THE TERMINATOR

THE TERMINATOR. James Cameron, director USA: Orion, 1984. Gale Anne Hurd, prod. Cameron and Hurd, script. Features Arnold Schwarzenegger.

See for antipathy between humans and conscious, AI machines, epitomized by the Terminators: nearly indestructible killer robots of great efficiency and fanatical perseverance. Cf. F. Saberhagen's berserkers (see under Fiction); for the motif of the hand, see end of film and TERMINATOR 2—and cf. and contrast METROPOLIS, DR. STRANGELOVE, DR. NO (1963), and "Demon with a Glass Hand." Much discussed at the time and since, including a short book in the British Film Institute series, rev. by Jack Kroll, Newsweek 19 Nov. 1984: 132. Discussed by V. Sobchack in Screening Space[1], Chapter 4; Martin Perlman, "THE TERMINATOR," Cinefantastique 15 (July 1985): 36 f. See in this Category, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. An important film for Men's Studies, suggesting that the ultimate macho ideal would be, under the skin, a killer robot.

Parodied on "PeTerminator" episode of Family Guy, along with TERMINATOR 2 and others of the TERMINATOR series.

Note Terminator @40: Origins and Legacies — A symposium hosted by The Centre for Film, Television and Screen Studies, Bangor University, Wales, 18 & 19 June 2024. The call for contributions includes

The Terminator and robotics, artificial intelligence, cybernetic organisms, the transhuman and post-human [...] 
The Terminator and tech noir, retrofuturism, future noir, and cyberpunk.  

RDE, initial; finishing 7Mar21, 28Mar24