tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715311628705269987.post1241514143407066839..comments2010-12-14T03:33:51.720-08:00Comments on Hope/Nostalghia: Framing David, Part 2terabinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997457815451846555noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715311628705269987.post-53010908286357008242010-03-23T14:28:15.011-07:002010-03-23T14:28:15.011-07:00Mary, I think by trying to understand what the fil...Mary, I think by trying to understand what the film is attempting to say, do, show, etc. (and how it accomplishes or doesn't accomplish these things) inevitably leads us deeper into engaging with the film. It is an attempt at the kind of listening I wanted to do in the interaction with the films and the theology. I feel like if I can "hear" or "see" the film more clearly, I can put together what was meaningful in the film for me and make my own contribution. I think sometimes when I watch films, the tendency is to let the narrative and visuals wash over me and when I come out of the experience, I don't know heads or tails with respect to the film. Noticing and interpreting these filmic details are helpful for me to hone in on concrete thoughts I can take away from the film. Does this answer your question?<br /><br />So what do I take away from the film for my study? This is a rephrasing of your question, Ryan, no? <br /><br />I think I take away a profound sense of the ambiguity contained within the question of what it means to be human in light of our technology. The film is a thought experiment: what if we could create a robot boy who could express true human love. Would he be a robot? Would he be human? The ambiguity is both an affirmation and a challenge to what I'd been considering before. It is strange to think of David as a tool that was created for the purpose of filling the void of a child's love in an adult's life. There is this strangeness because over the course of the film in identifying more and more closely with David, he becomes a person to us. He is his own subject. Once we see David as a person, we no longer see him as a tool. David has transcended his technology in our eyes. And yet, we are reminded in the film (as David is) when we see the mask/face of another David robot that David is also still mecha. <br /><br />So, in light of our conversation concerning technology, a lot of our questions about rejecting or affirming technologies (or using or misusing them) go out the window once David becomes a person in our eyes. David is not a tool or a toy to be used or accepted or rejected. He has his own autonomy and set of rights as a person.<br /><br />But perhaps one way in which we can still ask these questions is: if we could create a robot who could love in this way, would we want to? What would the ethical implications of such a creation be? What would our responsibilities be to such a creation?terabinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09997457815451846555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715311628705269987.post-44407192886281703492010-03-22T12:41:08.106-07:002010-03-22T12:41:08.106-07:00What affirmations and / or challenges does this fi...What affirmations and / or challenges does this film raise with you regarding your theological studies?Ryan Tormahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15272832058369155032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715311628705269987.post-77624931042644708862010-03-18T09:29:30.547-07:002010-03-18T09:29:30.547-07:00I think I pretty much agree with your interpretati...I think I pretty much agree with your interpretations here. But then again, I've all along felt that the film is forcing us to think about what it is to be human -- and also, the extent to which emotions run wild is not, in and of itself, a good human characteristic. I suppose my larger question is: what does it matter? In other words, think out loud a bit about why moving through this kind of interpretive task might help people to engage the film more deeply.Mary Hesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07954022665480649924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715311628705269987.post-65467691102864193122010-03-17T09:32:10.578-07:002010-03-17T09:32:10.578-07:00Yes, I do believe the devices deliberately try to ...Yes, I do believe the devices deliberately try to get us perceiving self-consciously: both as a mirror to our own selves and as a framed image of this odd robot-boy who may or may not become human over the course of the film.terabinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09997457815451846555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5715311628705269987.post-1823220019001824212010-03-16T08:53:31.430-07:002010-03-16T08:53:31.430-07:00I'll be eager to see what you make of these tw...I'll be eager to see what you make of these two framing devices. I'm conscious of how, for me, they frame our "seeing" -- they seem very deliberate attempts to get us to "perceive" self consciously.Mary Hesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07954022665480649924noreply@blogger.com