Bendito Machine III
This animated film tells the
story of technological development in terms of ritual and worship - the
characters in the film treat each new technology as god-like, appearing from
the sky and causing the immediate substitution of the technology before it.
What is this film suggesting are
the ecological and social implications of an obsession or fixation on
technology?
Advancement in technology
through the 20th century has been an ecological nightmare and I’m
afraid this trend is not reversing. It may be slowing down. This video points
that out in a funny but frightening way. Is this a shot at “digital natives”?
Could this video be a playful (stereotypical perhaps) look at a tribal and maybe
superstitious culture?
Do the film’s characters have any
choice in relation to their technologies?
Technology comes from above.
One character seems to have some idea about how to go about “receiving” this technology
while the others are more or less consumers. This character at one points seems
to understand what a frightening thing it is for people to blindly worship
technology and sneaks away only to return with an upgrade to destroy the
previous incarnation... and then more or less self destructs.
What are the characteristics of
various technologies as portrayed in this film?
The technology is entertaining
and maybe informative but fundamentally inane. This technology is exalted but
does essentially nothing to better the lives of those who worship it.
Inbox
Inbox is a quirky representation
of the ways in which web-based technology connects people, the limitations of
those connections, and the nature of communication in a mediated world.
Depending on how you interpret the relationship between the two main
characters, and the ending, you might argue that this is a utopian account, or
a dystopian one - what do you think, and why?
I liked this short naive
story. Its scale was a bit too small to consider it utopian or dystopian. The
elements are there I suppose for either. The playful nature of web-based social
media could point to a bright and carefree future but on the other hand the
sheer banality of this kind of social exchange could point to a gloomy future
where we are slaves to the forces using technology as an “opiate of the
people”... or of technology itself.
Thursday
Thursday depicts a
tension between a natural world and a technological world, with humans caught
between the two.
What message is the film
presenting about technology?
Technology offers
amazing things but requires great sacrifices.
What losses and gains are
described?
Through technology we
gain ease and convenience plus some very spellbinding abilities. However we
lose all sorts of thing. We obviously lose nature. Or nature loses in any case.
The poor birds have a small parcel of land with a few trees.
The humans have agency
as do the birds but only within the context of technology. They must respond to
it and adapt to it while using it for their own ends. Technology in this short
has become too large and complex a thing to consider it anything but the world
in which they live.
New Media
A very short, very grim representation
of the effects of technology on humanity. There are definite visual echoes of
“Bendito Machine III” here - what similarities and differences can you identify
between the two films?
Technology is portrayed as mystical and
otherworldly... an alien intelligence that transcends our understanding. This
short is more frightening to me than Bendito III as the interface between human
beings and technology seems to be creating these hideous machines floating
above these dreary buildings. The Human beings are enslaved it seems by the
tech. or so given to the tech that they have lost their humanity and create
these floating, frightening, destructive machines. Perhaps this short works as
a metaphor for the dehumanizing potential of digital technology?
Wonderful ideas coming through in the MOOC. I'm a bit lost and overwhelmed.
