Abstract
This article is an interpretation of James Cameron’s films, The Terminator and Terminator II - Judgment Day. As instances of popular art, they are first situated in the context of Habermas's conviction that art has a specific function in the public sphere, viz. to provide an enlightening experience for people who are normally excluded from the specialized discourse of aesthetics and an criticism. The interpretation of the joint film narrative of Terminator I and II is then articulated in two stages. First, the paradoxical time -structure of the film-narrative is explored in terms of Heidegger’s analysis of temporarily, with its emphasis on the primacy of the future in relation to the past and the present. Secondly, the fact that these film s were made possible by a combination of film art and advanced film technology, is thematized along lines suggested by Heidegger's critique of technology. This leads to the insight, finally , that the Terminator film s exemplify Heidegger’s contention that the threat posed by technology is averted by a liberating force from within itself
Highlights
T h is article is an interp rela tio nofJamesCameron ’s film s, TheTerm in a to randTerm in a to r I I — Ju d g m en t D ay
Jam es Cam eron) and Terminator II -Ju d g m en t Day
In this article I shall attem pt to deal with these issues within the framework of H eidegger’s m etatheory of modernity, which involves the crucial function of science, technology and art
Summary
Like all genuine science fiction, they constitute a critique of technology.i Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Ju les V ern e’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870) are paradigm atic early instances of this genre.^ Secondly, the 20th century has witnessed a num ber of reasoned affirm ations of the ontological, epistemological and moral import of art, architecture and literature, in the face of the Enlightenm ent’s relegation of art to the aesthetic sphere These affirm ations include the work of Heidegger, A dorno, Marcuse, G adam er, H arries (cf Olivier, 1987) and more recently that of Habermas - unlikely as it may seem, considering that he has certainly not displayed a predilection for aesthetic issues. They enable an experience of the usually hidden truth about our technology-saturated world in a m anner that highlights the ambivalence of our situation
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