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I often show clips of the following tapes:
<ul>
<li>Cyberspace Week tapes from TLC (1997)
<li>Nerds 2.0.1 from PBS (1998)
<li>1900 House from PBS (2000)
<li>Beyond Human from PBS (2001)
</ul>And encourage students to watch some of these films on their own
and/or I've made one of the essays writing on one or two of these
films:
<ul>
<li>Metropolis (1926 -- students often like the Giorgio Moroder
release, 1984)
<li>Frankenstein (1931 & various -- essential, of course)
<li>Fahrenheit 451 (1965 -- book by Ray Bradbury)
<li>2001 (1968 -- will be re-released next year)
<li>Tron (1982 -- another will be released next year, there was a
1994 video game)
<li>Blade Runner (1982 -- I agree is essential, book by Philip K.
Dick)
<li>WarGames (1983)
<li>Brazil (1985)
<li>RoboCop (1987 -- franchise with other films, cartoons,
ancillary products)
<li>Lawnmower Man (1992 -- book by Stephen King)
<li>Sneakers (1992)
<li>Johnny Mnemonic (1995 -- script by William Gibson)
<li>Terminator & T2 (1991 -- franchise, including 3D version
ride, T3 coming next year)
<li>Disclosure (1994 -- book by Michael Crichton)
<li>Hackers (1995)
<li>The Net (1995 -- teevee series in 1998)
<li>Strange Days (1995 -- script by James Cameron, based on book by
Gibson)
<li>The Matrix (1999 -- two more versions in pre-production)
<li>Lara Croft (2001 -- girl games obviously, film franchise in the
works)
<li>A.I. (2001 -- based loosely on a Stanley Kubrick script)
</ul>There's also a Gibson film/tape that I've been meaning to view from
the early 1990s. And I would love to see _StartUp.com_. If
it's on tape yet, I'll definitely show it.<br><br>
More marginal is Coppola's _Nosferatu_ (1990), which may be useful at
this time of year. It has a great sequence with silent films and
shows the role of communication technology within Victorian society
throughout (typewriters, telegraph, cinematograph), but it's part of the
texture of the film, not overt. I use _1900 House_ for the same
reason. It's sort of a _Survivor_, with a contemporary family
experiencing late Victorian, middle-class technology for three months --
they go bonkers eventually. _1900_ is particularly useful for
heightening awareness of domestic technology and the role that technology
and related consumption, with the class issues that fall out, play in
women's lives.<br><br>
The "best"? Or "classics"? I think
students don't have basic cyber literacy unless they've seen at least
part of _Metro_ and HAL from _2001_. There are so many pop culture
interextual references about computers (many commercials draw on _2001_,
such as a Mac ad in 1999) and cyborgs taking over the earth that draw on
those two films as reference points that I find them essential, despite
their age. And there is high quality criticism as well.
Students often like the films too, if they can be coaxed along a
bit.<br><br>
You'll see that I've defined "cyber" pretty broadly. Four
primary reasons:<br>
<dl>
<dd>1) To encourage students to think outside the
<box>Internet</box>. Just because characters in the
film use the Net, doesn't necessarily mean that the film is about what
the Net is about, the world that the Net represents, if that makes sense
(e.g., computer monitors and email are ubiquitous -- so what?).<br><br>
<dd>2) Problems with the quality/age of many of the films;
therefore students' appreciation may be diminished. Movie stars and
action/FX are good for capturing their imaginations. _Johnny
Mneumonic_ and _Hackers_ are *awful* films, but they do have some good
sequences and it's fun, if argued the right way, to see Keanu Reeves
(never more wooden) and Angelina Jolie in early performances.
Pierce Brosnan in _Lawnmower_ is a hoot too.<br><br>
<dd>3) Nevertheless viewing older films helps slip in some
historical sensitivity to tech, state of the art of yesterday. And,
of course, newer may not be "better." _The Matrix_ is
watered down Gibson, but most students don't realize it.<br><br>
<dd>4) Facile vilification of the Net/technology in some films,
dumbing down for broader audience appreciation (e.g., _The Net_). A
wider selection with more thoughtful films encourages less preachy or
binary judgmental essays. With my subject matter, it's an
occupational hazard.<br><br>
</dl>I too am interested in the final list that shakes out. Thanks
for the thread.<br><br>
Wendy
Robinson<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>wgrobin@duke.edu<br>
<a href="http://www.duke.edu/~wgrobin" eudora="autourl">www.duke.edu/~wgrobin</a><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>wgrobin@email.unc.edu<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
Instructor: Ethics and the Internet, REL 185.04<br>
a.k.a. E&I 2.0: Pervasive Computing in the Digital
Age<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>
Duke
University<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>Department
of Religion<br>
118 Gray Bldg, Box
90964<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>Durham,
NC 27708<br>
office: 02CC Perkins
Library<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>voice
mail: (919) 681-1702<br>
<a href="http://www.duke.edu/~wgrobin/ethics/" eudora="autourl">www.duke.edu/~wgrobin/ethics/</a><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>fax:
(919) 660-3530</html>