Frame by Frame: Science Fiction Futurism

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09/30/2015 Added

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UNL Film Studies Professor Wheeler Winston Dixon discusses the 2015 Ridley Scott film "The Martian," and the accuracy (and often inaccuracy) of science-fiction films at predicting real advancements in science and technology.

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[00:00:15.873]Hi. I'm Wheeler Winston Dixon and this is Frame By Frame.
[00:00:19.597]And today I'm going to talk about Ridley Scott's new film, "The Martian,"
[00:00:22.976]WATCH OUT! EXPLOSION
[00:00:27.397]Matt Damon stars as a member of a space exploration who is left behind on Mars and is thought to be dead.
[00:00:33.940]"Surprise."
[00:00:35.794]But this film has many precedents.
[00:00:38.083]"Mission to Mars" in 2000, by Brian DePalma,
[00:00:41.212]where Don Cheadle is left for dead on the red planet, is another one.
[00:00:45.313]And there's also "Robinson Crusoe on Mars," 1964, which is a really beautiful film as well.
[00:00:51.557]"I have what's left in my tank and reserve cylinder... enough oxygen for about 60 hours."
[00:00:58.766]But one of the things I want to talk about here is the inventions in science fiction which actually make it,
[00:01:05.369]and the inventions which don't really make it.
[00:01:07.805]So here's some of the films that really tell the future of science fiction and some that don't.
[00:01:13.145]"Metropolis" which is really the grandfather of all of these films, 1927....
[00:01:17.908]predicted futuristic cities, but also a dystopian future of the very rich versus the very poor,
[00:01:24.695]which was picked up in "Blade Runner," also by Ridley Scott.
[00:01:27.569]And then there's the film that everyone forgets: "Things to Come."
[00:01:31.290]"This time there is no attempt to land on the moon."
[00:01:34.636]... which actually predicted World War Two with a script by H.G. Wells.
[00:01:38.488]"I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me.
[00:01:43.791]And I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen."
[00:01:47.268]"2001: A Space Odessey" which is Stanley Kubrick's absolute masterpiece,
[00:01:52.034]featured Hal, a talking computer, so now we're seeing that come into the future.
[00:01:57.344]"Forbidden Planet" predicted all sorts of things like holograms.
[00:02:01.602]It also had Robbie the Robot, a robot who could manufacture anything.
[00:02:06.281]"Star Wars," of course, has predicted lots of things, and also created lots of new technology.
[00:02:11.381]and sort of brought the digital hologram era. And now we're seeing holograms on news programs,
[00:02:18.723]and holograms actually performing by artists who can't be there at the same time.
[00:02:23.276]"Star Trek"... cell phones... hands-free communications
[00:02:28.633]"We're beaming up. Notify transporter room."
[00:02:31.214]"Total Recall" featured the Johnny Cab, and "Minority Report" also showed computer-driven vehicles
[00:02:38.633]And we are very much into the computer driven vehicles. They are being tested right now. That's something that's coming forward.
[00:02:45.589]"Welcome to Texaco. You can trust you car to the system with a star."
[00:02:52.288]There's other things that didn't work out so well...
[00:02:55.497]"Back to the Future 2" flying cars... we are still waiting for that.
[00:03:00.168]"Jurassic Park" promised us living, breathing dinosaurs, but thankfully we're still a way from that.
[00:03:06.366]And "Timecop" for example, which talked time travel, which is still very much in the future.
[00:03:12.691]"I'm not hurting anybody." "I have to take you back."
[00:03:15.938]Even though things like "Mad Max" where we're living in a post apocalyptic world are far away.
[00:03:21.457]And also "Water World" thankfully has never come to pass.
[00:03:25.126]I would argue that films like "Metropolis" and "Blade Runner" really are quite accurate at predicting where our society is headed if we don't do something about it
[00:03:32.966]Because New York City, right now, which is my hometown, is very much like Metropolis in a way
[00:03:39.676]Because we do have the very, very rich and the rest who serve them
[00:03:42.143]Even apartment buildings now where the rich buy an apartment on the 80th floor, and they have their servants on the 10th floor
[00:03:48.475]Then we're really getting into Metropolis territory.
[00:03:51.762]So, sci-fi films... sometimes they're right. Sometimes they're wrong.
[00:03:55.275]But this new film, "The Martian" I eagerly look forward to. It's the latest film from Ridley Scott, which gives us a look into the future.
[00:04:02.588]I'm Wheeler Winston Dixon and this is Frame By Frame.

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