HGrubbs Honors 255

 Class Notes:  Long, musical intro - black screen “The dawn of man” - sunrise shots Apes, one attacked by cheetah Ape scream-off?? Monolith black rectangle box thing appears Apes are scared but try to intimidate it  They try to understand it - this “abstract” added to their life changed them, they no longer were scared little monkeys Ape starts hitting things, not afraid → leads to technology, hunting Uses imagination to foresee how to live Kill enemy ape by beating it with bones  Bone becomes space tech (one piece of tech evolved to modern tech)  Airplane in space Zero gravity grip shoes Another rectangle in ship shot Voice and face recognition to enter meeting room on spaceship - in hilton hotel on ship “Picturephone” = facetime Talking to Russians, cold war ? The war between the apes = the conflict between the the men and nations Zero gravity meals, toilets Big dome opening - sphere lands in it  Little ship landing is circle square thing  Was it the...

       By far, my favorite short film we watched was “Beyond the Aquila Rift”. Not only was the technological side of it phenomenal–I mean come on, those weren’t real actors?--but also, the CGI and animation of even just the alien and the hive was incredible. I also really admired the idea behind the “sleep tanks”. I took a lot of the film metaphorically, and I think these tanks really served as a foreshadowing in a sense of what “Greta” would do for them. Written by Alastair Reynolds, Philip Gelatt, and Tim Miller, and directed by Gabriele Pennacchioli, Dominique Boidin, and Léon Bérelle, the short aimed to tell a riveting, yet chilling story differentiating simulation from reality. The short depicted the main character, Thom, and his crew waking up from their sleep tanks. Upon awakening, Thom’s seeming ex-lover, Greta, greets them and informs them that they hadn’t landed where they intended. After a whirlwind fling with Thom, and a gnarly fight with Suzy, Thom begi...

       The 1927 film, Metropolis , depicted several well-established themes and contrasts, from exuberant wealth and crushing poverty, to heavenly purity and satanic lust. Despite my initial doubts–with it being an old silent film and all– I really grew to love the film. The endless Biblical references peaked my interest, and I felt that Lang really greatly embodied the reality of the stories. My two biggest takeaways from the film were 1) Lang repeatedly depicts the idea that in order for evil to have any real power in deception, it has to take hold of and imitate something good and pure (“evil Maria” pretending to be Maria in order to ensue chaos). And 2) the film truly highlighted the base roots of evil. For example, “evil Maria” was not evil in and of herself, but rather her evil is found in the sin (lust) she was programmed to provoke. The stereotypes between rich vs. poor, good vs. evil, light vs. dark, life vs. death, and heaven vs. hell, were also generally u...