Cultural Post-Modernism and the Machine - Essay Example

?First Last Petit MDSA01 November 29, Michael Bay’s Transformers (2007 Cultural post-modernism and the machine The film Transformers, a 2007 action adventure film directed by Michael Bay with science fiction overtones, is about an alien race that has been created through the creation of robotic life forms that are sentient and capable of ‘transforming’ into utilitarian mechanized objects. Most often, they transform into some form of a vehicle or truck. The film is based upon a franchised cartoon that had licensed products created to appeal to concepts as they are gender coded towards the male gender. Because the car has been gender coded as an extension of male power, the film explores heroism and connects it to male idealism that is symbolized through the concept of the machine as it is both vehicle and transformed robot. As the robot is the symbol of humanities’ desire to become as a god in creating a sentient being, the ‘transformer’, symbolizes the post-modern concept of power and divinity. The film ties its themes to heroism, the sub plots involving U.S. Marines as well as covert divisions of the government. The film Transformers is a post-modern study of culture as it explores the nature of good and evil as well as the consumer culture as it is oriented towards the encoded objects for the male gender. The film Transformers has within it the construction those things that are most often associated with the male cultural dream of perfection: oversized machines that are heroic, sentient, and vehicular. Cars are gender coded, the appeal of the car traditionally a high priority for men with women not having the same kind of relationship with their vehicles (Barker, 2004). Where cars are concerned, men have wished to personify them since they were invented, naming them after women, giving them personalities, and creating a sense of identity through the formulation of the body as combined with the ‘heart’ or engine. In a variety of film projects such as the Disney film The Love Bug (1968), the television show Knight Rider (1982), the film Christine (1983), and even to an extent, the television film Duel (1971) directed by Stephen Spielberg, the idea of giving a vehicle sentience and a personality has been used to give life to the post-modern symbol of male virility. The film gives reverence to this concept through everything from the emotional musical score to the intensity and wisdom filled authority of the voice of Optimus Prime. The vehicle is a cultural symbol of virility for the male. The post-modern world is one of consumerism and is about the shift from the domestic world to the public world where displays of consumer power has replaced other forms of displays of virility. The power to control the machine, to own it and to have dominion over it has become the center of mating practices, conflicts for domination within the male gender, and for expressing male gendered control over the environment. Men no longer pick up a sword and go into combat style displays of strength. Post-modern expressions of male domination can involve the economic power to hold and control the strongest, most dangerous looking car on the block (Griffens & Carnes, 1990). While the explicit male domination of the automobile has ended as women now equally own cars, the idea of the car as the male extension of virility still exists. This can be seen as little boys play with cars and are more often attracted to play that involves trucks and cars. One of the more interesting scenes in the film involves a cultural connection to past films, all relating to a specific look as it is associated with heroism. The car is chastised by Megan Fox’s character for choosing to wear the exterior of a crappy old Chevy Camero, which appears to have insulted the ‘Autobot’ (the name for the transforming alien). The car then throws her and her co-star, Shia Lebouf out of the car so that it can drive a bit away to the rising sound of music that is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003). As the car drives back, it slides off the old exterior, transforming into a slick, dangerous looking vehicle with a yellow exterior and two black stripes. The connection between the car and Kill Bill Vol. 1 can be seen in the outfit that the protagonist played by Uma Thurman wears, which is a yellow track suit with black stripes down the sides. This outfit is related to one worn by Bruce Lee in his last film in which he wears a yellow jumpsuit with black stripes up the side. This historic element creates a sense of connection, one that only those how know of it will understand and providing an exclusivity to this moment in the film. Within that exclusivity of cultural knowledge is imbedded a central theme to the film. While the idea of the car is seen as an extension of male virility, these machines are not manmade, are much more powerful than human kind, and are not within the human control. However, what they then represent was summed up by Bowman (2010) as he described the image of Bruce Lee and what he represented in his film. Bowman (2010) states that “according to Andre Bazin, the film icon ‘is no longer human, engaging in the transcendence which characterizes living gods and dead heroes” (p. 12). Just as Bruce Lee becomes this iconic type of hero, so do the Autobots become symbolic of the external divine even as they symbolize the virility and desires for power of the internalized gender of being male. The idea of the robot as not only sentient, but heroic or intrinsically evil is the central theme to the film. According to Neighbors and Rankin (2011), “As a postmodern monster…the robot frequently embodies what is socially marginalized, including forced labor. Thus, in Transformers the robot as both consumer and military vehicle (laborer) provides an incisive social commentary on human freedom in relation to the dominant social discourses” (p. 132). The tension between good and evil is a discussion that is made at length, commentaries on the human existence in relationship to the shifts between good and evil sustained throughout the film while the Autobots in contrast to the Decepticons always remaining a constant. In other words, the leader of ‘Sector Seven’ comes across as an example of the evil in humanity, but by the end he is participating enthusiastically in creating a sensible defense against the Decepticons. Optimus Prime and Megatron never shift in their allegiance to good or evil. They are the constant where the humans are shown to be human and embody both sides of the eternal conflict. Megatron wants to enslave humanity where Optimus Prime believes that all sentient beings have a right to freedom. Thus, they are symbolizing those cultural concepts that seek to take away freedoms. Consumerism and the idea of labor become symbolized by the machine, the sentience of these being a part of the discourse on the tension between freedom and enslavement. Not only is good and evil externalized and discussed through the cultural meaning of both evil and good as represented by Megatron and Optimus Prime, but the essence of life, of the emergence of sentient behavior is given a physical presence in the ‘Allspark’. The fight that the robots are conducting is over possession of the Allspark. This object which is found in a state to be several stories high and in a cube form is then reduced to be transportable in an object called ‘the cube’ that can be easily carried. The Allspark represents life and freedom, the object able transform mechanical objects into thinking beings that have life and independent systems of thinking (Shook & Swan, 2009). The Allspark can be seen to represent freedom as the machines are freed from their bondage to service by the gift of sentience. As an example, the film shows a 7up vending machine released from its purpose as a machine to sell drinks when it is hit by the power of the Allspark and is suddenly able to transform and become something more than what its original intent. This gift comes with the ability to think and make choices independent of its original programming. From a cultural perspective it is interesting to note how the machines then rebel against the humans they are near. They lash out in what might be a commentary against human control over the machine. As the machine represents the consumer and consumer ownership, the revolt that occurs as they are given sentience can be seen as the ‘needs’ that are created through advertising often takes control of the consumer, pushing them towards purchases through a belief that without those items they are not a vital part of the culture. This reflects back the Autobots as they represent the male consumer drives to own the best and the most exciting machinery possible in order to display his ability to earn and to control high end vehicles. The nature of the need to consume, to be a part of the culture of consumerism and to be able to provide evidence of that participation through high end vehicles is the drive behind the development of the Transformer franchise. Plus, boys just think cars are cool. The film has a series of representations of heroism that are exploited within the film to raise the male perceptions of heroic identities. The first is embodied in the high school aged boy who is called to his heroism through his relationship to his ancestor and his choice to sell family heirlooms on Ebay. Through these items as they have been posted on Ebay he is connected by both the good and evil forms of Transformers, his position in their conflict central to finding what they both desire most; the Allspark. The military exposure to the evil of the Decepticons in a Middle Eastern desert location connects to current belief systems about Middle Eastern locations as well as the heroism of the United States Marine Corp. Even the power of the clandestine government agencies is represented with evidence of their underlying altruism evident in their sliding morality scale. Heroism becomes situated in the American male spirit, a variety of forms providing representations to this end. Even the boy’s father seems to show the heroism at a level one would expect from a man entrenched in the consumer culture. The film is an affirmation of the righteousness of the American culture. The Transformers supplement the position of father, to an extent, and have the essence of the embodiment of the divine. Neighbors and Rankin (2011) state that “Transformers are a perplexing mix of agents of independence and emasculation, creating an untenable tension that necessitates the child’s rebellion, and it is achieved through the intervention of the alien robots” (p. 132). In providing this tension, they provide clarity and create connectivity to evil and good through a defining line of authority versus civilian. The Decepticons usually take the form of police cars and military vehicles, creating an authoritarian set of symbols. The Autobots take the form of transport vehicles. Neighbors and Rankin (2011) state that “the child, positioned as sympathetic to the Autobots, effectively enacts a rebellion against oppressive paternal authority” (p. 133). While the heroic soldiers are a part of the authoritarian discourse, they rebel during the film, thus establishing their heroism and negating the representation that associates them with the idea of authority. The purity of what is good is represented as being beyond human authority figures. The film Transformers directed by Michael Bay and starring Shia Lebouf and Megan Fox is a morality tale in which aspects of modern culture are engaged to represent good and evil as they are in an eternal conflict. The creation of the robotic monster provides a framework in which to specifically identify good and evil, while the human condition is examined for its sliding sense of morality. The nature of the American culture is examined for its rebellious spirit as the heroes all exhibit a sense of rebellion in order to support what is best and what is right within the circumstances they have been given. The film is filled with cultural images that provide a framework for understanding the identity of the American hero. In a discourse on consumerism that is incorporated into male encoded ideals of heroism the film Transformers is a discourse on modern life and the conflicts that plague human existence as seen through male perspectives. References Barker, C. (2004). The Sage dictionary of cultural studies. London: Sage Publications. Bowman, P. (2010). Theorizing Bruce Lee: Film-fantasy-fighting-philosophy. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Griffen, C., & Carnes, M. C. (1990). Meanings for manhood: Constructions of masculinity in Victorian America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Neighbors, R. C., & Rankin, S. (2011). The galaxy is rated G: Essays on children's science fiction film and television. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland. Shook, J. R., & Swan, L. S. (2009). Transformers and philosophy: More than meets the mind. Chicago: Open Court. Read More