Roy Baty (Rutger Hauer), Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)According to Ryan and Kellner, how does the division between nature and technology in conservative science-fiction/fantasy films of the 1960s to the 1980s support conservative ideals regarding freedom, individualism, family, equality, etc? How do radical (left) science-fiction/fantasy films challenge the technology/nature division as constructed in conservative films and offer alternative visions of human/non-human interactions? What is conservatism’s paradoxical relation to modernity and industrialization?
For Bukatman ("Replicants and Mental Life"), why is it significant that Deckard's status (human or replicant) remain undetermined? In what ways does Roy Baty character challenge the boundaries between human and replicant?
For Bukatman ("Replicants and Mental Life"), why is it significant that Deckard's status (human or replicant) remain undetermined? In what ways does Roy Baty character challenge the boundaries between human and replicant?
Films such as "Blade Runner" offered a kind of liberal point of view in regards to technology vs nature as opposed to conservative films of the same time period. In the end of the film, as Deckard and and Rachel run off to be together, the happy "marriage" of man and machine is represented. The replicants in the film were also portrayed as perhaps more human in nature than their makers. Conservative films of the time tended to shun technology, making it seem as more of an evil thing. "THX 1138" used technology in the form of medicine that suppressed human sexual desire, individualism, and equality. Both sides are represented in their ideologies while simultaneously challenging each other.
ReplyDeleteBukatman feels that it is significant that Deckard's status (as to whether he is human or replicant) remain undetermined is because perhaps the asking of the question is more important than the answer. He feels that "human definition is clearly central to the work, and thus the ambiguity is crucial."(p.82)
Roy Batty challenges the boundaries between human and replicant in that he bounces back in forth between male and not-male, white and not-white, and human and non-human. He can be cold and ruthless (replicant) and kind and forgiving (human). He pushes the question of human vs replicant the same way that Deckard's issue does. Both characters make us question our own humanity, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on the viewer.
The difference in how the sci-fi genre challenges technology is shown in in how people can react to that technology. The more left films showed how the persuit of technology can actually consume it's creators and end up creating a "monster" of sorts (ex: 2001, stark trek, the matrix) where humans go too far and create something they cannot control. This could be a direct response to the cold war era where people saw the dangers that came from space race and nuclear arms race.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that Deckard's status remain unstated so that the audience can make the leap for themselves. This concept has been done time and again. Take the characters of "Commander Data" in the Start Trek: the next generation series or "Sonny" in the I, Robot film. Both show how machines can act "more human" than their creators.
Roy Baty's challenges the boundaries by showing aspects of both the technological side (ruthless) and the human side (compassion.)
Nature is often compared to freewill. Ralph Waldo Emerson said in The First Series of his famous essay, "Self-Reliance," to examine your relationship with Nature and God, and to trust your own judgment above all others (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/201). Nature is freedom, technology while it may be limitless does have limits are usually unseen by the creators. Technology is often seen in films as the communism of the space age, things that are created are created to be the same and equal to other things created. The radical left films challenge the technology/nature division by having a robot or some sort of technology created with human like emotions and feelings.
ReplyDeleteBukatman feels that Deckard's status remain undeterminded because as soon as it becomes determined this is when problems start to occur. The less human it is the more predictable Deckard is. Baty's character challenges the boundaries between human and replicant by going half way between them with the creation of his character.
Nature is compared to technology in that technology is blank, and without emotion. Whereas nature embodies the truth of the world by showing the complex beauty that it possesses. From the paranoia associated with the films from the 60's to the 80's, all revolved around losing identity. This loss could be universally known, due to the times in which these films were being produced. Communism and the cold war were occurring, and through these events, films were produced to correlate those feeling of fear and anxiety. Thus making such films a product of their environment and time.
ReplyDeleteLiberal science fiction films spin this concept by showing how technology can be beautiful, such as in, "Blade Runner". When Roy is on top of the building with Deckard and shows mercy to him. Savoring the last moments of his existence, the audience feels the character's, "soul". This concept brings a fresh take upon the genre, by allowing for the story to have feeling in the most unexpected way, through machinery.
Bukatman states that Deckard should be undecided, due to the complexity of his character. Such examples are seen throughout the film in his demeanor. When he sees Pris and acknowledges his love towards her, the audience is left feeling confused as well as connected by emotion to the characters. This method of keeping the character in mystery adds flavor, but also creates boundaries. Even though Batty feels these things, we understand he is still an android with abilities far beyond that of a human. Yet even though we know this we still feel on an emotional level a connect with Batty because in the end when Batty shows remorse and mercy we become apart of the characters journey. This culminates with his retirement on top of the building, which makes me ask the questions, in the end, aren’t we, all retiring just like, “them”?
Conservative science fiction films between 1960 and 1980 characterized nature and technology as being constantly at war with one another. The world of technology was evil, a controlling force that enslaved people for the “good of all” and suppressed individuality, sexuality, or emotions. Films like “THX 1138”, and “Logan’s Run” expressed this technological viewpoint with plots that had the heros escaping into nature in order to find their individuality, love, equality, etc. The liberal sci-fi films combined the technophobic fears of conservative sci-fi with the humanistic undertones, showing us that these two factions could be together in the same place. Sometimes working together and sometimes working against each other, but more importantly it is sometimes hard to distinguish between the two. Liberal sci-fi lets us wonder which side is right, natural or artificial.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that Deckard does not have his status revealed because it allows us to question him, his motives, and his reasoning. The film portrays a conflict between humans and non-humans pretending to be human, and issue with Deckard’s identity allows us to question the motives and reasoning of both sides. The character of Roy Baty challenges the boundary between human and replicant through his playful performance near the end of the film where he appears to out-humanize Deckard.
-Toby Staffanson
In conservative science fiction films technology is read as being oppositional to the “natural order” things. Technology is seen as cold, mechanical, without heart, whereas humans are spontaneous, creative, and free. Technology threatens all that is natural, like a man and woman reproducing and creating a family, which is the whole point of existence. Liberal films offer technology as a service to the human race, a tool to be used, and understood. Conservative films like to paint technology as a means for loss of identity, no parents, lack of discipline, corrosion of the family unit. Conservatism fears the potential for new lifestyles and possibilities offered by technology. That is where the paradox lies; the fact that to advance their own goals the conservatives must harness and exploit certain technologies while trying to maintain that technology is the opposition to their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to leave Deckard’s status as undetermined because that way we are able to judge for ourselves, whether it is that he is an android or if he has simply lost his humanity, thereby becoming a “machine”. Roy Batty’s character challenges this barrier between human and replicant by expressing his true physicality and offering the replicant as a final match for human beings.
Joe Brady 301
Technophobia in science fiction films typically dealt with the oppression of “social values as freedom, individualism, and the family” (Ryan, Kellner 58) conservative values were typically the cure to the threat towards anything natural. Perhaps the earliest example is George lucas’s “THX 1138” where technology is used to repress even the most basic of natural human behavior, sexual desire. Science fiction films with conservative ideals typically show technology in a negative light, there is no doubt, “The development of a strain of films that portray technology negatively” (59) Unlike their liberal counterparts conservatives want the inequalities that are in place that are socially constructed to seem natural. Radical films such as Bladerunner use technology to their advantage for what seems like a conservative entity or evil force. The film just so happens to underwrite that conservative fear of technology and leaves the meaning in the end open. It is quite interesting and ironic that conservatism’s relation to industrialization and view in sci-fi movies are polar opposites. One strongly favors and uses technology for the better and to improve mankind, while the other see’s technology as this unspeakable evil.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Buaktman is saying that it’s important that we do not know Deckhard’s status because if the replicate’s life-span is 4 years, he would then go into this downward spiral of self pity and dis-repair, would you really want to know if you had x number of years to live? The key is to make the replicates as human as possible, and what is more human then self-awareness of life and death. Roy’s character challenges the boundaries between human and replicate in the sense that he is a cyborg, he is the cross between a replicate and human in some ways. However, in the defense of people who say
Jon Elliott
Science-fiction films between the 1960’s and 80’s present an overall pessimistic view of the relationship between humanity and technology. They often support conservative ideals that present a world completely overrun by technology which degrades human existence. “THX 1138”, for example, presents a world in which human freedom and individuality are limited and controlled through chemical and technological influence. There exists a particular form of equality, not through respect and understanding, but through identification (number) and duty (mindless, repetitive jobs).
ReplyDeleteMore liberal films, however, attempt to break from this control and present a more mutual relationship between humanity and technology. “2001: A Space Odyssey”, for example, is arguably one such film. Aboard the Discovery, the relationship between the HAL-9000 computer and the crew members Frank Poole and Dave Bowman is almost symbiotic. They each maintain their own duties which the other cannot partake, such as the crew making necessary repairs while HAL flies the ship and keeps the hibernating crew alive. As opposed to the more conservative films, it presents a cautiously optimistic view of humans and technology, saying that technology can be a very beneficial gift so long as it isn’t abused.
In “Blade Runner”, it is important that Deckard’s status remain undetermined because it presents an interesting and ironic view on human/technology interaction. Deckard has a job in which he excels, that is to weed out replicants, and should he be a replicant it would be very hypocritical. Remember, though, that the character Rachael did not know she was a replicant, which suggests that such knowledge is not always theirs to control. Roy Batty’s character, for example, knows of his status and that he will soon die. He despises humans because of their control and extended life, tries to extend his own at the expense of humans.
Ryan and Kellner in their essay “Technophobia” describe the situation of 1970s science fiction film, which taken in historical context can be used at a social commentary of sorts for the time period. I found the examples of period films used in the text (THX 1138 and Logan’s Run) to be fascinating and this idea became the basis for my first visual essay.
ReplyDeleteThe author’s state:
“In 1970s films, technology was frequently a metaphor for everything that threatened ‘natural’ social arrangements, and conservative values associated with nature were generally mobilized as antidotes to that threat”
Taking the example of THX 1138, which was screened in class, the division between the natural and the technological becomes clear to the viewer. In the setting where the film takes place, the conservative values of: individualism, family, and emotion are outlawed. The inhabitants of the city all wear the same clothes, share the same shaved head hairstyle and no one is distinguishable from anyone else. There is no family, sexual relations or love. Feelings are extinguished by a combination of sedative drugs and religion. The environment in which they live is very sterile and modern looking, machines monitor one’s every move and no subversion is unpunished.
Films like THX 1138 and Logan’s Run both end in the escape of the protagonist into the ‘natural’ world. In Logan’s Run I explored this sentiment. Logan and Jessica (rebels) escape the city and see the sun for the first time. Away from the watchful eyes of the totalitarian society from which they came, they are free to establish a heterosexual family unit, to be monogamous. They later go back to the city to save the rest of its inhabitants from the hedonism in which they live and to inform them that there is another way of living, the ‘natural’ way which includes families, emotional ties and individualism.
The duality of technology and nature in conservative science fiction film supports conservative values by creating a feeling of unhappiness of the characters within collectivist society. Freedom is associated with the natural, which easily becomes the chosen mode of life in the characters of these films.
While conservative films offer a view of the world that includes hard divisions between good/bad, technology/nature and the human/un-human. Radical science fiction film challenges this duality as something purely constructed and not explicitly inherent.
The film Blade Runner becomes and example in the text of this ‘radical’ point of view. In the film, there are replicants and humans. Replicants look human, act human and even have feelings like humans. There is no real difference between humans and the replicants besides the build in failsafe mechanism, which causes the replicants to expire after 4 years and the artificial memories that are implanted upon their creation.
I point brought up in the essay “Replicants and Mental Life” that I found especially interesting in relation to this point of human/non-human was the idea of the implanted memories:
“Memories are not givens, even for humans-we select, distort and misremember. Our pasts are, to some extent, constructions; so then are our selves.”
This reality that humans are not recorders of every little detail of our pasts muddles the lines between humans and non-humans even more. If we are to use the conservative values of memories and feelings to describe what makes something human, this as described creates an ontological problem.
Deckard’s status of human or replicant in Blade Runner remains purposefully undetermined. This is significant because is progressive stance underscore the post industrialist society that the film depicts. The viewers’ inability to determine the status of Deckard and the replicant Rachel’s inability to determine her own status is crutial to the purpose of the film. As the author states: “The issue of human definition is clearly…central to the work, and thus the ambiguity is crucial”.
The Roy Batty character (replicant) of the film also challenges the boundaries between human and replicant due to his wanting of continued existence and his fight against the institutionalized definition of his status. Batty’s relationship with the character Sebastian, a human, is also of significance. Sebastian’s character is afflicted by some kind of aging disease where his lifespan is critically shortened. Here a human and non-human relate of an existential level.
Altogether the separate readings give a comprehensive view of what the film is all about. The film itself causes an anxiety within the viewer to determine what exactly is making you human just as the characters on the film battle this anxiety on screen.
Conservative science fiction/fantasy films of the 1970s use the dichotomy of nature vs. machine/technology in order to support their ideals of the family, freedom, equality, and individualism by representing technology in an inherently evil manner. This conservative representation is evident in the film THX 1138 from the early 70’s in that technology has led the government to control the masses via drugs, thus stripping them of their individualities, and freedoms, and sexual desires. The citizens are constantly being monitored via video surveillance and robotic police enforcement. The creation of technology has drastically altered the government and in doing so, completely undermined conservative ideals. In the end of the film, nature is represented by the sun up against THX finally freeing him. Left wing films of the same era took a different approach to technology, in suggesting that humans and machines can live in harmony and it is often the creators of the machines, or the corporations in control of them, that are causing the problems. This left wing mentatlity is evident in Blade Runner, in that the film suggests that a human and a replicant could have a meaningful relationship and questions that differences between the two, and that the Tyrell Corporation is creating the replicant only to further its profits. Conservatisms relationship to modernity and industrialization is paradoxal because of the economic reliance on industry and technological growth and development, yet conservatives fear that technological growth will encroach upon their ideals.
ReplyDeleteBukatman states that Deckhard’s characters status should remain undertermined because it is an essential part to the ideas of human/machine interaction and the supposed inherent emotions or traits given to both the human and machine. It leaves the audience wondering and questioning these themes of human/machine relations and adds depth to the character. It adds to the left wing argument that technology doesn’t have to be evil. Baty’s character challenges the human/replicant boundaries because he is a replicant that displays human emotional traits.
-Alex Sokovich
Film 319
ReplyDeleteTechnology and nature are two opposites. Something that grows from the earth and something that is created by a human are very different. It is a topic of interest for science fiction creators. Will technology envelope and take over our world, or will Mother Nature always prevail? In "2001" the message is that technology is ultimately beyond our understanding. In "THX" the message is that technology will take over, but it can never stamp out the human being inside of us, the one that wants sex and freedom. In "Wall-E" the message is that Mother Nature will always prevail, even if it takes a few hundred years. Technology versus nature is an interesting topic to explore because there are many possibilities, many bad, many good.
In "THX" humans are medically treated to act like machines and be efficient. Having no hair is efficient. Wearing the same bleachable clothes is efficient. Having sex only to have a baby is like a machine. If there is no need to have sex other than to waste time, then why waste time? But when the humans disobey the system and realize they are humans with human needs, not only are they punished but they realize that they never want to stop feeling this way. Although I have not seen the end yet, I can assume that the nature of human beings will prevail over technology.
By the way, can people please not reveal the endings to any movies we will see in class, such as I saw for "Bladerunner"? Not all of us have seen these films yet. Thank you.
In the authors piece “Technophobia” they assert that conservative western cinema portrayed the advancement of science and proliferation of technology as a dangerous, mysterious, and hostile realm. Often these “conservative films” portray humans nature and anything otherwise organic as being oppressed by or defending some manifestation of antagonistic technology, such as the mentioned and viewed THX1138, with its repressive totalitarian social structure. Liberal Science fiction film, Ryan and Kellner contend, blur the lines and examine both sides of the relationship humans and their societies have with science and technology. In these genres of films it is said we see technology helping and hindering the protagonists, and more diverse portrayals of humans attitude toward the given piece of science or technology. What is interesting to consider, at least to me, is how technology is viewed as a lawless frontier or beast that needed to be tamed in this era, and that in the “Golden Years” of Hollywood, around the time as such directors as John Ford, it seems as if nature, especially the “Wild, Wild West” was presented as a dangerous, mysterious, and hostile realm. The freshly industrialized and urbanized masses saw the rural expanses of the United States as land that needed to be claimed, and there are endless scenes of wagons cutting through the desert or movies of boomtowns and outposts, this characterization of nature as impending social element that can be used for good or bad is similar to how science and technology are used in the cinema circa the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Deckers ambiguous status is said to serve as a parallel to the bigger question of who has a life? And the notion of “i think therefore I am” and how humans robots and cyborgs and treated. Baty's varying with emotions is another clear example of this blurring and examination.
ReplyDeleteTom Burns 319-002
Science Fiction films of the 60’s and 80’s usually have clear and distinct dichotomies between what is considered “natural” and what is considered “technological”. These oppositions tend to lean towards the technological as “evil” and the natural as “good”. In THX 1138 the humans are all on drugs to repress their natural instincts and adrenaline levels. They are numbed so that they can better perform their jobs such as monitoring other humans and creating oppressive mechanical police units. When taken off his medicine, THX 1138 becomes disoriented with these unfamiliar feelings. He talks to, what seems to be, the technological equivalent of a confessional where the automated voice replies with recorded reassurances and propaganda. In these early films machines and humans are separated by their abilities for emotion and compassion. Later on, more radical Sci-fi movies such as Blade Runner offers us visions of machines with feelings and gets us to ask questions about our own humanity and what makes us human. These movies start to blur the clear cut line between Human and Mechanical. But are machines becoming more like humans or humans more like machines? Are we that much different? What are the deciding factors? The reason why Deckard’s status should remain undetermined in Blade Runner is so that we ask these questions. Roy Baty on the other hand, we know he’s a replicant, but why then does he act so much like a child? He just wants to “live” but must fight with Deckard for his right to survive, but in the end lets Deckard live. Is this compassion or logic at work? The dove that Roy lets go of when he dies makes him seem like a Christ figure, the dove being a symbol of peace, love, innocence and purity. He dies so that the Deckard and the newer replicant model can live.
ReplyDeleteRon Mueller Film 301
ReplyDeleteThe technology in conservative science fiction/fantasy films are focused on the social or modern norms. The article ‘technophobia’ discusses the conservative viewpoints and its rejection of everything technology represents. The fear of technological advances is felt in these films because a conservative’s viewpoint on technology is a threat to individualism which is seen in the film THX 1138 where everyone’s life is regulated by the state rather than the individual. Some of the alternative visions where made in films that contradicted the conservative ideals. One example was in Star Trek when a human mated with an astral body born of a space probe which goes against the assumption that machines and humans could not get along intimately. There were also films that proved that robots could have values and a sense of reasoning. The relation to modernity is the fact that conservatism does in fact suffer from technophobia but at same time they see the social and economic advantages to making these technological advances and it is difficult not to take advantage of these opportunities. A good example of this is the replacement of human labor with machines. This shows that the industrial manufacturing is becoming a thing of the past and is being replaced by the ‘information age’ type of production.
The status of a (human or replicant) should remain undetermined because it is so hard to define what it means to be human. That issue is brought up when Phillip Dick brought up the argument of whether or not we could give a machine the qualities of a human being and if a human lost its humanity if it would be a machine. So it could be asked if a human being lost all empathy and feelings for another are they could be labeled a machine because there is the assumption that machines have no human emotions. The Roy Batty character does not act like a replicant but acts like a human by fighting, pouting, playing, and showing other ‘human’ characteristics. Batty’s goal is to be his own person rather than living by traditional norms.
Victor 319
ReplyDeleteThe conservative approach to science fiction might be said to embody the fear of science. Characters either need to survive or conquer a given menace, and if they don't, at least they've helped to warn the viewer. The liberal approach embodies hope somewhat more than fear, suggesting scenarios where change, if not always pleasant, is preferable. These different approaches become obvious when dealing with nature/technology questions. Conservative science fiction films would either show man overcoming machine, or they will at least warn people about the dangers of mechanization, as in THX, where society, without even being aware of it, simply became parts of the machine. Liberal science fiction would instead often, as in the case of Blade Runner, question the nature of both man and machine, even suggesting that technology might be part of humanity's evolution.
Speaking of Blade Runner and the distinction between man and machine, there is the question of Deckard's status. Is he human or replicant? There has been much debate on this, and for practical purposes, the debate it fostered is probably why it was left open in the film; It keeps people talking about it. But from a more philosophical perspective, it serves to drive home the point of how thin the creator/created line is, when you can't tell whether the hero you've followed from the beginning of the film is even human.
According to Ryan and Kellner, the division between nature and technology in conservative science fiction films of the 1960s-80s are the traditional conservative social orders of family, freedom, and individualism. Technology represents “…the mechanical as opposed to the spontaneous, the regulated as opposed to the free… equality triumphant as opposed to liberty…” Traditional American values of liberty and freedom, the right to make ones own decisions, and to accept personal accountability is considered “nature” – the natural way one should live. Technology represents the opposite of these “correct” values. Further, these conservative science fiction films are very black and white – nature is good, technology is bad. No middle ground is offered to support even slight modifications to true, correct “nature.”
ReplyDeleteRadical science fiction films aren’t really all that radical. Rather, they offer a different perspective on what the “natural” order should be. Blade Runner “implies that even the… categories of conservatism like the individual, nature, the family…are indeterminate.” For instance, in the film, a human falls in love with an android and they escape into a strange new version of family. In a battle of visual metaphors, radical science fiction questions the validity of conservative science fiction values.
Not everyone believes that conservative values are correct and certainly “natural.” Modernity is defined as “the triumph of radical change over traditional social institutions.” As much as one might wish that conservatism is “natural,” it is as much a technology, a man-made institution, as the villains in conservative science fiction films.
The overarching theme in Blade Runner is “what makes someone human?” In Deckard’s job of retiring androids, he must not empathize with his targets. Essentially, he must become inhuman to kill the inhuman. Does this make Deckard an android? Should he be retired?
At the end of his life, the android Roy Batty does not kill Deckard though he could easily do so. Even though Roy is an android, he empathizes – a supposedly uniquely human trait – with a human who does not empathize with him. This challenges the morality of the viewer: is Roy Batty “more human than human?”
Sandra Figueira – Film 301
In George Lucas’s first film THX 1138 (1971) shows a good example of the conservative individualism and freedom that is portrayed to be the future of our society. Human beings are stripped of there personalities and they all appear to be identical with one another. There are no classes between them and none of them are treated differently. They all have their heads shaved and wear the same clothes. The freedom of affection is taken away. This is shown between the main character THX and LUH after they are separated from each other.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie Terminator (James Cameron, 1984) the robot or Terminator is portrayed to look like a human. This challenges the more conservative science fiction films because the artificial human is more or less viewed as a natural human and doesn’t appear to be different by just their appearance. This makes for a more natural connection with society and other humans in the film. Though you can tell the Terminator acts different, one wouldn’t notice without an interaction.
In the film Blade Runner, Roy Baty challenges the boundaries of human and robot/machine because he shows to have characteristics of a human with compassion and affection. He shows to have a technological side by his willingness to risk his life and bravery.
Film 301
The movie we screened in class last week, THX 1138, is a very a good example of how conservative ideas are expressed in movies. George Lucas portrays the world that the movie takes place in as a technology driven and that humans are stripped from their individualism, freedom, and family. Everyone in the society is placed at the same class. Everyone dresses the same, does the same work, wears the same clothes, and is suppressed from their problems from medication given by computers. This idea of conservatism in this film also shows the division between nature and technology as Ryan and Kellner discuss in their article. The ideas of technology and the natural are clearly separated in early movies in the 60’s and 80’s. Again referring to THX 1138 the audience is able to see how technology is running and ruining peoples life in the society and that the natural or human life is what the society wants. Compared to radical science fiction films were conservatives views are throw out, like Terminator and Blade Runner, technology and nature seem to blend together more than in movies like THX 1138. In the 80’s we start to see robots and replicates taking human forms and qualities. In the film Blade Runner Roy Baty status towards society in the movie is undetermined, so there is a boundary between human and replicate. Roy is a replicate that gives him the human form. This allows audiences to view how nature and technology are combined together to give sci-fi films a new edge compared to the conservative ideas.
ReplyDelete301 Alex Moehn
Clarissa Ramos
ReplyDeleteFilm 301
The films of 1960s to the 1980s’ era supported the ideals of leaving technology and returning to nature. The films were concentrated on how the advancement in technology has created chaos and social anxiety versus benefitting and helping society advance. This links to the ideals of conservative because conservative beliefs are based on confining to the known and not wanting to change to the unknown for fear of the outcome. This is the opposite for the radical ideologies, which challenge the results of technology. One film made during this era that portrays both the conservative and liberal ideologies is Planet of the Apes. The complete human and ape role reversal would be the issue for conservative ideology because it is not natural for humans to be submissive to apes and the radical issue would be the idea that apes actually controlled the world.
The paradoxical relationship between conservatism and modernity is that conservatism must comply and adapt with the evolution of society. Conservatism concerns itself with the foundations of society so those core issues will not be drastically changed or diverted from, for example the idea of family will always be present in society no matter what cultural or technological advancements occur.
Deckard’s true status remains undetermined because “Blade Runner” allows the audience to decide whether Deckard is either a human or replicant. There is much ambiguity as far as Deckards true status. References have “suggested” whether he was a replicant or a human, but there are various clues that are misleading and do not prove his status either way. Roy Baty’s character, as well as the other replicants in the film challenge the boundaries between human and replicant because replicants were “not just physically and intellectually superior to humans; in the dehumanised world that Blade Runner presents, replicants were ‘more human than human’” (Bukatman 77). Therefore, it was difficult to determine whether or not replicants were human because it was near impossible to distinguish between the two.
Before the end of the Cold War, cinema glorified traditional American ideals of freedom with the special emphasis on the nuclear family. This included mother, father, children and some kind of faith. After the 1980’s and the rise of equal rights for homosexuals, questions of gender norms and sexual identity presented a new kind of dialogue for science fiction cinema. While conservatives believed in progression, there was no longer room for traditionalistic views on this movement. Progression had exceeded the nuclear family values.
ReplyDeleteDeckard remains ambiguous because his character is mean to represent that question of identity within us all. As Bukatman points out, “I would argue the question is more important than determining the answer.” I think this is an excellent point when discussing human identity within the science fiction realm. Roy’s otherwise highly animated character presents us with a further paradox: what is human when the machine is more human than human? He even comes to know forgiveness in the end, therefore suggesting that the only human quality he lacks is lifespan.
According to Ryan and Kellner, the division of nature and technology in conservative science fiction films support conservative ideals because technology is represented as something that threatens conservative social authority and threatens the family structure, individualism, and freedom. Technology also creates equality, which according to Ryan and Kellner is against conservative ideals, which supposedly value inequality as part of nature.
ReplyDeleteOne example of a film that deconstructs certain conservative ideological oppositions is Blade Runner(1982) which “undercuts the posing of nature as an opposite to a negative technological civilization” by depicting the marrying of a human and a “replicant.” It also deconstructs what Ryan and Kellner call the conservative view of reason and feeling being opposites by representing reason as analytic machines that dissect human and objective reality. And it calls attention to the “oppressive core of capitalism”. Ryan and Kellner also mention conservatism’s paradoxical relation to modernity and industrialization, which is that technology and modernization is what supports that institutions that sustain conservative ideologies that are supposed to come from nature instead of relying on a social or political institutions.
Dukatman says that Deckard's status as a human or replicant should be undetermined because then the film can offer a double reading or “indecidability.” And by determining his status it would not spark debate on the moral of the story. Also the ambiguity is crucial to the idea of finding human definition, which is central to the story. The Roy Baty character challenges the boundaries between human and replicant
by showing real emotion at the time of his death, even though he is a replicant. He is a performative creature, however his performances and authentic actions become less and less distinct, breaking down the barrier between the real and artificial, or human and android.
Joe Steigerwald
319
In conservative science fiction, technology is considered a threat to individuality and freedom. As the authors state, “…technology was frequently a metaphor for everything that threatened ‘natural’ social arrangements….” (58) Films like THX 1138 (1970) and Logan’s Run (1976) show the oppressive and/or emotionally irrelevant masses conforming to prescribed social conditions. At the end of those films, the protagonists escape the mentally subdued confines of their technological prisons, so to speak, and venture off into the free, ‘natural’ world. By doing this, these films, following a conservative ideology, show how the shedding of the technological demon allows for the natural growth of individuality, family and freedom. This is ironic in the way that the abandonment of technology is in stark contrast to conservative uses and advancements of technology in farming, production and war – just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to the conservative views, films with a more liberal stance on technology show that there can be a harmony between humans and machines. At the very least, these films show that the person controlling the machine, the person who created the machine or the machine’s designed intent is the basis of that machine’s perceived good or evil qualities – not just being inherently evil.
Referring now to Blade Runner (1982), it is important that Deckard’s status remain undetermined because both viewings of this film could be read multiple ways. Therefore, defining his status, rather than leaving it mysterious, would negate one of the two viewings when ambiguity could affirm both.
For me, Roy Baty challenges human/machine boundaries in the way that this machine is plagued with human (dys)functions like emotions (fear, anger, etc) and an impending death.
Joseph Michals - Film 319
The conservative scifi film tends present us with a view point that technology is a form of control. In THX technology seems to exist exclusively to control how we function in a society (or lack of one). The lack of personal freedoms is simply to enhance the good of the collective. In a film like Blade Runner these ideas are in direct conflict as the replicant created to service man eventually reject their slavery. Replicants have all the physical characteristics of man and are designed to function in their image yet the creators deny them their basic human rights solely on the idea that because they are "artifically" made they can not possibility be human. However, even if a replicant was made of metal and plastic instead of flesh and blood making it simply enough to test for would it truely prove them inhuman? Both films center on how technology is a tool for mankind however the conservative films tend to fear these tools where the socialist idea is to understand rather than fear.
ReplyDeleteBukatman argues that what Philip K. Dick or Ridley Scott thought Deckard was is unimportant. What is important is one can make a rational argument both ways. Letting the audience find dual meaning is far more important than a definitive answer.
The idea that what makes you human is empanty. Roy Baty shows he is capable of emphanty just before he dies and thus proving to Deckard (and the audience) that a replicant is capable of being human.
Technology is represented as being this cold, lifeless, and emotionless thing when it is compared with nature, which is mysterious, complex, and beautiful. The notion of losing ones identity and becoming some soulless drone was a common theme in films in the 60’s through the 80’s due to events like the war with Russia and the fear of communism infiltrating our country. The films were a way to coop with the fear and perhaps make everyone a bit more conscious of the possibility of being manipulated by technology and invaders and striving to go back to the natural world.
ReplyDeleteBukatman wants Deckard’s identity of being a human or a replicant to be a mystery so that the viewers question their ideas of what human is. With Baty we understand he is a replicant, but there is this moment when some kind of real human emotion surfaces which really makes the audience question how far technology can be taken before we lose our unique identities.
-Nate Theis (319)
Science fiction films of the 1960s-1980s, regarded in conservative movies, tend to display technology as a sort of agressor, or antagonist to nature. In that type of movie, nature and technology can never co-exist, and one must always take precidence. Technology is seen as evil and pushy, and nature is seen as helpless and innocent.
ReplyDeleteThe more liberal films of that time seem to suggest that nature and technology can live side by side, and thrive off of each other. After all, an android is both natural and machine. In the film blade runner, the human aspect of the machine is really brought out in the form of the androids.
Bukatman wants Deckard's status undefined, because the point is that it does not matter. If we ourselves cannot tell the difference, then is there really a difference?
Roy Baty is a liquid, fluid character. He is both man and machine. He has all their weakness, all their strengths, all their identity. He is the complete opposite of what the conservative film makers believe.
-Michael Napoli (319)
The conservative vs. liberal view of science fiction I believe has spawned from the debate of logic and emotion. The conservative vein of thought says that no mechanized creation can have emotion and be human-like because of that. It threatens the conservative viewpoint that a non-human can never attain humanness. The likeness of the soul and non-soul comes into play here. Now the liberal view, I don't believe wants to erase the distinction between what it is to be organic and what is mechanic. It wants to say “for the sake of argument what if this were to happen; would it be to terrible”. I don't see the two side as fighting for core beliefs I see one who wants to imagine and discover a new world of ideas, and the other one wants to undermine any advances in fiction storytelling. The two sides need to be in a symbiont relationship in order to fully grasp the power of science fiction.
ReplyDeleteNow Deckard's status remains unknown in the film because He is the main protagonist. The audience immediately sides with him. The audience never questions whether Deckard is human or not until Roy Baty comes into the picture and shows us how Deckard is almost an equal to Roy. How can Deckard a human beat a replicant? However the conservative ideal would say of course Deckard wins and outsmarts Roy, he is a human and humans are superior. All interesting thoughts put on by this film.
Joshua McClain 319
One of the examples Ryan and Kellner used was the movie Logan’s Run. They point out that the world of Logan’s world is a collective, and creates a loss of self-individuality. In the movie people are allowed a hedonistic sexual lifestyle. All they have to do is press a button for a sexual partner. At one point of the movie Logan runs through an orgy, which clearly indicates “a lack of sexual discipline”, which results in the loss of family bonds. However, in more liberal readings of science fiction, there is less of a dramatic dichotomy running throughout the film. As in the conservative which treats technology/nature as a good/evil the liberal treats it’s subject matter with less polarity. As in Blade Runner, the concept of Human and replicant is played to overlap each other, and question the very definitions of these ideas.
ReplyDeleteIt is important for Deckard not to be revealed as human or replicant in order to question the very definitions of human or replicant. Deckard’s empathy comes to question throughout the film blurring the line of humanity. Roy Baty’s character also contributes to the blurring of human definition. He says “We’re not computers.. We’re physical” and this can be seen as “I think there for I am” argument.
Nicholas Lawrence 219