FMST 01 Introduction To Film And Media Studies : Age of Machines Human

In the present age of machines, humans lack the time for entertainment. This is not only of their own, but also of their family members. The children do not fall within this category, as they find entertainment even in the smallest things of the world. Delving deep into the children’s entertainment, animation is the common element. The world of animation is a wonder for them. Watching animated films and cartoons enhances their imagination. Thanks to the producers of films, such as WALL-E, EX-MACHINA, THE TRANSCENDENT MAN among others and the list goes on (Wildfeuer). There are likes and dislikes for these animated films. The favourites among the girls are CINDRELLA, SLEEPING BEAUTY, and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST; whereas the boys prefer science fictions such as WALL-E, EX-MACHINA, and THE TRANSCENDENT MAN.  Countering this, most of the girls prefer science fiction movies, as it gives them thrilling experience.

Speculation of the present demand for science fiction movies proves the above facts totally wrong. Now, people from all age groups, irrespective of gender biasness, enjoy science fiction movies (Bateman and Heinrich). Herein, lays the appropriateness of technological advancement, which has added a modern touch in the lives of the people. Typical example in this direction is the DVD players, 3D glasses, which gives the theatre effect at home. This establishes relevancy with the variables of the essay, technological usage by the society.

The etymological origin of the animated film is the era of 1939 through the magic hands of Walt Disney. During this phase, films like Snow White made the children aware of the differences between good and bad values. Modern versions to these epic fairy tales, such as Snow White and the Huntsman cater to the entertainment needs of adults in addition to the children (Sundar et al.). The installation of 3D graphics in these films always results in the house full condition of the theatres.

Delving deep into the subject, the interaction between man and machine is the common theme in all the movies. This interaction is an additional level in the technological advancement. Modern utilization of the technology turns Ray Kurzweils’ dream in The Transcendent Man, into reality. The creation of artificial intelligence weapons, that is, the robots have replaced the humans in the workplaces. Countering this, human intelligence is required for operating the robots in order to get human like functions from them (Wagner, Keith and Jang). Consciousness of the scientists in this direction bears correlation with the themes of the movie, Ex Machina. The creation of a female robot in this movie might be a deviation, however, the upgradation of the human intelligence nullifies the gender biasness as projected in this movie.

These aspects place the movie, Wall-E in the same alignment. The motto of making the planet a better place to live and breathe in has been portrayed through a “little trash-bot”. According to the functionality of the creature, the adjective “trash” seems inappropriate. The size of the creature might be small, however, the duels that he fights with the other creatures equalizes with the matured intelligence of the robots, which are created for doing the workplace operations (Brynjolfsson, Erik, and Andrew). The automatic running of the chairs, round and chubby creatures in the movie, aligns with the fantasy of the children. The modern version of the movie comprises of 3D version, which caters to the entertainment needs of the adults.

The actions performed by the creatures in the movie, Wall-E definitely entertain the public; however, the message they convey to the humans for protecting the planet compels us to put our thinking caps in this direction. Delving deep into the message, the alarming situation of the planet losing its glory gets highlighted. Herein, lays the inappropriateness of the positivity regarding the artificial intelligence weapons (Fraedrich, Eva, and Barbara). Countering this, artificial intelligence has brought automatization into the threshold of the society. Due to the technological advancement, the stress of the humans has reduced largely. Viewing it from the other perspectives, the replacement of the humans by the robots has made the intellect of the humans inactive. This issue acts as a deviation from the proposed question. Counter arguing this, artificiality in terms of intelligence has altered the approach of the humans in terms of carrying out the tasks. Excessive, rather misutilization of technology has destroyed the greenery of the environment. This is the message, which the chubby creatures of the film attempt to convey to the audience (Herhuth). The demolition of the houses for building factories and high rising buildings has polluted the diversity of the ecology. In view of these destructions and creations, the aspect of artificial intelligence takes a back seat.

The end note of the previous paragraph attains the attribute of abstract. There can be two connotations of this fact. On one hand, robots will make the humans lag behind in terms of efficient execution of the tasks. On the other hand, in the long run to achieve technological advancement, the preservation of the ecological diversity is compromised, which deprives the wildlife habitats from shelter (Zimmermann, Ana and Morgan). Here, correlation can be established with the scenes of the film, where it is shown that the creatures living amidst wastes.

Effective and judicious utilization of the technological gadgets would help the, to complete the tasks. Along with this, it would reduce the issues of smoke emissions. In view of the earlier sentence, the relationship between the two variables society and technology is established. Artificial intelligence weapons, the robots uplift the societal standards of humans. Misuse of this technology demolishes the integrity and community feeling of the society. Projection of these two perspectives with the help of science fiction movies like Wall-E provides a new shade to the parameter of technology and society (Herhuth).  

References:

Bateman, John, and Karl-Heinrich Schmidt. Multimodal film analysis: How films mean. Vol. 5. Routledge, 2013.

Brynjolfsson, Erik, and Andrew McAfee. "Will humans go the way of horses." Foreign Aff. 94 (2015): 8.

Fraedrich, Eva, and Barbara Lenz. "Automated driving: Individual and societal aspects." Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2416 (2014): 64-72.

Herhuth, Eric. "Life, love, and programming: The culture and politics of WALL-E and Pixar computer animation." Cinema Journal 53.4 (2014): 53-75.

Sundar, S. Shyam, T. Franklin Waddell, and Eun Hwa Jung. "The Hollywood Robot Syndrome media effects on older adults' attitudes toward robots and adoption intentions." Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), 2016 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on. IEEE, 2016.

Wagner, Keith B., and In-gyoo Jang. "The 3-D Animated Codescape: Imperfection and Digital Labor Zones in Wall-E (2008) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012)." Animation 11.2 (2016): 130-145.

Wildfeuer, Janina. Film discourse interpretation: Towards a new paradigm for multimodal film analysis. Vol. 9. Routledge, 2014.

Zimmermann, Ana Cristina, and W. John Morgan. "EM Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’: humans, technology and dialogue." AI & SOCIETY (2017): 1-9.