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Random rambling and (not quite) bullet points.
-- Cameron and Sarah continuing to mirror each other, foils and control groups. The places where Cameron fails, attempting to inact humanity (learning to dance) but that impulse ultimately being trumped by programming (abandoning the Shipkov's), and where Sarah succeeds (saving Ellison) but also ultimately fails (signing away her parental rights -- a failure for John).
-- As soon as Cameron gave Shipkov the diamond and we see the thugs getting out of the car, I thought, she's going to let them die. It isn't her mission to protect them. It's startling in it's cold-bloodedness, especially framed by Cameron's interest in dancing (see above). Is Cameron expressing her soul? Can the machines learn to do so? What is the equation for soul. SkyNet, we learned in the last episode, was paranoid and afraid, human emotions. If the computer can learn fear and specifically a fear for its own survival, human descriptions granted, why can't they learn other emotions and behaviors. What is Cameron expressing at the end while she dances alone? Why does she dance? What does that fulfill for her. Watching her watch Maria/Marina/what was her name I am reminded of her as Tin Man and Pinocchio.
-- As much as the Terminator's are learning computer's, and with what we know about SkyNet via Andy Goode's confession in the previous episode, I still wonder how much the machines comprehend of the philosophical aspects of being human. Cameron is seeking something, but her ability to mimic humanity, indicating that she is learning, is continually disrupted by reminders that she is *not* human. Is there a conflict between the machines learning to be human and their programming? Does that crises of awareness cause the machines to "go bad"?
-- I still don't like the re-shot scenes from the movies. Jonathan Jackson as Kyle Reese reads all kinds of wrong. He's too young and too baby faced, for one. Lean Headey isn't desperate or frantic enough and I was reminded too forcefully of Linda Hamilton. Lena Headey's Sarah is more functional, Hamilton's was not. Hamilton was more like Derek Reese. Shell-shocked, riding the knife's edge of sanity, negotiating the terrain between becoming machine in order to defeat the machine and being human.
-- I want to know what kind of brain washing went on in that basement and if it took hold. I find that I absolutely do not trust Derek. Just because he's human doesn't automatically establish his status as a good guy. I'm just as suspicious of him as I am of Cameron.
-- what are the details of Cameron's mission and what does she know about Derek Reese? What is there *to* know about Derek Reese?
-- The hand of god. AKA The Demon Hand. The devil created by man. Someone will do a better job of tying Nietzsche to all of this, but I'm thinking that if God is dead and man has supplanted him and begat in his own image than Man is the next in line for death, destroyed by the hand of his creation. In turn, the machines become gods, creating more machines who are then appropriated and re-programmed by humans leading to the machines (SkyNet) destruction.
-- Duality. The hand of god and the demon hand are one and the same. Sarah extends her hand, extends salvation, while Cameron does not. Perhaps, she was never capable of doing so and the Hand of God must be specifically programmed. Dr. Silberman doesn't extend that hand, either. The T-100 extends his hand in rememberance of Kyle Reese, he repeates Reese's words. The Terminator's are incapable of understanding or expressing the depth of human emotions in order to invest the gesture with any real meaning. Dr. Silberman does that for us. Interprets the act. Human understandings layering mechanics. The Hand of God, then, is man's own hand (?).
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cofax7 mentioned that she didn't buy Sarah believing that she was giving up her rights to motherhood as opposed to Sarah manipulating the situation. I agree. Although, perhaps, that is another glaring difference in Hamilton and Headey.
-- Cameron and Sarah continuing to mirror each other, foils and control groups. The places where Cameron fails, attempting to inact humanity (learning to dance) but that impulse ultimately being trumped by programming (abandoning the Shipkov's), and where Sarah succeeds (saving Ellison) but also ultimately fails (signing away her parental rights -- a failure for John).
-- As soon as Cameron gave Shipkov the diamond and we see the thugs getting out of the car, I thought, she's going to let them die. It isn't her mission to protect them. It's startling in it's cold-bloodedness, especially framed by Cameron's interest in dancing (see above). Is Cameron expressing her soul? Can the machines learn to do so? What is the equation for soul. SkyNet, we learned in the last episode, was paranoid and afraid, human emotions. If the computer can learn fear and specifically a fear for its own survival, human descriptions granted, why can't they learn other emotions and behaviors. What is Cameron expressing at the end while she dances alone? Why does she dance? What does that fulfill for her. Watching her watch Maria/Marina/what was her name I am reminded of her as Tin Man and Pinocchio.
-- As much as the Terminator's are learning computer's, and with what we know about SkyNet via Andy Goode's confession in the previous episode, I still wonder how much the machines comprehend of the philosophical aspects of being human. Cameron is seeking something, but her ability to mimic humanity, indicating that she is learning, is continually disrupted by reminders that she is *not* human. Is there a conflict between the machines learning to be human and their programming? Does that crises of awareness cause the machines to "go bad"?
-- I still don't like the re-shot scenes from the movies. Jonathan Jackson as Kyle Reese reads all kinds of wrong. He's too young and too baby faced, for one. Lean Headey isn't desperate or frantic enough and I was reminded too forcefully of Linda Hamilton. Lena Headey's Sarah is more functional, Hamilton's was not. Hamilton was more like Derek Reese. Shell-shocked, riding the knife's edge of sanity, negotiating the terrain between becoming machine in order to defeat the machine and being human.
-- I want to know what kind of brain washing went on in that basement and if it took hold. I find that I absolutely do not trust Derek. Just because he's human doesn't automatically establish his status as a good guy. I'm just as suspicious of him as I am of Cameron.
-- what are the details of Cameron's mission and what does she know about Derek Reese? What is there *to* know about Derek Reese?
-- The hand of god. AKA The Demon Hand. The devil created by man. Someone will do a better job of tying Nietzsche to all of this, but I'm thinking that if God is dead and man has supplanted him and begat in his own image than Man is the next in line for death, destroyed by the hand of his creation. In turn, the machines become gods, creating more machines who are then appropriated and re-programmed by humans leading to the machines (SkyNet) destruction.
-- Duality. The hand of god and the demon hand are one and the same. Sarah extends her hand, extends salvation, while Cameron does not. Perhaps, she was never capable of doing so and the Hand of God must be specifically programmed. Dr. Silberman doesn't extend that hand, either. The T-100 extends his hand in rememberance of Kyle Reese, he repeates Reese's words. The Terminator's are incapable of understanding or expressing the depth of human emotions in order to invest the gesture with any real meaning. Dr. Silberman does that for us. Interprets the act. Human understandings layering mechanics. The Hand of God, then, is man's own hand (?).
--
cofax7 mentioned that she didn't buy Sarah believing that she was giving up her rights to motherhood as opposed to Sarah manipulating the situation. I agree. Although, perhaps, that is another glaring difference in Hamilton and Headey.
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Date: 2008-07-14 09:44 pm (UTC)From:I like the reshot scenes from the movie. I agree with what you say about Hamilton's Sarah being more on edge, and I like that better. I like Hamilton's Sarah better in general--again, although the show does well on so many levels, on the basic level of character it sort of fails, which is sad because that's what's most important to me. Sarah's voice-overs are always thought-provoking, but because she's not otherwise philosophical it feels scripted, and like Dekker's John, her character only ever seems to do and say what's necessary for plot and theme and stuff (not the actors' fault, imo. They haven't been given the scripts necessary to flesh out their characters). Hamilton's Sarah had that just-about-to-break/or-else-kill-everyone-BOOM! feel, which made her so much more than just a straight forward tough as nails super mom. Headey's Sarah does get a few moments of vulnerability, but they always feel stiff to me.
But anyway, I like the reshot scenes from the movie because these are not the same characters. If Headey played past!Sarah just like Hamilton did, then I'd be wondering where that Sarah was now. As it is, I just have to accept that these characters emerged from some parallel verse to T2. Which is depressing, considering what I've been saying about the characters not being as fully fleshed out. But it's what the show is and I'd prefer it to have continuity within itself than to match up to characters it doesn't live up to.
And that being said, I love the continuity to T2 it does provide. If you're going to play in a world I know well then I want you NOT to pretend like it doesn't exist. One of the reasons I love T2 SO SO much is it didn't do that when it continued from T1. T2 is a whole 'nother ball game than T1; it's a completely different kind of movie. But instead of making the continuity between the two flimsy so that a new kind of movie could be made, they made something that connects so intricately that T2 is that much more awesome because T1 is the way it is. So the fact that they're trying to bring as much of T2 into SCC as possible is very, very happy to me.
I don't trust Derek either.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-16 06:44 am (UTC)From:Right!! I totally agree and I am curious as all hell.
Hamilton's Sarah had that just-about-to-break/or-else-kill-everyone-BOOM! feel, which made her so much more than just a straight forward tough as nails super mom. Headey's Sarah does get a few moments of vulnerability, but they always feel stiff to me.
Someone did a review and discussed the differences between Headey's Sarah and Hamilton's. What was pointed out was the distances in timeline as location between the two versions. Hamilton was coming out of a mental insitution, Headey has been out for a while. Lena Headey's Sarah has had to re-learn how to function in society while Hamilton's is still that guerilla warrior protecting her son and raising the savior of mankind. I guess I bought the arguement and didn't. Partially it's a preference for Hamilton's riding the knives interpretation. There is, as you point out, an incredible tension in Hamilton that traverses the spectrum of insane and monstrous capability to incredible vulnerability. There is a tension between how much she loves her son and how much she has to raise him not to risk himself for love. She's cold and hurt and crazy and you never know what to expect. Headey's humanity *is* stiff and not just in a "I don't wear this emotion well" kind of way, but also in, as you say, the sense of expectation in her performance.
It would be beautiful to see her a little more on edge, maybe slightly less functioning. The ways that I am continually reminded that these are not the same characters (even though it's due to changes in the timeline) reminds me too strongly of my preference for the T2 cast and arc. I'll have to try and frame those sequences in the terms you offer. It may well help me to relax and get into that part of the narrative.