American Sci-fi Films of the 1990s - Research Paper Example

At this point, we saw more realistic and even more grandiose computer-generated images on our movie screens. The digital world made the impossible possible and exemplified the reality that anything and everything can now be translated to the big screen (Hall and Neale, 253). Since everything can be done in computers, what was previously ‘unfilmable’ was now a distinct possibility for many filmmakers. Through digital technology, battles in space through the film ‘Starship Troopers’ became a much more realistic fare and floating on air became less of a wire-controlled exercise in the movie ‘The Matrix.

’ The themes for most science fiction movies however, for the most part, retained elements of violence seen in earlier science fiction movies. Violence in these movies is in its bigger picture. It is important to note that the 1990s also signify the post Cold War period, and yet, the threats of smart bombs and high technology weaponry very much grace these 90s movies (Rukeyser, 45). We also see the media spectacles of the Gulf Wars translated in movies, and later, that of the war on terrorism.

“The Cold War may be over and the threat of a nuclear war lessened, but in both the fantasies of science fiction film and the “reality” of the news, violence is in our face – enhanced and perfected with military and media technology, but violence nonetheless” (Rukeyser, 45). These new avenues for entertainment have taken on more picturesque images in film and the popularity of such films has grown even more. As the violence has evolved throughout the years, the darker and more violent image of the future have also been seen in these films.

These darker and more violent depictions highlight the post-apocalytic images of the future, easily brought to life in the screen through computer-generated visual effects (Cornea, 161). These futuristic images are apparent in the movies, ‘The Matrix’, ‘Johnny Mnemonic’, ‘The Lawnmower Man’ series, and ‘The Net.’ These movies also portray the fact that the violence and the darkness is not just in our surroundings or our environment, but they are also in us. Through these depictions the science fiction genre now exemplifies how the current reality can be thrown off guard and can be differentiated from our realistic experience of the world (Bould, 139).

On a positive note, these movies seek to present a postmodernist view of the world, a rejection of all things modern and how such technological developments have ran rampant over the world and over our lives. To a certain extent, even as they utilize the modern technologies introduced in recent years, these same technologies are also depicted for the problems they have and will bring to humanity (Lopez, 137). ‘The Matrix’ movies especially show how technology has led to more problems and issues.

These problems and issues created by technology lend support to the importance of returning to the past and the traditional way of doing things (Rukeyser, 46). They present opposing views on modernism, portraying modernism as one which can potentially be more trouble than it is worth. The 1990s science fiction movies use different modern functions and powers. They often bring together opposing elements. In other words, science fiction is a double-edged sword (Schummer, 142). In effect, it can sometimes be rational and emotional, and it sometimes coordinates the secular and the scientific