Science Fiction Film Comparison
In the world of science fiction, anything and everything that is imagined is possible. Aliens can travel across the galaxies and come to the earth and be aggressive or friendly depending upon the story being told. As fantastic as these works are, within even the most bizarre scenarios there is a grain of realism. Some pieces of science fiction, whether written literature, television, or films, have inspired real-world scientific progress. Communication and information sharing are just two examples of such advancements. When examining two different science fiction films, The Day the Earth Stood Still from 1951 and I, Robot from 2004 show how the fictitious can inspire real-world technologies and technological advancements. Looking at these two movies, it can be noted how these fantastic works have inspired science, scientists, and the development of robots.
In the film The Day the Earth Stood Still a peaceful alien arrives on the earth. The alien is tracked by highly technological radar which can monitor the spaceship as it lands. Frightened humans circle the ship and fire upon the alien Klaatu, destroying the gift that he has brought which was a device which would have allowed humanity to view life on other planets. Although we have yet to locate life on other planets the Hubble telescope has allowed human beings to examine the mysteries of the universe. The human beings are distrustful of the aliens and are...
Human beings are distrustful of aliens and indeed for a great deal of time most people are afraid of scientific progress in any form. This is exhibited in I, Robot as well with Will Smith's character. He has a severe distrust for the machines within his
society and believes that it is inevitable that one day human beings will become their prey rather than their owners. New technologies, whether it was the electric light or the
telephone, the
car or the airplane have been met with suspicion and distrust. This has changed somewhat in the recent period as
technology has become a bigger and bigger part of people's everyday lives. In I, Robot, Smith's
character has an artificial limb which has abilities beyond those of an organic limb. Such bionic limbs are also becoming the norm for people who have had to have their body parts amputated. Something which had before been completely fictitious has become a reality in the world as it is today and in fact commonplace.
Scientists in The Day the Earth Stood Still do not treat Klaatu with any real respect. Instead they treat him like a large experiment, even after he is proven to be biologically human. These kinds of scientists are portrayed as being only interested in the questions they have and in exploring and finding the answers to these questions. Instead of trying to help calm the wave of fear aimed at the alien and his robot cohort, the scientists help to propagate the fear and suspicion of the unknown. In I, Robot scientists had a positive intention in creating robots, to make perform tasks which human beings do not want to do or to perform actions which are too dangerous for humans to…
