Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Blog #3

Terminator

            Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a blockbuster sequel to the original Terminator film. It was released in July of 1991. The film stared a few of the same characters from the original Terminator, including Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. This time around the Terminator, the T-800 is here to help. Sarah Connor has a son, John Connor, who will in the future save all of humanity from the Armageddon. A newer Terminator model, the T-1000 was sent to Earth to kill John and eliminate the pending threat to the cyborgs in the future. The new T-1000 has a few advantages over the old T-800, such as morphing and shape-shifting into any person it comes in contact with. While the Terminator, T-800, saves Sarah and John, the T-1000 is not far behind them. Throughout the film the two cyborgs go head to head and eventually have their final battle with the T-800 being victorious and saving Sarah and young John. When his task is done he must terminate.

T-1000 Model

            The returning and main character in the film, Terminator T-800, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger is a cyborg. A cyborg as stated in the film, is a cybernetic organism. It is essentially a computer covered in living human blood and skin tissues. It is sent from the future to carry out one specific task. The film does not go into too much detail as to where it came from. Although the cyborg was sent to Earth to do one thing and one thing only, it demonstrates that it is capable of learning and adapting to different situations. The character of John Connor gets somewhat attached to the terminator and attempts to teach him a few things to better fit into society. For instance, John teaches the terminator a few slang words relevant to that time period and also instructs it not to just kill anybody. In my opinion, this is an illustration of the Terminator’s somewhat human capabilities.

            Before the Terminator meets John he kills at will or whenever it will benefit him. He has not been programmed with any regard for human life other than the one he was sent to protect. This is a major moral and ethical catch-22. Other than the obvious death and destruction the Terminator leaves in his path, directly or indirectly, I do not think it crosses any other ethical or moral boundaries. Besides the fact that there is a living and breathing cyborg walking the streets. Just its mere existence could pose a moral problem and be deemed unethical. All that aside, it could be beneficial to have such a loyal sidekick. After all, we were meant to like this character.

           Currently, I think a lot of people would volunteer themselves to be a cyborg experiment. A plethora of people would love to have the super powers. The phenomena with sci-fi and cyborg technology is continually growing. Although the film by today’s standards is a little dated, it is still culturally relevant. Since this film, there have been dozens of other films made about robots and cyborgs. This trend is not going anywhere anytime soon. Even though it is complete fiction and we will never have cyborgs from the future coming to Earth to save us, it represents the possibilities of the future as long as we can use our imaginations.