Sci-Fi Course

2004-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Class Thirteen

Today we discussed the movie Trekkies and the short story Becoming Real. In discussing the movie I thought that the movie provided a very interesting concepts. There were very touching anecdotes woven into the story as well as very extreme cases like the man in the electric chair or the woman OBSESSED with Data. The short story I thought was quite interesting as well. The fact that there are invisble people in our society is very true. Think about how many homeless live beneath New York city and then you can get an idea about how many "invisble" people live in our society.

2004-01-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Class Twelve

Today we watched the mockumentarty Trekkies. I thought that the film was very well done and provided a good mix of humor and good heartfelt stories. There were many, many funny anecdotes like the guy who was sent a joint and a picture of an attractive young lady. There were also many helpful stories and interesting stories. The anecdote that Scotty told about the suicidal girl who did not kill herself and went on to get her masters in engineering. Also I thought the story about the woman who's Dad grew up in Poland under Nazi Germany and had his views changed by watching Star Trek.

2004-01-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

Class Eleven

Today we discussed the ending to the Neuromancer. I personally thought the ending left too many loose ends and left the reader unsatisfied. The author gets you involved with the characters and then leaves you hanging in the end. You cannot tell that you did not want Molly and Case to get together in the end. After discussing the story I felt slightly better about it but still was not crazy about it.

2004-01-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

Class Ten

Today we turned in our first Neuromancer paper and discussed the book a little in class. Overall I am enjoying it and I liked watching the Matrix while reading it. It is interesting comparing the many similar themes in two of the great works of cyberpunk. The themes that I thought overlapped were the theme of reality vs. Matrix/cyberspace, the dystopian society with dark images, the fact that violence permeates these societies, and the blending of humans and technology.

2004-01-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

Class Nine

Today we began to work on our short stories. I was very happy with the group I was placed in and we almost immediately came up the topic of Michael Jackson. We came up with this while looking through the news headlines as the article last night suggested. We decided that we were going to cover the topic of alien abduction and Michael Jackson. Today's class has been very interesting there was nearly a fistfight before class over where people were sitting. The conflict reminded me of the social heirarchies of the story Boobs. It reminded me of the conflicts that the middle schoolers had in the story.

2004-01-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

Class Eight

Today we discussed one of the few stories I have not enjoyed Identifying The Object. This story lacked a clear plot and seemed to have almost no point until the end when the author told us why Brae and Johnny destroyed the aliens. They did not want to become slaves, or in the author's words nig**** or women. We also watched MIB which is one of my favorite SF films. The article we read last night mentioned how race was incorparated into the film but I dont agree with that. The only relevant point that I thought the author made was about how the aliens were treated just as immigrants to the US once were.

2004-01-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

Class Seven

In today's class we began the topic of gender in science fiction. We discussed the short story "Boobs", in which a young girl is harassed by her peers for developing too early. The only catch is that she is a werewolf and ends up eating her tormenters. We discussed how this story had to be written in the more recent history of science fiction because in their early writings women tended to focus more upon the typical male Sf topics such as technology, war, and violence. This story was vastly different from the others we have read so far because it focused much more upon the individual and not so much upon the problems in society. Although one could present an argument that the author is calling for a change in the way our children treat each other in our middle schools.

2004-01-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Class Six

I thought that the movie was pretty well done. I think that after reading the article it was the cool to see the collectivist borg culture. Although they now resemble a totalitarian dictatorship instead of a collectivist cluture. I enjoyed the movie more than i thought i would. I liked how Data was tempted into becoming human by the borg queen and resisted, even though he made her believe she had assimilated him. Once again the themes of individuals prevailing over collectivism and democracy over dictatorship are highly illustrated.

2004-01-12T13:03:00.000-08:00

Class Five

Today we discussed alot of the ideas from the Bladerunner movie as well as the two short stories that we read last nite. THe story that I enjoyed most was Ender's Game. I really liked the ideas that it conveyed about the exploitation of children and how the United States army is run. Someone made a point about how the people who want to fight the war are not the ones fighting it. The children (or in the case of the Vietnam war the teenagers) are actually the ones fighting and dying for what the older people believe.

2004-01-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

Class Four

Today we watched Blade Runner. While we were watching the movie I had trouble following the plot and the symbolism in the story. After discussing it though I was convinced that Deckard was a replicant as well. I thought that the Unicorn that Deckard dreamed of and the oragami at the end solidified the point that Deckard was a replicant. The only way that the other police officer could have known about that dream was if the memory had been planted there. I also thought that the society depicted was the epitome of a distopian society.

2004-01-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

Class Three

Of all the things we had to read last night I particularly enjoyed Ray Bradbury's story about the only house left standing after a nuclear attack. Paula is right there is something soothing about his writing. One of the things that impressed this upon me was that when the famly dog returned home and died on the floor I didn't even fint that very upseting. I also think that based on what technology we currently have, that by 2026 it may be possible for us to have some of the technologies Bradford talks about, like the self-cleaning house.

2004-01-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

Class Two

I enjoyed the stories that we had to read last night. I enjoy Poe's writing even though it is very tough to read. The Fall of the House of Usher is definitely a classic and can be interpreted on many levels. The Shelley story was also very well written and I thought had a message behind it. The message I got was immortality is fleeting if you lose all the people you know and love. Lastly I thought it was interesting that the story could be applied to the current topic of euthanasia. The end of the story I thought addressed that topic very well when the narrator was contemplating suicide and dying in battle and had lost all will to live.

2004-01-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Class One
So far I think this class is pretty much what I've expected. I think the research topic will not be too bad and will be interesting to study. I am thinking about topics like genetic engineering and cloning. I think including the movie Gattaca would present a good source if i chose to write on genetic engineering.