Skynet, a computer system fights a losing war against the humans who built it and who it nearly exterminated. Just before being destroyed, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill Sarah, the mother to be of John Connor, the Leader of the human resistance. One soldier is sent back to protect her from the killing machine. He must find Sarah before the Terminator can carry out its mission.
The film consists of extraterrestrial life forms and time travel often along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft, cyborgs, or other technologies. Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues. Skynet began a nuclear war which destroyed most of the human population, and initiated a program of genocide against the survivors.
Retrieved from The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)
In the Terminator films, the human race is struggling for survival against evil cyborg set out to destroy all of human kind. A cyborg sent back in time from year 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, who is soon-to-be-mother of the future world leader, John Connor (who battles the machines in the future and leads an uprising). In one scene, he is hunting down all women named "Sarah Connor", using a phone book to track his targets. He successfully kills the first two of the three listed women. It can’t feel pain and mercy. A human also travels back to stop the Terminator from killing his leader’s mother, Kyle Reese. He protects Sarah and teaches her to defend herself by making bombs.
Retrieved from The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)
The film introduces female lead through a show of physical prowess, instead of via a classic female stereotype such as maternal soother or sexual object. Sarah Connor realises that she is running for her life from a soul-less machine in human flesh that is implacably and violently determined to kill her, she transforms from a girl who can't balance her checkbook to a woman who can order a wounded. She is clear-headed, not panicky, focused in crisis and incredibly courageous.
The film reflects back to us our anxieties and fears about the present. The narrative of the film is depressed and violent, the colours used in the set designs are dark, and the rapidity of the cuts during the numerous action sequences is anxiety producing and frightening. Yet, the film also tries to offer hope in confronting nuclear fear. For example, Sarah’s shirt is a vibrant pink, which is a striking contrast against the darkness around her. Also, she survives the terminator attack and becomes pregnant with the child to let the audience know that we could save the world from danger. Her survival gives us hope.
How Jeep Will Blow its Terminator Tie-In [Image]. (2009, May 19). Retrieved from http://abesauer.com/ 2009/05/19/how-jeep-will-blow-its-terminator-tie-in/
Bibliography:
Wilson.K (n.d.) Science Fiction Film History. Retrieved from http://www.scififilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=termi
Anonymous (2012) Women in Science Fiction Week: Is 'Terminator’s Sarah Connor an Allegory for Single Mothers?. Retrieved from http://www.btchflcks.com/2012/07/women-in-sci-fi-sarah-connor-terminator.html
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