous philos-
opher who, with the help of two wings, rises up to Mount Olympus and the
moon, from which he observes Asia and Europe, with such good visibility that he

8. 16
can even distinguish what happens inside the houses. The mythological and sa-
tirical excerpts do not affect the nature of this story, where already a greater
importance is given to entertainment rather than narration.
This distortion of the narrative effects becomes clearer when moving from
written to cinematographic medium. A Trip to the Moon by Meliès (Le Voyage dans
la Lune) had such an unprecedented success that the director came up with dif-
ferent sequels, more or less loosely modelled on other works by Jules Verne.
Meliès did not hesitate to extend the spectacular shots; in a sequence of A Trip to
the Moon, the way in which the star becomes bigger as the spaceship gets closer
is substituted in The Impossible Voyage by another shot in which the spaceship flies
until it reaches the sun. The result is a series of antics that relegate to second
place the intricacies of science. What remains from that power that science fic-
tion had come to celebrate is merely the flamboyant celebrations at the return of
the explorers.
The specularity has to be conceivable: therefore, science fiction presents the
incredible effects of science in a credible way. This credibility is based on a rela-
tionship of analogy that makes the reader or spectator inclined to believe the
projections of what he knows or thinks he knows.: the most rational aspects of
the known world act as bait and enticement for the acceptance of the less ratio-
nal of the unknown. The skill of the narrator, his manipulation, helps to achieve
the mimetic effect of literature.
There is another element here in which, once again, science fiction and myth
come together and converge: mimesis. Literature is the art of mimesis. Super-
man turns in the opposite direction to earth’s rotation in order to reverse time;
Satan descends to Tartarus in search of demons that support him in his rebel-
lion: two episodes drawn from science fiction and mythological narrative respec-
tively, incredible or credible according to different factors (contextual setting of
the narrative, aptitudes of the sender, dispositions of the recipient). That said,
just as myth delivers extraordinary events without explaining it, science fiction
puts great interest in providing it with scientific and para-scientific investiga-
tions and explanations; the former grants part of its truth to the latter, in such a
way that the totality acquires a logical similarity that demands our credibility.
None of this occurs in myth, where the fiduciary, authoritative and numinous
factors play the role that modern times attribute to science.
The place occupied by science in the development of the arguments of the
genre deserves an analysis. Occasionally an event or a discovery trigger the plot:
Pym discovers the chemical particles that allow changes of size and invents a
helmet capable of controlling ants (Ant-Man); in others, a scientific error or col-
lateral damage are at the origin of the plot: as a consequence of an excessive
exposure to gamma rays, Banner suffers a mutation that transforms him into a
raging beast (The Incredible Hulk). Together with these classic arguments of pa-
ra-science in the plots of the genre, are other more sophisticated ones. Thus,
through the recourse of the theory of the multiverse, one confers the existence

9. 17
of hypothetical parallel or alternative universes which, considered as a whole,
include what exists. The origin of Marvel Universe or Universe DC, whose ad-
ventures seem endowed with a continuity that gives coherence to all the argu-
ments is no different. When isolated universes interpenetrate, the routine is dis-
rupted and tension is created. We are confronted with para-science or science
fiction. Aliens from other universes emerge in ours, as in Pacific Rim, where the
kaijus cross an interdimensional gate and emerge through a breach in the bot-
tom of the Pacific Ocean to destroy the human race.
What about magic? Expelled for major reasons from the world of experimen-
tal science, magic slips into the realm of science fiction. This is not surprising:
both share a similar tendency to acceleration and extrapolation. Let us remem-
ber that magic is a shortcut: when the established order in the material world
acquires signs of unbearable slowness, the myth (and fantasy) make use of magic;
there is nothing so simple as to resort to an object (a wand, a ring or fire) to
glimpse the past or the future, convert stones into gold or to dominate the mind
of the opponent. Magic is to the mythical story what para-science is to fiction: a
credible shortcut to save time or to achieve impossible goals through the usual
course of our world.
Where does myth start and where does it end? How far does science fiction go?
What significance does the crossing between both narratives have? As always,
what is crucial and indisputable is to analyse the kind of transcendence in each
case, the utmost criterion to identify and distinguish myth and science fiction.
The following chapters offer answers to these questions.
«El síndrome de Frankenstein en dos criaturas del cine de Bong Joon-ho», by
Cristina Coriasso, analyses the recovery of Shelley’s creature through The Host
and Okja, where the appearance of monsters responds to the absence of com-
mercial scruples.
«De la mujer natural a la belleza artificial en el mito de Galatea y el cine de
ciencia ficción», by Miguel Gómez Jiménez, deals with the relationship between
the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea in the films La piel que habito, Her and Blade
Runner (2049) with the aim of questioning the limits between the original model
and its artificial image.
«La trascendencia de la ciencia ficción», by José Manuel Losada, explores the
hypothetical transcendence in the science fiction productions in order to under-
stand the extent to which they can offer a mythical derivate.
«Trascendencia y tecnociencia: la trilogía cósmica de C.S. Lewis», by Jon Men-
txakatorre Odriozola, investigates the constructive dialogue between the tran-
scendence of myth and the immanence of science fiction towards demonstrating
that technoscience can convey transcendence in this author.
«Ody-C de Matt Fraction y Christian Ward: sexo, género y binarismo en una
reescritura CF de la Odisea», by Luis Unceta Gómez, presents, with regard to the
return home of the three warrior queens Odyssia, Gamen and Ene (reversal of

10. 18
Odysseus, Agamemnon and Menelaus), a deconstruction of the hetero-patriar-
chal model of the original story.
«Heroísmo en la ciencia ficción china contemporánea: La Trilogía de los tres
cuerpos», by Ying Tan, analyses the work of Liu Cixin in light of the relationship
between heroes and people.
«Golems or Replicants? The Life of Words as the Message of La Vie éternelle,
Roman», by Saul Andreetti, studies the convergence between biblical characters,
golems and replicants in this novel by the French economist and writer in order
to explore the enigma of the life of words.
«“The Weight of God”: Consciousness in Galatea 2.2 and Destination: Void», by
Leon Burnett, examines two novels: Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers and Destina-
tion: Void by Frank Herbert, in which Greek mythological recurrences have been
replaced by a focus on the activity of the cybernetic brain; the power has moved
from divine providence to human intelligence.
«Amazonoclonomachia in Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man», by Christina
Dokou, explores the consequences of an ecoscientific accident that leaves the
survival of the planet at the expense of an improbable cloning and in this way
suggests an innovative problematic on identity and otherness.
«Romanticizing Science Fiction: Dreaming of Prometheus and Artificial Mo-
rality in Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein», by Evanthia Gkilntirim, examines,
on the one hand, the convergence of two mythical examples of the male (pro)
creativity (Pygmalion y Prometheus) and on the other, the generation of a cyborg
opposed to artificial ethics.
«Modern Pygmalions, Cyborg Sameness and the Delusion of Artificial Felicity
in Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives», by Angeliki Roumpani, delves into the perver-
sion of humanity through the scientific recreation with the aim of emphasizing
the importance of social harmony and community solidarity.
«Wim Wenders, Until the End of the World (1991): Apocalypse and Beyond?», by
0HWND=XSDQĀLĀGLVVHFWVDQLQLWLDWRUSURFHVVZLWKSURIRXQGFKDQJHVDWDSHU-
sonal and collective level resulting in radioactive phenomena, addiction to im-
ages and destruction of indigenous cultures, always with a view to help us and
better understand our universe and ourselves.
There could undoubtedly have been more contributions; this selection already
allows us to provide interpretative keys of modernity and postmodernity, as well
as culture and thought of today’s society.
This volume is the tenth of a series on myth that started in 2010:
1. Mito y mundo contemporáneo. La recepción de los mitos antiguos, medievales y
modernos en la literatura contemporánea, José Manuel Losada (ed.), Bari (Ita-
lia), Levante Editori, 2010, 785 pp., 45 ilustr. International Research
Award «Giovi-Città di Salerno»

11. 19
2. Myth and Subversion in the Contemporary Novel, José Manuel Losada Mar-
ta Guirao (eds.), Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
2012, xvi-523 pp.
3. Mito e interdisciplinariedad. Los mitos antiguos, medievales y modernos en la lit-
eratura y las artes contemporáneas, José Manuel Losada Antonella Lip-
scomb (eds.), Bari (Italia), Levante Editori, 2013, 458 pp., 80 ilustr.
4. Abordajes. Mitos y reflexiones sobre el mar, José Manuel Losada (dir.), Madrid,
Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 2014, 274 pp., 95 ilustr.
5. Nuevas formas del mito. Una metodología interdisciplinar, studies collected and
presented by José Manuel Losada, Berlín, Logos Verlag, 2015, 221 pp.
6. Myths in Crisis: The Crisis of Myth, José Manuel Losada Antonella Lip-
scomb (eds.), Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
2015, xxix-441 pp.
7. Mitos de hoy. Ensayos de mitocrítica cultural, José Manuel Losada (ed.), Ber-
lín, Logos Verlag, 2016, 211 pp.
8. Myth and Emotions, José Manuel Losada Antonella Lipscomb (eds.),
Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017, xviii-345
pp.
9. Myth and Audiovisual Creation, José Manuel Losada Antonella Lipscomb
(eds.), Berlin, Logos Verlag, 2019, 225 pp.