The three films, Metropolis (1927) by Fritz Lang, Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott, and The Matrix (1999) by The Wachowski Brothers, have explored the theme humanity in the futuristic society where the machines and technology has advanced with social values and conventions different from our real present world. These three movies with their retrospective ideologies and themes have all one thing in common- the films presents the people of the futuristic society as blurred between being human and machine. I plan to first watch all three films before finding materials that will be necessary for this paper, such as reviews by film critics, documentaries (including other materials such as interviews), and books and research papers regarding…
In Robert Kuttner's article, "Goodbye, Columbus", he constructs a clear point about why tearing down statues of our founding fathers, those who laid a foundation for this country, would make no substantial impact on the healing of our nation. Yes, they did partake in the institution of slavery as made clear through history and the Constitution itself, but what they stand for is far more prideful and celebratory then the Confederate leaders Bannon and other right-winged conservatives are praising. Change can always be made, but tearing down statues that hold a significant place in this country will do nothing more than to make Bannon and his followers right. In contrast to Kuttner's writing, Dennis Prager wrote an extremely opinionated and…
Imagine technology advancements that allow computers to bond or robots to interact and perform daily functions. Jeffrey R. Young, a senior writer for The Chronicle, published in January 2011, “Programmed for Love.” In this article, he introduces technology’s impact from the perspective of Sherry Turkle, an MIT researcher who has spent 15 years studying. Turkle fears for what the future may hold in terms of technology forming too strong of a connection with people. Young’s article, “Programmed for Love,” is effective because it discusses the dangers of technology advancement on society.…
In the book Maus 1 written by Art Spiegelman, page 33 portrays the horror and brutality during the holocaust. On page 33, Art shows a gruesome picture of four Jewish people hanging in front of a large crowd. Seeing these four people, it is shown what many Jewish people had to witness, and it demonstrates the true horror of the Nazi’s. Anjas father states that, the Germans intended to make an example out of them, these innocent people were hung in front of a mass of people for dealing goods without coupons.…
Foreign cultures are stigmatized, or shamed, for possessing different lifestyles and physical features because they don’t fit into the mainstream society of the culture. Many of these foreign people conform and find different ways to blend in with the culture. Kenji Yoshino, author of “Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights,” discusses several instances where people try and “cover” or tone down a disfavored identity (293). On many occasions, people cover a disfavored identity to assimilate themselves into a more accepted society. Yoshino suggests that we cover based on four axes where we assimilate to a culture: appearance, affiliation, activism, and association (305).…
Art Spiegelman has created an authentic graphic novel, that depicts a personal and cultural collection of traumatic memory of the holocaust. Through the eyes of his father with great orientation, Spiegleman has demonstrated these horrific events with pictorial aid. The emotional, mental, and physical aspects due to brutal treatment towards the Jewish community from the holocaust reflects on how both Spiegleman and his father Vladek struggle to resurface these memories on personal and collective account. Recollecting on traumatic events within personal experiences displays a great deal of emotional and mental strength, forcefully resurfacing catastrophic…
• Art Spiegelman: He is one of the main characters in the story, and the one who writes and narrates “Maus”. He was born in Stockholm, right after the Holocaust ended and is the son of Vladek and Anja Spiegelman, his brother Richieu died during the war and then is the only surviving child. His mother committed suicide when he was 20 years old. He marries Francoise, she was converted to Judaism upon their engagement. As mentioned before, Maus centers its narrative around two main topics: Vladek´s story about his experiences during WWII and Art´s relationship with his father, specifically this second narrative is centered on a specific period of time in his life beginning somewhere around 1978 and ending shortly before his father´s death in 1982,…
The Forbidden City The Forbidden City, known as Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties—the years 1420 to 1912. It lays at the center of Beijing. It currently houses the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for nearly five hundred years. The most noticeable and vital aspects of the Forbidden City are the history, architecture, and collections.…
The book “The Things They carried” by Tim O’Brien was about the Vietnam war. One of the things that is in the book is that there is more than what is just on the surface of the war. It puts a personal spin on the dry material that is usually read about wars. Tim O’Brien was in the Vietnam war when he was a young man, and he uses these experiences to write both fictional stories and nonfictional stories about this war. When a person is about to start reading this book they must go into it prepared.…
Ratched’s greatest weakness is something that she tries to limit. The Combine and Nurse Ratched try to emasculate the men on the ward in hopes to make them the homogenous and subordinate. A machine is a genderless piece of equipment that efficiently does what it is programed to do. Nurse Ratched is compared to a robot because she tries to distance herself as much as possible from femininity. Nurse Ratched believes that if she can effectively emasculate the patients she can mold the men into machines.…
1. Metropolitan Vison – Values and polices: To provide the services needed to strengthen communities certain values and polices must be present. Maintaining polices while striving for excellence fundamentally depends on the set values. Values strengthens the ability to solve solutions and challenge policies. Values are important because they allow meanings to be applied to help understand the purposes in life.…
But if she’s machine, she’s a machine” This shows that what Dolly did would have been right thing to do if it was a human, and she would have gotten away from this as a case of self-defense. This makes us think whether Kant’s moral law theory of deontology apply to robots or not. Robots are usually to follow orders, but we make robots that learn from human and can adapt the nature. In that case, as giving preference to moral law, Dolly did the right thing by not doing the duty.…
John Hersey, at one point considered one of the nation 's most promising young writers, wrote many pieces that left an emotional impact on his audience. Although he portrayed himself as having a strict and immovable morality through his writings, he appreciated variety. He is known best for writing Hiroshima, in which he strongly expressed the horrors of the use of nuclear weapons. His writings and their meanings are based on historical events, such as the bombing of Hiroshima, allowing him to create an accurate depiction of what occurred. Hersey dedicated his works to revealing the effects of worldwide issues during that time.…
We live in a day and time where anything is possible and if you believe it you can achieve it. In April of 2008, a man from Hawaii named Thomas Beatie came out to the public as the first pregnant man. Although this shocked the world for months and was difficult for many people to accept and understand, we can look back at documents from the past that show the idea has actually been conceived before. In 1606, a news pamphlet titled “Portrait of a Monster” came out alleging that a man gave birth to a devil baby after taking a potion from a witch. Although the Thomas Beatie saga and “Portrait of a Monster” were 400 years apart, history shows us that people have reacted to a similar situation in similar ways.…
Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, is a futuristic dystopian film that depicts a stark contrast between social classes within a society. The scene takes place underground and shows the shift change of the workers within the working class, a perfect example of the societal differences. In this film sequence using staging, cinematography and editing, Fritz Lang is able to express a hyperbolic representation of dominant ideologies revolving the working class. The setting and space in the sequence emphasizes the bleak atmosphere in the workers lives.…