Science fiction and films - Essay Example

Submitted Short Paper-2 The Cyberpunk and Film noir nature of the blade runner lies in the science fiction genre it belongs to. As Cyberpunk involves science fiction that involves futuristic computer based societies, the film blade runner is a sort of cyber punk as it involves the futuristic computerised human clones taking the mankind to ransom. As science fiction indulges in futuristic advances of science mixed with creative ideas of positive or negative, the cyber punk sub-genre in science fiction genre for blade runner is suitable. The cyber punk nature of the film 'Blade Runner' is explicable as it involves the speculation of role of computerised human clones of the future, which is stimulating. As the film is associated with rave/techno subculture and substitutes enthusiastic blathering about technology, the cyber punk nature of the film was expressed in the way of narration and visuals. As the film involves the exciting about right things and a proper and respectful way of hacking the talent, the film excels in being a science fiction genre that explicitly talks about computerised clones of humans. As the computerised clones in the film are expressed in a highly criminalised manner, the necessity of expression of the criminal nature needs some symbolic lighting and expression that involves the value of life and humanity. As the lead character in the film Deckard prowls in the steel and micro chip jungle of 21st Century, the cyber punk nature of the film is explicitly seen in every inch of the narration and story. However, the expression of humanity, detachment and precious nature of life involved inherently in the film give it a combined colour of film noir sub genre in addition to cyber punk sub genre for a science fiction genre film. 1 The cyber punk sub-genre of the film is further intensified when the administration on earth decides to field another replicant Rick Deckard against the replicants returned to earth to approach their maker. The film can be termed as having cyber punk genre as not only the narration, but also the theme (the killing of replicants and replicants' mission to earth) also involves science fiction and cyber in nature. Another aspect of cyber punk genre in the film is expression of humanoid or android feelings by the actors who played replicants. In addition to that the theme of the film concentrates on the replicant nature of Deckard and the reaction of Gaff about Deckard's dreams. As Gaff will be in control of a replicant the plot is to field an android to destroy unwanted androids. From here, the film introduces film noir sub genre in addition to the cyber punk sub genre in a science fiction genre film. The film noir genre and content of the film lies in the criminal background of replicants and a state killer tracking down them. As the plot is to murder the artificial people for their illegal acts (wanting to live more than the stipulated time against the wishes of the administration), the film noir nature of the film is expressed well by frequent voice over in the film. 2 In addition to that the general brutality (the brutality of four replicants, whom Deckard has to execute) violence and harsh dialogue are present in the characters. The harsh dialogue can be seen in the expression of the leader of the replicants who confront with their creator. As the inherent activities of replicants are related to crime and horror, the lead character also express some attributes of film noir with a trench coat and a gun. In addition to that there are anti hero characters in Deckard as he drinks too much, loner and does not trusts authorities. Though Deckard is a detective, the harsh dialogues like "They do not advertise for killers. I am not in the business. I am the business. If You are not a cop, you are little people", makes the narration of the film to have a noir type of content. One more aspect that establishes the noir nature in the film is that the violence is brutal and graphic. As the duty of Deckard is fatal (he is to kill the humanoids) is similar to the nature of his opponents Rachael and Pris who are fatal too. Moreover, the voice-over used in 1982 version is a characteristic film noir story-telling technique, which might have be a reason for its failure at box office. However, night, rain, deserted alleys, bright city lights, dim rooms, interplay between light and shadows in the film highlight the film noir aesthetics and that type of story telling. In addition to that in above paragraphs, the plot in the film is described as filled with cyber punk and now we can find film noir nature too. The assignment for hero, which not even imaginable to him makes him to meet a dangerous woman finally realising that he is deceived by the people in power. As deceit and betrayal are the nature and traditions of film noir story telling, the assignment of Deckard is filled with deceit and betrayal. We can be sure about the film noir nature of the film as the director 'Ridley Scott' quotes in an interview that "To me it is entirely logical, particularly when you are doing a film noir, you may as well go right through with that theme, and the central character could in fact be what he is chasing." Hence according to the above words and discussion preceding it, it is clear that the director made the film keeping in view science fiction as genre and cyber punk and film noir as sub genres. 3 Item 4 The Symbolic Novum argument by Darko Suvin is explicit in block buster science fiction movies that created history. The films 'Star Wars' and 'The Matrix' are considered in this paper for discussing symbolic novum of Suvin. The new thing in the science fiction films like star wars is that the makers embrace the creativity and innovation that attracts fans. Moreover, the important new thing in the science fiction films is that the narration about future that is a fantasy today. Hence, fans expect a new thing or aspect in every science fiction film and interesting narration of that new aspect will make the film successful. The number of science fiction films has numerous types of Symbolic Novum in them. For example, 'Back to Future' expresses time as a new thing and 'The Terminator' series express the cyber punk in an innovative manner. However, though there is cyber punk nature in the star wars, the important symbolic novum (the new thing) in the film at that time is thought and technology of future mixed with adventure. Another aspect that is inherent in the star war series is innovative expression of fantasy in the film. 4 Apart from fantasy George Lucas expresses the future in his film 'Star Wars' as a revision of King Arthur with a return to heroism. The heroism is mixed with traditional morality and conservatism. The important aspect in Star War series is that the film represents a new aspect or thing in every film in that series. For example, the film 'Star Wars: Attack of the Clones' expresses the ancient flying of witch on a broom as count Dooku flying on his bike. Though the flying is an old aspect in a science fiction film, the flying on a bike is innovation as it involves technology rather than spirit in flying on a broom in the ancient witch craft stories. Star Wars film contains many innovative things regarding time, space, agents and cosmic and social totality along with science fiction. As the science fiction is combined with all the above items, it resulted in a success of not only one film, but a series of films. The innovative or new aspect about social totality is that the Queen Jamilla tells Padme andher advisors that "The day we stop believing in democracy is the day we lose it". The above line denotes the social totality in the film that reflects the democratic nature of American and Western countries as well as other parts of the World. Simultaneously, undemocratic nature of Yoda, who sacrificed thousands of clone soldiers for the sake of twenty Jedi, even though they are arrogant. Hence, in the above-mentioned contexts, the two different faces of social totality of the present generation are reflected in a more technological world. The social totality is complete when the Old Republic fails due to its undemocratic processes and the democracy can be seen in depths of Universe of Star Wars as a concept that represents the Social Totality. Another aspect about innovation regarding agents in the film is that the thinking of clones that decides the undemocratic nature of Yoda. Coming the cosmic nature in the film, the trilogy gives the difference between good and evil with the energy taken from cosmos as all the characters live and fight with the friends and enemies with technology as well as the cosmic energy. The time and space nature of the films in the series innovative as the characters in the films of Star War series move from star to star and from heaven to hell. The time space for Galaxy changes into new era when Anakin returns with his mother's body and becomes a different person. The time and space of Anakin are connected with his mother and Galaxy. The time and space of Anakin and Padme is innovative in the scene, where Anakin narrates about slaughter of Tuskens. In that scene Padme guides Anakin towards light and then comforts him, when he returns to her. The above act of Padme is to show a solid place to Anakin in the form of her and her place. In addition to that the lust for power and greed are clearly showed throughout the films in the series and characters face moral dilemmas continuously. One can say that the Star Wars Science fiction series is full of innovative or new things about time, space, agents and cosmic and social totality as it parallels mythology in its narration with a touch of ultra modern and ultra technical as well as ultra spiritual powers involved in the movie. 5 Coming to aspect of time and space in the Star War series, every character, which is a part of empire, rebel galaxy or rebel alliance has shown that it exists in time and space in future. The narration catches the attention of the viewer as the technological advances of the mankind did not result in avoiding prejudices and dominating over the other or downtrodden. Battle between good and evil even exist in the time and space that considers galaxies and stars as neighbours, friends and foes. The new thing or innovation about time and space in Star Wars is that the time and space are far away and enormously bigger respectively when compared to the present time and space enjoyed by mankind. Though thinking into the future is not so especially innovative, the way the film makers thought about the fight between good evil and its presentation in a different time and space is explicit and important in Star War series. Another aspect about time and space that finds innovation is the organic force of the rebels (good), which supersedes the machine power or technological prowess of the evil. The evil is related with usage of technology for destruction and rebels are associated with greenery and are organic nature. Though they too use technology for destruction, it is for self defence and for destruction of evil that wants to conquer the universe with cruel and dominating ways without democracy. The above aspects are found in present time and space also and they are incorporated in a futuristic time and space in an innovative manner and were shown as new things (symbolic novum) in the Star Wars series. 6 Another film that can be discussed in this paper regarding time, space, agents and cosmic as well as social totality is 'The Matrix' and its series of films. The time and space in the 'The Matrix' Series of films is related with cyber punk as the computerised machines and humans fight with each other for existence in time and space of a future generation. In contrast to star wars, the result of the technology was an evil here and not the creators of the technology. In star wars the evil was the people who used the technology for evil purposes, Here, the machines itself are evil in 'The Matrix Reloaded'. Thus symbolic novum (the new thing) in the film is about the evil as the machines themselves act as evil to the mankind by holding humans in captivity and using them as batteries for power necessary to them. However, the evil here is subservient to humans by an artificial environment known as matrix and this aspect of time and space also is absent in Star Wars as the evil in Star Wars series is not subservient to good. In addition to that the science fiction in 'Matrix' series is more complicated as it involves more science than moral. It explains the evil caused to due to excess of dependence on machines and technology rather than expressing moral values like 'live and let live' in Star Wars. Hence the above aspect is an innovative thing that attracted the attention of viewers and made the series a big hit as much as that of Star Wars. 7 The agents in 'The Matrix' series are humans and machines and they are represented in an innovative way as the clash between humans and machines is there in 'Terminator' Series also, the way it has been represented here can be termed as innovative. The reason is the machines in 'Terminator' Series are subservient to two different races and in case of 'The Matrix' series, they act as independent and fight with the human race, to which they are supposed to be subservient. Hence man is fighting with his own creation, which is similar to the aspect in 'Blade Runner'. However, the blade runner theme is that the machines or androids are still subservient to man and the human race is capable to punish them in case of revolt. In contrast, 'The Matrix' series offers a fight between machines and humans making the machines also one of the agents, which is not the case in other science fiction films. Regarding Cosmic Totality, 'The Matrix' Series presents a modern mythology that presents the matrix as a womb and software and technology as the aspects the womb draws energy and material to give birth. Hence the cosmic totality is mixed with the technological prowess in 'The Matrix' series. As the human beings draw energy from cosmos, the people and machines in matrix draw energy from an artificial environment 'Matrix', which is similar to the assumptions of the cosmos in the view of different thinkers and different religions. The cosmic totality comes to the fore when we think about the character Neo (Keanu Reaves), who can alter the matrix, but cannot change the program of it. Hence, he has to fight with the villains (machines) and has to do as per the fate. Here fate can be compared to the intelligent programs of matrix. Hence, if the matrix is the cosmos, the intelligent programs and the hardware that gives extra human power to the humans can be termed as the energy we derive from the cosmos. The above-mentioned cosmic totality enters into a social totality, when Neo learns that the Keymaker's rogue program can be nullified by the matrix. He takes the help of Prsephone and wants to take Keymaker to the backdoor of matrix. However, in these acts the social totality of cooperation and acting on foe's weaknesses and strengths can be observed. 8 The cosmic and social totality of the film lies in the new 'laws of nature' that operate in the future world in which the narration has been done. The fantasy is mixed with technology and the potentiality of science is used to that level by making all theoretical issues practical in nature. As a result 'The Matrix' series removes the separation between mind and matter thus making humans and machines to make use of energy and matter in the Earth more effectively. One can see that the technological assumptions in the film depend on the standard of technology used in the present age. 'The Matrix' series uses software program that guides the mankind and machines as the software is dominating the technological world as all the fields are computerised. Hence the narration and the characters in 'The Matrix' series are based on software program and this aspect represents the contemporary computerised world. 9 Another aspect of social totality in 'The Matrix' series is get freedom for the humans from the make believe world created by machines (androids). The social values like freedom and liberty are expressed in the technology driven science fiction movie, which declares that the humans are cheated by the creates (machines or androids) created by them. The innovation is that the movie starts from the present world saying that it is a make believe world. The above innovation then gives a glimpse of disintegrated, wasted, devoid natural resources world, which is a resultant of excessive use of technology without concern for the environment and moral values. Due to the lack of concern regarding environment, the natural resources are wasted and depleted. By ignoring the moral values in the backdrop of technological comforts, the humans are enslaved to machines (androids). After that the machines are turned into agents and their actions are fulfilled by humans. However, some humans who recognised this, change to agents and perform actions that seek freedom for humans from machines.10 Hence, in every science fiction film, the innovation regarding time, space, agents, cosmic and social totality give theme and plot to the movie. Works Cited Greg Bole et al , 2008, Blade Runner, Retrieved on 24th September 2008 from Robb, Brian J. Ridley Scott. Harpenden, GBR: Pocket Essentials, 2001. Retrieved on September 24, 2008 from . Passagen, 2008, Film Noir, Retrieved on 24th September 2008 from Tulloch, John. Science Fiction Audiences: Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Their Fans. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 1995. Retrieved on September 25, 2008 from . Mike Blackburn, The Symbolism of Star Wars, Stardestroyer.net, Toronto, Canada: Michael and Rebecca Wong, 2008, Retrieved on September 25th 2008 from http://www.stardestroyer.net/AOTC/Symbolism.html Roberts, Adam. Science Fiction. London, UK: Routledge, 2000. Retrieved on September 26, 2008 from . Brian Thomas, DVD review, 'The Matrix -Reloaded', Space.com, New York, USA: Space.com, 2007, Retrieved on 26th September 2008 from http://www.space.com/entertainment/matrix_reload_review.html Scott Potter, Under the Matrixscope, www.thematrix101.com, USA: The Matrix 101, 2008, Retrieved on 26th September 2008 from Telotte, J. P. Science Fiction Film. Port Chester, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Retrieved on September 27, 2008 from . Sumitra, Plot Summary for The Matrix, IMBD, USA: 2008, Retrieved on 27th September from 2008 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/plotsummary Read More