The Matrix

The Matrix was possibly my favorite movie from this intersession. I felt like I understood this movie a lot better than the others. It uses the concept of "mind over matter" a lot, which made a lot of sense to me. It also clearly leads back to the question of what makes us human. The Agent Smiths clearly did not see any room for compromise, which is very computerlike in nature. Furthermore, Neo was able to tap into godlike power just by using his mind and convincing himself that he could bend the laws of physics, essentially destroying the laws of physics. This was a very interesting concept for the movie, and was interesting to discuss. This was a great movie to end the intersession with.

Brazil

Brazil was probably the most entertaining film we watched, but didn't seem to have much of a message to take away. The film was obviously portraying a dystopian future plagued by an obnoxiously powerful beaurocratic government, but it didn't lead to as great of a discussion as the others. I mean, at least give us something to ponder, Mr. Film Director! Any messages in the film were painfully blatant and really didn't leave much to explore. The movie was entertaining and the character Harry Tuttle was inspiring and all, but overall I don't really appreciate this movie as much as the others. That's all.

Fake Smartness

The movie AI (Artificial Intelligence) was shockingly touching in juxtaposition with the other sci-fi films we've seen so far. It details the adventures of an android child built and tasked with the intention of being a replacement child. I knew from the start that it would lead to the child becoming human even though he technically is not, but it did a very good job. The actions of the child were inspiring and interesting to follow. I thought that the Flesh Fair was an actually realistic event considering how radical humans can be. I also thought that David's development was fascinating, and truly captured the spirit of youth, and the essence of humanity. Even though David was made from machinery, he expressed the values and behaviors that are needed to really be considered human.

Blaidrunna

Today's film was Bladerunner, a dystopian film where humans live in fear of a dangerous species known as Replicates. Replicates are androids designed by humans to work almost like slaves. There is a special police force known as The Bladerunners dedicated to eradicating all Replicates due to their adapting emotions and superhuman behavior. I thought that it was a fairly farfetched film. It seems silly that humans would create a large number of such dangerous creatures without predicting that their emotions could have massive backlash. Furthermore, I do not understand why there was not some form of an emergency exit plan in case something bad did come from the Replicates. Instead, The Bladerunners were put into action, which seems a bit of a hasty decision. The film did a good job of analyzing what defines human behavior in terms of violent tendencies and negative feelings, but nothing really struck me in particular about this film. I feel it had a lot of potential but didn't turn out to be all that thought-provoking. Fun to watch, but compared to the other films we've seen, it didn't really get me to think much.

Soylent Verde

The movie Soylent Green was a bleak dystopian movie. As a film, it was very dull, slow-paced, and it scarcely seemed that the first half hour or so had any real point. However, it was a clear depiction of a future that could very well happen. The rich controlled the vast majority of the wealth and had pleasant lives. There was a massively overpopulated city where the poor lived, cramped, hungry, and unhappy. The environment was so badly damaged that real food was scarce, leaving the plebian masses to consume Soylent Green, a food made from the bodies of the dead. There were so few satisfying jobs available that some people sold themselves out as furniture, living basically as whores in the houses of the rich. There was so much disappointment with what society had become that there were public facilities for committing suicide (and afterwards being turned into Soylent Green). I can imagine a future society like this, however I doubt there will ever be a public suicide facility. Depressing as things would be, Christianity is so deeply rooted in our country that suicide would probably not be as accepted.

Planet Of The Apes

The Planet Of The Apes

When first watching the movie The Planet Of The Apes, I initially had some disdain for it. I thought that it was a slightly ridiculous humane statement to try and make people sympathize for the animals that humans mistreat by showing animals abusing humans. As the plot developed, I realized that it made some interesting points about the tension between science and religion. Apparently the humans had gone extinct (except for Taylor and his crew), and a race of primates claims to have evolved from humans and subjugates them. The elites in the primate society had created a system that essentially used religion and science in synergy in order to keep the primates disliking humans. Eventually, conflictions between the faith and scientific discoveries in the forbidden zone came up. There's an interesting balance with those elements in this movie and I thought it was a creative approach in the movie.

Two Thousand One- The Adventures of Odysseus in Space Pictures

2001

Making connections between humans and machines in terms of behavior was interesting when discussing the film 2001- A Space Odyssey. In the beginning of the movie, the character Dave was blank and nearly devoid of emotions. One could say this makes him machinelike in nature. The computer HAL was similar in a sense, because it focused on the mission at hand above all else. However, there were changes throughout the plot. HAL started to develop humanlike qualities, such as emotions. HAL demonstrated its frustration with human error, then continued to develop. This leads me to wonder whether or not HAL was more human than humans. I feel that HAL was not entirely human. HAL came close, but still showed computerlike qualities. When Dave was attempting to disable HAL, Dave refused to talk to HAL. This made it difficult for HAL to respond. HAL adapts to situations and judging by its inability to form a thought, we can say that it still had computerlike qualities and was not truly sentient.

The Day The Earth Stood Still Images

The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Thing

Both films we watched today, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Thing had a few themes in common. Both films had consistent vibes of fear of the unknown, which one would expect from sci-fi films released during the Cold War era. Like the people of the United States feared communists, the characters in the movies immediately feared something that was unfamiliar. This is not to say, however, that the characters were exactly the same. In The Day the Earth Stood Still, the civilians had unsubstantiated fears of their extraterrestrial visitor. They started all kinds of rumors based off nothing, and the thought that the alien might be friendly was cast aside quickly. In The Thing, though the characters were afraid, they attempted to be reasonable and plan out their actions. They used effective communication, and although the scientist character made a (futile) attempt to communicate with the alien, they ended up killing it in an organized manner unlike the alien killing in The Day the Earth Stood Still. These could both be seen as commentaries on the governments and military during the time. It was detrimental to the people of Earth to act mindlessly and to immediately see something foreign as a threat.

Frankenstein Pictures

A Somewhat Related Comic
















The "Monster"'s Tender Side












The Burning Windmill













Frankenstein's Monster

Frankenstein

Today we watched the film Frankenstein, which is based off the novel known as Frankenstein or Prometheus Unbound. A major theme in this class is the effect that technology has on us as people, and what the proper use of technology should be.

In the beginning of the film, Dr. Frankenstein the ambitious scientist demonstrates his expansive mind and hunger for knowledge by assembling a body out of various dead body parts and using complex machinery to bring it to life. He is deeply connected to his work, to the point that he values this technological "progress" over spending time with his wife (although they weren't YET married). Many of the people around the doctor call him crazy, but in his own eyes he's just a man with big ideas. What struck me is the transformation of his creation. To Dr. Frankenstein, the "monster" was a breakthrough in science, a true miracle. Over time, due to the actions of Igor and others, the creation became depraved and turned hostile. Many see this film as dystopian, but I see it as something a little less bleak. I see this film as something between prevail and dystopian. Because of curiosity, ambition, dedication, and technology, Dr. Frankenstein was able to make his dreams come true and accomplish something truly amazing. It was not by his own will that this creation turned against him, nor was it due to his own actions. Dr. Frankenstein was able to feel like he was truly a god, and would surely be honored amongst scientists if it were not for the corruption of his creation. The role of technology seemed fairly minor in this film, as it was not the technology that made Frankenstein's monster dangerous, but the people around it. There was evidence that the monster had potential to be good, but it was eventually ruined.