Category Archives: Group 8

[…] Emma disagrees, and does her part to throw down the gauntlet for the week, saying that “The most frustrating thing for me is that I don’t care about the characters.” I normally find this to be a lazy argument (after all, is that rea… Continue reading →

You have a really interesting question there, because I find myself trying to adapt my own predefined perceptions of cyberspace throughout this book so far. The book talks about Case going in and out of the matrix, which keeps making scenes from the movie pop into my head. Like when they were getting the ROM from sense/net, I kept picturing Trinity tearing through the building. Anyways, I think it’s almost impossible to just conceptualize all the elements of this book without referring back to familiar visuals. As a reader, it’s hard for me to move on without being able to fully conceptualize what I’m reading, or I’ll forget that part of the book even exists. So usually the easiest way for me is to kind of adapt something I know. However, what if there isn’t anything to reference back to? Like Molly’s eyes, she had like glasses implanted into her face? It was a really cool concept, but it was also really weird to visualize, especially because they end up having sex(albeit, it was in the dark, but still, weird). In conclusion, I see pitfalls going about it both ways, but also opportunities at both ends. I see Gibson giving a little extra attention in description to the latter things I’ve mentioned, like when he describes the Moderns as like scientists when he was a teen, which helps a lot; and also like you said, the use of repetition of those unfamiliar words throughout the book so far. Continue reading →

You end with a fascinating closing question. We could phrase it as well as which is worse, to be hated or ignored?. It’s a question that will reappear throughout the semester, and it seems to be a central one in science fiction in general. Perhaps because so much science fiction consists of the sudden appearance of something new—a new technology, a new idea, or a new creature. Continue reading →

I’d love for you to dig a bit deeper in your comparison of the story and the movie. We shouldn’t be asking which was better, so much as, how were they different? How did each shape the thematic material to fit its own needs? The ending is a great example—accept that the rather ambiguous and anticlimactic ending is there for a purpose, and then ask, so why? What does that ending evoke or suggest? Continue reading →

It’s interesting to hear you say that the movie The Thing takes away many of the underlying meanings of “Who Goes There.” I’ve been thinking about it in opposite terms. I’d argue that the movie tackles more themes directly—specifically, race comes to mind. Also the ending of the movie is much more ambiguous, leaving room for multiple interpretations, something the short story definitely does not do. Continue reading →