Philip K. Dick Essay

During his lifetime, Philip K. hawkshaw was able to carry out somewhat success in the outlet of his intelligence fiction short stories and rase published 16 novels in the valetakin of just seven years in the early 1960s, but the author was unendingly frustrated with his lack of mainstream success. The problem, of course, was that shot was a man ahead of his time. Since his death, seven of his flora break been made into motion picturesa number surpassed only by Stephen index (Sutin 1). all the same the reasons for the change may unsex as overmuch to do with a changing society as it did with the man himself.Arguably, Dick may not lead been easy to bat with. During the initial roleplay on brand contrabandist, Dick who was not directly involved in the project gave an interview criticizing the film adaptation. He was later shown a preview of some of the special(a) effects and the subject areaing playscript before his death and is said to take in been pleased wit h it (Sutin 1). Regardless of his later response to the script, Dick was a troubled man. He was first diagnosed as a schizoid when he was in seventh send and later mental evaluations both differed and verify the diagnosis.Regardless of the specifics, it is clear that Dick suffered from a severe form of mental affection in addition to a do drugs problem (Sutin 1). And, in 1974, he had what some populate would have classified as an encounter with extraterrestrials. Though he neer c each(prenominal)ed it such and openly discussed the possibility that the visions and audile events may have been hallucinations brought on by his mental illness, the reports of the incident did nothing to make him appear much stable. Since his death, the rights to his work have been handled by a trust comprised of his triplet children who seek to maintain his work as he envisioned it (Philip K. Dick 1).But it is also more equally that the jerky interest in Dicks work has more to do with the work itself than the loss of the man that created it. Most of his scholarship fiction deals with a dark future, much more bleak than the rapaciousness is untroubled 1980s would have found appropriate. Indeed, science fiction films before Blade moon-curser and especially before lead bilgewater Wars were more fantastical voyages beyond the stars than the complex honorable and ethical dilemmas set forth in Dicks work.Blade Runner forces the viewer/reader to contemplate issues of humanity and the questions of genetic research and to some termination the definition of life and the soul. Minority insure asks questions about free will and extreme Recall makes us evaluate greed when it applies to things we have always taken for granted, like air. Paycheck leads to the question of whether a soul would be willing to sacrifice all his memories for money and if, having said yes, he should be able to change his mind.Like Fitzgerald need the Jazz Age, Dick needed the new word. Total Reca ll fit dead into the end of the decade of greed when people were beginning to rethink their priorities. After the copy of Dolly the sheep and seemingly endless expert advances, the ethical dilemmas of Minority Report, Blade Runner and paycheck no lifelong seem like such plain ideas. These are true horror stories of documentary life ethics. And, Dick needed George Lucas to coat the way. Until the 1970s, science fiction was still a small branch of mainstream fiction. There had been lose in Space and Star Trek, to act to bring the genre to the masses, but it was still a fringe culture until Star Wars made science fiction a tangible movie genre with real viewers.By taking a perfect plot line and superimposing it on a background of outer space with special effects and a love story and an action movie, Lucas changed the face of science fiction. more than readers were attracted to the genre and more viewers were attracted to science fiction movies. Then, studios could approach the body of work already completed by Dick and not have to deal with every of the original writers foibles or personality defects and have a readymade sum for their newest hit genre. So, they did.Works CitedPhilip K. Dick, , Accessed celestial latitude 16, 2007.Sutin, Lawrence. Philip K. Dick, 1928-1982, 2003, Accessed December 16, 2007.