unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs. The film is intense and established the action film genre that has extended into present day. The 80's was a time of rise in technology and society of the time was sometimes made to feel intimidated by technology for example in Terminator. Also there's the theme of undermining manual labour because of the rise in technology. In some 1980's films there'd be more muscular men featured because they looked more impressive than the computers featured in the films. Terminator is a good example of this theory. Arnold Schwarzenegger (I think that's how you spell his name!) plays the human robot, his stature and looks are intimidating and to know that he plays a robot too, makes him that little bit more intimidating and scary. This idea of man vs. technology heavily influenced body building and being muscular too. This is evident in both men and women.
CHARACTERS
T800 101: Played by Arnold Schwarzenegger is the unstoppable killing machine who lacks any humanity. He is something that the audience fears but at the same time is admired. His macho characteristics go against the system as he takes the law into his own hands like Die Hard, reflecting the individualism of the Republican Regan era. The admiration of this character may not have been down to Arnie's physical strength but more his character's strength as he has the power and strength to destroy technology which society of that fears. He also appears to be a rebel as he wears a leather jacket and rides around on a motorbike.
SARAH CONNOR: At the start of the film she's portrayed as a bit of a loser with a dead end job and no social life. She is well-liked by her colleagues and friends. Throughout the film she transforms into a stronger person with a clear mission to have a son who will 'save the world.'
KYLE REECE: He's a solider who knows his duty yet at the same time is vulnerable because when he first appears from time travelling his is weak - compared to T800 101 he is physically vulnerable too, questionning the audience's opinion of him about wether he is the right person to protect Sarah... The aim of Kyle's role is to make Sarah stronger individual by encouraging her to believe in herself. At the end of the film Sarah is a lone figure who can defend herself.
LIEUTENANT TRAXLER: A caring authoritive figure in the police force. Sarah belives that he can protect her against the terminator but in this film the police as autjority prove ineffectual against the terminatore. At the time this may have frightened the audience because, technology is feared by society and if the police can't defeat it/protect the public agianst it then who can? It's the idea of a corrupt society and who should you trust.
SARAH CONNOR: At the start of the film she's portrayed as a bit of a loser with a dead end job and no social life. She is well-liked by her colleagues and friends. Throughout the film she transforms into a stronger person with a clear mission to have a son who will 'save the world.'
KYLE REECE: He's a solider who knows his duty yet at the same time is vulnerable because when he first appears from time travelling his is weak - compared to T800 101 he is physically vulnerable too, questionning the audience's opinion of him about wether he is the right person to protect Sarah... The aim of Kyle's role is to make Sarah stronger individual by encouraging her to believe in herself. At the end of the film Sarah is a lone figure who can defend herself.
LIEUTENANT TRAXLER: A caring authoritive figure in the police force. Sarah belives that he can protect her against the terminator but in this film the police as autjority prove ineffectual against the terminatore. At the time this may have frightened the audience because, technology is feared by society and if the police can't defeat it/protect the public agianst it then who can? It's the idea of a corrupt society and who should you trust.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The film had then state of the art special effects including models of T800 101 created by Stan Winston. The soundtrack of the film is synth. Throughout the film there is a rumbling, mechanical, drone noise in the background which creates tension and builds suspense which is now a widely used technique.
From being quite feminine to being muscular. This change was probably influenced by the idea of man vs. technology. To compare the two films we re-watched the beginning of the two films to see how each film has changed to meet/follow social conventions and ideals.
MAIN THEMES
FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS: The T101 is a father figure to John. In contrast to her previous character Sarah is a cold unfeeling mother on a mission. Miles Dyson is obsessed with his work and creating new technology and neglects his real family.
CHILDHOOD AND THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE: Lots of images of children playing and being destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES: Technology overpowering man - the terminators look and act more normal (apart of society), they have become more adaptable.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES: It also has a biblical theme with Sarah Connor producing a son who will save the world. It's also evident in the dream sequence when she sees Kyle.
CHILDHOOD AND THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE: Lots of images of children playing and being destroyed by a nuclear bomb.
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES: Technology overpowering man - the terminators look and act more normal (apart of society), they have become more adaptable.
BIBLICAL REFERENCES: It also has a biblical theme with Sarah Connor producing a son who will save the world. It's also evident in the dream sequence when she sees Kyle.
CHARACTERS
T800 101: Schwarzenegger is the star of the film. He again represents a rebel figure however unlike in the previous film he doesn't kill people, he just injures them. There are a lot of one liners so he is a parody of his character in the first film. He is a father figure to John but possibly less efficient as a Terminator.
T1000: He is a neat and tidy character who looks normal/apart of society. He wears a police uniform which suggests that he is apart of a corrupt system. H eis trusted because no one quesions him. This is mirrored by the fact that Cyberdyne is a corrupt organisation which is monitoring Sarah and is covering up that they have the Terminators arm.
SARAH CONNOR: She has masculine traits and has a military traits and now acts like th eterminator as she is on a missopn and lacks feeling - she works to protect John.
KYLE REECE: Saintly figure who is only seen in a dream, the lighting in the dream scene makes him look like he has a halo.
JOHN CONNOR: Streetwise an dcocky, lacks innocence. At heart he is a good person and stops the terminator from killing and rescues his mother.
T1000: He is a neat and tidy character who looks normal/apart of society. He wears a police uniform which suggests that he is apart of a corrupt system. H eis trusted because no one quesions him. This is mirrored by the fact that Cyberdyne is a corrupt organisation which is monitoring Sarah and is covering up that they have the Terminators arm.
SARAH CONNOR: She has masculine traits and has a military traits and now acts like th eterminator as she is on a missopn and lacks feeling - she works to protect John.
KYLE REECE: Saintly figure who is only seen in a dream, the lighting in the dream scene makes him look like he has a halo.
JOHN CONNOR: Streetwise an dcocky, lacks innocence. At heart he is a good person and stops the terminator from killing and rescues his mother.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
Improved CGI and sound and better orchestrated action sequences. Similar locations are used with a formualic approach. For example the end scene is in a factory agai which reflects the audience's expectations as well as tapping into the themes which relate to technology.
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TERMINATOR | TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY |
I've chosen to look at how Arnold Schwarzenegger's character arrives in the first two of the Terminator films. In the first film he look over the city implying that he is looking down on society and his stature and body is powerful foreboding the power that he has to demolish society and possibly the city that he is looking over. He is immediately known to have violent characteristics as he knocks out and maybe kills the first people he sees. From this moment on wards the audience sees him as the bad guy in the film. Compare this with Terminator 2: Judgement Day where although his character remains to be violent and clothesless he has a cooler, calmer nature about him. The way that he strides in and picks his match shows how technology has improved with in the 7 year gap between the two films. Also he rides off on a motorcycle rather than walks off like he did in the last film - again this adds to the coolness of his character.
Point Break is Bigelow's most profitable 'studio' film, taking approximately $80 million at the box office during the year of its release, and yet it remains one of her least well-received films, both in commercial reviews and academic analysis. This is perhaps due to the fact that it most successfully obeys the conventions to its action genre and abandons much of the stylistic substance of Bigelow's other work. The film is an action crime thriller.
two films the first I prefer the first one because it's more realistic. The second one obviously had a huge budget and the action in it took away from the main storyline as the audience was distracted by the skydiving and wingsuit flyers. It's definitely more of an action adventure film purely because of the film's content but again it distracts the audience from the main storyline and focuses more on the budget of the film in my opinion.
hostage. The terrosists kill two men, Takagi and Ellis, outsmart thr cops and do their best to escape with 600 milliton in bonds but are stopped by the modern day cowboy John McClane.
Themes
There are a lot of subtextual layers in the film. With in the film there are plenty themes in motion: religion (set at christmas), family values (McClane wants to save his marriage), conservatives vs liberal.=, east coast vs west coast ideals( new york vs california), homosexuality (man kisses McClane, bromance betweel 'pal' and 'roy') and anti-capitalism.
Anti- capitalism is probably the most prominent themes with in the film. It is a satrical depiciction of the Nakatomi businessmen. We are first introduced to the Nakatomi employees when John eneters the party where classical music is playing and champagne is being served (which he turns down after a sip), Ellis is shown as drug addict, Takagi is shown to be very greedy, and Holly McClane has been slightly corrupted - she goes by the name Miss Gennaro. John McClane must save his wife from being corrupted by capitalism. He has to save her from the Plaza - the ultimate scene where Holly is "rescued" from capitalism is when her gold rolex (capitalism symbol) is lost and kills Hans in the process.
Some interepetations of the film suggest that the hostages of the terroists where hostages before but to Takagi rather tha Hans it's just that Hans is more threatening. The reason why they were hostages all along is because of the true villian Nakatomi/Takagi/Capitalism. The ultimate scene where Holly loses her rolex is intrepreted to be her being stripped of capitalism, letting go of her watch helps her let go of Ellis, Takagi and Money, returning to her family and John.
McCLANE AS THE UNCONVENTRIONAL ACTION HERO:
Anti- capitalism is probably the most prominent themes with in the film. It is a satrical depiciction of the Nakatomi businessmen. We are first introduced to the Nakatomi employees when John eneters the party where classical music is playing and champagne is being served (which he turns down after a sip), Ellis is shown as drug addict, Takagi is shown to be very greedy, and Holly McClane has been slightly corrupted - she goes by the name Miss Gennaro. John McClane must save his wife from being corrupted by capitalism. He has to save her from the Plaza - the ultimate scene where Holly is "rescued" from capitalism is when her gold rolex (capitalism symbol) is lost and kills Hans in the process.
Some interepetations of the film suggest that the hostages of the terroists where hostages before but to Takagi rather tha Hans it's just that Hans is more threatening. The reason why they were hostages all along is because of the true villian Nakatomi/Takagi/Capitalism. The ultimate scene where Holly loses her rolex is intrepreted to be her being stripped of capitalism, letting go of her watch helps her let go of Ellis, Takagi and Money, returning to her family and John.
McCLANE AS THE UNCONVENTRIONAL ACTION HERO:
- He's not single
- He's foreign (he's from the east coast not the west, the idea of rivalry)
- Sits in the front of the Limo - equality
- Barefoot (vulnerability)
- Doesn't use a portal (elevator, doorway, stairwell - everyday objects, nothing special)
- Doesn't kill Hans on sight
- Doesn't trust the people he saves