Final Presentation Q&A Forum

Film: Metropolis
Argument: The future is thought to be a place where the body and technology merge. This merging creates a "machine man" that becomes a part of technology, and like technology is controlled by another. The exertion of power over the "machine man" is shown through violence done to him and his manipulation into conducting violent acts.

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Prompt 11

Cronenberg's use of sex and violence gives his perspective on the relationship between the body and technology By using sexualized violence, he pucks an issue that we as humans identify as wrong. Therefore, by associating this theme of sexualized violence with technologized Max, Cronenberg gets his point across to the audience. Cronenberg takes the issue of violence, which is already seen as bad, and makes it worst by associating it with sex- something pleasurable. By doing this, Cronenberg accomplishes a twisted level of violence that no one can dispute. He builds this idea through the main character Max. First, Max simply pierces Nikki's ear while having sex. Though it is unusual, as a viewer, I did not think of Max as a bad person. It was unusual the extent to which Nikki enjoyed it, but I thought of it as simply getting her ears pierced. Cronenberg then built on this idea and Max was shown in a scene where Nikki burnt her breasts with a cigarette. The sudden end to that scene caused me to question if Max engaged in that act with her. Eventually we see Max enjoying whipping the TV screen he thinks is Nikki. As Max becomes more technologized, as a viewer, I lost sympathy for him. He wanted to engage in sexualized violence and once he did, he lost my sympathy. Therefore, Cronenberg developed Max into a technologized body and paralleled this with Max's sexualized violent acts, resulting in a negative, unsympathetic view of Max in this respect. This is how sex and violence was used to support Cronenberg's argument of technology and the body.

Prompt 11

My movie is Metropolis- a silent film that explores the issue of social classes. Surprisingly technology plays a major role in this film because it is supposed to present a futuristic view of society. Technology is present in the underworld where the workers live and above the earth where the thinkers live. The workers in the underworld are the ones who constantly deal with technology because they not only built the city the thinkers live in but also run it through the technology in the underworld. The bodies in Metropolis argue a violent relationship with technology. In the first part of the movie when Freder goes to the underworld, a worker dies while performing his job on the machines (technology). It was not just one man who died, the entire row of workers died, and they were simply replaced by a new row of workers. Bodies passed in front of Freder who was shocked by the number of workers who died in the "machine room" accident. When he runs to tell his father, his father responds saying "such accidents are unavoidable." This is the first incident of technology being associated with the body and it is in terms of violence. When Freder runs to tell his father of violence, his father responds by saying that they (the workers) belong in the depths. It is as if the father thinks of the workers as machines. Joseph, the father's right hand man, after being fired took a gun out of his jacket pocket. Again, associating technology with violence. After being introduced to Rotwang the inventor, he tells of his newest creation that is a robot that is going to replace the workers. Rotwang and the father plot to create robot that looks like Maria (the leader of the workers) so they can manipulate the workers and break the confidence of the workers that a better day is soon to come. Each time the viewer sees technology it is always associated with violence toward the body (mainly the worker body).

Prompt 10

In Neuromancer, Gibson presents two views of sex. He shows sex as something meaningful and engaged in by two individuals that truly care of one another. He also presents sex as something strictly physical and deeply twisted, often associated with two other motifs- death and violence. Gibson first mentions sex when he tells of Case and Linda Lee. The act was not condemned because it was obvious Case had deep feelings, maybe even loved, Linda Lee. As the book progresses, Linda Lee is seen to be the one person that Wintermute spoke through that could emotionally affect Case. In encounters with Linda Lee is when we saw emotions from Case. Linda Lee is even said to have loved Case herself, and in the Land of the Dead, when they are together, things are good. I would have been satisfied with an ending to Neuromancer where Case ended up in the Land of the Dead with Linda Lee forever. Gibson's association of sex with love makes it meaningful. Even when Case had sex with Molly, though they were not in love, they truly cared for one another and that is enough. Sex with caring and loving emotions has been taught to be "good" sex, the sex we should engage in ourselves. Gibson also presented another view of sex, as strictly physical. This side of sex is shown through Molly's past as a prostitute. The reason this view of sex does not take away from Gibson's positive argument of sex in the novel is because Molly's prostitute sex was only physical. She could not and was not suppose to remember it. Therefore, Gibson is saying that if sex is not with the one you care about, you shouldn't be tortured to remember it. He stresses this point by always associating death and violence with unwanted sex, for example, Molly's experience as a prostitute after she got her body modification finger nails.

Prompt 9

The most intriguing characters in Gibson's Neuromancer are the Zionites, for example, Aerol. The reason the Zionites are the most provocative and intriguing is because in this novel they are so different from everyone else. The fact that they are normal in today's society, but completely different in Gibson's society makes them stand out to me. Firstly, the fact that the Zionites lack body modifications is extremely interesting, because up to this point in the novel Case has been the only "virgin." Aerol is described as a Rastafarian who smokes ganja, something that Rastafarian's are known for. Physically, Aerol has a "grin bracketed with gold scissors" which does not connotate body modification through technology to me. Instead, I think of his smile as if he were wearing a 'grill', something common in our society, so definitely viewed as backward and strange in Gibson's society. Aerol's hair is depicted as "dreadlocks like a matted tree with branches the color of steel wood," again something we all have seen before. The Zionite body is like other bodies we have encountered because it reminds me of the Native bodies we have seen in the Travel Writings and Victoria Pitts' novel. In the beginning chapters, Pitts described her body modifiers as mimicking the Natives of other cultures. These are the bodies that remind me of the Zionites, they are Natives who are close to nature and like the Natives we have encountered before, they are portrayed as a backward group of people. The Zionites relationship with body and technology is not apparent. Firstly, none of the Zionites seem to have body modifications. Secondly, the Zionites possess a strong relationship with the body and they have no desire to escape their body. This can be seen through Case's description of them "always touching you when they [are] talking", this bodily contact made Case uncomfortable, but it was something the Zionites always did. Though the Zionites did not partake in connecting their bodies to technology, they are obviously aware of it all. Aerol helps Case unload his dock, jacked into the matrix and heard dub from Wintermute. All of this proves that they reject the rejection of the body. The familiarity of the Zionites and thier stark difference in Gibson's world is what makes this particular group of people appeal to me.

Prompt 8 - Extra Credit

I write myself differently in every situation and in every group, even within groups. For example within the group of family I would talk or write an email to my mom differently, than I would talk to or email my cousins. I feel that in each situation we present ourselves differently because we know how we would like that audience to perceive us. Emails seem to be the best example. It's interesting because coming into this class Jillian told us how to write ourselves in emails; she gave us guidelines on what needed to be done in order for her to respond, but her requests were nothing out of the ordinary, because how I would write an email to Jillian is the same as I would write an email to any teacher or boss or person who has some say over me. During interviews, and while making appointments for interviews over Winter Break, I wrote in a very professional manner to my future boss, because I wanted her to perceive me as well-spoken, professional and responsible. During my interview, I chose my words carefully to not make the mistake of using "um" or "you know what I mean" as I would in a casual setting. Another great example is facebook. Though facebook is a casual setting, I present myself to my friends in a certain way because I do not want people to read through my wall and get a distorted view of who I am or what I do in my spare time. I feel that it is important to know how to write yourself in different situations because everything has "a time and a place", and in college we learn that and learn to use that ideology to our advantage.

Body modification is similar to writing in these different mediums because it is all about how you want to present yourself. The perfect example is my roommate. When we are going out on a Friday night, all of her piercings will be in and she doesn't mind if her tattoo shows, but during the week days when she is going to class, she never allows her tattoo to show. Also, at home, she doesn't let it show because she knows her parents disapprove, she even changed her piercing to the smallest stud possible before she went home for Winter Break so she would not draw much attention from her parents to her piercings, which she knows they disapprove of. Therefore similarly, there is "a time and place" for body modifications.

Prompt 7

In chapter three, Visibly Queer, Pitts argues that queering of the body "cannot reflect true self invention, but rather complex negotiations between self and social" (page 92). I believe this argument also applies to normative body modifications. For example, consider fitness and exercise and the aspiration of being thin. Every person's "true" self is not thin. For many individuals, it is genetically coded that they are not to be thin. Yet, everyone aspires to be thin and feels like they should be, because we are brainwashed to believe thin is beautiful. Pitts argument suggests a "negotiation between self and social" and this appears in the above example. The social factor is society's pressure to be thin and this is compromised with self. Though there is a negotiation between the two, society has a greater influence when it comes to normative body modifications. Attempting to meet society's values of beauty leads to normative body modification, whereas, in contrast, attempting to go against society's values is what leads to non-normative body modifications. So, in my opinion, the negotiation between self and social is overwhelmed by the social aspect. I agree with Pitts, true self invention is not possible. Normative modifications do not reflect one's true self, but instead is a way of fitting into the normative community. So, from this we can get a definition of a normative community. It is a community that tries to meet society's standards or definitions. In extreme situations, people would undergo harsh conditions to be a part of this community and be looked at as beautiful and thin. So, though many of us are quick to judged the non-normative community, the sad truth is that we are use to the standards of the normative community, so we no longer see much wrong with it.