Hard science fiction takes a scientific concept and creates a story around it. It is written to be very realistic and even predictive. Although the story’s universe revolves around said scientific concept, this genre of fiction ultimately concerns the human experience and how science influences it. Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, is a prime example of hard science fiction. There are no fantastic special effects or whimsical extra-terrestrials. It delves deep into how a man and his humanity suffer the consequences brought by the advancements of technology. Inferring directly from the title, the movie takes place on the moon. To be more specific, it takes place on the dark side of the moon. It is a cold, dark, and lonely atmosphere. This unkind
Primarily, we must ask ourselves the question “what does it mean to be human?” There is no single answer to this but the gist of it lies in owning one’s emotions and values and one’s ability to feel empathy. Foremost, Sam Bell’s physical and emotional seclusion points him to his initial experience of dehumanization. He longed for human contact and began to hallucinate, the first sign of insanity. Early into the movie Sam Bell goes out onto the surface of the moon to check on one of the faulty machines. On his way there, he imagines a woman outside and she mesmerizes him. This causes him to crash, leading to the first major plot twist of the story. Shortly after he has awakened from his accident, Sam Bell discovers his clone, on the verge of death. This discovery pushes him off the edge and he begins to feel he is losing his grip on reality. As the days pass, the healthier Sam beings to ask questions and ultimately comes to the conclusion that they may not be the first
All through the movie, Gerty shows compassion towards Sam. Although Gerty is a machine, it has a screen with a picture of a face to depict what the machine is feeling. Gerty is the closest thing Sam has to any “human” interaction. Gerty’s caring attitude and ability to convey emotion kept Sam from falling off the deep-end. Ultimately, Sam would not have found the video logs that confirmed his theory without Gerty’s help. The discovery of these video logs pushed Sam on to the track of recapturing his sense of humanity and it could not have been done without
“Dehumanized” by Mark Slouka explores the issue of our nation’s education and how science and math are being used to primarily teach students about business and capitalism. Although I believe that students should have a good understanding of economics for the sake of their future. I, like Mark Slouka, believe that the humanities should be taught and accepted in our schools to help students further their education.
Night Work Sample The process of dehumanization is a process which has been repeated throughout history. Dehumanization takes place in the book Night, in which the author of the memoir, Elie Wiesel, is exposed to its effects. He is taken from his family and home, sent to a concentration camp in which he first comes in contact with people who have gone through the process of dehumanization. Most mistake the noun “dehumanization” as the verb “to dehumanize.”
callous to the death of their peers, and going so far as to murder fellow
He would lose interest and was also fatigue. In Sam’s manic state, he found it hard to concentrate; something was always distracting him. He was also very goal oriented. Sam believed he was on a mission to get America back on track. He also wanted to get people to vote for Bill Bradley at the time.
Dehumanization was a big part of these camps. The Nazis would kick innocent Jewish families and send them to concentration or death camps. The main way they dehumanized these Jewish people is when they take all their possessions. In Night they go around taking all there gold and silver, make them leave their small bags of clothing on the train, and finally give them crappy clothing. All this reduces their emotions; they go from owing all these possessions to not having a cent to their name. If I was in that situation I would just be in shock with such a huge change in such a short amount of time. The next way they dehumanized the Jewish people were they stopped using names and gave them all numbers. For example in Night Eliezer’s number was A-7713. Not only were all their possessions taken, but also their names. Your name can be something that separates you from another person. Now they are being kept by their number, almost as if that’s all they are, a number. If I was in their place I would question my importance, why am I here, am I just a number waiting to be replaced? The third way they were dehumanized was that on their “death march” they were forced to run nonstop all day with no food or water. If you stopped or slowed down, you were killed with no regards for your life. The prisoners were treated like cattle. They were being yelled at to run, run faster and such. They were not treated as equal humans. If the officers were tired, they got replaced. Dehumanization affected all the victims of the Holocaust in some sort of way from them losing all their possessions, their name, or being treated unfairly/ like animals.
This lead to one of the biggest questions from the movie, how did he become that way? Hirschi’s Control Theory is a theory that states “that social control depends on people anticipating the consequences of their behavior”(Macionis 248). It was shown in the movie that Sam had a complicated relationship with his family, so his past is a big reason as to why he acts so deviant in the future. On of the four types of social control is attachment. Attachment is family, friends and school relationships. Sam was first introduced as one of Benny’s friends “crazy cousin”. It was clear that he did not enjoy having Sam around. This can reveal that Sam has a weak relationship with his family as a whole because he wasn’t even living with his parents. This would lead Sam to acting deviant without worrying about what they would think of him. It was also later revealed that Sam was kicked out of school based on his actions. Sam never had to worry about his family or school once that relationship broke off. Another type of social control is involvement. Involvement can mean many things, but it’s basically about holding a job, going to school, or participating in a sport. The character of Sam, as stated before, was kicked out of school. So, he didn’t have school keeping him away from deviant behaviors. And then there 's the reveal that Sam can’t write or read well. Sam had made an attempt to get a job at a movie store, but he would 've had to do an application, which required him to write. He was shown to be scared and nervous after he attempted at write on the form. Sam had little involvement in anything because he was a poor writer and reader, which lead him to act more deviant. A final reason as to why Sam acted so deviant, was because had little opportunity in life. He was self conscious about that fact that he couldn 't write, so he never made attempts to move up in the world. He
Dehumanization: Life in a concentration camp. Night. The. A novel written by Elie Wiesel, who reveals his experience as a young Jewish boy during the Holocaust. The Nazis captured people that are not of Aryan race and put them in concentration camps, where they suffer extreme torture, abuse, and dehumanizing treatments.
The industrial revolution was a transitional era that brought new manufacturing practices in the 19th century. In its social structure, Britain was as aristocratic as other European countries, however the British aristocracy was probably unusual in the respect that it accorded commerce and manufacturing, and the gentry-dominated British Parliament energetically defended commercial and manufacturing interests against foreign competition. British law was certainly unusual in the protections it gave inventors and property holders. Between 1624 and 1791, Britain was the only European nation with a system of patent laws, designed to give inventors the profits of their achievements. The system both encouraged innovation and expressed British society 's admiration for it. In
For any organized genocide to take place, there must exist an organized attempt at mass dehumanization. This has been proven repeatedly, in murders, in massacres, and through actions. Through the actions of the Rwandan Army, which committed hundreds of thousands of murders in a matter of months, killing over two thirds of the Tutsi people. Through the disparaging, imperialistic beliefs held for hundreds of years under the mantra of ¨The White Man's Burden¨. Through the Nazi soldiers who, although ultimately failing in their state-sponsored pogrom against the Jewish people, are responsible for the extermination of over six million men, women, and children. Dehumanization, agreed upon by historians and sociologists alike as a vital component of war and genocide, consists of destroying a person's perception of two features: Identity and Community. This process, so mercilessly and stringently carried out by the SS, and so tragically experienced by the Jewish people left such an impact on Elie Wiesel that he could not bear to recount his struggle without distancing himself from his memories through a transformation into Eliezer.
Dehumanization Through Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, is an account about his experience through concentration camps and death marches during WWII. In 1944, fifteen year old Wiesel was one of the many Jews forced onto cattle cars and sent to death and labor camps. Their personal rights were taken from them, as they were treated like animals. Millions of men, women, children, Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, disabled people, and Slavic people had to face the horrors the Nazi’s had planned for them. Many people witnessed and lived through beatings, murders, and humiliations.
Many themes exist in Night, Elie Wiesel’s nightmarish story of his Holocaust experience. From normal life in a small town to physical abuse in concentration camps, Night chronicles the journey of Wiesel’s teenage years. Neither Wiesel nor any of the Jews in Sighet could have imagined the horrors that would befall them as their lived changed under the Nazi regime. The Jews all lived peaceful, civilized lives before German occupation. Eliezer Wiesel was concerned with mysticism and his father was “more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (4). This would change in the coming weeks, as Jews are segregated, sent to camps, and both physically and emotionally abused. These changes and abuse would dehumanize men and cause them to revert to basic instincts. Wiesel and his peers devolve from civilized human beings to savage animals during the course of Night.
The act of deindividuation and dehumanization can drive us to do some really despicable and evil acts towards other human beings. There are examples in history where humans have committed deindividuating and dehumanizing acts towards others human beings that were despicable and evil.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
Night by Elie Wiesel is one man’s story of surviving the holocaust and his struggle with maintaining relationships with his family and other Jews as they are dehumanized by their captivity and conditions. Through the characterization in the book as well as through the recounting of his journey, itself, Wiesel tells the story of how humankind can dehumanize others and cause the captives to also begin to dehumanize one another.
Science Fiction is a type of literature that is based on future scientific or technological advantages. As we discussed in class, most Science Fiction stories consist of humans leaving Earth to travel in space. It is genre that is constantly changing overtime as scientists make more and more breakthroughs in space. There are many types of genres, but what makes Science Fiction stand out as its own genre? If literature represents our adapting culture, then it shows how Science Fiction has its own specific qualities: understanding of science, prediction of human behaviors, and it can produce a truth.