Science fiction is a very big genre. In Terminator 2, the film has many sub-genres the movie fall back on to, because the film is difficult to categorize within the same generic conventions. The sub- genres that are usually emerged are, dystopia, invasion and visitation, space opera, time travel, fantastic worlds, science out of control, comedy, war, action, and romance. The sub-genre dystopia is a society vision of the world in the future, where it is very bleak and dismal. The world is out of control and has no law. The protagonists are seen as unwilling anti-heroes.
Invasion and visitations is a sub-genre that is trying to give answers to satisfy you curiosity on the ‘what if…?’ factor. The product output of this sub- genre often depends upon the current political climate within the country of production. If the location, America, were feeling susceptible politically there would be a sudden arrival of an action Sci-Fi film.
Soap opera is a genre where there is some soap- opera action happening in the science fiction atmosphere. This means that the films deal with histrionic and real life issues.
Time travel is very popular concept to use in science fiction films. Time travel is based on the idea of sending people or machinery back and forth in time. This is a very popular as it impresses the audience and keeps them on the edge because they do not know how the plot will end or twist.
Another popular sub-genre that is used is science out of control. These films often have a disaster and end in a war. Science out of control teaches us that taking science too far will lead to consequences and in some cases very bad ones. If we refer back to the book, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the scientist goes too far and brings out a disaster by failing to consider the consequences.
War, romance, and comedy are sub-genes but are usually recognized as the aspects of the film.
The sub-genre that is connected to this film is dystopia. This sub genre explains why the film will end with apocalyptic idea- the humanity in the world will be destroyed. Another sub- genre associated with the film is science out of control. This is because the Sky net scientist – Dyson- believes he is working to help humanity when he constructs the androids, however as a direct consequence of his work, the machines would be able to pretense a threat to humanity all over the world. Concluding, that billions and billions of people will die in the future- apocalypse. Romance, war, friendship, and comedy are all important as the three main sciece fiction genres because they impress the audience and give the life like factor to the film. However, they are not as major as the other genres.
Some may think that Terminator 2 is a typical science fiction film. This may be because of the movies various sci-fi features, such as, the music, futuristic technology, action sequences, the characters, the iconography, location time, the conflict and the special effects.
Special effects in the film were very realistic and state of the art for its decade. The special effects in the movie include C.G.I, (Computed Generated Images); these images were iconic and were there to impress the audience. The computed generated images were usually based upon the actions and the appearance of the two terminators featured in the film, T-800 and T-1000. The generated images consisted of the terminators morphing and the big explosions.
The music in the film would fluctuate between dramatic and calm soundtracks. Dramatic soundtracks wee used in the majority of scenes because the scenes were either tense or had many action packed sequences. Calming soundtracks were used to build up or used to create an atmosphere or a mood where there was no speech.
The conflict in the movie is a struggle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’. The good was the protagonist anti-hero character the Terminator T-800, played by Arnold Schwarnegger. The evil was played by Robert Patrick as the terminator T-1000. This character represented pure evil, and could morph into any substance of the same quantity.
The location time is the place and time the film is shot. The location time of this film is back in time and in the future. The majority of action sequences take place in the present. Back in time is shown by flashbacks and forward in time is created by the conversations and scenes of it.
Futuristic technology in this genre would have to androids, robots, spaceships, sophisticated weaponry, etc. However, in this film, weaponry is not sophisticated- weapons are realistic. In addition, spaceships are not included in this plot.
The action sequences in this film are very action packed. Special effects were an imperative in this area, and because James Cameron had used them, he impressed the audience. Action sequences had contained all the elements above to complete the typical sci-fi film.
In a science fiction style film, there will not always be elements in the film that are conventional of that genre. For example, sub-genres (comedy, romance, friendship), the location time, weaponry, the issues on race and gender, etc. The location time of the film is typically set in the future or the past; however, in this film, the majority is set in the present tense.
The typical science fiction movies would contain conventional weopnry, like in another big selling blockbuster, The Matrix. On the other hand, Terminator 2 uses realistic weapons to fight of opponents in the film.
In a sci-fi typical, there would be the four main categorized sub-genres appearing; dystopia, invasion and visitation, fantastic worlds, soap opera, and time travel. All of these do appear in the movie apart from fantastic worlds and invasion and visitation. However, there are some sub- genres, which are not expected to be in a science fiction big screen. They are friendship, romance, comedy, and war. These sub- genres give the edge and life of the film; they make the film seem realistic.
In a traditional sci-fi film, usually there would not be issues of gender and race appearing in the film. Yet, in T2, these issues do appear. These issues revolve around two questions. Gender: How are woman presented in the film? Ace: How are black people represented in the film?
Overall, I think that the movie, Terminator 2, does not conform to the conventions of the science fiction gene. This is because the conventions are not as traditional as they are thought to be. What I mean is that before the film had been viewed, I had expected it to be set on a miśe en scene of a sciece fiction film, i.e. a distant planet or a far way planet that is yet to be discovered. In addition, the movie seems too more realistic, even though in the essay I mentioned an overview of the elements that make Terminator 2 a typical sci-fi movie.
