Science of Consciousness: A Brief History of Time Travel

TENTATIVELY RESCHEDULED TO APRIL 2022.

Dir. Gisella Bustillos will be speaking about time travel narratives and consciousness at the Science of Consciousness Conference 2020 in Tuscon, AZ this coming April. More information to be announced soon…

Abstract: Time travel narratives offer an insightful analysis on an individual's perception of time. One could argue that the very act of consuming media can be seen as dislocating one's consciousness to the present and thus, reality. In this talk I will explore the evolution of the time travel genre and how its narrative structures are evolving our perceptions of temporality. In particular: 1) the conceptualization of time based on rituals and myths from precursors to the time travel genre as seen in literature, 2) the nature of subjective time travel in cinematic storytelling: memory, nostalgia, and altered conscious states, and 3) the malleability of time travel in emerging media: using video games to explore subjective temporal existences. I will illustrate these points further with examples taken from various media and explore the interconnectedness of time and consciousness.