Moon

Moon's settings were very discreet and monotonous, due to the low budget and setting in general of the film, but there were still slight changes that spoke to the overall theme. The fact that the four harvesters were named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John completely escaped me until the class discussion. Because of this, I can't feel that I missed their importance to the film's message. When you chart their appearance throughout Moon, they don't really change. The four harvesters were never really explained to the audience except for the fact that they were important to the operation, so they were pretty stagnant throughout the film. I suppose if one wanted to go deeper into themes, the argument about the harvesters representing the books of the Bible could be transformed into a larger discussion about religion and it's role in Moon. While I don't think it was a coincidence by the directors, to me, the unchanging nature of the harvesters merely reflected how the four Gospels are the foundation of the Bible and most modern day religions.



An element from Moon that was definitely dynamic were the random flashes and glitches that Sam experienced. These were first introduced in the beginning montage of Sam working at the station, he was thanking unknown operator's for a recording of a game and a video of himself played back at him. The second "glitch" was the sudden apparition of a teenage girl, who was explained by the director's to be Sam's daughter through some bullshit clone-telepathy. I find that theory a stretch of the imagination, but I digress. The glitches were sudden and very erratic, contributing to a deja vu feeling that was present for Sam throughout the film. This can be again with his model's and the buildings he did not remember creating.

While the harvesters and glitches in the Matrix of Moon (if you will) don't really have anything in common and serve two different purposes, they both contribute to an overall theme of the film. The Moon station is a constant variable, and it's creators obviously saw a need for this station to remain the same, and saw the solution to be creating an army of Sam clones to man it. The glitches could be construed to represent the opposite; they represent the flaws in this system.

Children of Men

Scene: Opening/Announcement of Diego's Death

In regards to the story of Children of Men, this event is pretty much irrelevant. It was a very confusing experience being plunged immediately into this movie by hearing the news reporters discuss the death of Diego; the back story about the infertility issues of the world were unknown, and the gravity of the situation was very much present, but I couldn't tell why.

The composition of this scene also had a lot to do with my overall confusion. The first thirty seconds or so were completely black, with just the British news anchors voices. When it finally faded to the actual scene, you see a very crowded coffee shop filled with anxious and distressed people, staring intently at the screen. The lighting was very monotone, and everything was washed in a weird blue gray light, seen in the actual lighting and also their clothing, that would be present throughout the rest of the film.

I feel like this was a very impactful way to begin the movie, with no real context except for the context clues from Diego's death and what the news station told you. The entire time I was watching it, not only was I concentrating on depicting what exactly was going on in the film, I was struck by the fact that this event and the reaction of the population of this film seemed so familiar. It wasn't until we were doing our in class picture assignment until I realized that the event I was relating it to was the public's reaction to Princess Diana's death. It's possible that this connection was sparked by just the British accents, but I feel like the relation between the two events can put the film in a new perspective. Because the human population was facing its inevitable extinction, Diego's death obviously has a little more weight for this society, but it still points towards the sweetheart complex of all societies. It's true that the country was mourning the loss of the youngest person on Earth, but they were also mourning the little boy that they saw grow up. Societies tend to sensationalize characters like this, and it was interesting to note the differences in the ways that the masses, and Theo took his death, which I believe shows something much bigger about humanity and pack mentality.

Artificial Intelligence

"It occurs to me with all this animus existing against Mechas today it isn't just a question of creating a robot that can love. Isn't the real conundrum, can you get a human to love them back?"

A definite theme throughout Artificial Intelligence was the subtle relationship between Mechas and Orgas, putting the Orgas as almost the God to the Mechas' Adam. This was alluded to in the rest of the exchange that the above quote belonged to, and it really speaks to the film as a whole in my opinion. We first see this in the introduction of David to the family. When you think about this, it's actually quite terrible. This family's son is in a coma, and the way the father comes home with David like he's a new puppy to present to Monica is pretty darkly funny. "Here honey, I know our son is a vegetable, but I got you a fancy fake one to fill the void!" The whole nonchalance of this should have immediately tipped the audience off. My initial reaction was that no matter what happens, they will never be able to truly love David, and I feel like this is proved constantly over the next, very long, two-ish hours. 

It is portrayed that Mechas are created to fill voids Orgas need, and this is true, but in a completely physical manner. This can be seen through Joe. While his sole purpose is to be a sex worker, he also does not have any emotional duties at all. When the man kills his cheating spouse, he does not seem to give any blame to Joe. I agree with the point made in class that by considering her relationship with Joe an affair, it gives him human qualities, but in an actual affair, the wronged party hardly ignores the mistress like this man did. This Mechas-as-a-crutch theme is further amplified in David. Mechas like him were created to give childless couples what they desired the most, but with no regard for the Mechas at all. The robo-kids would love their "parents" irrevocably, fulfilling the Orgas' maternal instincts. But when the question comes to if the parents will actually love the children back, the response is really an "eh, who cares?". 

This seems like a complete paradox. However, this seems like a common occurrence in any movie featuring creating robots to emulate humans. It's confusing to me; the entire purpose of robots is something that are entirely efficient at the thing they are specifically built for, but humans seem obsessed with giving them emotions. Robots are better at what they do because they operate based on logic, without emotions to interfere. Robots' entire purpose is to make life easier for humans, and do things that seem to appear beneath humanity. When we give traits like the ability to love to nonhuman beings, what does this mean about how humans view love? While the focus in Artificial Intelligence seemed to be focused on David and his quest for humanity, I feel like it should be turned back around to the Orgas in this film and their reactions to Mechas. What does it mean about us that we can create things with emotions, simply for our own amusement, and then abandon them? 

Blade Runner

Although this was actually my first (second and third) time watching Blade Runner, I was immediately struck by how familiar all the scenes looked. Ridley Scott's sets seemingly have a distinctive theme that I have seen demonstrated and replicated through a lot of more recent sci-fi films. What really caught my eye was the similarities to one of my favorite artists music video, The Weeknd's Belong to the World, but I digress.

I was also familiar with the controversy over the voice overs, so I made it a point to see if the movie was really that hard to decipher without Harrison Ford explaining it. It was painfully obvious that the overarching theme of Blade Runner was questioning humanity, and the parallels between the Replicants and people who are supposedly human, like Decker. It makes me wonder how people did not at least have a hunch that Rachel was a Replicant from the beginning; her entire demeanor and presence did not seem human to me. Admittedly, I did not begin to question Decker's humanity until the last half hour or so, and I'm still not entirely convinced that he is one. I think the most conclusive evidence towards his humanness is the fight scene between him and Roy. Roy moves like he is genetically superior, and even when he is physically hurt, his actions are still superior to Decker's. Decker maintains his persona as the best Blade Runner during these scenes, but it's clear that he is no match for the Replicant. Other Easter eggs like the unicorn b roll splices still confuse me; I guess if you go deep you could assume that the unicorns are elusive like his humanity, but I think that's a stretch. My interpretation is more along the lines of Rachel being a Replicant who almost gained humanity, which is the stronger theme.

My favorite characters were definitely Roy and Pris, simply because of the dimensions their characters were given. For being genetically engineered to do specific jobs, they both had such a wide range of emotion; we saw anger, playfulness, and definitely love. The direction I got from Blade Runner was that the rumors about Replicants are true, and after a certain time period, their emotions and humanity are not manufactured, but actually become genuine. That does not mean that they become good people, but remain genetically superior beings simply with human emotions. When Roy kills Tyrell, it seems like a very human reaction. By doing so he obviously can't use Tyrell to re-engineer himself, and revenge is the next step. You can also see Roy's humanity in his reaction to Pris' body; the others did not seem very affected by the loss of the other Replicants, but Roy and Pris had a special relationship.

I think Blade Runner was very adept at exploring the theme that is at the basis of almost all sci-fi films: what separates humanity from machines. It does this in a very broad way, so there is definitely room for other interpretations, and perhaps not in the most clear way either. There are still some moments that felt like overkill to me: Roy howling like a wolf, the Jesus Christ allusion when he nails his own hand to remain alive a while longer, the very rapey "love scene" between Decker and Rachel, and obviously the Unicorn scenes.