Who remembers the wheel?

Today, when someone mentions an idea like paralysis, an explosion, or a cyborg, humans initially imagining only the extremes of each scenario. Always complete paralysis, an entire building being destroyed, or a human with twisted metal and no soul walking around. What the class film 4002 has explored is the idea that there are many layers to a cake, and more than one facet that can dictate what one concept could come to mean. In the case of a cyborg we have come to see that it could quite simply mean a baby on a ventilator, helping keep it alive, but stealing the position of the nurturing mother. Ollivier Dyens explores this multi-facetted aspect of technology in his exert of chapter three we read entitled “The Rise of Cultural Bodies”.

Dyens explores the idea of a plastic body, but more importantly explores how these plastic bodies, as represented in science fiction texts relate to contemporary society, and how they are becoming ever more accessible in an unapparent way. First, examining the H.G. Wells text The Island of Doctor Moreau, Dyens examines how the animals there live in a plastic body because they have been experimented on, and mutilated to the extent that they are no longer animals, mere simulacrums of animals, far removed from their original selves because of the pain inflicted upon them. In a far less dramatic light, and less painful, I would like to compare this to contemporary society in a not-so-evident-technological way. We ourselves are continuously hacked at, prodded and reshaped each day by the advances of not so modern technology, and I’m not talking about in the extreme like a half man half machine cyborg. With the invention of the printing press, the media was given the ability to reach out into the homes of everyone across the globe and “poke and prod” mankind with news and ideas. Through this one medium, political and religious ideology was able to be mass produced and launched on a global scale. How effective would Christianity be without the bible? And a book can be viewed as a very early, primitive form of technology. Television has the same power; it can present hegemonic films to mass viewers enabling them to feel politically charged, but remain docile.

Having the newspaper, radio and television at hand is “transforming” humans all over is like Dr. Moreau in a very dull sense, they are “at the same time plastic surgeon and concentration camp doctor: [the] repression, art and ideology” (pg 59, Dyens). Kafka further explores this cultural transformation in his short story Metamorphosis. He uses an actual physical transformation to emphasize this idea of cultural ideology.

In the TV show DollHouse Whedon explores this idea of technology and its effects on mankind. “But as is true of the transformations that we now impose upon our bodies, Moreau is less interested in modifying living beings than in altering the world around them” (pg 58, Dyens). Echo has no personality; without technology she has no “self”, and is therefore manipulated into being whatever the buyer wants her to be. In a paranoid sense this could be superimposed on the world and claimed that the ruling party with the most amount of financial backing produces the most amount of ideology that is then circulated to the masses. Media dictates what is fashion, what is ethical, what is dangerous, what is proper, and mankind falls in tow because we see it everyday, and therefore subconsciously strive to become it. Like Moreau’s animals we are being “attacked” and “mutilated” in a very different sense, but the end result is the same, where we become transformed. A world where “technology, war, repression, liberty and art could be seeded and grown” (Dyens 60). I really enjoyed this article because it hinted at the possibilities of transformation, and like Kafka’s Metamorphosis where society usually envisions the extreme; Wells shows us the process in an exaggerated sense. This article fits into our course load because it does show a convergence between man and machine, but not the kind that involves extremes like cyborgs opening doors and turning on lights, but rather books, radios, televisions, molding mankind into an ideology. These are technological advancements, they are just not recent ones, but they are still quite active in our everyday life, and in a sense they are “under our skin” because they have such a prolific existence in society. This is where the convergence occurs, and it isn’t flashy like science fiction.

The Investigation

Unfortunately I was unable to do the reading for this week, but I would like to take a look at the two "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicle" episodes we did in class and how they relate to a reading I did for my 4002 syllabus assignment. In an essay written by Garrett Stewart entitled "Videology" he claims that science fiction movies and television are a medium for man to produce fiction of the conceived sciences of tomorrow. Essentially science fiction on the screen is a form of representation for the possibilities of the future, but also as a depiction of the undiscovered, or non apparent structures in society. This relates back to Peter's article which we read earlier on in the semester which discusses how science fiction is a "portal" to the possibilities of the future and shows us just what man may be capable of accomplishing. Garrett examines science fiction in a very positive way, declaring that it not only represents the perhaps future, but also uses its inherent "unusual spectacles" to depict the present and emphasize issues that are in society today. "The Sarah Connors Chronicles" engages in this investigation, this quest of discovery, but in an unusual fashion. Typical of many science fiction films, including "Screamers" which was viewed in class, the film commences with the technology already in existence, and through the development of a problem or corruption, the narrative entails an investigation into the past to see what the early creators covered up, but did not make disappear. For most films the problem originated at the root of the technologies birth, and therefore technology, or such advancements are viewed as corporate ploys to enhance monetary gain, but not always. Where the "Terminator" Sega differs is that the technology already exists, yet does not yet exist and the plot unfolds around the discovery of where the development of new technology went wrong. In the future machines dominate the Earth and seek out humans to destroy them, where in the present, machines still serve mankind. So quite uniquely the investigation is centred around preventing what has already come to pass (stop the development of Skynet), while simultaneously keeping the time line in check (keeping John Connor alive).
This investigation is emphasized by the police officers "interrogation" and investigation of the death of an employee as the result of a computer. Although he is attempting to discover whether or not the computer had essentially meant to kill the man, what he is really doing is attempting to determine whether or not a computer has the ability to "feel" or to form prejudice. Like he says, the computer had no ethics and therefore placed his "life" above that of humans. Perhaps the TV series is suggesting that this was where the technology originally went wrong. Garrett claims that science fiction exposes issues of contemporary society, and "investigates the propogandistic grips of all spectacle upon the credulous and unwary". So the Terminator series, that commences in media res, examines how the notion of flashy technology can blind the unquestioning mind of its possible dangers, or uses.
Both episodes watched in class pose this question of the nature of the terminators, as the future John Connor is capable of reprogramming terminators to help his cause. So are machines good, or bad? Or is it just their programming? Or programmer? The show doesn't reach a definite conclusion, because although John Connor's terminator body guard is returned to her protective status, she herself tells Sarah that next time she should be destroyed not rescued, because she understands that she is a volatile liability. Yet, the police officers investigation determines that the computer that killed the man was simply unaware of what it was doing, and was oblivious to the fact that it had killed a man. It had no comprehension of the idea of life, because it is not alive. Therefore the TV show also poses the question are the computers really to blame? At the stage they were represented at in that episode shows that it was the humans who were not to be trusted.
"The Sarah Connors Chronicles" is a curious study of the development of the "evil" technologies of the future that so many science fiction films and TV shows depict, because of its split timeline and narrative. It almost suggests this option that perhaps instead of preventing the future (which doesn't seem to be a possibility because no matter what happens in any of the films or episodes, the machines are still created and still turn against man), they can significantly alter it to be a better one, where there isn't a battle between man and machine. The opposing feelings people have in regards to the development of technology is interesting, because some, like Warwick feel it is essential to embrace technology, where others feel that it is removing the human soul from society and making man like machines. The role of technology so far in society is somewhat passive, but becoming increasingly more dominant and active as it integrates itself into every aspect of our life. For now, the musings of science fiction are all we have to envision the future and determine what may someday come to be.

Cast off the shackles!!!

A Manifesto for Cyborg's is a chapter written by Donna Haraway which was poorly received in my film 4002 class. Most felt that her argument was circular, and that she forced the reader to fill in vast gaps, but mostly, that her argument was not properly enunciated. This may be true. I'll confess it took me a few tries to get through her article because I felt it was disparate, and stringy, but I liked her metaphor. The use of the cyborg as a symbolic stand in for both women and technology was quite clever, or so I believe. A cyborg is a representation of a merger of two foreign, once viewed as incompatible entities; machine and organics. The notion of a cyborg breaks down a serious border, and suggests that man can be more than simply organic, and machines can be more than lifeless technology. The amalgamation of man and machine rejects essential ism and forces new definitions, new parameters, and new ideals to be instigated, which I believe is what Haraway is advocating for.
It is quite profound because it also briefly touches on fears of the past that are once again fears of the future.
"Contrary to orientalists stereotypes of the 'oral primitive', literacy is a special mark of women of colour, acquired by US black women as well as men through a history of risking death to learn and to teach reading and writing" (Haraway, pg 34).
As the cyborg is also a symbol for the coloured woman this section identifies a past fear that is still circulating. A fear of the unknown. It was considered wrong for coloured people in the past to be literate just as it seems wrong today for humans to mutate, or enhance themselves into cyborgs. The crossing of cultures, this breaching of borders is called to attention in Haraway's article.
Kevin Warwick is pushing this border with his experimentation with the "neuro-surgical implantation of a device into the median nerves of his left arm in order to link his nervous system directly to a computer in order to assess the latest technology for use with the disabled" (Kevin Warwick's home page). He considers himself a cyborg and he believes, as he had pointed out in many interviews, that humans cannot remain merely human. Once again the class was uncomfortable with Kevin's ideals accusing him of being paranoid, but perhaps he was simply being revolutionary.
He is placing advanced technology into his arm to help him and others function in an enhanced fashion, which may be the future, or not. The point is, like Haraway argues, he is out there doing something to break down the essentialist borders mankind has established. Though Haraway's chapter has more of a feminist tone and Warwick a commercial or technological advancement tone, they both strive to cast away fears of amelioration and step into a new world.

For a typical Hollywood production, Gamer, a film that like so many other mainstream films triumphs the underdog who salvages man kinds humanity, the film did have its merits. My interest wasn't so much in the plot, or the special effects, but in the gamine environment. The use of diagetic and non-diagetic sound really sold the "feeling" of a video game to me. Video games are designed to integrate the player into the game, and since the screen barrier is a massive barrier to breach, numerous techniques are used to correlate the gamers experience with that of the avatar. In the films opening sequence the viewer is introduced to a world of gaming culture where the "high" is not from commanding an avatar, but from actually controlling another person, dictating how their lives will unfold for short periods of time (my sister watched the film with me and she found this aspect of the film mundane and unreal, but I just asked her to consider the numerous Sims games). The protagonist is introduced to the viewer in the middle of a game which involves handheld camera images, ridiculous amounts of gunfire and explosions, and limited, if not fragmented visual/point of view. Just like a video game. I liked this, it had a better effect on my relating it to a video game than Doom did with its use of point of view camera shooting. Although I didn't like the continual visual "glitches" that occurred throughout the film that attempted to simulate live feed. It distracted me from the gaming environment.
What was the icing on the cake for me was the diagetic sound. At the beginning of the film when Kable is in the "game' fighting, in the action, the sound is diagetic, full of shouts, gunshots and explosions. Yet when Kable is removed from the action, when he climbs the flight of stairs the diagetic sounds disappear, although they are still there, just outside and below him in the building. Instead, typical of a video game, all the viewer hears is Kable's footsteps and breathing, until he is once again part of the action. Furthermore, continuously throughout the film during gaming sequences the soundtrack turns over to classical music, soothing music that does coincide with the action that is happening on the screen. Like a gamer playing with an avatar, the music, the sound is optional and can be anything the gamer wants it to be. The viewer is subjected to this experience, which separates him or her from the action, insisting that they are not a part of it, because of the screen barrier, amongst other things.
Despite its filmic, Hollywood tendencies, the film does an adequate job at recreating the game-like feel in the film, right down to the excessive gore and violence. Separate from the escape scenes, the film attempts, and almost arguably succeeds in creating the gaming environment on the screen.
This is an oxymoronic aspect of the film, as games themselves strive to simulate reality and immerse the gamer into the game's environment. Yes it is true that the gamer may select alternate sounds, but both games and cinema want to immerse the viewer/player into the simulated environment. eXistenZ toys with this idea of total immersal and conquests over Gamer as at the conclusion of the film neither the players, or the viewers are certain whether or not the game is still in play. Lia M. Hotchkiss also explores this idea in her article Still in the Game. Both games and movies attempt to break the screen barrier and this theme is united in films like eXistenZ and Gamer where the movies, attempting to simulate games, which attempt to simulate reality. This theme of breaching the screen barrier has been continuous throughout this course, as well as simulating an alternate reality, as seen in Surrogates, eXistenZ and Gamer.