Well,
Just to fill you in I have started a MOOC on a platform called Coursera, the course is called E-Learning and digital Cultures (#edcmooc) Actually I have started two MOOCS, the other one is on Equine Nutrition but I will blog about that at KB Equine Therapy
Block 1 asks us to look at Utopia and Dystopia. The subject matter
was four short films:
The characters in this film seem to be at the start of a
technical revolution. A priest who uses another machine calls down an animated
television set from heaven. This machine is worshiped by the whole community
who soon make it part of their lives and in one sense seem to be addicted it.
At one point the technology seems to hypnotise everyone but
the priest almost like a cult, until it fails and kills half the villagers.
This dystopian film symbolises the throwaway world that we know live in, and
the desire to have the latest and most up-to-date gadget regardless of the
cost.
A very interesting film. At first I thought that it was
about the relationships and dis –relationships between man and woman and I
failed to see how this film related to the course. As the film moves on,
though, the main two characters communicate through an inbox (two magic gift
bags bought from the same shop). The Utopian side of this film is shown, when
the two characters met in the shop they woman clearly disliked the male, they
build a relationship communicating through the inbox, which allows them to get
to know each other without the pre-conceived impressions of each other in the
physical presence. One of the bags is torn and then doesn’t work both people
are disappointed. The dystopian element of this film becomes clear when the technology
fails they have no way of contacting each other. It is just by chance that they
meet after trying to take back the ‘faulty equipment’ to the same shop.
Tensions between the natural world and ultimately mankind,
as the designers and builders of technology, Who has agency?
The birds (symbolising nature) have power. It is they who cause
the technology to fail by taking the wire to build their nests, it is they who
have the freedom that mankind seems to have lost, mankind has become observers rather
than physically interacting with nature. This is shown when the bird bumps
flies into the window and is momentarily stunned, the man can only watch from
inside without being able to help.
Technology though gives another dimension and power to
mankind in that through the development of technology mankind can access space
and see the world from a spaceship. This symbolises the way in which technology
has allowed us to see and take part in nature in a way that would not normally
be available.
This film shows the dystopian dark side of technology, in
much the same way that Benito Machine III does. Both films portray how technology
can control us either by a desire to have the latest technology, the addiction
that we have to technology and the way in which we are kept prisoners through
not being able to ‘live’ without technology. Newmedia portrays a rather ‘Big
Brother is watching you’ (1984, George
Orwell, http://www.george-orwell.org/1984),
we do not see any humans or animals in this short film and therefore can only
assume that technology keeps the human race under control, that status quo has
been turned on its head
War of
the Worlds the film of the story by HG Wells
This is one of my favourite films. It shows the dystopian
side of technology. The Martian technology is so advanced that they travel to
earth to conquer the humans, but succumb to a virus. There is a great divide
between the ‘haves’ (the Martians) and the ‘have not’s’ (the Human race). There
is an analogy between the youth of today and the older generation, the youth
who rely on the technology to communicate, access the internet and the older
generation who are only just starting to get to grips with the use of
technology to communicate with far away relatives through online methods such
as Skype.
Just like the two
races in the film, the youth and the older generation cannot speak to each
other as they use different languages. Todays youth use text speak, no grammar,
no punctuation and the older generation find it even more difficult to
understand and communicate with the youngsters of today
The
Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
This is story I read when studying for GSCE in my youth. It
affected me so much I can remember it. It is about two people who live in an
underground world, in individual cells. Temperature, food, etc. are all
controlled by a machine (which I imagine in the authors eyes was a computer). It
is a society which pouts a great reliance on technology for everything that
they do and need to live, this is the story of what happens when the machine
stops (hence the title). I recommend it.
#edcmeooc
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