Film 301/319: American Science Fiction Film

According to Scott Bukatman ("Zooming Out: The End of Offscreen Space"), how did the development of new visual and immersive entertainments such as the kaleidoscope, panorama, large-scale landscapes, and diorama during the nineteenth century help acclimate the body to new urban environments and transportation technologies? Why is science fiction considered a significant genre from the mid-19th century to the present? How do special effects impact human perception? What is the “end of off-screen space”? For Bukatman, what are the implications of new virtual technologies on embodied experience?

1) Referring to our screening of Ghost in the Shell (1996) and The Terminator (1984), as well as Scott Bukatman's "Terminal Resistance," describe how in both films, the cyborg body functions in relation to: 1) the urban environment 2) gender boundaries 3)human interface with technology (For instance, according to Bukatman, what is the function of the male "armored body" in science-fiction/fantasy films?)

2) According to Donna Haraway ("A Cyborg Manifesto"), what is the cyborg's relation to and challenges it poses to the Western tradition, particularly the "myth of original unity" and dualism (mind/body, male/female, culture/nature)?

Please read this brief chapter from Sean French's discussion of "The Terminator" for next week's class.

Chapter 7: Watching "The Terminator" (link to D2L site - go to Contents, then find Ch. 7 under Week 10)

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