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Facing Our Fears in Science Fiction
The dead are walking. They lumber and limp, feet scraping against the asphalt. Suddenly, they lunge and tear down into soft, warm, vulnerable flesh with startling speed. Not far behind, oozing inside-out hellhounds growl around razor fangs, stalking with murderous intent. All because of an innocent little airborne chemical weapon…This can’t be happening, this would never happen, right? It may sound far fetched, and it is. These horrifying creatures grace the screen of current blockbuster hit, Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse. So you’re safe. For now. But why are these images on screen so terrifying to us? Why do we cringe and gasp and sigh with giddy relief when it’s all over? Because we’ve just been given a brush with death. One of our greatest common fears came to life, and we stared it straight in the face and lived to tell about it. And that’s why we’ll keep coming back. After all, that is how science fiction films have maintained their popularity and appeal for over fifty years now – they take whatever common fears our current society possesses and reflect them back at us.
Fifty years ago, computers were as yet unheard of, and the world was still a very large place. Society was not so much concerned with trouble within itself, but with assault from outside forces. According to film critic John Brosnan in Future Tense, the end of World War II sparked the beginning of the “Golden Age” of science fiction (73). The war was over, but the Communist threat was still out there, and with the unleashing of the atomic bomb fear of a full scale nuclear war bordered on paranoia. Families built bomb shelters in their backyards and schools held air raid drills for their c...
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...he dead walking. We love to ask ourselves, “This can’t be happening! This would never happen! Right?” Wrong.
Works Cited
Brosnan, John . Future Tense. New York: St. Martin's P, Inc., 1978.
Dirks, Tim. Science Fiction Films. May 1996. 02 Oct. 2004
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Glass, Fred. "Sign of the Times." Film Quarterly 38 (1984): 16-27.
Menville, Douglas . A Historical and Critical survey of the Science Fiction
Film. Diss. U of Southern California, 1959. New York: Arno P Inc., 1974.
Senior, W.A.. "Blade Runner and Cyberpunk Visions of Humanity." Film
Criticism 21 (1996): 1-12.
Telotte, J.P.. "The Problem of the Real and THX 1138." Film Criticism 34
(2000): 45-57.
Warwick, Kevin. "The Matrix - Our Future?" The Philosophy of the Matrix. 20 Nov.2002: 14 Oct. 2004
When the trailer for this film was first introduced to the public, many expected The Matrix to be just another science-fiction film with phenomenal special effects which lacked an intriguing plot. The majority of the reviews definitely put an end to this misconception. Most of the reviews written on this film eloquently complement the Wachowski brothers on their excellent story line. The Biblical references of this film incorporated with the phenomenal cinematography distinguish The Matrix from all other science-fiction films in which the main characters are on a race to save humanity. "The script, written by the Wachowski brothers is intelligent but carefully not geeky."2
Literature and film have always held a strange relationship with the idea of technological progress. On one hand, with the advent of the printing press and the refinements of motion picture technology that are continuing to this day, both literature and film owe a great deal of their success to the technological advancements that bring them to widespread audiences. Yet certain films and works of literature have also never shied away from portraying the dangers that a lust for such progress can bring with it. The modern output of science-fiction novels and films found its genesis in speculative ponderings on the effect such progress could hold for the every day population, and just as often as not those speculations were damning. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis are two such works that hold great importance in the overall canon of science-fiction in that they are both seen as the first of their kind. It is often said that Mary Shelley, with her authorship of Frankenstein, gave birth to the science-fiction novel, breathing it into life as Frankenstein does his monster, and Lang's Metropolis is certainly a candidate for the first genuine science-fiction film (though a case can be made for Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune, his film was barely fifteen minutes long whereas Lang's film, with its near three-hour original length and its blending of both ideas and stunning visuals, is much closer to what we now consider a modern science-fiction film). Yet though both works are separated by the medium with which they're presented, not to mention a period of over two-hundred years between their respective releases, they present a shared warning about the dangers that man's need fo...
Santoro, Gene., Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of WWII. 2011, Volume 25 Issue 6, p.70, Accession Number: 58110946
As individuals overcome the inevitable process of change, they begin to realize their full potential. In the set text, the 1999 Wachowski Brother’s film, The Matrix, the concept of change is significantly explored. In the related texts “Plato’s Allegory of the cave” and “The Door” clearly represents and reinforces this concept of change; that it is inevitable and experiences from this process leads to wisdom. In each text, the individual composers explore certain themes such as “the illusion of reality”, “choices and the endless outcomes of change” and “the fear and danger of knowing”. All the texts mentioned visible represents that “It is the process of transformation that ultimately allows potential to be realized”.
The horror genre is synonymous with images of terror, violence and human carnage; the mere mention of horror movies evokes physical and psychological torture. As remarked by noted author Stephen King “the mythic horror movie…has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized.” (King, 786). At manageable intervals, we choose to live these horrific events vicariously through the characters in horror movies and books as a means of safely experiencing the “what if”. The horror genre allows us to explore our fears, be it spiders, vampires, loss of our identity, or death of a loved, under the most fantastic and horrible circumstances conceivable. King also points out that by watching horror movies we “may allow our emotions a free rein . . . or no rein at all.” (King, 784). According to psychiatrist James Schaller, by vicariously “experiencing contrived fears, a person develops a sense of competence over similar types of fears.” (Schaller). Horror films allow the viewer the opportunity to safely examine their fears safely and to the depth and extent they wish to do so. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 provides the opportunity for the viewer to consider a diverse range of fears, with a little humor thrown in for balance, from the safety of a darkened room, a comfortable seat and in less than 120 minutes.
Let me briefly explain a simplified plot of The Matrix. The story centers around a computer-generated world that has been created to hide the truth from humans. In this world people are kept in slavery without their knowledge. This world is designed to simulate the peak of human civilization which had been destroyed by nuclear war. The majority of the world's population is oblivious to the fact that their world is digital rather than real, and they continue living out their daily lives without questioning their reality. The main character, Neo, is a matrix-bound human who knows that something is not right with the world he lives in, and is eager to learn the truth. He is offered the truth from a character named Morpheus, who proclaims that Neo is “the One” (chosen one) who will eventually destroy the Matrix, thereby setting the humans “free.” For this to happen, Neo must first overcome the Sentient Program agents who can jump into anyone's digital body. They are the Gate Keepers and hold the keys to The Matrix.
The Matrix, directed by the Wachowski sisters, is a film that discusses free will, artificial intelligence and poses a question: ‘How do we know that our world is real?’ This question is covered in the philosophical branch of epistemology. Epistemology is a component of philosophy that is concerned with the theory of knowledge. The exploration of reality is referenced in the film when Neo discovers he has been living in an artificial world called ‘The Matrix’. He is shocked to learn that the world in which he grew up is a computer program that simulates reality. The questioning of knowledge and its irreversibility provoked by The Matrix invites the audience to wonder whether their own world is an imitation of true reality, thus making it a
The Matrix series is much more than an action-packed sci-fi thriller. After one view of this film for the second and third time, we start to notice a great deal of symbolism. This symbolism starts to paint a completely different picture than the images of humans battling machines. It is a religious story, with symbols deeply set in the Christian faith. The Matrix contains religious symbolism through its four main characters, Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Cypher. In that each character personifies the “Father,” the “Son,” “Satan,” and the “Holy Spirit” of the Christian beliefs only shown through the amazing performances of the actors. A critic by the name of Shawn Levy said "The Matrix slams you back in your chair, pops open your eyes and leaves your jaw hanging slack in amazement."(metacritic.com)
What is the matrix? The matrix is an artificial world, which has been pulled over to blind us from the truth, that we are slaves (Matrix,1999). We are trapped in a prison for our minds (Matrix,1999). We will never really get to feel, touch, or see anything for ourselves, except objects created through the matrix.
This student of Philosophy now sees the movie The Matrix in a whole new way after gaining an understanding of some of the underlying philosophical concepts that the writers of the movie used to develop an intriguing and well thought out plot. Some of the philosophical concepts were clear, while others were only hinted at and most likely overlooked by those unfamiliar with those concepts, as was this student when the movie first came out in theaters all those many years ago. In this part of the essay we will take a look at the obvious and not so obvious concepts of: what exactly is the Matrix and how does it related to both Descartes and Plato, can we trust our own senses once we understand what the Matrix is, and how Neo taking the Red Pill is symbolic of the beginning of the journey out of Pl...
...The Matrix” and Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” almost gives the idea that the movies writers may have had a lot of influence from Plato’s allegory. The creation of this movie gives and futuristic prospective of “The Allegory of the Cave” letting the people who have seen the movie think about reality and the truth. In conclusion, Plato’s story of the cave brings up many philosophical points and most significantly, addresses the topic of society’s role in our lives. On some level, we are all influenced by the thoughts and actions of everyone else, but at the same time, we as humans have the ability to question, make our own conclusions, and finally make our own choices.
Stimulating deep philosophical thought, The Matrix depicts a world in which all human brains are programmed to believe a fabricated reality. Some humans, like the protagonist of the film, Neo, were recused from this mirage and shown the truth about their perceived reality. Some found great discomfort and refused to live with the truth and they returned to live in the illusion. Others however, chose truth over comfort and happiness. After watching this film I soon began to question many aspects of my own life. Is it possible that the world I deem real is a fabricated dream? What if everything around me was designed and that my actuality is simply a perception? These looped questions consume my though and lead me to realize that my reality to
The Matrix is the war between man and machine, and the possibility that reality is a deception. In a sense, the Matrix is a constant struggle of identity and reality. This struggle of identity and reality is based around the character of Thomas Anderson, an ordinary person living a mundane life.
In 2002, Brent Staples communicated with Jean Baudrillard about the use of his philosophy in The Matrix (1999), a film written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. Staples wrote, “He [Baudrillard] noted that the film’s “borrowings” from his work “stemmed mostly from misunderstandings” and suggested that no movie could ever do justice to the themes of this book”. In this paper, I will argue that the Wachowski Brothers did not want to “do justice to the themes of this book”; they wanted to adapt Baudrillard’s theories about the blurring of the real and unreal, and the eventual extermination of the real, into a story that provides hope for humans wanting to escape the suffocation of the “hyperreal”. The “hyperreal” was first coined by Baudrillard in his book, Simulacra and Simulations (1983); it is the product of the distortions of the real through endless simulations of it in radio, newspaper, television, and film.
If you’ve ever had deja vu or felt that something about the world was just off, then you might just be living in the Matrix, a digital reality. At least, that is the case in the movie The Matrix directed by the Wachowski brothers. This movie, released March 1st 1999, takes place in a very distant future after a war between humanity and machines with artificial intelligence. A young man named Thomas Anderson, who goes by Neo in his nightlife as a hacker, discovers that the world is not all he thought it to be. Neo learns the truth about his world and what he has to do to save it in this action packed science fiction film.