Tag: the future

Looking for a good TV series?

The best American TV drama of the past few years may very well be Battlestar Galactica.  Not what most people might expect from a science fiction show, which is why the first two seasons were not talked about much in the mainstream media.  But as more people starting giving the show a chance, they realized that the show was an ambitious study on humanity, morality, and the modern world.

Newsweek said that the show “achieves the ultimate in sci-fi: it presents a world that looks nothing like our own, and yet evokes it with chilling accuracy.”

I haven’t finished the series yet, but one of the episodes I recently watched took a fascinating angle on the morality of suicide bombing.  In the show of course, it’s humans that find themselves occupied by an invader and it is their “insurgents” contemplating and seeking justification for suicide bombing and terrorism.  Is suicide bombing ok if it will help the human race survive?  Ah, bet you haven’t thought about it like that.

The show even participated in a United Nations Department of Public Information discussion.

Here’s a trailer for the first season from Youtube:

Might as well also take a look at the first few minutes of the miniseries which preceded Season 1:

Wall-E

Already one of my favorite movies. It tackles so many issues but does so without forcing it. The environment, human waste, laziness and technology, consumerism, apathy. The use of robots also brings up many discussions about human nature and artificial intelligence. What does it say about humans when a robot is the curious one, the one motivated to push for change and rebuilding?

Minority Report – Sept. 13th

minority2.jpgContinuing our string of sci-fi movies will be Minority Report, a Steven Spielberg movie starring Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell. Although more-or-less an action movie, this film received some of the best ratings of any 2002 film and won numerous awards. The film takes place in 2054, where it seems we have developed the capability to predict murders before they happen. The style of the film has influenced many subsequent science fiction movies. From a discursive standpoint, the movie’s major theme centers around a complex look at the free will vs. determinism argument.

Things to watch for and think about:

  • Free will vs. determinism
  • Are the PreCogs seeing the future, or just one version of the future?
  • How is the future in this movie utopian? How is it dystopian?
  • Differences between its setting and style compared to Children of Men
  • Is it possible that the act of accusing someone of a murder could begin a chain of events that leads to the slaying? (this question from a well known film critic)
  • What actually happened to John at the end of the film?
  • Does the film deal with the issues that it raises? What are we supposed to take away at the end?

You can watch the trailer for the film below. You might need the Flash plug-in to see it.

Children of Men – Sept. 6th

children3final.jpgChildren of Men shows a poor, battered world in the year 2027 and explores hope amidst the despair that is otherwise present. The movie addresses issues such as immigration, the environment, global cooperation, terrorism, and racism. Children of Men has received praise for its film style, cinematography and direction and many film reviewers have rated it as the best movie of 2006. You can watch the trailer for the film below. You might need the Flash plug-in to see it.

Things to watch for:

  • The use of long, single-shot action sequences (using a single camera which moves around during a long, uninterrupted scene rather than relying on multiple camera from multiple angles)
  • How is the setting futuristic? How is it not futuristic?
  • What references are made to contemporary society?
  • Hope and Faith
  • The attitude towards immigration and terrorism

Keep the discussion going by posting a comment!