The Terminator | Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema
Join the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for a film series featuring cyberpunk films like The Matrix, Ex Machina, Blade Runner and more! These films accompany the museum’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide exhibition Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema. Cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction, first appeared in the early 1980s and uniquely captured the anxieties of that decade. Featuring near-future scenarios set in worlds that resemble our own, cyberpunk stories juxtapose technological advances with social upheaval, ecological crisis, and urban decay.
Cyborg hitman T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent from the future to kill civilian Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose unborn child will one day avert the destruction of mankind by the artificial intelligence technology Skynet. Evoking a post-apocalyptic future in which evil autonomous networks seek world domination, James Cameron’s The Terminator was massively influential in establishing cyberpunk aesthetics and themes of the decade, especially in its anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian spirit. The film’s androids were designed by special effects and makeup artist Stan Winston, whose later work with prosthetics, puppets, and animatronics on Terminator 2: Judgment Day would earn him Academy Awards for both Makeup and Visual Effects.
