Film Clip (143)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Allison’s unhealthy eating habits are reinforced with comments she receives online to the point where she refuses to eat with her family and follows online advice on how to resist hunger. The technology in this clip is the online forum which has the goal of perpetuating and starting unhealthy eating habits.
- Kinolab
- 2014
Social Networks and Societal Norms
Allison’s unhealthy eating habits are reinforced with comments she receives online to the point where she refuses to eat with her family and follows online advice on how to resist hunger. The technology in this clip is the online forum which has the goal of perpetuating and starting unhealthy eating habits.
How do social networks, and certain enclaves within these networks such as a blog site, set the societal norms in the digital age? How do these platforms perpetuate illusions of how people should look and act? Did social media create these problems, or simply exacerbate them?
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- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Donald and Helen, a married couple, are both dissatisfied with their marriage, particularly in their sexual relationship, and so unwilling to communicate with each other that they both want to cheat on each other. The technology in this clip are the websites on which they both succumb to the temptation of an affair.
- Kinolab
- 2014
Infidelity and Social Networks
Donald and Helen, a married couple, are both dissatisfied with their marriage, particularly in their sexual relationship, and so unwilling to communicate with each other that they both want to cheat on each other. The technology in this clip are the websites on which they both succumb to the temptation of an affair.
Are websites like the ones shown in this narrative a justifiable affordance of social networks and digital technologies? Does the facility of making connections with other people make infidelity overall easier to accomplish? Does having these more private, secluded channels make communication between dissatisfied partners harder? In thinking particularly about the “Escort Edition” website, what is problematic about its quantification of women and “shopping” user interface?
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 1984
Rotwang, a reclusive inventor, invents a robot to replace his love Hel whom he lost to Joh Frederson. He claims that it has everything it needs to replace her except for a soul. Joh Frederson takes advantage of the robot’s design as an artificial companion to imitate Maria’s likeness, essentially creating a copy of her. The purpose of this is to infiltrate the working class and use Maria, who the workers admire, as a tool to further Joh Frederson’s agenda to suppress a laborer’s manifestation. The workers have unknowlingly placed so much trust into the robot version of Maria that they refuse to listen to Grot as a fellow worker, destroying the Heart Machine as Joh intended.
- Kinolab
- 1984
Robotic Impostors
Rotwang, a reclusive inventor, invents a robot to replace his love Hel whom he lost to Joh Frederson. He claims that it has everything it needs to replace her except for a soul. Joh Frederson takes advantage of the robot’s design as an artificial companion to imitate Maria’s likeness, essentially creating a copy of her. The purpose of this is to infiltrate the working class and use Maria, who the workers admire, as a tool to further Joh Frederson’s agenda to suppress a laborer’s manifestation. The workers have unknowlingly placed so much trust into the robot version of Maria that they refuse to listen to Grot as a fellow worker, destroying the Heart Machine as Joh intended.
How can robots, even those without weapons, be used to stifle dissent and rebellion? What are the consequences to making robots in the likeness of loved ones or admirable figures? How can this be used to trick people without their knowledge? Should robots ever be able to imitate real people, especially if it is hard to give them a “soul”? What is a soul?
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- 7 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
In this film, actress Robin Wright plays a fictionalized version of herself as an actress whose popularity is declining. Her agent Al exposes her to deep fake technology which creates a virtual version of an actor to play a role in any number of scenarios or films. These “actors” are 3D holographs with AI that have been trained to replicate the real person which they imitate. However, Robin is disconcerted with the lack of agency that she would have in deciding how her image and identity appeared in these movies.
- Kinolab
- 2013
Digital Performers and the Gift of Choice
In this film, actress Robin Wright plays a fictionalized version of herself as an actress whose popularity is declining. Her agent Al exposes her to deep fake technology which creates a virtual version of an actor to play a role in any number of scenarios or films. These “actors” are 3D holographs with AI that have been trained to replicate the real person which they imitate. However, Robin is disconcerted with the lack of agency that she would have in deciding how her image and identity appeared in these movies.
What sorts of problems are implicated with the ability to manipulate another person’s body and likeness in a piece of media without their consent? Does technology like this actually have the potential to free actors from some of the constraints of the film industry, as Al says? How would acting be valued as an art, and actors paid accordingly and properly, if this technology became the norm?
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- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 1998
Truman, the result of an unwanted pregnancy, was the first baby to be legally adopted by a corporation. From this adoption, he grew up on the set of a reality TV show in a massive sound stage, completely unaware that he was constantly being filmed and watched by viewers all across the world. As an adult, he begins to suspect that something about his reality is very wrong, and confronts his wife about this perception. Sylvia, a love interest of Truman, affirms her stance that documenting Truman without his consent is an unethical form of entertainment since he has no agency. Ultimately, he is able to reclaim this agency by leaving the show’s set and joining the real world.
- Kinolab
- 1998
Celebrity Culture, Streaming Life, and Reality Television
Truman, the result of an unwanted pregnancy, was the first baby to be legally adopted by a corporation. From this adoption, he grew up on the set of a reality TV show in a massive sound stage, completely unaware that he was constantly being filmed and watched by viewers all across the world. As an adult, he begins to suspect that something about his reality is very wrong, and confronts his wife about this perception. Sylvia, a love interest of Truman, affirms her stance that documenting Truman without his consent is an unethical form of entertainment since he has no agency. Ultimately, he is able to reclaim this agency by leaving the show’s set and joining the real world.
How is Truman’s situation somewhat mirrored in today’s digital society? How have digital technologies, particularly video streaming, perpetuated a culture of filming and sharing everyday activities? Has society passed a point where it is possible for a person to give consent before they are surveilled or filmed for entertainment purposes? How does data streaming, specifically in areas such as reality TV or influencer cultures, change the perception of reality?
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- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2009
In a distant future after the “Water War” in which much of the natural environment was destroyed and water has become scarce, Asha works as a curator at a museum which displays the former splendor of nature on Earth. She receives a mysterious soil sample which, after digital analysis using a object recognition to take data from the soil, surprisingly contains water.
- Kinolab
- 2009
Digital Environment Analysis
In a distant future after the “Water War” in which much of the natural environment was destroyed and water has become scarce, Asha works as a curator at a museum which displays the former splendor of nature on Earth. She receives a mysterious soil sample which, after digital analysis using a object recognition to take data from the soil, surprisingly contains water.
How can technology be used to gather data on certain environments and aspects of an ecosystem to help them reach their full potential? How should this technology be made accessible to communities all across the world?