“I’ll Be Back”
In today’s film industry, special effects play a huge role in almost every film that you will see. They help the film seem more realistic, entertaining, and engaging. In the past 25 years they have helped the science fiction film industry dramatically. Scott Bukatman writes in his article, “I suspect that the return of science fiction as a film genre was partly function of the move to summer blockbusters for younger audiences and partly a showcase for new cinematic technologies” (249). Though special effects aren’t seen as frequently as other science fiction films throughout it, the Terminator (James Cameron, 1984, U.S.) is still an example of this.


The Terminator was an extremely low budget blockbuster of the 1980’s that broke many box office records. It’s unlike many of the science fiction films in today’s era because it’s not just filled with special effects, there’s more emphasis put on the plot and storyline of the movie. The main plot or storyline of the Terminator has to do with the use of time travel from the future. The Terminator travels back from the year 2027 in order to kill Sarah Conner, the mother of the future war hero John Conner. Kyle Reese travels back in order to save her and gives flashbacks of what the future holds. In the year 2027, computers challenge the well being of mankind after taking over the human race. The movies idea brings up in the time of exceeding technology; how long before man is overtaken by what they have created. This scene below is one of the few special effects that are used in the Terminator. It depicts life in the future is far more advanced in military equipment, weapons, and computer technology. The guns that are shown are all lasers or some futuristic weapon that is supposed to represent technology of the future.

Another specific scene that shows a special effects coming into play within the movie takes place at the end of film. Kyle Reese and Sarah Conner manage to blow up the Terminator with homemade pipe bombs while in a high-speed chase. This still doesn’t stop the Terminator of completing is mission which is to eliminate Sarah Conner. The scene moves to a machine factory in which the Terminator is chasing Reese and Conner without his human looking body. Instead he’s shown as a robot and no longer as a cyborg. The picture below shows how they use special effects in order to make the “skeleton” of the cyborg move.

Though the Terminator does use special effects throughout the movie, they still aren’t a huge part of the movie like other sci-fi action thrillers. They are more used for the storyline or plot instead to entertain the audience. The Terminator uses more of the real world scenes and characters (besides the Terminator) in order to make the movie seem more realistic. They show short scenes from the future using special effects in order to show the everyday life of the future and show what technology (computers) can do to the human race.

Mellencamp challenges the arguments regarding virtual technologies and immersive experiences in Scott Bukatman’s “Zooming Out” in his text. He questions weather it’s appropriate for Bukatman to use the term “kaleidoscopic perception” and “terminal identity” when referring to the movie the Matrix. Mellencamp argues that that the narrative within these technological effects driven films is being subverted. He talks about the visual effects in this article, he states that special effects in the digital age are helping enhance the narrative which disagrees with Buktaman that narratives are being dulled down due the special effects.
Mellencamp then argues that the Matrix is more of a gaming experience than a traditional film viewing experience because we view the events and narrative similar to what gamers view video games as. It’s more of a first person viewer game that you experience while playing video games in a first-person shooter. There’s also attention directed right to the camera when Morpheus looks directly at the camera, depicted viewers at part of the game.

In Scott Bukatman’s article “Zooming Out: The End of Off-screen Space,” he talks about the advancements in technology when it comes to kaleidoscope, panorama, large-scale landscapes, and diorama in the 19th century have helped acclimate the body to new urban environments and transportation technologies. These new technologies were used to create distant landscapes and endless backgrounds. The creation of on-screen visuals and the expansion of screens with the improved quality made a entire new experience for the viewer. An example of this would be Star Wars, which can be depicted as on the fictional scale of new environments and technology that our country was experiencing at the time. By using real human characters combined with the technology and special effects, it took science fiction films to another level.

Quentin Hughes
Film 301