Reduced to an Image

Sammanfattning: This thesis investigates the use of science-fiction film as a medium through which the collective understanding of future urban environments can be discussed. It poses the question of how images of architecture in science-fiction films influence our perceptions and understanding of the future of our lived environments. By focusing on images of fictional future urban environments that have been selected from the science fiction motion pictures Dredd (2012) and Black Panther (2018), as well the web tv series Altered Carbon (2018). These images are analysed through a social semiotic analysis, based on that of Kress and van Leeuwen, focusing on the creation of semiotic meaning and interpretation of the audience. The main theoretical framework draws from the work of Walter Benjamin’s work on the 19h century Paris Arcades, and focus mainly on his concepts of dream and wish images. The main argument of this thesis is based on Charles Jenck’s understanding that architecture is based in strong determinism and that by understanding the factors that ultimately shaper world, we will be able to make more informed decisions about the kind of world we would want to live in, which influences that future.