The Terminator
For the purposes of this essay I have chosen The Terminator, a science fiction B-movie feature from 1984. Although I intend mainly to study this purely as a single film, I do intend to study Terminator 2 in addition, thus making the essay a study of the series. In addition, I will be contrasting the theory written surrounding these films in relation to other contemporary postmodern theory, and as a result will be mentioning several other films by way of a comparison or contrast. The Terminator seems quite remarkable to me, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of many action films I watched in my early teens; a considerable number of which, like this film, starred the Austrian body-builder turned actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. What is so different about The Terminator though, is that unlike most of these films, this movie has enough depth and substance that, not only does it still bear watching now that I am older, but it also has an archive of academic theory written about it.The Terminator tells of a cyborg, a human shaped machine coated in flesh, that is sent back in time, from an apocalyptic future in which machines have 'got smart' and acted on their own to destroy the human race. The cyborg's mission is to assa
Penley notes that John Connor has, in effect, selected his own father, created his own primal fantasy, whilst sending his father to his death (Connor never having progressed on to acknowledge the power and authority, thereby submitting to the father). Although, for Penley, this loop is so perfectly formed that something must be removed in order to forward the narrative, and that something is Reese. Indeed, the death of the terminator comes when he lowers himself into a vat of molten steel; melting himself down in the hope that it will prevent the apocalyptic future, thereby making a better world for his 'son'. In this relationship with Reese and Sarah, it is of paramount importance that the photograph should hide the lack of reality for Reese, as the reality has yet to happen - not only does it not exist, it can't exist until such time as Reese travels back to 1984. The aforementioned films, without this edge, exist purely as fantasy, whereas The Terminator possesses qualities of social prophecy, or as Penley refers to it - 'critical dystopia'. In this essay, I have tried to outline the major areas of debate and writings about the film, however I will have inevitably in an essay of this length left something out. " (Baudrillard: 1996, 43) The whole Reese/Sarah relationship is also interesting due to its relation to time and space. " (Hutcheon: 1988, 6) Under these conditions a cyborg could almost become human for the divide between the two is seen as unstable and unclear - Hutcheon notes that difference is always provisional. Kyle is thus both the father of John Connor and, in his youth and inexperience, Sarah's son, John Connor. The film now has an added substance and texture which enables it to stand out above the wave of science fiction video fodder of the 1980s. Oedipal connotations in film are widespread, and Blade Runner provides an insight as a nodal point of Freudian psychology. Indeed, even the theory mentioned here is open to debate, and it is unknown whether writer/director Cameron has even acknowledged any of it, not least agreed with it. It is a reflection of our fears of technology: "when the human opposition to the machine finally triumphs in The Terminator, the opposition between human and cyborgs begins to appear as the human projection it always was. " (Pyle: 1993, 240) With the relevance of this last quote, the similarities of T2 to Blade Runner become clear. This juxtaposition of the 'real', 'innocent' present against an 'conceptual', 'evil' future is very similar to methods employed by writer/director David Lynch in his film Blue Velvet, for as Norman Denzin notes:"Postmodernist too, according to Denzin, is the way the film mixes the 'unrepresentable' (rotting ears, sexual excess, brutality, insanity) and the commonplace [bright fire tucks, small-town America, white picket fences and rows of trees], thereby challenging the boundaries which separates the two realms.
Common topics in this essay:
John Connor,
Blade Runner,
Forest Pyle,
Linda Hutcheon,
Connor Penley,
,
Norman Denzin,
Schwarzenegger Terminator,
According Pyle,
Freud Harvey,
john connor,
blade runner,
pyle 1993,
penley 1989,
harvey 1994,
sarah reese,
father death,
own father,
penley notes,
film blade runner,
reese sarah,
john connor effect,
relationship reese sarah,
harvey 1994 312,
pyle 1993 232,
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Acceptance Essays
