Duration

Pg.178 "How long will you have to endure this primitive existence? How long before the walking dead simply crumble to dust? How long before life can return to even a semblance of normality? Sadly, there is no exact figure. The first zombie to rise will, unless it is frozen, embalmed, or otherwise preserved, completely decompose after five years. However, by the time the undead have world domination, ten years might have already passed. (Remember, you will be fleeing when the war begins, not at its end.) When zombies truly dominate the planet, and there are no more fresh humans to infect, it will truly take five years for the majority of them to rot away. Dry climate and freezing will preserve many, keeping them functional for, potentially, decades. Bandits, refugees, and other survivors like yourself may become further prey, adding a newer but smaller generation to the older, decaying horde. By the time these turn to dust, the only undead left will be those preserved artificially or constantly refrozen with each winter. These you will have to watch for decades to come. Your children and even your children's children will have to be wary of them. But when will it be safe
to come out?"

Vehicles

Pg. 103 "Why walk when you could ride? Americans have always been obsessed with the idea of labor-saving machinery. In all walks of life, industry struggles in an endless race to invent and perfect machines that make the chores of everyday life faster, easier, and more efficient. And what could be a greater deity of American techno-religion than the automobile? No matter what our age, gender, race, economic status, or geographic location, we are taught that this omnipotent machine, in all of its wondrous forms, is the answer to our prayers. Why wouldn't this be true during a zombie outbreak? Wouldn't it make sense to just race across hostile ground? Travel time would be reduced from days to mere hours. Equipment storage would no longer be a problem. And what danger would zombies present when you could simply run them over? These are powerful advantages, to be sure, but with them come a host of equally powerful problems."

The author here is exploring the concept of our society's fascination with technology. People now a days are obsessed with getting the newest and most expensive technologies. In this passage, Brooks identifies the automobile as our greatest creation. We work on it all the time and everyone longs to have one, or if one is already owned, to get a better one. I completely agree with him on this topic.
Brooks is saying that we waste too much time on such materialistic things. In the event of an emergency, they could even be our downfall. I think that he is right. With all the war and famine that plagues the world, our society is too caught up on meaningless possessions. Being human means we help each other, not waste $30k on a new car when you have a perfectly good one. That money could've been better used by charity and not by our own selfish greed.

On The Run

Pg.95 "Too often, people who have been holed up in fortified dwellings are seduced by the distractions of their initial freedom. Most of these people never make it to safety. Do not become one of these unnecessary statistics. Your mission is to escape nothing more, nothing less. Do not look for abandoned valuables. Do not hunt the occasional zombie. Do not investigate any strange noises or lights in the distance. Just get out. Every side trip, every pause in the journey, increases the odds of being found and
devoured. If by some chance you come across humans that need assistance, by all means stop to help. (Sometimes logic must give way to humanity.) Otherwise, keep going!"

In this passage, the author is describing  how one can never be safe in a world run by zombies. He shows how small things such as a safe home are no longer luxuries that humanity can afford. He alsoi gives his two cents on how to stay safe by constantly being on the move. He also warns of making hunting into a game. His reasoning is that any risk one takes that's unnecessary could very well be that person's last mistake.
This passage explores the question of what it means to be human. I think Max Brooks does an excellent job with this. As a human, we all someplace we can call home. This place needs to be safe and somewhere where one could escape to when overwhelmed. Max Brooks is urging the audience to disregard our instincts and desires to be safe and cope with the burden of always being on the run. He also urges us to never forget that we're human and that we should always help our fellow man if we are to stumble upon a poor soul who is in trouble.

Fire

Pg.51 "The living dead have no fear of fire. Waving an open flame in a ghoul's face will do nothing to slow or impede its advance. Zombies who have caught fire will neither notice nor react to the engulfing flames in any way. Too many humans have met with tragedy for failing to understand that fire is no deterrent to zombies! As a weapon, however, fire is still humanity's greatest ally. Complete incineration is the best way to destroy a zombie once and for all. Burning eliminates not only the body but all traces of Solanum. However, don't think a flamethrower and several Molotov cocktails are the solution to all your problems. In actual combat, fire can be as deadly a threat as it is a protector. Flesh-human, undead, or otherwise-takes a long time to burn. In the minutes or hours before a blazing zombie succumbs, it will become a walking-or to be perfectly accurate, a shambling-torch. Several
cases have been recorded in which burning ghouls have done more damage, even caused more deaths, than they would have with only their fingernails and teeth. Fire itself has no loyalty. Consider the flammable nature of your surroundings, the chance of smoke inhalation, the possibility that a blaze will act as a beacon for other zombies. All these factors must be considered before such a powerful and unpredictable weapon is unleashed. For this reason, fire is mainly considered an attack or flight weapon, and rarely used for static defense."

 Max Brooks provides a piece of wisdom here that is very useful. Not only is it useful for any zombie invasions, but also any kind of problem that one would solve with fire. Fire is a wild card in the sense that no one can control it. It's strange and unpredictable ways make it a last resort in case of an emergency.
Max Brooks once again, uses imagery as a strong vehicle for his message. His descriptions of burning ghouls and the effects of it are very spot on. The author must have pondered for much time on what to write about in this book, since everything is so precise and well described. The imagery helps us to imagine what could happen in a world like this one, and it also helps the audience connect the author since we can visualize what he's writing.

Outbreak

Pg.25 "A hue crisis. Class 3 outbreaks, more than any other, demonstrate the clear threat posed by the living dead. Zombies will number in the thousands, encompassing an area of several hundred miles. The duration of the attack and a possible lengthy mop-up process could last as long as
several months. There will be no chance for a press blackout or coverup. Even without media attention, the sheer magnitude of the attack will leave too many eyewitnesses. This is a full-blown battle, with law enforcement replaced by units of the regular military. A state of emergency will be declared for the infested zone, as well as the neighboring areas. Expect martial law, restricted travel, rationed supplies, federalized services, and strictly monitored communication. All these measures, however, will take time to implement. The initial phase will be one of chaos as those in power come to grips with the crisis. Riots, looting, and widespread panic will add to their difficulties, further delaying an effective response. While this is happening, those living within the infested area will be at the mercy of the undead. Isolated, abandoned, and surrounded by ghouls, they will have only themselves to depend on."

The author in this passage talks about the zombie apocalypse coming about EXACTLY as I imagined it. I was stunned at how detailed this description of the outbreak was. When reading it, it almost felt as if I was present in the future.I thought this really cool and it helped me identify with the passage.Again, this falls under the category of biotech and genetics.
The author's precision with all his predictions really sells his idea to the audience. If the author weren't so detailed and didn't use imagery so effectively, this book would have been complete garbage. Luckily, he did a good job with all of these things. These depictions of the future show how frail our society's morals are. At the first sign of trouble, we resort to violence to solve our problems. It's scary that the author can predict this and the audience know such a horrible thing is a very likely possibility. I believe that Max Brooks was targeting our society when writing this, in an attempt to open the eyes of the audience and remind us of our morals.

Disposal

pg.19 "Studies have shown that Solanum can still inhabit the body of a terminated zombie for up to forty eight hours. Exercise extreme care when disposing of undead corpses. The head in particular possesses the most serious hazard, given its concentration of the virus. Never handle an undead corpse without protective clothing. Treat it as you would any toxic, highly lethal material. Cremation is the safest, most
effective way of disposal. Despite rumors that a pile of burning corpses will spread Solanum in a cloud of smoking plague, common sense would dictate that any virus is unable to survive intense heat, to say nothing of an open flame."


Upon my reading of this passage, I thought that this author was writing about this topic in such a unique way. I've personally never read a book, like this one, that has been so specific towards the future and how to avoid it/live with it. Max Brooks is giving advice on the most effective way of disposing of a zombie after killing this already undead creature. I believe this falls under biotech/genetics, due to the fact that these creatures were derived from humans through their meddling with science.
The author gets his message across via imagery. His descriptions of the disposal of a zombie would make it seem as if he has experience in this area. Upon further thought, one can realize that Brooks can't possibly have experience in this area, because zombies don't exist. His use of imagery prompts the reader to put more faith in his word and follow his quest through this imaginary world.

Death Race

          
             This movie explores the idea of government corruption. In this movie, criminals are made to participate in lethal races for the enjoyment of the general population. This automatically brings to mind the stories of ancient Rome and the coliseum. In my opinion, if this ever occurs in the future, people will completely lose their morals. In this trailer, the woman says that the death races get more views than the superbowl. This is shameful to society, since these are human beings, who may even be innocent, and that they are deserving of respect and life.
             The director uses imagery to get this theme across. The trailer has this almost gray tint to it. The gray tint contributes to the feelings of melancholy that the audience feel while watching the movie. Also this, combined with the strong images of people dying in car crashes during the death races cause the audience to question their morals and whether they'd actually watch such a program!

Terra Nova

             This TV show focuses on the effects of what happens in a society where the government censors information. In my opinion, censoring is one of the worst things any government can do, because it takes away society's opportunity to fix the government's mistakes. In the show, the world is portrayed as this dim place where humanity has overpopulated and wasted all of Earth's resources. The government figures out a solution, by colonizing a new planet.
             The TV show creator chose a wonderful way to portray the theme n this trailer. This trailer goes from extremely gloomy to hopeful, when the humans get to the new land, to gloomy again, when the new society figures out that the government has been hiding things from them and that they'll have to create a new government. The trailer's way of purging the audience's feelings by giving them hope then ripping them away is genius. This gets the message of government corruption across in a brilliant way. Not only does it capture our attention, but it also keeps it with an extremely interesting storylin .

Wall E

             This film has the idea that humanity becomes so dependent on technology that they nearly disappear as a race. This seems counter intuitive at first, but upon further thought it's logical. It's happening already today! Kids are getting obese younger and spending more time watching tv or playing video games. In my opinion, the message is gotten across very clearly in later scenes were humans have degraded to obese vegetables with no attention spans.
             The director gets this across by using strong imagery in this trailer. The scenes are compromised of pretty much nothing. This vast field that Wall E is shown on is completely empty besides him. This impacts the human mind in a strong way, since we as humans don't want to see our race come to an end. This strong imagery combined with the clearly advanced robot, creates an everlasting impact on our minds.

Jason X

              In this movie, the author deals with the idea of biotech and genetics. Jason is an unstoppable who should've died several times in the movie were it not for the help of technology. I believe that although this movie is completely childish and unrealistic, the possibility of technology that keeps you alive forever falling into the wrong hands is very high. Humanity seems to have a problem keeping anything out of the wrong hands, as shown by situation like the world's atomic bomb ownerships and websites like wiki leaks.
             The director gets this theme across using a lame horror movie as his vehicle. In an attempt to scare the public into not developing technologies that can grant life or protecting them better, the director has made a movie that imposes fear into the audience. The director is, in a way, attempting to scare the public into making sure the circumstances of this film don't occur. The imagery and word choice in this trailer were extremely unhelpful towards getting this theme across. Had the author taken it more seriously or not made something so lame, he would actually have an interesting topic at hand.

Resident Evil

          This movie explores the idea of what would happen if humanity were to change into these crazed creatures. This falls under the biotech category, because these once normal humans are now freaks, because of a freak technological experiment. I believe that the government is too stubborn and greedy to refuse any experiment that promises to yield something extremely beneficiary to society. I believe that they wouldn't even question the health risks or consequence that could come from their decision to do so. I believe this based on several recent events, such as the war in Iraq, where the government so stubbornly stepped into a country that clearly didn't want us there.
           The director's message of technology creating a zombie apocalypse is delivered through the use of imagery. Along with the dark atmosphere, which seems to accompany every futuristic movie, their are also freaky creatures that pop up everywhere. These creatures serve as a warning to humans to not attempt to meddle with their bodies. The question of what it means to be human comes up when watching this trailer. We must learn to accept our own bodies, because when we mess with them, we may get something we really don't want, such as in Resident Evil.

Transformers: The Dark Side Of The Moon

                Transformers explores the idea of robots taking over the human race. This seems generic, but it's actually different than other robot domination movies, because these robots are also aliens. In the movie, these aliens try to take over the human race, while some of the robots protect us. I believe that the idea of our race being taken over is one that has much truth behind it. We, as a whole, are an ignorant and stubborn race. It is likely that when aliens show up in the future, we will anger them with threats or attacks, leading to the enslavement of our race. I believe that we'll never actually reach this point though, because we're wasting all of Earth's resources too quickly to last much longer.
               The director gets the idea of intergalactic war across through his use of imagery. All the explosions and the number of these aliens would cause one to think twice before ever purposely angering these creatures upon encountering them in the future. Even if there were few aliens, the sheer size of them would be terrifying. This serves as a warning to humans, who see Chicago in ruins in this movie. Don't mess with the aliens or they'll kick our butts.

Tron

                  In Tron, the government is exposed as a corrupt organization that host these immoral tournaments. To begin with, the government had the main character's father assassinated simply because his beliefs conflicted with the views of the country's major technology company. The company, in a way, resembles Apple. The government is then found to hold these contests of speed and strength where people put their lives on the line. The director is attempting to get a clear message to the audience. The message being that we can't toy with people's lives, no matter how powerful our government is. This would cause our civilization to backtrack and wind up like the ancient Romans and the coliseum where people had absolutely no morals.
                  The Director gets this theme across with all the dark imagery. The setting of the movie starts off in one place and switches a couple of times throughout the trailer. In all of the places that the trailer takes place in, all of them have this dark mien where everything simply seems to be wrong. The director does this to represent the lack of morality or light in this society. If we continue to forget the fact that we're all equal and that no government can thrive off of immorality, our future will be a dim and unhappy one.

I, Robot

              The ideas displayed in this trailer are ones of the negative aspects of future technology. In my opinion, humanity should never get too attached to technology, because this seems to be the major problem in 99% of all futuristic movies. The director shows this by building the idea of a perfect world, but then having a major mystery. The consequences that could come from these robots turning on humans could even be the extinction of the human race. In my opinion, we don't need to be exterminated as a species, but these robots clearly have different points of view than I do.
             The director gets this idea across with the plot's structure. This world is perfect and these robots are as well, but this man was still mysteriously murdered. If the man was killed by a robot, then all the robots have the potential to become killers. Also the dark lighting in each scene creates this somewhat gloomy and mysterious atmosphere that one would not expect in a perfect world. The director's message is clear. His message is don't become too dependent on technology or it will be our downfall.

1st Person Shooter

               This is a simple video made by some youtube user. The user made this as a parody of videogames such as Battlefield or Call Of Duty, but one might envision the future be something like this. This would fall under the category of future technology. In my opinion, this would be such a cool game if it was real, but similar to Gamer (the movie) one wouldn't be able to play as himself and would actually play as a convict or something. This idea could be useful in the beginning, but as demonstrated by the childlike qualities of this game, could eventually turn our idea of death into a joke.
               The creator gets this across with his video game like imagery. The idea of spawning and killing people for points comes from 1st person shooter games. Also the fact that the user is rewarded for killing people and not punished could contribute to the loss of morality. All this together creates a somewhat funny picture of what video games could be like in the future. These games seem to be harmless, but would slowly cause the decay of society due to it's violent and vivid gameplay.

Heroes

               In this short clip created by some youtube user, Heroes'  main theme is very clear. The show's creator is definitely attempting to warn the audience of the inequality that may be present in the future. In the show, several human beings have been granted special powers at a seemingly random choice. These individuals use their powers as seen fit and usually the use them for the greater good. These people soon become segregated by humanity, even though they've saved the world on several occasions.   Humans do this simply because they're scared of these people because they're different. The creator is showing that in the future, we'll have to watch out for injustice. People will likely segregate others simply out of fear of the unknown. This could come in the form of flying humans or even someone of a different ethnicity.
                The choice of language is really what gets this message across. The cheerleader use a powerful phrase saying "You made everyone afraid of us". Also the choice of words range from describing the world as a dark place to genocide. The author also uses powerful imagery such as the policeman betraying a man and shooting him in the chest. When these things combine with the dark tone of the trailer, one gets a very dim portrayal of is to come if humans don't learn to become more accepting.

Rachet & Clank

This video game is titled "Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time". The creator chose a very appropriate title since this game is based on the creator's vision of the future. In this future, aliens, robots, and evil run rampant. There's only two people willing to try and save the universe from falling apart. The world is being threatened by an evil robot who's attempting to cause a rip in the space time continuum. The creator is clearly trying to get a point across to society today. Humans have become far too advanced technologically, and soon our world will be run by machines. This is proven by these robots that are working for the greater evil. The overall effect is that we, as humans, need to stop trying to expand technology to it's limits. The world is not in need of robots for anything besides entertainment. Why risk being enslaved by technology for someone's personal entertainment? If we continue to explore technology at the rate that we are, we'll soon be living in a Terminator-like world, where machines tell humans what to do and refuse to give up control of the planet.

This video game advertisement uses a wonderful choice of imagery and language to get the creator's message to the audience. The clip is filled with sequences involving evil robots and explosions. Language is used to degrade the image of robots as well. The "Great Clock" is set up as the world's insurance plan. The narrator depicts the robots as evil machines attempting to destroy the universe. The imagery and language used instigates the audience to develop a resentment of these robots. The audience's minds can easily be manipulated by simply using darker words and imagery when trying to influence a person to dislike something. The future may eventually be over run by robots, but for the sake of humanity, I hope we have more than an unrealistic clock as our insurance plan.

Eureka!

Gabriel Piau
Period 7         9/25/11

In the clip from Eureka, the director explores the idea of humanity’s messing with genetics. The clip features a woman who is believed to be dead coming back from the dead. Is this even possible? In the future it seems like it’s not. The woman is found to be the original, while the dead version of her was just a clone. This idea seems a little ridiculous, but when really thought out, it could be one that could really lead to trouble. The show’s creator demonstrated a huge problem that could arise from using these genetic doppelgangers. Since these beings are composed of the same genetic structure as us, how would anyone be able to tell us apart? I could be an innocent civilian who’s an example as an American citizen. The same may not apply to a clone of me, who upon committing a crime, could blame me and put me in quite a situation. The Creator demonstrates this by the police officers not being to discern between the real lady and her clone, even when they perform the MRI like exam. This message is one that should impose fear in the audience of the potential injustice that could come from these clones being made.

Clips like these bring up many questions that may not have answers in today’s world. What does it mean to be human? Are clones to be considered humans? One could say yes, but would these genetic beings have a personality or thoughts of their own? I believe clones will have different personalities from their original counterparts. Even twins are nothing like each other, and they’re as close to clones as humans have ever experienced. If we ever found a way to discern clones from real humans, it would need to be at the genetic level. If we ever did discern them though, they would fight for their rights as living beings. Would it be unfair to discriminate towards something that isn’t really real? These questions are ones that future generations will probably debate over as much as issues like gay marriage and equality are in the present. Only time holds the answers to these questions.