Topics of Science Fiction

2004-01-26T14:21:00.000-08:00

Class 14

There's really nothing to say today because our class was cancelled because of the giant snow the night before. Today was supposed to be the last day of class, where we could enjoy the company of all the other classmates for one last time before we share our final projects. We were also supposed to share our stories in class, which would have been fun. In our short story, my group decided to be tricky and create a plot twist, like many of the common authors do in Science Fiction. You'll have to read it (www.elon.edu/student/eyang/story.html). But instead of going to class today, I decided to finish up some minor details for my web page before I publish it online. This has been a new form of design that I was able to play around with and I'm really happy I got the chance. Hopefully you guys will check out my web page and enjoy it!

2004-01-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

Class 13

Today was one was a good day in Science Fiction. Everyday is actually really fun, but today was nice and relaxing and it was due to the fact that we finished our short story the day before. We also discussed in class about what everybody thought of the class. It was definatly nice to hear all the different responses that people answered. Some of the things that I hated like the story "Bloodchild" were some people's favorites, but on the other hand, my favorites were also others favorites such as "Ender's game". Like I said in my response that I've shared, this class has definatly made me open my eyes to a broader perspective in science fiction. Although this class has not made me want to read science fiction everyday, it has not made me want to flip the channel everytime there's a science fiction show on TV. It's been fun Paula!

2004-01-22T12:54:00.001-08:00

Class 11

Today, I missed class due to illness. But due to the fact that I got to lay in bed watching tv all day, I decided to take advantage and expand my science fiction education though television. Although I was fading in and out when watching tv, the first show I watched was some movie about aliens. With the parts I did catch of the movie, I noticed that aliens were very similar to what humans looked like. In the movie, the director must have portrayed alien beings to look like humans with pointy ears. Although this movie portrayed aliens with pointy ears, the next movie I watched on the Sci Fi channel showed a movie containing aliens from another planet. These aliens were portrayed with no hair. From all the alien movies I've seen, many of them contain aliens with a bald head. Why is that? Maybe they purposely show people with no hair in order to show the weird wrinkles in one's head, like the next character in the next movie I watched. Like a Star Trek character, this alien was made up as one who had yellow skin with brown patches all over his skin (sort of like a reptile). His forehead had two sets of wrinkles that parted outwards. His ears were oddly shaped, but I can't really explain what they looked like in words. After watching a day's worth of odd sci movies, I find it interesting on how people vision aliens.

2004-01-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

Class 12

Today we watched the movie "trekkies" and after the movie, there was a small debate on whether or not Star Trek fans take it to the extreme or not. Bill mentioned the fact that he couldn't believe the fact people would make Star Trek their whole entire life. He used the examples that people will travel millions of miles to attend Star Trek conventions, they would spend months before creating costumes just for a convention, and they would spend more than a thousand dollars on Star Trek collectibles. But Sean brought up the point that most people are just doing this for fun, like a hobby. He also brought up the point that people dress up in suits when they go to work or the fact that fans of sports teams will wear jerseys of the team to represent their appriciation for the team. As they were arguing, I was thinking what is my stance on topic is and I came up with something along the lines with what Sean was saying. Although I'm not a fan of Star Trek, I think the fans of Star Trek have the right to do anything they feel like doing as long as they follow the law that have been set by the government. As people were thinking up similar comparasions to make trekkies seem more reasonable, I thought of the exmaple of Roadies and how they obsess over certain bands. Isn't that basically the same concept? I guess some people just don't believe or understand the concept of something in the future...i think that's what it all boils down to.

2004-01-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

Class 10

Today we watched the movie the Matrix. After being in this class for about two weeks, I watched this movie from a different perspective, A SF perspective. This really doesn't mean much except for the fact that I truely understood more of the technical terms. When they talk about the matrix and how you enter the matrix, I understand it to a fuller degree. One thing that I like about this movie that i didn't notice before is the way they learn things how programs can be installed in a matter of seconds in order for you to learn things. Like in the movie when Trinity needs to learn how to fly a helicoptor, the program is installed. Computers of today work in a similar fashion where the user needs to install a program and the computer learns what the program is about. Once the installation is complete, the program is able to be used by the user. I wonder how long it will take for what happens in the movie to be invented and used on earth. Some people always say taht soldiers can be programed like machines. In many movies, soldiers are portrayed as indistructible machines sometimes. I guess the question I pose for myself to think about is...What if...we were able to learn things by having it installed in us?

2004-01-16T12:20:00.000-08:00

Class 9

Today was a fun fill day...at least compared to the other days. We were able to get into our groups and decide our topic for our SF short story. My group, a very ambitious at that, immediatly jumped at the chance to share their ideas. It was quite funny with the ideas we came up with. Trying to come up with different ideas, we came up with stuff like "what if gore beat bush", "what if iraq took over the country", and "what if greek life took over the world" were just some of the ideas. But in the end, we narrowed it down to three topics which were time travel, robots created humans, and alternative endings to historical events. The funny thing is that it took us about 20 minutes to think of all the ideas and narrow it down to our 3 favorite but it only took us 5 minutes after that to disband that whole idea and create a totally different scenero. So our new topic deals with a civilization that is attacked by aliens, something basic that we can use our imagination to improve it. But anyway...today was fun and creative and I admit that my range and understanding of science fiction has expanded since the beginning of this class!

2004-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Class 8

Today in class we watched the movie Men in Black. Along with the movie, we were required to read some articles on race. All this material that were have been analyzing brought up the point was Will Smith casted in this movie to talk about race. Many people believe that Smith was casted to represent the minority, but I actually didn't think so. I think race had nothing to do with it. My personal opinion on race is that it should be an issue. Media has made it an issue just to create an arguement and some contradiction. I strongly believe that the media and government has created such a issue about race because life wouldn't be interesting if everything worked out. Yes, some issues about race should be covered, but not to the extent where people make everything in all situations have something to do with race. IT's gone to far and people should realize it. That's all I have to say!

2004-01-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Class 7

After watching the movie Star Trek: First Contact, I found there to be many interesting ways that the movie tried to portray reality that's a little more advanced than today's technology. My favorite comparason is the one with the borg and today's insects. Freshman year, I remember studying about how insects and bugs get sprayed with pesticides. Some insects die, but others live and the ones do, may become immune to the poison. Years after they first become immune, they reproduct and pass that gene on to their children making the next generation immune to the poison as well. Eventually, all bugs become immune to the pesticide and the farmer will need to find something else to spray and kill the insects. In the Star Trek movies, Blogs do the same thing, but with weapons fired at them. The first round of shots will kill and destroy the borgs, but soon after that, the borgs change and adapt to the weapon being fired at them. It's really funny how SF can seem so complicated with the advancements, but when it comes down to it, it's as simple as bugs and pesticides.

2004-01-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

Class 6

Today in class we watched Star Trek:First Contact and to tell you the truth, I actually enjoyed it. Last year, when my roommate watched the Star Trek TV shows, I just watched the shows and nothing else. I never really understood it, but after reading the article and watching this movie, I totally change my perspective on Star Trek. Although I will not become a trekkie anytime soon, if I happen to catch it on Tv, I would be surprised if I watched the show for a little bit. Paula, our teacher, asked us at the end of class if we would want to go with another life form if offered the chance? Some parts of me says no, there's not reason to go with them when I'm happy here on earth, but another part of me says that wow...they know so much more than I do and some of the things they do are so complex it's just mind boggling. But that concludes my thoughts on today's subjects.

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

Class 5

Today we talked about a bunch of different stories that we were supposed to read over the weekend. My favorite story out of the bunch was “Ender’s Game”. I was actually thinking about making this a possible idea for the topic of my website. Many people argue that video games are good for children because it’s making our children’s hand-eye coordination better. In the future, those kids will grow up and be able to become better at jobs that require using your hands for certain skills such as a surgeon, pilot, or even a carpenter. In the story “Ender’s Game”, it shows how children are trained and then use for actual combat and sometimes, the children’s results are better than what an adult could do. The story also brings up another question which I am kind of wondering about and the question is: “If children are actually trained properly, similar to the kids in ‘Ender’s Game’, could they really become robot-like soldiers that fight for our country and if it is possible, would it be ethical enough to actually use it?” There's a thought for you to think about!!!

2004-01-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

Class 4

today we watched the movie Blade Runner and it was very interesting to see what science fiction was portrayed in the beginning. I really didn't like the movie but it's because it wasn't the science fiction movie that i'm used to. Unlike the more modern movies like Blade, MIB, and the new Star Wars, Blade Runner does have the high packed action with the special effects. After reading the websites about the movie, I read that Blade Runner show more of the symbolistic characteristics of SF and not as much as the action. Paula also told us that it showed more symbolism compared to the movies that come out now a days. The weird thing is that although I've read about the symbols before I watched the movie, there were many parts that were still unclear to me. I'll have to think about the movie some more in order to figure what I want to write my response on.

Updating on the research website topic, I think I have an idea. I want to do some research project on how movies have portrayed Aliens. I know I still have to refine this thought, but I figured that there are so many movies with aliens, why not try and categorize all the aliens, something like what Jurrassic Park did with dinosaurs. Anyway...i'll keep updating on my project.

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

Class 3

Today we read stories by Isaac Asimov, Judith Merril, and Ray Bradbury. All 3 authors are actually new to me so it was quite interesting reading their works. Surprisingly, my most favorite story is “Robbie” by Isaac Asimov. I think this is the first story, but second piece of work that I have read from Asimov and if I remember correctly, I have enjoyed both of his works. Asimov is maybe an author that I would like to research more for my project/website. The two other stories we read was “That Only a Mother” by Judith Merril and Ray Bradbury’s “There will come soft rains”. Bradbury’s writing was actually really fun to read. In the story, this house is performing different tasks by itself, but due to some event, nobody is living in the house. One of the tasks that the house has to perform is some sort of reading and the poem recites really ties everything together. It’s really a nicely written poem.
The other text we read was an article called “Aliens, Alien Nations, and Alienation in American political economy and popular culture” which is by Ronnie D. Lipschultz. This article used different movies to show the relationship between reality and SF. While this was a pretty tough article to read, it contained many good points. Lipschultz at one point, writes “…Rick Deckard, Bill Foster, Neo Anderson - from the societies in which they (Seem to) live, all rooted in the capitalistic system of the late twentieth century. Amid the illusion of freedom, all three men are trapped in prisons from which there is no escape. As are we.” That really hit me cause it’s so true how in those movies, there’s always one group of species fighting for their survival and in some way, we humans are stuck here on earth fighting to survive everyday. That’s just my opinion though.

2004-01-07T12:37:00.000-08:00

Class 2

Following our Syllabus for our class, today we discussed the works from various authors. Two of the more famous authors we were discussing about were Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe. From Mary Shelley, we read “The Mortal Immortal: A Tale” which told a story about a many who thought he had solved his problems by drinking a love curing potion but turned out to be a potion which cured everything cause him to be immortal. The man ends up having to make a decision on whether he wants to live and continue with his young life to figure out if the potion really offered immortality or should he die because he has nothing in his life worth living for. Although SF is not very prominent in this story, we all have to remember that the story was written in 1826, where many things had not been discovered.

Other publications we read were “What Science Fiction Is” by Lester Del Ray, “The Origins of Science Fiction” by James Gunn, and “Science Fiction and Society” by Isaac Asimov. Many of the points listed in these related SF and reality and how one works off the other. But one concept I really could absorb is the difference between fantasy, horror, and SF. As defined in “What Science Fiction Is”, Del Ray separates SF and Fantasy by saying that SF is something that’s probable and is backed by some sort of scientific evidence while Fantasy is something that basically has no chance of actually happening. But there are so many questions that are going through my mind such as why is time travel and mutation categorized as SF but magic is fantasy? If you have a good explanation on how fantasy is different than SF, please add a post for me to view. Thanks!

2004-01-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

Class 1

Entering this class, I didn't really know what to expect. Now that I've heard the description of the class and what the goals are, I find this class to be really neat. Being a business major, everything is pretty straight forward, but with this class (topics in literature: science fiction) I notice that I'll be able to wonder to different places that I've never explored before. Topics such as cloning, A.I., and phobias are just a couple topics that I'm interested to study. Although this may not seem like a class that makes you soul search a lot, but for some reason, I feel that it will make me learn something about myself that I've never noticed before. I'm really looking forward to this class!

If you would like to learn about our class...please go to
www.elon.edu/prosinski/winter04/science_fiction.html