Technophobia & Cinema
Choking in a thick industrial smoke of confusion, people all around the world are struggling to come to grips with technology. Not unlike any other major issue in today's society, the population is divided on this matter. Like immature children, a small portion of the population is naively optimistic. People that fit this particular mold, like me probably have visions of beaming from place to place and materializing cheese at home instead of going shopping in a technological utopia. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the pessimists. Similar to sulking teenagers, people that fit this mold do nothing but sulk and moan when technological setbacks present themselves, or when they are confronted with the inevitable use of a computer. Yet, there are those residing in the middle that remain completely indifferent to all this techno-commotion, and merely enjoy the luxuries it provides in their routine, turning an oblivious shoulder to the looming threat of machine domination.At any rate technology is without question one of the most pressing issues of today. Sometimes even mistaken for progress, it is the spawn of necessity, the vehicle of human perseverance, and possibly; one of the apocalyptic horsemen.
In the sequel the question raised by the original: whether the deployment of the living dead to battle instead of living soldiers is ethical... even if the dead soldiers had feelings, was ignored. In the movie an artificial intelligence agent named Seth, unleashes the power of the UniSols against the threat of its own termination. Shortly after affirming its existence by the destruction of its mortal crew, Seth decides to pursue world domination. The original UniSol, Van Dam, has to destroy Seth. A Japanese animation Metropolis was released in 2001. It was not a remake of Lang's film. The movie follows a young boy, and his uncle (a private investigator). The story is set in the far future where humans and robots live together, unfortunately not in harmony. Many robots are forced underground and are terminated for entering unauthorized areas; they are more or less servants to humankind. The plot thickens when the boy meets a synthetic entity named Tima, who is the creation of the mad scientist his uncle was sent to capture. The story is embedded with politics, emotions, and social issues. Naturally, it ends with a total annihilation of the metropolis. The plot of this 1995 animated film is based on major Motoko Kusangi, the cyborg leader of a high-tech military squad. Her mission is to hunt down a cybercriminal, but as she is doing this, her own synthetic structure starts to get the best of her and she begins questioning her own humanity (or lack thereof). This, again, brings back the modern concerns about cloning such as whether or not these people will feel dehumanized as a result of their close contact with technology. The "man" she is after is called the "Puppet Master" because he hacks into the brains of other "shells," which are the other highly evolved synthetic life-forms, and uses them as his personal marionettes. What he does is called "ghost-hacking." Once he hacks into their brains, he uses them to unwittingly commit crimes for him. The terms "ghost" and "shell" emphasize the fact that we are not dealing with true humans. When the Major finally hunts down the puppet master, she realizes that he has been looking for her the whole time. He wishes to merge with her to procreate and give his life some kind of meaning - which brings us back to the themes addressed in Frankenstein. Universal Soldier/Universal Soldier: The Return The film raises some interesting questions, despite its enigmatic, dubious ending. What will the future of gaming look like? Will we stumble into perpetual simulation? In the perverse melding of technology and biology our genetic sensory pulse-perception becomes a mere optional nuisance; but does not that same nuisance lie at the core of our humanity? In a way, unlike most of the previous films I mentioned eXistenZ explores humanity's ever-damning approach to stimulation and instant gratification.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3032
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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