Revdarth.com

Well, next book in my DMin reading is called “God in the Details” and its a collection of essays focusing on the relationship between religion and popular culture in the United States. The first section of essays focuses on “myth” and how “myth” plays itself out in daily life. One of the essays was on the presence of the “apocalyptic” in current American movies. One of the reflections in the section focused on the first two Terminator movies and how the Terminator machines represented both the fears of the future (Ah-nold in T1 and the T-1000 in T2), but also a hopeful future (Ah-nold in T2), but also how, as is typical of American films in this genre, humanity has the power to change things and bring about a different future. I am assuming that this essay was written before Terminator 3 came out because the story of T3 dramatically changes how one looks at the first two films. In the endings of the first two, it is said that the course of the future has been changed by the events that took place (the pregnancy of Sarah Connor in T1 and the descruction of Cyberdyne in T2) and that, by the end of T2, the assumption is that humanity has been saved from its own self-wrought destruction. However, (spoiler to follow), by the end of T3, we discover that the only thing that changes is the date that the nuclear armageddon takes place. T3 ends with a different computer system (based on the original cyberdyne systems) launching a nuclear attack on its “enemies” (humanity), leading inevitably to future T movies to follow.

In essence, the message in this is that, while humanity can effect the future, the overall course is still set and unchanging. In the case of these films, humans managed to delay the date, but not the overall course of action. Raises the question of free will, deteminism, etc - how much of our lives is just set to happen no matter what we seek to do? Do we have freedom to effect change in the world or are things just going to happen no matter what?

A question debated by theologians for centuries and not necessarily going to be solved by a lone blogger on a Saturday morning.