The future is something, as a kid, that I always looked forward to. Flying cars, robots, and spaceships that could take me places I could never imagine, the child in me expected nothing but the best. Now, on the brink of adulthood and in light of the previous election, I would much rather go back to when I was young again and dreaming of a perfect future.
Nowadays, instead of trying to forward ourselves as a race, we're so caught up in petty arguments and debates about nothing, holding us back as a result. Social and political issues run rampant in a time where most don't even understand either topic, yet everyone seems to have an opinion on. This self-destructive behavior is not something that I like seeing from us, and the fact that while we do that, many issues go unnoticed is quite terrifying. In an age where corporations seem to have a firm grasp on us from every end, social media sites do nothing but serve as a spot to nitpick everyone and everything instead of actually doing something in society.
I hope that throughout the rest of my life, I am able to get by without seeing any world wars or the end result of the global warming we've all caused, but so few seem to actually worry about. I hope that the foreseeable future is similar to the one I dreamed up as a kid, but if anything, I see it becoming more like the one we saw in Idoiocricy.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Week 14 - Satire and Sci-fi
I'm glad we ended the class with satire (mainly because we watched Idiocracy). The film definitely paints a picture of what our world will look like in the (near) future. The film is one that I can constantly watch just because of how funny and scary it is, due to the somewhat realistic nature in which our society is heading. The cult film tells its jokes by using sci-fi tropes to make fun of hypothetical situations.
Sci-fi-centric films, in a sense, have it the easiest when parodying a subject, more or less because what they're making fun of hasn't exactly happened yet, even if it is something that could. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is another example of satire in the science fiction genre. The novel is about the absurdities of modern life, and how many things we find to be important in life are really just insignificant. Many of the situations in the book are direct representations of things that are or have been happening in real life, but since it's through the eyes of the future, it isn't seen as a direct statement. For example, the Vogons sole purpose is to block progress and to create paperwork, mirroring bureaucracy in their system of living.
Sci-fi-centric films, in a sense, have it the easiest when parodying a subject, more or less because what they're making fun of hasn't exactly happened yet, even if it is something that could. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is another example of satire in the science fiction genre. The novel is about the absurdities of modern life, and how many things we find to be important in life are really just insignificant. Many of the situations in the book are direct representations of things that are or have been happening in real life, but since it's through the eyes of the future, it isn't seen as a direct statement. For example, the Vogons sole purpose is to block progress and to create paperwork, mirroring bureaucracy in their system of living.
Week 13 - Literary Speculation
The movie Existenz is a truly bizarre film that shows us a new form of gaming in that the system is organically attached to the host and sent into them directly. The human "umbilical cord" connects gamers to the game and essentially give life to the characters, given that the world, while a bit odd and strange, feels very lifelike. The fact that the film doesn't use many actual sci-fi elements other than the technological way of getting inside the games make it's more speculative fiction. I also tried reading The Aquatic Uncle, but didn't quite understand what it was about.
Week 12 - Diverse Position Science Fiction
If there's anything the sci-fi genre hasn't done, it's give minorities a prominent role in major sci-fi stories. Granted, that isn't to say that there aren't people of different races or colors in these stories (Morpheus in The Matrix, Ricardo Montaban's Khan from Star Trek, and Finn in The Force Awakens), but they aren't leading these films or stories.
The film that we watched in class, Attack The Block, is a pretty basic alien invasion film, but it feels fresh and new because the dynamic among the survivors and the setting is much different from what we're used to. The setting is in the slums of London following a group of black teenagers, one of which is associated with a gang. They steal from a concerned white lady who is scared of them because of their appearance. So when they have to team up later, the dynamic isn't about people who hate each other, rather than about people who don't accept or trust each other.
Another story about diverse characters is Bloodchild by Octavia Butler. The story follows Gan who lives in a society where aliens have come down and cannot procreate, so they use the men to reproduce for them. The story is about reversal of gender roles, as well as the struggles between two species that have to learn to live on their own to survive.
The film that we watched in class, Attack The Block, is a pretty basic alien invasion film, but it feels fresh and new because the dynamic among the survivors and the setting is much different from what we're used to. The setting is in the slums of London following a group of black teenagers, one of which is associated with a gang. They steal from a concerned white lady who is scared of them because of their appearance. So when they have to team up later, the dynamic isn't about people who hate each other, rather than about people who don't accept or trust each other.
Another story about diverse characters is Bloodchild by Octavia Butler. The story follows Gan who lives in a society where aliens have come down and cannot procreate, so they use the men to reproduce for them. The story is about reversal of gender roles, as well as the struggles between two species that have to learn to live on their own to survive.
Week 11 - Cyberpunk and Steam Punk
Usually, in a cyberpunk story, we find characters that are robots, are made up of some robotic parts, or are associated with robots. Another thing associated with cyberpunk stories are that they typically have a strong, female character that is either modified or put together in some way (if she's a robot) and is seen as the perfect woman, both in appearances and in physicality.
Blade Runner is a great example of the cyberpunk sub-genre, along with being a perfect neo-noir film as well. The film follows Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who is brought back in to find a few replicants, robots that look exactly like humans, that have gotten loose. The story takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles (2019) and while the film revolves around catching these sentient characters, Deckard himself may be a replicant himself. The design of the film is very high-tech, while also feeling a little dirty, giving it a harsh, futuristic feel that does feel new, but also with a little bit of cynicism. Other examples of cyberpunk are Ghost in the Shell and, more mainstream, The Matrix. An example of a Steam Punk aesthetic are post-apocalyptic stories such is Mad Max: Fury Road.
Blade Runner is a great example of the cyberpunk sub-genre, along with being a perfect neo-noir film as well. The film follows Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who is brought back in to find a few replicants, robots that look exactly like humans, that have gotten loose. The story takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles (2019) and while the film revolves around catching these sentient characters, Deckard himself may be a replicant himself. The design of the film is very high-tech, while also feeling a little dirty, giving it a harsh, futuristic feel that does feel new, but also with a little bit of cynicism. Other examples of cyberpunk are Ghost in the Shell and, more mainstream, The Matrix. An example of a Steam Punk aesthetic are post-apocalyptic stories such is Mad Max: Fury Road.
Week 11 - Cyberpunk and Steam Punk
Usually, in a cyberpunk story, we find characters that are robots, are made up of some robotic parts, or are associated with robots. Another thing associated with cyberpunk stories are that they typically have a strong, female character that is either modified or put together in some way (if she's a robot) and is seen as the perfect woman, both in appearances and in physicality.
Blade Runner is a great example of the cyberpunk sub-genre, along with being a perfect neo-noir film as well. The film follows Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who is brought back in to find a few replicants, robots that look exactly like humans, that have gotten loose. The story takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles (2019) and while the film revolves around catching these sentient characters, Deckard himself may be a replicant himself. The design of the film is very high-tech, while also feeling a little dirty, giving it a harsh, futuristic feel that does feel new, but also with a little bit of cynicism. Other examples of cyberpunk are Ghost in the Shell and, more mainstream, The Matrix. An example of a Steam Punk aesthetic are post-apocalyptic stories such is Mad Max: Fury Road.
Blade Runner is a great example of the cyberpunk sub-genre, along with being a perfect neo-noir film as well. The film follows Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who is brought back in to find a few replicants, robots that look exactly like humans, that have gotten loose. The story takes place in a dystopian Los Angeles (2019) and while the film revolves around catching these sentient characters, Deckard himself may be a replicant himself. The design of the film is very high-tech, while also feeling a little dirty, giving it a harsh, futuristic feel that does feel new, but also with a little bit of cynicism. Other examples of cyberpunk are Ghost in the Shell and, more mainstream, The Matrix. An example of a Steam Punk aesthetic are post-apocalyptic stories such is Mad Max: Fury Road.
Week 10 - The Fiction of Ideas
This section of sci-fi is what personally interests me the most. This section is about sci-fi writers who started writing less about large, space epics that took place on fantastical worlds but instead focused more on social and political topics and using sci-fi stories as their way to approach these topics. Soon, the more paranoid and dystopian side of literature started kicking in, thanks to the likes of Phillip K. Dick.
Fahrenheit 451 is a great example of this. The film is about an American society in which reading books is banned, and that local firemen are in charge of burning them all. The reasoning is most likely in part because the "higher ups" of this society don't want people to question their authority, which some of the books they're burning could be doing just that. It's all about social order and structure and trying to maintain what they think is right for the better good.
The short story Aye and Gomorrah is another example of this. The story is about people called Spacers, who are people who have to be neutered at puberty so that they can work in space without being hurt from the radiation. They are respected by the people, but they end up feeling lonely because they are unable to have sex. There are people, called frelks, who do want to be with these Spacers, but because of this, they are looked down upon. When this was originally written, it was in the '60's, when homosexuality wasn't accepted in society. These frelks stand in as homosexuals, being shamed for loving those they have no control over.
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