«All of this has happened before and will happen again». The Non-deferrable Seasons of the Myth in Battlestar Galactica

  • Andrea Cannas University of Cagliari
Keywords: Battlestar Galactica, Myth, Science Fiction, TV Series, Robot

Abstract

In the motto that characterises the key moments in the TV series Battlestar Galactica we can gather a hint of the heart of the myth: «All of this has happened before and will happen again». This comes from a strategy that builds the narration of the story alongside a rhythmic cadence, the hero that rises from his ashes and the connection between human and robot, the creator and the creature, the exact moment that the perpetrator and the victim interchange their roles. Science fiction, with its complex system of characters that interact with each other through specific roles, works like a mythical system; however, in this case, the myth works the other way around: if originally the mythological story wanted to bring what humanity couldn’t explain back to a bearable level, now the science fiction solves the problem existing between the individual and a technologically advanced reality by trying to bring the imponderable and indeterminable back to a rational structure.

 

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Author Biography

Andrea Cannas, University of Cagliari

Andrea Cannas is researcher (Assistant Professor) of Italian Literature at the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics of the University of Cagliari. He has published monographs and essays on Leopardi, Bruno, Galilei, Pavese, Calvino, Deledda, Satta, Atzeni, and widely analysed the 20th century adaptations of classical myths, Italian songwriters (De André), and comics. He is a writer of short stories and an editor of the literary journal Portales.

 

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Published
2018-12-21
How to Cite
Cannas, A. (2018). «All of this has happened before and will happen again». The Non-deferrable Seasons of the Myth in <em>Battlestar Galactica</em&gt;. Medea, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.13125/medea-3488