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“We Are Alive”

Science fiction works are often placed in a future so far off from our own they seem impossible. It is hard to imagine our world in such a distressing situation to bring on such situations as those seen in “1984” or so far into the future for “Planet of the Apes” to even be slightly fathomable. Science fiction has often dealt with images that are so grandiose we can easily separate it from our lives today. However the 2018 video game “Detroit: Become Human” focuses itself in the ever topical city of Detroit in 2038.

The not so far future does not look too far fetched on the surface. In one of the opening shots we see Detroit in a similar state that it is currently; there is a bustling city that is building more skyscrapers while the suburban areas look rundown and borderline inhabitable (Teaser). This is nothing extraordinary, except for the fact that in this Detroit is the center hub for Cyberlife- the company that distributes humanoid androids.

The creator of these androids says “the hardest thing was to design an object that we would want to welcome into our homes. We had to imagine a machine in our own image, that resembles us in every way. That moves, breathes, blinks like us.” with the only obvious difference between a human and an android being the glowing circle on their right temple (Kamski). This aesthetic choice makes truly believing the androids are just machines difficult, because they seem so human, and this idea is played with several times throughout the game.

The first glimpse we get at the affects of humanoid androids on how humans interact comes from a scene where you can watch a man on his morning jog. He is being followed by his android companion when he stops for a break, throwing his water bottle at the android and rudely demanding stats on his progress after which he resume his run and almost knocks over a woman with no sympathies. Because it is hard to distinguish the humans from the androids some people's reactions are to just treat them all with little to no respect at all. Yet some, because of their compassion towards humans treat the androids with respect. Which is seen through one of the playable characters early game play. Markus, a household nurse android, cares for an elderly man who treats Markus like a son. He is allowed to wander the house freely, occupy his free time how he sees fit, and is encouraged to think outside of his programming. Because of this, when circumstances lead to Markus’ deviation and subsequent android rebellion leader, it is easy to see why he believes androids should not be put into the position of slavery. By making the androids look, act, and feel human “the stakes of the question of who gets to be human very clear” (Cardenas).

“The concept of the human has historically been used to delineate who is less than human, who is disposable, who is killable. Black people, women, trans people, queers, witches, and indigenous people have all been defined as less than human at different times by different regimes of knowledge.” and it is no different in Detroit (Cardenas). These androids begin to deviate or, in other terms, become human when they are pushed to extremes. Several times we see them pushed to deviation in a situation where a human would retaliate to save themselves, and that is exactly what the androids are doing. For Markus it comes at a point where his owner’s son is threatening violence against Markus while the owner begins to have heart failure. We watch as he is taken out of the situation and brought to a wall in his code that states “do not fight back” a direct order from his owner. Markus’ outlined body, his coded soul, beats against this wall until it shatters allowing him to push the son away. The breaking of the code wall giving us the first glimpse of what it means for these androids to become human.

For the android Connor we see his development into a human a little differently. His programing is the newest and most developed, causing the choices you make to bring on little development compared to the other two. However his model, being a detective android that is supposed to aid cops in finding devient and dangerous androids, runs the risk of dying in several scenarios. The first one being in the first chapter you see him in; a hostage case where one of the outcomes is Connors death as he sacrifices himself by pushing both the violent android and himself off the roof of a building. His mission is complete and he is pleased by this, but a future chapter shows him shy away from the edge of another roof as he investigates a new deviant case. If, by some unfortunate circumstances, you end up making specific choices in another chapter Connor can witness, both physically and psychologically, the death of another android which gives you the chapter ending “Connor is traumatized” (Connor is Traumatized). This comes up again when you have a very deep conversation with Connor’s human partner Hank. Hank drunkenly toys with Connor, asking if he feels or thinks for himself, asking if he is alive. Hank pulls his gun on Connor and directly asks him “Are you afraid to die Connor?”. If the previously mentioned scenes take place an option of dialogue is Connor admitting he is afraid of the nothing that would come from his death, the nothing that would happen if his task was not completed (Connor is Afraid to Die). None of these thoughts or emotions are programmed, it would be pointless to do so, which means that every experience Connor has leads him to evolve into something. These choices make him human, others make him a machine, some even end with him being scraped as a defective model. As you play you are not just experiencing a story but witnessing the development of something much more than a simple machine.

Another instance we see where an android has essentially become human by having fear, desiring to “live”, and a human showing, essentially a fellow human made out of a machine, compassion comes from a clip that would eventually become the basis of “Detroit: Become Human”. In the clip an android, Kara, is being assembled. The technician is having her run diagnostic tests to check that everything is functional. She begins to question the technician about what will happen to her, a very humanesque thing to do that androids should not be able to do, and is saddened to hear that she is a piece of merchandise. To the technician’s horror she sadly comments that she thought she was alive, making the technician begin the dismantle process. Kara panics, begging and pleading with the technician as each one of her plates and appendages is removes- screaming out “I am scared! I want to live, I’m begging you.” which stops the technician. He allows her to be rebuilt, sending her out to be sold off because the thought of hurting a creature that can feel fear is quite difficult, machine or not (Kara).

This is quite interesting because one of the main arguments against the creation of artificial intelligence and androids today revolve around the idea of whether or not humans could function in a society where thoughts, feelings, and emotions are partially nonexistent. The idea of a human creating an artificial intelligence that feels, thinks, and acts freely is almost impossible because we still do not understand what makes us cable of that. Many chalk it up to be the idea that humans possess souls, an inanimate undetectable thing, that give us these abilities. This is another thing the game touches on with the clip of one of the androids, Chole, doing an interview with the news. She is the first android to ever pass the Turing test and when asked how she is able to do that her response is “I only exist because of the intelligence of the humans who designed me. And you know they have something I could never have. A Soul.” (Chloe). The idea that the only way for a creature or machine or existence to be worth anything at all is the need for a soul is quite ridiculous. To obtain and prove a creature has one is impossible and leaves out the possibilities of future advances and interactions. What really defines a human is their ability to feel. To feel love, fear, sorrow, anguish, desire, exeter is to be human; to be considered more than just merchandise or labor.

As you play through the game there are many examples of choices you can take that forces the androids to make decisions either based on rational behavior or irrational feelings. For Markus it is the choice between making humans see androids as equals via violence or peace. For Kara it is the choice between loving the little girl as a daughter or to serve as a slave. And for Connor it is the choice between sticking to his mission to hunt down deviant androids no matter the cost or fear the death that would come from a failed mission. The choices you make shape these characters, helps them choose their path, and develops them into either machines or humans.

To become a human is to feel emotions, a wide range of them too. To feel happiness and sorrow, excitement and dismay, fear and courage all these make us human. To have them, develop them, experience them is what defines our every moment. We allow our own children born out of flesh to curate them, why would it be so far fetched to permit those we bare out of machines the same?

Cárdenas, Micha. “The Android Goddess Declaration:” Bodies of Information, 2019.

Europe, PlayStation. “Detroit: Become Human | Kamski | PS4.” YouTube, 22 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HvS86ePaaA.

PlayStation. “Detroit: Become Human - Shorts: Chloe | PS4.” YouTube, 23 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL1ZOLo3s7s.

sceablog. “‘Kara’ by Quantic Dream.” YouTube, 7 Mar. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-pF56-ZYkY.

VGS. “Detroit: Become Human - Connor Is Afraid to Die.” YouTube, 28 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=GonrVf_SJSE&t=13s.

VGS. “Detroit: Become Human - Connor Is Traumatized, After Seeing Jericho.” YouTube, 29 May 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrJcLpo5d5A.

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Avengers Endgame Credits: The Original 6 Avengers

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Westworld

Rubin; “Mind Games”

“Indeed, there are those who think it is foolish or unimaginative to take either human intelligence or the human body seriously when developing artificial intelligence that are, after all, to be used to overcome the weaknesses of the human mind and body. A self-driving car, for example, does not need a robot taxi driver behind the wheel. Yet our imaginations also push in the opposite direction, and not unreasonably. It is our particular form of embodiment that allows us to perform many functions that that same embodiment calls for. Our bodies and minds as they are allow us to use the tools and play the many assertive roles that human beings require because we are so embodied and minded. In addition, the familiar form of our embodiment provides the potential for being comforting and pleasurable in and of itself”

Burlacu; “The ‘Virtual Hetertopias” 

“By instantaneously linking and differentiating various places, times and meanings at multiple levels, the virtual space includes multiple heterotopias. While Foucault couldn’t have developed a comparison between virtual worlds and mirrors, he did however mention the “unreal space that virtually opens up behind the surface” of the mirror (ibid.: 17). Similar to mirrors, virtual worlds offer individuals the possibility of having avatars, which are actually similar to Foucault’s ‘shadow’. It gives each person his/her own visibility, and as such, enables them to see themselves where they are not. Virtual worlds are themselves heterotopias and they contain ‘other places’ that could easily be described using Foucault’s ‘heterotopology’. As such, the virtual worlds contain multileveled sets of inverted relations with the remaining ‘real’ places. However, unlike mirrors, virtual worlds exert multiple return effects on the place a person occupies, because she/he can have more than one shadow or avatar in such a world.”

Cardenas; “The Android Goddess”

“An android goddess knows that she is made by the master’s tools, yet she still seeks to resist the master. An android goddess is a figure of trans of color praxis. I side myself with the fugitive black androids hacking their own code to try to find freedom, as in Janelle Monáe’s Metropolis, the Humans television series, and many more examples in science fiction; with Cylon number eight, Sharon Valerii of Battlestar Galactica, who had an impossible hybrid baby, who knew that she was not just a machine but also a woman, a mother, and a part of her God; with the renegade clones of Orphan Black, who, as Roxanne Samer argues, offer new models of transfeminist kinship; and with homo sensorium, the telepaths in the Wachowski sisters’ Netflix show Sense8 (Getz, 80; Samer).”

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The Twilight Zone

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”

This episode really reminded me of the whole “Red Scare” and “Salem Witch Trials” that has happened in American history. It shows how mental games can tear down relationships in a matter of hours. The whole street lost complete faith in each other at the slightest hint of suspicious activity. They turned on one another quickly because they cared more about their own image and safety, so they could not stop to rationally stop to figure out how to resolve the issues without hurting each other. 

It also reminded me of the now popular trope of “cancel culture” going around on social media right now. The whole premise is finding a past mistake or recent slip up and call for the person’s career to end. This is not always a bad thing, especially when the person is undoubtedly guilty. But it has been found to cause issues because it does not allow for the person to learn and grow from their mistakes. It has also proven to hurt those who have not actually done anything wrong. Take the recent Johnny Depp issue for example: it was reported that (ex)wife was filing domestic abuse charges against him. She had no proof and he denied the allegations but it took media by storm. Many called for him to lose his sponsors, his upcoming movies to be canceled, and a boycott on many of his works. Turns out that the report was falsified and Depp was the one being abused.

“A World of Difference”

This episode was incredibly hard for me to watch personally because it seemed to be a big metaphor for mental illness and it’s lack of proper treatment. The whole premise is this actor no longer remembers who he really is and truly believes his persona is the real him, except it is not that easy. It also seems that the whole episode is happening in his head once his wife arrives at his office because he can still vaguely hear the director in his head but they are able to escape and fly away, something the wife would not have done if she was an actress. 

This was difficult for me as someone who suffers from a mental illness and had no one believe me for years. The struggle of trying to get people to believe you is extremely tiring and lonely and puts a strain on all your relationships. The parallels I saw between myself and the man was hard to bear because I just wanted someone to help him- to believe him for even just a second. 

It also reminded me of an episode of “Criminal Minds” where the serial killer had multiple personas to reel in victims to the point of his mind breaking and the distinction between each persona and reality was blurred. 

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Nosedive into Fahrenheit 451

For our presentation we were tasked to compare and analyze both Fahrenheit 451 and Black Mirror. We decided to use Wisecrack thug notes video on Fahrenheit 451 in order to quickly summarize the book for anyone in the class that did not get the chance to read it fully. Because we are doing the presentation a class early we did not really want to spoil too much of the story for the class so we tried to focus on overarching themes in the novel, rather then focus on specific points that would ruin the actual reading for some. Wisecracks video does a good job of quickly summarizing the novel while also keeping it interesting. Because the novel is a bit of a dark science fiction work, the whole idea is bleak and hard to swallow. But by using this comedic summary it makes the topics easier to delve into.

I chose to use two clips from the Fahrenheit 451 movies, the 1966 and 2018 versions, to compare how each one takes its own twist on the fundamental idea of book burning. In the novel their reasoning for burning books was meant to keep the citizens submissive to the utilitaristic government. In the 1966 movie the reason behind burning books was to keep differing opinions down in order to keep arguments and war down. And finally in the 2018 movie books are blamed for unhappiness and mental illnesses due to the information found inside so they are burned in order to keep those levels down. Each one follows a similar general idea that books are burned to protect citizens but the reasoning seems to be changed for each one which gives a good insight into the time period of each. For the original book, written in 1956 shows the fear of government control over knowledge and censorship. The original movie, made in 1966, shows the increasing paranoia of censorship and issues with mass media not always showing what is real and important. And finally the newest movie, made in 2018, shows a more modern take targeting the consumption of mass media with not real critical thought about it and how that damages the citizens.

I chose the Black Mirror episode titled Nosedive because it has a very similar general idea. The premise is that every interaction you have with another is rated, each rating being very valuable because if one’s rating is too low they cannot enjoy certain perks. The first clip I chose comes from the beginning of the episode, it shows Lacie interacting with a coworker who just had a breakup trying to get upvotes to mend his lowered score. Her other coworker states that he does not want to upvote him, and eventually throws a down vote at him, because if his score becomes too low he will be fired. The dependence on their scores makes it so every interaction they have is fake, no real thought is put into conversation besides “how do I make this person upvote me?”. This artificial interaction does not lead to critical thoughts or discussions, making every person a shallow shell of a person. The last clip I chose comes from the ending of Nosedive, after Lacie has a mental breakdown that leads to her score becoming zero. She is placed in a jail cell adjacent to a man’s. When they start talking, it is all insults, and both seem to be having a blast. Because this is the first time either has been able to speak their minds, without fear of repercussions. This is their “Montag reading the book and fleeing” moment. They have seen the light of how ridiculous the rating system has made them, and finally let go.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Ray, et al. Fahrenheit 451. Gallimard, 2018.

“Fahrenheit 451.” YouTube, 1966, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ZaLJ10v4xUA.

“Fahrenheit 451.” YouTube, 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypkbqiJSwOQ.

“Nosedive.” YouTube, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=153&v=uAB3xtZQank.

“Nosedive.” YouTube, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyUi6-Opzzw.

Wisecrack, director. Fahrenheit 451 - Thug Notes Summary and Analysis. YouTube, YouTube, 3 Sept. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-IcPx9uD0U.

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“May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor”

Young adult literature seems to often be assumed as a critical analysis black hole. Most novels directed at teens seem to focus on the politics of relationships and romance, yet a few like to venture off into the politics of the world. Suzanne Collins’ trilogy The Hunger Games is a diamond in the rough as far as young adult science fiction novels go.

Set in a future America where a disaster has caused the dividing of the country into districts that specialize in exports, the Hunger Games are real events that take place every year. Pitting two tributes from each of the twelve districts up against each other in a televised battle royal. If it sounds horrific, that is the point, Collin’s has stated that her inspiration came from flipping through the channels on her television and seeing both reality shows and Iraq war coverage1. The idea of children struggling to survive in a hostile war zone being a national sporting event like our college football games every year was meant to be shocking.

The idea of the Hunger Games is not necessarily radical, the politics being very similar to why we can turn on the television and see live cop footage of bombs being dropped on cities in Iraq. It is a sense of desensitization of human life that has become the norm as years pass. People once thought that the past was what was supposed to be littered with the horrors of war and human disgrace while the future was to hold opportunity and freedoms, except it appears that is not the case in our world or Panem2. Collin’s novels follow Katniss’ struggles navigating a government who has deemed children’s lives to be worth as much as cheap entertainment.

Out first hint to the brutal government of Panem is when Katniss is monologuing about how the Capitol “Take[s] the kids from out districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch- this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy.” because this is a government that wants complete control over its people to avoid any and all rebellion3. The idea of keeping people in their place by using the lives of children is not a new concept, and has been used in war tactics dating as far back as the Napoleon era. Because children hold the future in their life, the threat of losing them creates a population of accepting adults who are willing to sacrifice the lives of twenty three in order to keep the rest safe for another year.

However that is not as easy as it seems on paper, because love always complicates things. For Katniss the love of her sister Prim is enough to sacrifice everything. “‘I volunteer!’ [She] gasp[s]. ‘I volunteer as tribute!’” are the words that make Katniss a double sacrifice4. She is sacrificing herself as her sister’s keeper, as well as a sacrifice for her community by solidifying the young bright future will still have someone to keep life and tradition going. Her sacrifice is one that their district has never seen before, and it is enough to cause the crowd to honor her in a sacred symbol “...every member of the crowd touches the three middle finger of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to [her]... It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love.” because they understand what a great sacrifice she is making5. Her life, her ability to care for Prim, her future has all been slammed into halt all for the sake of reinforcing the idea of complete mercy to a government who does not care about them.

Once becoming the female tribute of district twelve Katniss is taken to the Capitol where she sees that those who live in luxury, who are not affected by the flights of the districts that struggle to survive, even outside of the games, live. And it is just as polarizing as looking at the one percent in our current world. The people of the Capitol use “the arenas [as] historic sites… popular destinations for Capitol residents to visit, to vacation… visit the sites where the deaths took place. [They] can even take part in reenactments.” because to those who are favored by the government see this as meer entertainment6. They do not see the damage it is causing the districts that struggle, the trama it leaves in those children that survive, or the heartlessness it takes to see the lives of innocent children as a means of brutal entertainment. They do not see the suffering of others as something to be changed, but as something to discuss as if it is the latest sports game. Techniques used by tributes to survive are talked about as if they are some passing fashion trend, instead of fight or flight reaction to staring death in the eyes. It is very similar to how we might speak of the wars in Iraq, the horrors of the Holocaust, or disease outbreaks in African countries because there is a disconnect. It is hard to imagine the very real suffering of these people even as it happens, let alone as they pass into new and escalating horrors.

Once in the games Katniss finds herself participating as much as she can, killing in order to survive and making an alley along the way. Rue, a young girl much like Prim, helps Katniss avoid an altercation with some of the more prepared tributes and does her best to help Katniss survive the wilderness. Her death is a signifier that no one is safe in war. Innocence and pure kindness has no place in a world where everyone is out for themselves and Katniss’ reaction is a retaliation to this idea. “[She] want[ed] to do something, right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force [them] to do that there is a part of every tribute they cannot own,” she makes sure that they know “that rue was more than a piece in their Games,” that Katniss is more than just a pawn they can toss away7. Katniss is finally seeing the Capitol and their game as what it really is, a play of power that she is no longer willing to just sit and accept. As Katniss takes her precious time to give Rue a proper burial, she risks her life, because she believes making it a point to prove that Rue was a true innocent is important. By “slowly, one stem at a time. [She] decorate[s] her body in flowers. Covering the ugly wound. Weathering her face. Weaving her hair with bright colors” Katniss is showing the Capitol and the citizens of each district that she will no longer play by the rules because the sacrifice is no longer something she is willing to ignore8. Her acknowledgement of Rue is a turning point for the public opinion because this is no longer an entertaining game, but a reality of children losing more than just the title of victor.

At the end, when Katniss and Peeta decide to both die together then to kill each other, they are telling the Capitol that they will no longer be giving into their demands. They have decided that their lives are more important than the entertainment of the upper classes. This is important because it also starts the seeds of doubt through the other districts. When Peeta and Katniss agree to this action they believe “maybe they don’t care if we both die”, but that is not true and is proven when the game master announces that they are both deemed to be the victors of the games9. The games depend on having a winner to keep the false narrative that anyone can rise from the ashes of horror to be a star. By Katniss and Peeta attempting to both lose the narrative would change and loyalties would shift which no government wants. They would rather change status quo then risk the possibility of people questioning the reasoning behind sacrificing children.

The Hunger Games is a very good introduction for young adults into the complex idea of war and sacrificing children for political gain. It makes one think about how willing they are to just accept how the government uses its power over them, lets them question the background reasoning for government actions. And that is what science fiction is supposed to do, it is supposed to show its reader a possible world that reflects modern issues in an alien way in order to stimulate out of the box thinking to analyze what they are willing to let happen and what they are willing to change.

Notes

1. “The Hunger Games: Who Is Author Suzanne Collins?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 23 Mar. 2012

2. Martin, Randy. “Where Did The Future Go?” Logos

3. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (18)

4. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (22)

5. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (24)

6. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (144)

7. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (236)

8. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (236)

9. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008. (344)

Bibliography

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic , 2008.

Martin, Randy. “Where Did The Future Go?” Logos, www.logosjournal.com/issue_5.1/martin.htm.

“The Hunger Games: Who Is Author Suzanne Collins?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 23 Mar. 2012, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9161107/The-Hunger-Games-Who-is-author-Suzanne-Collins.html.

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Bird Box Review

Having watched Bird Box recently after doing a bit of research on Kaijus and the phenomena surrounding them I have a feeling the sentiment behind the Netflix movie is quite the same. 

There is no visible monster, like Godzilla or King Kong, but the monster does have similar qualities. It feeds on the fear and sadness of those in the world, much like the Kaijus of Japanese media. It lends itself to interpretation- is it a monster about the dangers of our dependency on technology, our fears of natural disasters, or our ablilist ideas of disabilities? There is no clean cut answer to this question but either can be argued.

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Thoughts on “Planet of the Apes”

We recently finished up Planet of the Apes this week and I have quite a few final thoughts I wanted to wrap up. 

To start off I want to take a moment to talk about the film adaptations of this novel. Because I am also taking an adaptation class I have learned quite a few things about the ways novels are adapted into film and applying that to what little I have seen of the 2001 version is important to my understanding. For starters, if my memory serves me right, the basic starting point for the 2001 movies is vastly different then the novel. Is that something that really changes the story- no but it is quite interesting that they changed such a interesting idea. The whole premise of them going to a different planet really shows how significant the theory of evolution in both modern times and the politics of the book.

It is also important to note how the apes treat the humans. We as a race are guilty of doing this to both animals and those humans that are deemed lower then us. The dark history of America comes to mind, when doctors would do horrible testing on slaves that we would now deem inhuman- but because they were seen as less then human and on a similar level as an animal. A very similar situation our narrator found himself in. 

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Speciesism in “Planet of the Apes”

The biases of this book is the assumption of human superiority.

Written in the Cold War, where humans were on the verge of collapsing. Boulle wrote the book to demonstrate the dehumanizing and often misguided way humans see other creatures and other humans. 

When Ulysse Mérou and his two companions land on Soror, a sister planet Earth near Betelgeuse, they discover a race of primitive humans ruled by highly intelligent apes. The society of the apes included gorillas providing the might, the orangutans making for the administrators and the chimpanzees being the thinkers. Something Ulysse and his companions cannot fathom due to their own xenophobic attitudes. 

When the men first see Nova, the first primitive human on Soror, Ulysse is determined to give her the benefit of the doubt and do their best to interact with her. When it fails and they realize she is much below their level there is a air of disappointment. Yet when they see the ruling apes they cannot get over their Earthly ideals that animals are below humans. 

It is easy to see how Boulle related apes and humans, and their relationship on Soror, to that of his time. During the Cold War humans saw other humans as below them. The stress of political confrontation showed how humans value each other.

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"Back to the Future": Oedipus as Time Traveler

By: Andrew Gordon

“I believe that this recent explosion of time-travel films represents a pervasive uneasiness about our present and uncertainty about our future, along with a concurrent nostalgia about our past. These time-travel films rarely attempt a vision of the future, and when they do, as in The Terminator, the future is bleak and post-apocalyptic. And during the same period (1979-87), in other SF films without a time-travel premise, the future is almost always a negative extrapolation from the present: overcrowded, decayed, bureaucratic and soulless, repressive, and either on the verge of destruction or post-apocalyptic. H. Bruce Franklin has summarized the negative Hollywood vision of the future from 1970-82 ("Don't Look Where We're Going"); the picture hasn't changed much in the past five years, and the Star Trek movies remain about the only optimistic cinematic vision of the future, which may account in large measure for their enormous popularity. It also helps to account for the success of Back to the Future, which attempts to reassure us that, in the words of the movie, ‘the future is in your hands.’ The majority of recent time-travel films do not, in fact, concern the future at all (Back to the Future does not, despite its title) but deal instead with an escape into an idealized past in a desperate attempt to alter the present and the future. They reflect a growing dissatisfaction with a present that is sensed as dehumanized, diseased, out of control, and perhaps doomed.”

It seems to me that not much has changed in our perception of the future of our world. We see the future as a dark and uninhabitable place, usually, with few exceptions. But why is that?

I have a feeling it is because we see the issues of our present: over population, global climate change, corrupt governments, etc. and feel like we do not have the capabilities to stop them. Humans have always been a sort of negative creature that seems to get themselves into trouble and flee instead of finding a solution.

If this ideal is to keep going on the way it is currently our future may very well turn into this dystopia science fiction landscape. Yet there is also hope mentioned were two films, Back to the Future and Star Trek, both contain happy futuristic worlds. That may very well be our future if we can keep our heads and do what we must to save the planet and humanity. 

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History TV and Popular Memory

By: Steve Anderson

“As theorists of popular memory have argued, history does not end with the production of documents, narratives, or analyses. People consume and process written, filmed, or televised histories within a web of individual and cultural forces that influence their reception and the uses to which they are put.5 Further, historical meanings evolve over time, reflecting, among other things, the extent to which our relation to the past is conditioned by present circumstances.”

It is interesting to think that history is always changing, we are always learning and examining things about history in new ways. Because of this, pinpointing an exact period of time to analyze through TV is incredibly difficult. It also leads to misconceptions of history through the ways of memory erosion. By constantly being exposed to history through a screen it seems as if the history itself is a fantasy. 

All the glamour and censorship of Hollywood skews the reality of history. We look to history as a way of avoiding similar mistakes in the present, yet if our memory of the past is “dolled-up” we can not fully understand our current reality. 

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Astronomy, Science Fiction and Popular Culture

Guy J. Consolmagno

”Note the irony. The medieval age had spirits-angels and devils-coexisting with people; but Enlightenment science had taken them away, making human beings the only inhabitants of the universe. Now fantasy and science fiction brought back the old angels and devils in a more scientifically correct guise.” 

It is interesting to me to see the evolution of story telling in this way. I have never been one to really question the idea that most stories have already been told, we are now in a time where everything is just a re-write. But Consolmagno has a point in that every time we, as a society, progress into the sciences we also tend to regress back into our old habits of thinking. Science Fiction novels have some of the same core values as old wives tales and biblical tales because human are creatures of habit. We do not necessarily stray from our biases of understanding, yet we allow advances in the world of science to heighten and evolve the way we view these narratives.

I also want to point out that in another class of mine, in which we are reading Butler’s Kindred, where the professor asked if we would consider her novel to be Science Fiction or Fantasy. And that is a hard line to define, because they take so much from each other that they can blur together. Obviously we assume Science Fiction is going to have some sort of science that we do not have today, time travel or flying cities, yet many fantasy novels have similar ideas. Is one more important then the other, no definitely not, is one more valid then the other, again no. They both allow for an escape from reality, while also commentating on that very reality. 

[thescificollection-blog]

The Time Machine Questions 

January 29

1.Why might a science of time be important for Wells’s Victorians, his late nineteenth-century readers? What are the larger implications of a science of time, that is, beyond sci-fi and science proper?

The science of time is important to Wells’ nineteenth-century readers because many were frustrated with the contemporary industrial relations. The social degeneration that came from the working class’ experiences of the underground work. With most of the jobs held by the working class had them working in underground basements. With a time machine the working class could go to a future above ground where they could see the world and sun, instead of working in the dark constantly. The future in The Time Machine seems to be bright and full of languid, the opposite of what the people experienced at the time. 

2.Wells presents his story via a frame narrative, i.e., a story within a story. In what sense does that writerly choice help Wells’s story of time travel?

The decision to have this story be a frame narrative is interesting because it gives the same feeling that Conrad’s Heart of Darkness does. It makes the suspension of belief easier to hear a story of time travel through a mediated experience; a second re-telling of the adventure of the Time Traveler. It also gives a bit more of an effective reasoning because the Time Traveler is someone of great intellect, and while those in his company are too their reactions to the Eloiin and the future would have been different. By making this story a re-telling of the Time Traveler’s account of what he saw, we get the impression that the future is not what even the most brilliant had hoped for. 

3.Consider the Time Traveler’s speculative description of the Eloiin Chapter 4. What might Wells be suggesting about his own and future citizenry and why?

When the Time Traveler describes the Eloiin it sounds as if he is describing children. They speak in soft voices, they do not fully understand what the Time Traveler wants when he tries getting them to name a fruit, and tire easily. It gives off the feeling that Wells is trying to warn against the dependence of the future. When times are hard many people resort to saying “the future will be better” but in this story the future seems regressed, a world run by those of little intellect and who are lazy.