Neuromancer Film Update and Reading Ideas

Yesterday there was a Twitter-based report that Liv Tyler is in talks to star in the film version of Neuromancer, though some remain skeptical whether the film will actually happen. Do you think she would make a good Molly? If not, who might you cast in that role? And, by the way, the rumors have it that Hayden Christensen is cast to play Case: thoughts?

And as you're reading and preparing for tomorrow's class, you might consider how this last section of the book talks about humans as statistical profiles (211), family dramas/constructions (220), love (232), the relationships between real and virtual living (249), change (251), and of course the very end of the novel.

I have John Murdoch IN MIND

For those of you who attended the Dark City screening, here are a few questions to keep in mind. You have already received your credit, so you don't need to write/post on these. I just thought I'd offer you a few points to consider.

What significances are there to giving the aliens the name "Strangers?"

Does the film suggest that the soul is what makes us human? In what ways does the film define (or not) the soul?

If the Strangers can tune--manipulate physical reality by will alone--why do they have a factory to produce the letters, photos, etc. that they use in their experiments?

Wikipedia.org---Daniel Schreber

What ideas does the movie suggest relating to individuality and being part of a society?

Today in Computer History

Since we're working on a novel about computers, "being human," and Artificial Intelligences, it seems appropriate to recognize that on this day, May 11, in 1997, the chess-playing computer, Deep Blue, defeated world chess champion, Gary Kasparov.

You can view part of Deep Blue at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Noodling Blade Runner

For those of you who attended the optional screening of Blade Runner, I thought I'd post a few questions for you to noodle over.

Also, if you're interested, the film was an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and this novel is being turned into a comic book series starting in June.

What religious/spiritual symbols or gestures did you notice in the movie? Do they form any coherent interpretive pattern for you?

Why does Roy quote a William Blake poem when he enters Chu's eye-lab?

Speaking of eyes, what do you make of all the eye imagery and references throughout the film? Whose eye did we see in that opening sequence with all the building lights and flames reflected in it? How might your answer to that question shape your interpretation of the film? "If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes." "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe..."

What does the movie tell us about what it means to "be human?"

Why do they use the terms slave/slavery in the film?

What does the film have to say about our capacity, or lack of it, to love others?

What do you make of the East Asian-style L.A. of 2019?

How does Deckard's status as human or replicant shape your take on the narrative?

The Real Threat to Edward and the Rest of the Cullens, or is it??

When Literature and Sciences Meet:

A couple of academics wrote a paper attempting to prove using statistics and physics that vampires cannot exist. Follow this LINK.

However, Dino Sejdinovic, a mathematician, has written an article that offers a different mathematical model to dismantle the other argument. Sorry, no online link to the article in the 2008 issue of Math Horizons.

Neuromancer Blog Writing for May 7th

Before you read, or re-read, the section of Neuromancer for Thursday, please choose one of the suggested angles for interpreting the novel from the final essay prompt. You may also choose your own angle if you prefer some other way of getting into the text. Keep this angle in mind as you read and find 10-15 textual moments that seem to relate to it.

In your blog entry, please note the page number, quote a little bit to identify the passage, and write a short note about what the passage suggests and/or why it caught your attention. Do this for each of the 10-15 passages.

One of the main purposes of this assignment is to jump-start your thinking about the final essay.

Blog Writing: Neuromancer, due May 5th

As I said, this novel can be disorienting at times and especially at first. One way to work on getting oriented is to pay special attention to the ways in which it describes its setting(s). The opening sentence, for instance, offers a memorable and sophisticated way of "placing" the novel.

For this assignment, please choose 2 or 3 passages that describe/establish setting. Write a 250-350 word discussion of how these passages affect you. Do you see multiple meanings in certain passages? Are there especially confusing passages? Are there any patterns to the setting descriptions? How does the novel blend description with philosophical ideas and/or questions? These are just a few ways you might get into the assignment.