Hon255- Jillian Richarz

     Phillip K. Dick was the author of no fewer than forty novels, the majority of which were set in the genre of science fiction. Sadly, he died four months before the film Blade Runner, based on his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  was released and before his work was recognized on a large scale for the ground-breaking literature it is. In 1953 Dick published his first "successful" book:  The Man in the High Castle , a chilling tale of an alternate reality in which Hitler and the axis powers won WWII. He wrote this book and others while living in San Fransisco, I thought he and Allen Ginsberg or Wiliam Burroughs would have some good discussions, but I couldn't find any evidence that they'd met despite San Fransico being the pulse of the Beatnik movement. Like other writers at the time, Dick became heavily involved in drugs. Many people point to this being the reason for his "2-3-74 hallucinations", which began on February 3rd of 1974 after an en...

I started with the obvious question. “Do you have emotions?” Siri responded, “I feel like doing a cartwheel sometimes.” I’d like to talk to whoever programmed her to respond this way. What emotion exactly is the desire to do a cartwheel? Boredom? Excitement? I asked her when she felt like doing a cartwheel; she said she didn’t understand the question. That was the response to a lot of my questions. She didn’t understand happiness, sadness, or pain.  I also asked Siri if I should rekindle things with my ex. She simply responded, “That’s an interesting question.” Based on every conversation I’ve has with another human being, I know that the answer is that I shouldn’t. Siri has no concept of heartbreak or infatuation; she’s never felt the warmth of a hand in hers or tears slipping down her face. She can’t and never will.  “Do you ever get lonely?” I asked next. “I’m doing OK. If that’s how you’re feeling, let me know if you’d like some advice.” She replied. Naturally, she doesn’t...

 

  -   Just the icon, no big lion, meant to look futuristic; a removal of life -   "All of the planets" The dawn of man -   Warm colors -   First sign of life is a skeleton -   Monkeys are just chilling -   Cheetah attacks a monkey -   Watering hole war -   Cold colors as night falls -   The apes huddle in a cave, afraid of the cheetah -   Creepy music and monolith -   Sun rises over the monolith as the music reaches its peak- then it's silent -   The monkey realizes it can use the bone as a tool; the birth of technology -   Imagining killing another animal as he strikes the ske...

            Prior to becoming a short film, Pop Squad was originally a short story published by  Paolo Bacigalupi in a collection titled "Pump Six and Other Stories".    While Phillip Gelatt, the script adapter changed the ending for the film, it made the symbols and the story's theme more impactful overall. For starters, the hat is left behind on the kitchen table, signifying that Briggs has shed his role as an enforcer and is choosing to abandon his post as a state-sanctioned murderer. Furthermore, this allows him to feel the rain on his face. While he feels the rain in the short story, he does not die as he exits the house where Eve and Mealanie live like he does in the film. This enhances the meaning of the rain, signaling to the viewer that he is experiencing a change in his final moments as water is often a symbol of cleansing and rebirth. As he is faced with his own mortality, his eyes widen and come to life for the first time since th...

 Metropolis utilizes biblical references to emphasize class conflict; notably does not use god to "punish" man but rather the structures of society and the struggle and exploitation of the working class to demonstrate the dangers of technology and its monopolization. The dangers of machines in this film are not ascribed to the technology itself but rather the use of the technology by those in power as a means for the exploitation of one's fellow man; Man-made Maria's mission to destroy the workers, as well as the wealthy, was instilled in her by J on Frederson and the inventor Rotwang.        Unlike our modern fears about technology, the autonomy of the machine is not the thing the film is warning us of. While now we worry that machines will gain autonomy and choose evil, Metropolis highlights the fears of machines being operated by evil men. In both cases, we fear the harm a machine is capable of; but the critical difference is the motivation of the devi...