Throwback Thursdays

          Last Thursday, a movie from the 1950’s entitled “The Fly” was shown in class.  It seemed to be a throwback of how humans then perceived science and technology and its effect on society.

          Despite the fact that it’s already an “ancient” film, it was able to catch my interest and even entertain me.  What really caught me was the mysterious effect that the film was projecting throughout the scenes.  It started out as a murder case and unpredictably twisted into a story about Science and teleportation.  They were able to effectively combine the essence of a suspense-thriller with the aspects of a sci-fi.  The plot was perfect and some parts were a little bit funny especially the reaction of the lead actress in many of the scenes.  It is a typical 19^th century film with nothing typical in it.  It seems like a paradox but that is the description that best fits the movie.

          The film showed the price that the cat pays for curiosity: death, hence the quote, “Curiosity kills the cat.”  It exhibited the reality of the negative effects that being too passionate about Science can bring.  It showed indirectly implied that scientists should be careful not to go over the limits when in search for a new discovery.  It is a morality play exhibiting that even in Science one must follow ethics to avoid bringing harm to oneself and to others.

          The film showed that the people of the 1950’s viewed Science as a potential danger to mankind.  They showed that Science, if not coupled with ethics, will bring destruction to the human race in one way or another.  The film portrayed the fact that people during that time had a high regard for morality even in terms of Science and Technology.

-David Bryan Lao