- Primary Blog Question
- When compared, the two film clips help illuminate a key question for this course: How has our relationship to technology changed over time?
I think we have become more visual. The concept of season changing in first version is portrayed by using flower petals to symbolize spring or snow to symbolize winter.
In the second version however, the use of visual is used to explain the season change. For example, we see the spider creating its web or flowers growing. Moreover, in the older version, we don't get to see the time machine itself, while in the newer version, the time machine will have to be portrayed.
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- Secondary Blog Questions
- How has film technology changed?
Images are sharper. In the original version, the movie was shot in a studio, while the newer version, the images were created by computer.
- How have we changed as film viewers?
I think we are becoming more demanding as a viewer. While it was sufficient to leave the idea of the fourth space as explanation in the older version, we now demand that we will have to see the images to believe/comprehend it.
- How has our understanding of time evolved?
I am not sure whether our understanding of time has evolved, but we certainly have different ways to portray time. As the older version of the file points out, we are still trapped in the present.
- How does fiction/science fiction impact our relationship to technology?
Science fiction extends our understanding of the world. As a child, I grew up watching Doraemon, a Japanese science fiction manga. The concepts that are "played" with in the manga have materialized today. Without imagination, I don't think we can extend our current understanding/knowledge.
"We have become more visual." It's such a great point. The everyday life has been increasingly filled with more images ever than before. As we are used to this environment, we seem to have adopted this new way, a more visual mode to communicate our needs, interpret people's attentions, etc.
ReplyDeleteI love Doraemon. I guess we did grow up with sic-fi. I'm so surprised to realize this. This is cool!
First of all, I'm impressed you got through all the questions :) . Next, I have to say you bring up points regarding the seasonal change that I didn't even notice, and that I found quite interesting. Finally, your ideas on the lecture mode of the 1960 clip as opposed to the visual style of the 2002 film are spot-on, as is your explanation of sci-fi's purpose. You might want to consider more each film's mentions of time as a social convention (lateness as rudeness/punctuality as politeness/"who has the time?" for cleanliness).
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by your point about our need for depiction rather than mere explanation. I certainly feel this pressure as a teacher - to not only explain ideas but also to show them. The leaning toward "showing" vs. only "telling" seems natural; now, we have the technology to satisfy that tendency. I wonder, though, what happens to imagination when we do the "showing" for others, when children, for example, don't have to imagine worlds and characters and reality as depicted in books but can rather passively consume what they see in movies.
ReplyDeleteI've wondered the same thing about what happens to people's imaginations when everything is shown to them and nothing is left to imagine. On the other hand, perhaps being able to "see" possibilities allows us to imagine even more.
DeleteI also think of what we can and lose from focusing on showing or telling instead of blending both. The concept of the four dimensions is explicitly stated in the 1960 version but is implied in the 2002 version. How moving through time looks is implied in the 1960 version but is explicitly shown in the 2002 version. How would the audience's understanding of the 2002 version be different if the concept of dimensions was more explicitly discussed?
ReplyDeleteBut the other aspect of technology that comes up is how technology is viewed. Alexander in the 2002 version sees technology as progress. He sees his traditional colleagues as trapped in time and unable to do something different. That aspect of time--how time is viewed socially and how technology impacts how we view time--which Raymond suggests in his post--is also something that we could explore.
I agree with you that the viewer today is more demanding in reagrds to movies. We do have to be shown what the filmmaker is representing rather than have the implication of the filmmaker.
ReplyDeleteYes, I don't think our sense of time has evolved, but I think we could travel through time as Alexander did in the second version in order to see how he could protect his fiancee this time.
ReplyDelete