The Terminator (1984)
Introduction
The film: The Terminator (1984) is directed by James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn. It is about the Terminator who arrives in 1984—from 2029— on a mission to locate Sarah O’Conner. Due to a lack of knowledge of which Sarah he is specifically supposed to find he vehemently searches in a phonebook and begins to kill every Sarah O’Conner he can find. Resse, a human soldier, also arrives in 1984 to warn Sarah that the Terminator is after her. When he finds her, he reveals that he is from the future and the great unsettling future that is ahead of her by means of Skynet. The unsettling future is that of Skynet (a form of AI) causing a nuclear holocaust between humans and machines. While telling her of such events he reveals that her own son: John is the only hope for humans. He spends the film trying to protect her from the Terminator in his efforts to 1) kill her so Reese cannot be born, and 2) (after Reese is born) track Sarah and Reese down to kill them both. While protecting Sarah and Reese he reveals different moments of the future to her, one being that he is in love with Sarah. Throughout the film the Terminator has many confrontations with Sarah and Reese. Towards the ending confrontation Reese sacrifices himself to destroy the cyborg, and Sarah finishes him off by crushing his robotic body by killing him in a hydraulic press. In the final scene Sarah is seen driving into the desert to protect her soon to be born son: John.
Methods
Science fiction portrays real and/or fictitious science and technology as a part of the theme, plot, and/or setting. Examples of science fiction are advanced science technology, forms of life other than humans, parallel universes, and time travel. In The Terminator all four of those are shown within the film. Advanced science technology: Skynet the AI that causes the impending war between humans and machines. Forms of life other than humans: the Terminator himself, since he is a machine, and the machines. Parallel universes: when Reese sees the photo of Sarah from John in the future, and when Reese describes the war going on between humans and machines. Time travel: when the Terminator and Reese travel from 2029 to 1984. This movie exaggerated the use of technology in our day-to-day life, and if we rely on technology to do everything for us. In 1984 things were different, they had innovations such as: fax machines, answering machines, floppy disks, pagers, cassette tapes, the rise of personal computers, etc. Today we have surpassed such technology in music streaming services, voicemail, laptops, etc. In the movie it had things such as surveillance, facial recognition, and tracking technology. We see this today in apps like Life360 and Find my iPhone, and in Face ID on phones.
Results
This film is not accurate from scientists’ standpoint nor in the representation of science and technology. Skynet (AI) is inaccurate because it’s shown with the ability to make decisions beyond what the human programmed it to do. Further it is shown with the ability to make attacks without a human being behind the machine programming it to attack. This also pokes holes in the mannerisms of the Terminator. The advanced thinking and human behaviorism are not found in any robotics nor AI that is present in 2024. The whole autonomy of the Terminator is also widely inaccurate because cyborg technology does not exist in 2024 nor did it exist in 1984. There is no technology now that even remotely replicates how the Terminator looked in the film. The Terminator’s ability to self-repair after damage in the showdowns with Reese and Sarah is inaccurate. The weapons that were used in the movie are also inaccurate because nothing that the military systems around the world or in the U.S have are able to operate the way the killer drones and Terminator functioned. The biggest most inaccurate technological advancement in the movie is that of time travel. Scientists have not found ways to manipulate quantum mechanics to make such events happen.
Discussions
The Terminator (1984) gives an exaggerated portrayal of what could happen if we allow technology to take over our lives. The movie focused on a cyborg trying to allow a war to happen between machines and humans. In order to do such, it had to kill the parent who was going to give birth to an offspring that would save humankind from such. As seen in the movie, the Terminator spent the entire movie chasing a human soldier sent to protect Sarah—who would give birth to John: the human savior. This movie was made to show how advanced technology can become and what it can do to us. We believe that this movie was made as a warning to humans to show that we need to stop leaning on technology so much, because we don’t know how one day it can turn against our benefit. Even though in the 1980’s the AI system R1 was all that time has, we have AI systems like ChatGPT. This AI is severely decreasing the intelligence of children, due to their lack of using their brains and human thinking in school and daily life.
