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October 26th, 2014

Secondary Source Integration: Terminator 2

The 1991 James Cameron directed film Terminator 2: Judgement Day is, on the surface, an apocalyptic prediction of how society is meticulously and actively initiating its own demise. From the very opening scene, it becomes apparent that our supposed outlook is grim, as what was once shown to be a luscious green park where children once played, has now been reduced to an unending sea of human skulls. Throughout the film we are taken on a journey that explains this rather unfortunate fate, however, what emerges is an unexpected silver lining to oppose the wave of doomsday predictions.

The film begins with all eyes on the lead character, a T-800 model terminator, who from the audience’s point of view, may just be the rebirth of the monster they just saw defeated at the close of Terminator 1. Unaware of the machines intentions, we follow it around Los Angeles until it reaches a biker bar. Upon entering, the Terminator analyzes the patrons for somebody of a similar size, and states to the patron “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle”, never wavering in its tone or facial expression. As the Terminator silently stands there awaiting a response, the biker, noticeably irritated by the Terminator’s demands and presumptuous nature, inserts a lit cigar into the Terminator’s bare chest. A moment passes by before the Terminator even notices the cigar, and not the slightest reaction of pain was visible on his emotionless face. The Terminator, now aware of the hostile environment around him, resorts to conditioned violence, disposing of anyone in the bar willing fight, before finally acquiring the biker’s aforementioned clothes, boots, and motorcycle. With its objective met, the Terminator stoically rides away from the bar with its next mission on the mind.

This representation of the terminator is rather lifeless. With the exception of it inhabiting a human body, nothing about this scene would bring a viewer to the conclusion that this being, especially with knowledge of what it did in the past film, is human. In fact, in an article written by Dylan Evans, he states that “the capacity for emotion is often considered to be one of the main differences between humans and machines”. Judging from this piece of criteria, we can see that Cameron’s current depiction of the terminator is of just that - a machine robotically carrying out instructions. At this point in the film, virtually no transformation has occurred within the Terminator character as it is at its most synthetic with regards to behavior and lack of emotion.

Later in the film, the Terminator reveals his purpose for coming to Los Angeles when he explains to John, “My mission is to protect you”. John, incredulous of the Terminator’s promise, puts him through a series of tests to assess his loyalty and intentions. Upon learning that the Terminator was being genuine about his promise, John exclaimed “Cool! My own terminator. This is great!” John, overcome with excitement at the notion of possessing his own personal body guard, quickly put his newfound situation to the test by harassing a pair of bystanders from across the parking lot. The situation quickly escalated and a brawl ensued between the Terminator and the bystanders, culminating with the Terminator standing over one of the bystanders, .45 pistol in hand ready to pull the trigger. John yells and pleas for the Terminator to lower his weapon, puzzling him as to why John insists on preventing him from doing his job. After diffusing the situation John exclaimed that he “can’t just go around killing people!” The Terminator, learning from John, accepts his advice and sticks to it for the remainder of the film.

This scene is especially pivotal from the standpoint of the terminator’s transformation from an artificially intelligent machine towards a functioning member of society. Upon examining this scene, the audience becomes aware of the learning potential of Terminators. Not unlike the way that children’s morality is conditioned through trial-and-error, the Terminator also learns the bounds of what is accepted by society by first overstepping them and then committing the new morals to memory. This scene showcases the Terminator’s ability to adapt to one of the most basic building blocks of civility – learning what is right and wrong. This understanding of societal ethics is one of the major hurdles between classification as an artificially intelligent machine and as a person. In his article “Legal Personhood for Artificial Intelligences” Lawrence Solum details an opposing point of view: “do not punish the program, because any supposed ‘punishment’ will have no educative effect”. This, however, would be untrue as evidenced by the terminator’s actions in this scene. For one, there is a very clear educative effect at play (in a highly intelligent being like a terminator) which is visible when the terminator re-calibrates his moral compass instantaneously to account for its environment. I would also disagree with Solum’s point because of its assumption that any form of punishment would be necessary. Once again we see in this scene that so long as the terminator wishes to adapt, it will flawlessly and instantly. Comparing this with humans who typically waste away in jail “learning their lesson”, we see that terminators are far superior to humans when it comes to understanding, adhering to, and developing an ethical code of conduct.

The next scene of interest occurs much further along in the plot when Sarah, John and the Terminator are attempting to flee the T-1000 model terminator who has been programmed to kill John. While gathering guns at Sarah’s friend, Enrique’s house, a rather poignant and touching moment is shared between John and the Terminator. John, who has been connecting with the Terminator ever since he said “My CPU is a neural-net processor-a learning computer. The more contact I have with humans, the more I learn”, is now teaching the terminator what a high five is. During this process, John tricks the terminator with a classic “down low, too slow” progression which actually evokes the first genuine expression of emotion from the terminator: annoyance in the form of a mild snarl. Not only does this show how much John has gotten through to the terminator since starting bonding with him, Sarah, who is watching the whole scene take place, also has something to say. In the form of an internal monologue, Sarah states “Watching John with the machine, it was suddenly so clear. The Terminator would never stop, it would never leave him... it would always be there. And it would never hurt him, never shout at him or get drunk and hit him, or say it couldn't spend time with him because it was too busy. And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.” In the article “Terminating the Father: Technology, Paternity, and Patriarchy in Terminator 2” Anne-Marie Harvey reflects on this scene by saying “Sarah’s declaration crystallizes the general sense of the movie: that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator appears to fill the place of a conspicuously absent father”. The simple fact that the Terminator is now filling the domestic role of father, something that Sarah cites that all the men who had previously tried had failed, is the exclamation point to the terminator’s transformation from purely objective cyborg to potential personhood candidate.

By this point of the film, the audience has grown very close to the terminator, just as the characters have. Sarah, whose initial instinct was to kill the terminator out of paranoia, has come around to actually comparing the terminator to the father John never had. This transformation in the way the terminator is accepted, has greater implications than just the characters in the film. I believe that Cameron is trying to shift public opinion of machines and artificial intelligence by glimpsing into the future of what beings will one day be considered members of society.

Works Cited

Harvey, Anne-Marie. "Terminating the Father: Technology, Paternity, and Patriarchy in Terminator 2." Masculinities 3.2 (1995): 24-42. Print.

Evans, Dylan. "Can Robots Have Emotion?" Hot Seat Debate. The University of Edinburgh, 17 Nov. 2004. Web.

Solum, Lawrence. "Legal Personhood for Artificial Intelligences." North Carolina Law Review70.1231 (1992): 1231-287. Print.