The Terminator seems quite remarkable to me, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of many action films I watched in my early teens; a considerable number of which, like this film, starred the Austrian body-builder turned actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. What is so different about The Terminator though, is that unlike most of these films, this movie has enough depth and substance that, not only does it still bear watching now that I am older, but it also has an archive of academic theory written about it.

The Terminator tells of a cyborg, a human shaped machine coated in flesh, that is sent back in time, from an apocalyptic future in which machines have 'got smart' and acted on their own to destroy the human race. The cyborg's mission is to assa

"The cyborg has been "humanised", capable of learning, and crucially of dying. In the first film, as Sarah flattens the terminator in the hydraulic press, she declares, "You're terminated, fucker!". She now gives voice to a belief in the capacity of the terminator not merely to be terminated, but to experience "death"."

Until this point though, the terminator passes perfectly as human to both his victims, the ammo store owner, and even the police. Reese explains to Sarah that this production series of terminator is perfect, right down to sweat and bad breath. In short, it is the perfect simulacrum. In this Baudrillarian depiction, it is interesting to study the 'Replicants' in the film Blade Runner (1982), especially in relation to the writings of David Harvey:

"The opposition between protagonist and antagonist is established early in the film by the depiction of their arrival to the present. Schwarzenegger's body and motion are a cluster of signs - sculpted "Aryan" invulnerability - which resonate historically as "man-machine"."

It is worth noting, that the film features an abundance of technology throughout. As Reese sits alone in his stolen car waiting to intercept Sarah, he listens to music and advertisements on the radio as he watches large automated drills at work in the vacant lot beside him, his eyes squinting against the glare of spotlights. In the course of the narrative, this scene is crucial as it represents a trigger that causes Reese to dream, to flashback to the future; a future of pain, suffering and destruction at the hands of machines like the terminator.

Some common words found in the essay are:
John Connor, Blade Runner, Forest Pyle, Linda Hutcheon, Connor Penley, , Norman Denzin, Schwarzenegger Terminator, According Pyle, Freud Harvey, john connor, blade runner, pyle 1993, penley 1989, harvey 1994, sarah reese, father death, own father, penley notes, film blade runner, reese sarah, john connor effect, relationship reese sarah, harvey 1994 312, pyle 1993 232,
Approximate Word count = 3117
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)