A good year for speculative fiction in the AFI top movies and TV shows of 2017

When I called 'The Shape of Water' leads speculative fiction at the 2018 Critics' Choice Movie Awards "the opening salvo of what will be a barrage of major awards shows," I was not kidding.  The American Film Institute (AFI) announced its movies and television shows of the year last week.  Here is a video of the AFI Top Ten Films of 2017.


Just for completeness, Deadline lists the AFI Top 10 Movies Of 2017: ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Get Out’, ‘Shape Of Water’, ‘The Post’ & More.

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

The Big Sick
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Wonder Woman

Yes, three of the top ten movies of the year are speculative fiction movies, "Get Out," "The Shape of Water," and "Wonder Woman."  That's not unheard of, as 2015, an outstanding year for science fiction films, had four, "Inside Out," "Mad Max: Fury Road," "The Martian," and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," and every year this century has had at least one speculative fiction movie on the list.  However, "Wonder Woman" is the first superhero movie since "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012 and "Get Out" is the first horror movie since "Black Swan" in 2010 to make the list.  That's noteworthy that movies in these two genres have been recognized, particularly in the same year.


As if that was not enough, here are the television winners of the AFI Awards: ‘The Good Place’, ‘Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘Insecure’, ‘This Is Us’, ‘Stranger Things’ Among TV Honorees.

Big Little Lies, HBO
The Crown, Netflix
Feud: Bette and Joan, FX
Game of Thrones, HBO
The Good Place, NBC
The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu
Insecure, HBO
Master of None, Netflix
Stranger Things 2, Netflix
This Is Us, NBC

Speculative fiction did even better on television than at the movies with four honorees in speculative fiction genres, "Game of Thrones" and "The Good Place" in fantasy, "The Handmaid's Tale" in science fiction, and "Stranger Things 2" in horror.  In fact, this is the best year so far for speculative fiction on television at these awards, as the previous high was three in 2006 with "Battlestar Galactica," "Heroes," and "South Park."  It's going to be an interesting awards season, even down to next June's Saturn Awards.

Finally, "The Vietnam War," the Ken Burns documentary series from PBS, earned an AFI Special Award.  I might mention that in a post about political, historical, and legal nominees.

I'll have more tomorrow with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Awards nominees and over the weekend with the Golden Globes nominees.  Stay tuned.