The New Atlantis

This short story by Ursula K. Le Guin portrays a totalitarian society that imposes the will of the strongest, as totalitarian societies tend to do. In this bleak world where humans are suffering the consequences of their total disregard for the environment people are not allowed to get married, start families. They live from coupons, no health care, no food, no energy. Belle lives in this world, a world deprived of humanity and finds solace and an escape route in music. Music is her sanctuary, the thing that allows her and others to feel, to get in touch with their humanity.

Blade Runner

I have recently seen the movie Blade Runner by acclaimed director Ridley Scott. It shows a evolved but decadent society. They use bioengineered beings, called replicants, that are physically and intellectually superior to humans. These beings are used in off world colonies to do tasks that are more appropriate for their physical frame. The issue is that these beings developed emotions and became aware of their extremely short lifespan.

The influence of Metropolis is clearly seem in the visuals of the city and the class difference and struggle, only instead of humans fighting we have the replicants. The influence of Frankenstein is felt in the scene where Roy confronts and kills Tyrrel, his creator. (Chapter 26 on the DVD)

There are two questions raised in the movie that I found extremely interesting. First, the question of Rachael's memories. Implanted memories... What if all that we remember until this moment was not real, a memory implanted to make you who you are at this moment? This is also explored in the movie Dark City. The second question is the way one faces the misfortunes of life. Roy and the other Nexus 6 replicants fight their condition and spend all their last moments trying to find a way to change what seems unavoidable. Rachael and Decker, on the other hand, opt to enjoy and live all their remaining time to the fullest. I have to say I agree more with the latter.

Overall it was great to revisit this movie. Can't wait for the anniversary edition to come out on DVD.

Podcast

Here is my podcast regarding the uses of virtual worlds nowadays.

Metropolis and the use of technology

Recently we watched Fritz Lang's Metropolis. This raised several questions related to the uses of technology and if technology itself is evil or indifferent. Reminded me of Joyce Carol Oates and her position and questions regarding nature or Nature. In Metropolis the ManRobot is show as an evil thing with one single goal, to seed dissent and confusion among the workers. The movie was made in a time where production processes where being changed with the introduction of assembly lines and people were afraid of becoming simple automatons that would simply spend their days in monotonous repetitive tasks and that could easily be replaced by technology. It was also the birth of unions and worker movements. But lets focus on the question. Is technology evil? I would have to say no! Is the gun shoots a deadly bullet evil? No! The hand that wields it is to blame. Technology is simply a tool, it is what you make of it. The ManRobot in Metropolis was not evil in itself but the twisted mind that created it was. Technology is not evil, people on the other hand can be.

Relationships and Cayce

Throughout the novel Cayce reveals an extreme difficulty to develop close relationships with other people. This difficulty is hinted at in several instances. Her unwillingness to open her mom's emails, her escape from the Tokyo hotel when she "started to project Win on those white walls [...], the image still ungrived." (p. 133) She seems to be surrounded by unresolved relationships, her mother, her dead(?) father, Damien. One of her closest friends is Parkaboy and she hasn't even ever met him in person. And now Boone comes into her life and yet she is unwilling to let her true feelings come forth as she shows when she finds out that he is staying at her ex's apartment in Tokyo, she "hadn't liked it, and doesn't like it that she doesn't like it." (p. 170) Troubled character, Cayce...

The role of media in Cayce's life

Cayce is full of contradictions, she works for advertising and marketing companies yet she dreads living in a world full of logos and brands. She is part of a world she doesn't want to belong to and she plainly shows that by eliminating all labels and brands from the simple unidentifiable clothes, or CPU's as she calls them, she wears. Similarly Cayce has a hard relationship with the media, "she's under a personally enforced video news ban in effect now for some time." (p. 123) It seems that she is always looking for a way to escape the world be it the footage, her virtual friends on the forum or Pilates. She is a troublesome character and hopefully will find some degree of peace as the novel develops.

The role technology plays in Cayce's life

Cayce Pollard lives in a limbo, not really belonging to the world still being part of it and having the ability to unveil forming patterns. She only has one true interest in her life, the footage and “anything other than the footage is Off Topic. The world, really. News. Off Topic.” (p. 48) Technology enables her to access her “second home” (p.67), the internet forum Fetish:Footage:Forum, that feels “like a friend’s living room.” (p. 67) Technology offers her refuge, protection from reality and everything else that is “Off Topic.”