Week 3: Terminator 2

Dear Avid Reader,

What is post-modernity? Obviously it's the thing that follows modernity. And that may be really the only thing you need to know.

Probably not.

It's Not Everyday You Find Out You're Responsible For 3 Billion Deaths

Modernity is all about rules, rationality. Terminator 2 is also a movie about rules. Machines WILL turn on humanity and there WILL be a war. John Connor WILL lead the humans against the robot uprising. John WILL send a man back in time that WILL become his father. That WILL be awkward for John.

The really annoying thing about the fatalism of the Terminator timeline is that it should be broken at the end of Terminator 2. They throw all the Terminators and Terminator leftovers into the molten steel. They blow up Skynet with the inventor dude inside. The future is changed. There will be no uprising. And yet there are plenty of other Terminator movies and TV shows. So while The Terminator is like modernity, in that it is about rules, the Terminator franchise is not unlike post-modernity, in that it about breaking rules. But post-modernity is more complicated that just rule-breaking.

At least I think it is.

No Fate, No Fate But What We Make, My Father Told Me This

Let's look at another rule violator...the T-1000. The liquid guy. See, he can't be a bomb and he can't be a gun. The reason being is that bombs have chemicals and guns have complex moving parts. But if he can't form complex parts, then how can he hear? How can he speak?

I'm gonna change gears here. I realize that I am now doing that thing that people do when they talk about sci-fi films and that is to try and undermine the fiction with science. It isn't interesting.

I'm not sure I'm feeling this post. Let's try and get it back.

I Don't Know...How Much Longer I Can Ho...Hold This

The Terminator must follow the orders of John, without question. This is he ultimate in modernity. John speaks, Terminator listens. But in the end, the Terminator defies John's orders and sacrifices himself in order to ensure a peaceful future. One could argue that he is following his larger directive of protecting John. But I guess that is the point.

See, with modernity, the goal is that everything can be solved rationally. We can know everything and understand everything. If we just implement the right rules, then the system will regulate itself. Breaking a rule isn't in the program. You can't break the rules.

But the Terminator is faced with a post-modern dilemma. The best way to protect John is to destroy himself. But John orders him to stay alive and to not destroy himself. He is going to break a rule.The timeline is already set. It is inescapable.

I Asked That Very Same Question And You Know What They Told Me?

You know what? Why don't I just tell you that I love the one-liners. After watching this movie for the first time in a while, I totally forgot the saturation of "I'll be back", "Hasta la vista baby", and "Come with me if you want to live". I mean everyone has heard those lines even if they never saw the movie. And that dude became California's Governor. That's crazy right?

Yeah. I like that better than looking for how the Terminator's decision to jump into lava shows how a modern worldview is unsatisfactory and cannot work.

Until Next I Blog,

James