To Infinity and Beyond

The Science Fiction Genre

This lecture focused on classic sci-fi films such as 'The Thing' and 'Metropolis' as films that have captivated audiences and inspired films and other media.

After the seminar I just had to watch 'The Thing' and can say that it's quickly moved into my favourite top 20 sci-fi films as it combined great horror (with authentic effects that were truly disgusting - props to the special effects team) and fantastic storytelling of an alien that crash lands on earth and begins to present itself as a human on multiple occasions until the crew succumb to paranoia.

Metropolis also seems like a film that is worth watching if only to see the 'original sci-fi film' in action.

A Brief History of the New

Approaches to New Media

As a self-professed Geek I would like to express my excitement for the sequel to Tron. Lightcycles, Jeff Bridges, Daft Punk, Lights. What more could you want?

 

I'm glad my dad showed me the original Tron when I was younger as it helped me to fully appreciate the visual effects of films since then. I'm hoping that the new film will be just as revolutionary to the current audience.

Another classic sci-fi film that is getting a form of addition to the series is 'The Thing'. The prequel is going to be released in 2011. John Carpenter seems to be unhappy with the studio behind the prequel as he thinks that they are merely cashing in on the originals popularity. However they have stated that it won't be a CGI-fest and that it will use mostly physical effects just like the original. (yay!)

Two Sides to Everything (and a bit in the middle)

The world in 2 sides...

G(O)OD =/= (D)EVIL

LIFE =/= DEATH
NATURE =/= CULTURE
LIGHT =/= DARK
HAPPY =/= SAD
WHITE =/= BLACK
MALE =/= FEMALE
LAND =/= SEA/SKY
HUMAN =/= NON-HUMAN
YOUNG =/= OLD
PHYSICAL =/= DIGITAL

(Left is Traditionally Privileged over the Right)

Structuralism is how we make meaning in the world. Where there's life there will naturally be death.

What really interested me was the table that included Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as not good or evil but in reality Dr Jekyll wasn't all good to start with so he should be closer to Evil. You have the opposite in Vader however as he started good (supposedly) became bad (supposedly) and then became good again. (he's also a cyborg which leads nicely to...)

I thought that calling CGI characters Cyborgs was strange but an interesting idea considering they are computer generate figures with human images which is essentially what a cyborg is.

We compared Comics and Novels for binary opposition in the seminar because Comics are generally mostly images, whereas Novels are almost completely made up of words. But even then there are Graphic Novels which blur the line between comics and novels.(Watchmen, 300 for example) this then led to talk about comic-to-movie conversions and did comics contain enough content.