Event 3: Contact

Contact movie poster

            Contact is a hard science fiction novel turned movie exploring humanity’s contact with extraterrestrial life. It follows the story of Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway obsessed with documenting radio communications of some alien life form. Motivated by her deceased father, Ellie struggles to retain funding for her research, until she finally receives signals from space. She, along with other scientists, attempt to decipher their messages, later finding out that Earth was prompted to create a complex transportation device that travels through space.

            Throughout the modern century, our scientific reality is influenced by art, and art influences scientific discovery. Karel Čapek’s science fiction play R.U.R. labeled humanoid machines as “robots,” thus leading to the wide interest in artificial intelligence in both academia and fiction.

ORLAN's Harlequin Coat

Contact deals with the struggle between the polarizing conception of colonization and inquisitiveness towards space exploration. One deals with a superiority complex that is always at the defense, while the latter adapts to the new situation and is not judgmental forthright. Those machines and aliens are technologically and physically better than humans, thus having to deal with feeling powerless. Ultimately leading to the creation of better modifications to the human body like better eyesight and hearing that is more equipped to translate the intelligence of humans. Artists then would take this to perhaps change people’s skin colors to something bizarre like purple to comment on the distaste of prejudices against people of color instead of focusing on our similarities. ORLAN actually captures Harlequin Coat, created colorization of human skins from different nations to comment on the ideals of beauty and multi-racialism.  Such a circular system fuels the connection between C.P. Snow’s two cultures, putting the heart in science and science into personal expression.

Contact reveals itself to be the proper introduction to scientific theory in a relaxed manner. The true essence of art, such as this movie, is it able to reach a wide variety of audiences, influencing future generations and inspiring interest at a young age. Similar to dystopian films, the movie critiques the limited representation of humanity and geo-political relations once the first contact with a world beyond us occurs. I would most definitely recommend this movie, not only because of its amazing cinematography but also because it’s capturing the different responses of humanity to something new. Movies can propose questions that would otherwise be far-fetched because you are meant to suspend reality for 2 and a half hours, begging the audience to analyze humanity’s reaction to unique situations.

   How science fiction can help predict the future? TEd Video

References

About the Author Esther Jones Esther L. Jones, and Esther Jones Esther L. Jones. “How Reading Science Fiction Can Build Resilience in Kids.” Greater Good, greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_reading_science_fiction_can_build_resilience_in_kids.

“Contact.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 11 July 1997, www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/.

“Harlequin Coat (2008).” FACT, www.fact.co.uk/artwork/harlequin-coat-2008.

“ORLAN AAKA ORLAN.” ORLAN AAKA ORLAN | Exhibition | Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani, www.prometeogallery.com/en/mostra/orlan-aaka-orlan.

Snow, C. P. “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Culture.” The Reed Lecture. The Reed Lecture, 1958.

TEDEducation, director. How Science Fiction Can Help Predict the Future - Roey Tzezana. YouTube, YouTube, 26 Jan. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=paXKoZ1pr5w&ab_channel=TED-Ed.

TEDEducation, director. How to Recognize a Dystopia - Alex Gendler. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Nov. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6kbU88wu0&ab_channel=TED-Ed.

TEDtalksDirector, director. My Failed Mission to Find God -- and What I Found Instead | Anjali Kumar. YouTube, YouTube, 22 Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgmiPXAwiLg&ab_channel=TED.

Uconlineprogram, director. Medicine pt3. YouTube, YouTube, 22 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIX-9mXd3Y4&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=UCOnline.

Uconlineprogram, director. Robotics pt2. YouTube, YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAZ8bo9T_Pk&ab_channel=UCOnline.