Event 2

For event number two I went to a local museum/gallery called It’s Showtime. This space features a large collection of antiques and vintage movie memorabilia. There were many props, cameras, and posters, as well as collectibles and other film related merchandise on display.
There were a lot of robot related objects and movie posters from films featuring robots as well. This automatically made me think of the section on robotics and art. The amount of films that featured robot related storylines during the mid to late 1900s was pretty significant, and showed how culturally relevant these themes were at the time. It also sort of shows some of the widespread fears held by society. Things like evil robots, aliens, and technology gone wrong were recurring storylines in films of this time, and still are today.
Some of the posters that I first noticed were the ones from the film Metropolis by Fritz Lang, and the film Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott. Both these films feature a futuristic society, and a robot or robots that end up becoming a threat to humanity. These films were also mentioned in the lectures for the robotics section as well.
Overall this visit helped me to gain more insight to the cultural impacts of the concept of robots in filmmaking. Seeing how popular these films were, and how the merchandise and products related to these films are still relevant proved to me how much of an impact they had on American pop culture.

The ted talk that was provided as a resource in week three by Rodney Brooks went into some detail about human fascination and paranoia regarding robots and AI. He explained that many people who see the advancements in robot technology often ask if they are ever going to take over. This is a common fear reflected in many robot related films. Rodney Brooks assured his audience that it is unlikely anyone would accidentally create an evil robot, or any kind of robot they would be uncomfortable with. He does mention that we are not much different from robots ourselves, which is another topic that the film Blade Runner touches on as well. Overall, I am glad I went to visit this particular space. I ended up getting to see a lot of vintage items from films that were mentioned in the course, and other interesting objects that related to robotics and technology as well.  I would recommend visiting this gallery to anyone who is in the south bay area, especially if you are interested in film history and antiques. The space has a lot of really cool collectibles that are worth taking a look at. The gallery is also free to enter, but hours are very limited.
sources
Brooks, Rodney. “Robots Will Invade Our Lives.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Feb. 2003, www.ted.com/talks/rodney_brooks_on_robots#t-1101566.
Scott, Ridley, et al. Blade Runner.

Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics pt2.” YouTube, 15 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/oAZ8bo9T_Pk.

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