Science Fiction and Narrative

Science fiction is described as make-believe science stories. One of these famous movies of this genre is Star Wars, but many people would call it a fantasy. I would consider it science fiction on this blog. Some aspects of science fiction include alien words, spaceships, and space. The science fiction genre tells a story with small details, uses symbolism from world events/groups, the fear of technology becoming more advanced then the human race and ask if we are living in a simulation.

Science fiction films like to keep some story elements hidden or had some details that give it away from the story. One example of this is Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott. There are two versions of Blade Runner. One version is the director’s cut, and it adds a scene with a unicorn while the standard edition does not. The scene of the unicorn adds to the story because, during the film, we see Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, chasing four replicants. Replicants are robots that have human cells. During the film, we are to believe that replicants are evil and need to be killed/or stay hidden. However, it is hard to tell if someone is human or not. In order to find this out, a test is given. Deckard gives these test and can determine if the person is real. Near the end of the film, Deckard has a dream of a unicorn. At first, the viewer might be confused at this scene, but if they wait until the end of the movie, they see an origami unicorn. This theory might bring up some questions like: how did the unicorn get there and who put it there. In order to understand this, you have to dig back into the movie. The viewer might notice that his boss kept dropping hints about unicorns and Decker did not get the hints. If we combine this information with the unicorn dream and the unicorn at the end, the audience can guess that Decker is a replicant and his boss imported memories of a unicorn to his mind. This might have been proven true in Blade Runner 2049, but I have not seen it and thus not added to the conversation. Here is the dream scene and here is the ending.

Sometimes science fiction movies take events/groups from history to add to their story. One movies series that does this is Star Wars. Star Wars has been going strong for over thirty years and is deep into pop culture. Since Star Wars has been going strong for so long, it has adopted elements from history to use in their stories such as World War Two. The main symbolism is that the republic and empire resemble the Allies and Axis of World War Two. One scene that shows this is when general Hux is talking to the Stormtroopers. This contributes to the plot because it shows that major powers are fighting for control over space and that the empire will do anything to over galaxy, even if that means destroying planets. Here is another clip if you are interested in more comparisons.

Science fiction films like to feature were technology becomes more advanced than humans. This has become a hot topic in today’s world, and thus more and more films capitalize on it. Three films that focus on this point as their main storyline are the Terminator series, 2001 A Space Odyssey, and Blade Runner. The Terminator series is about how robots took over the future, and the remaining humans send someone back to warm the leader about the incoming attack. The first three movies try to stop the robot revolution, but they end up failing, but they do save two main characters. The other movies take place in the future. This movie series shows the fear of a robot uprising and how easily robots could outsmart humankind. Here is the ending to the trilogy that shows the robots win.

2001: A Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick, focuses on an AI called Hal 9000. The trouble with this Hal is that he goes off on his own accord. Hal thinks that he is doing the right thing, but Hal does not care about human life. This proves some people’s ideas that AI can go rogue and what it wants without human interaction. This clip shows Hal going rogue and not letting him in.

Blade Runner also deals with robots but instead of them taking over the world, they blend in with humans, and they end up dying after four years. This scene shows the test the robots are given.

One big topic that came out of the science fiction genre in the late 90’s is that if we were living in a simulation. The movie Matrix, directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, raised this question because it dealt with the world being destroyed and now everyone lives in a computer-generated world. Many people have tried to prove that we are living in a simulation by poking holes in the world theory. Before this movie, this topic was not mainstream, but when the movies came out, everybody was questioning it.  This scene explains the movie.

Science fiction raises questions about what will happen in the future and space. Stories of science fiction like to hide hidden meaning in their stories. Sometimes directors like to include history into their movies stories to add a real-world feeling. The fear of technology has stemmed from the science fiction genre because directors try to make people afraid of the future. Matrix brought up the question if we live in the computer-generated world. Science fiction will always show what directors think of the future no matter how harsh or not what they might think. Science fiction is a staple in the movie genre that sticks with you after you watch them.

Works Cited

2001: A Space Odyssey (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/ ref_=nv_sr_1

Blade Runner (n.d) Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/?ref_=nv_sr_2

The Matrix (n.d) Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

Analyze of Silent Movie Storytelling

Movies were made to tell stories, no matter how they are made. Over the years, it has become easier to tell these stories. However, when movies first came out, they did not have any sound but still told stories. Since they did not have sound, they were called silent movies. Telling a story would be hard in a silent movie, but they end up doing it. Silent movies can tell stories by the color of the film/transitions, by the acting, by the music, sets and the special effects.

Silent movies came out in 1920’s, and since they did not have the same technology we have today, it was hard to do transitions and night time and daytime scenes. In the silent film, A Trip to the Moon, the transitions are fade into each other. The other movie that does transitions well is the movie Nosferatu. In the movie, the transitions make it look it he is trying to memorize the person watching. Nosferatu also uses different lighting to show if the scene is light or if the scene takes place when it is dark.

 

scene were there is light

scene were there is dark

Since there is no sound in silent movies, actors have to try really hard to show emotion. One scene that sticks out is from Nosferatu. In this scene, the main character arrives at the at an inn near the castle were Garf Orlok lives. Once he yells that he is going to the castle, everybody has a shocked face because they believe that the castle is cursed. As he gets ready for bed, the scene shifts back and forth between him sleeping and of the inn people being scared and coming together.

 

Silent movies were not always silent. In some movie theaters, there was a person who played the piano and the music would go along with the movie. Today, if you were to watch a silent movie, there is music that helps with the movie. The music can really add to the movie and helps with the story. A Trip to the Moon uses music to add to the story. At the end, the music is all happy and excited because they all came back from the moon. The music in Nosferatu makes Garf Orlok scarier. The music builds up tension when he walks up the stairs and how the music becomes quiet when he reaches into her bedroom.

 

Silent movies did not have any green scenes but some scenes look like they used green scenes. Nosferatu scene was mainly shot on location because the castle is real. A Trip to the Moon, on the other hand, had impressive backgrounds. From the start of the movie, they are standing in a building that looks like something does not exist. However, the truly great backgrounds come when they are on the moon. When they first discover the aliens, the background is filled weird plants, and the foreground is also covered with these plants.

 

Using special effects back then was hard because they did have the technology we have today, but some directors used what they could. A Trip to the Moon was revolutionary for its time. Not only was it the first science fiction movie, but it was the first animated movie. The scene that is animated is when the spaceship hits the moon in the eye. They also feature special effects. For example, they used smoke on the moon and also used to make the spaceship to look like it was falling. Nosferatu did not use many special effects. The only example is at the end is when he died at the end. Here is the scene.

 

Silent movies were great for their time, and they have paved the ways for movies today. Some of the movies were so revolutionary that some might think that they could not have done the film, such as A Trip to the Moon. Some of today’s directors became directors after they saw these films. These films brought new ideas to the table when it came to storytelling. They incorporated new ideas that movies today use, for example, a different color for night or day. The use of special effects and backgrounds made the story come to life. The era of silent movies is a staple in cinema history.