Criticism Paper of TV Show Westworld Season 1
American science fiction is a topic that is rarely addressed in the literature. One of the fascinating films that have watched currently is Westworld TV show season one. Western world is an American film that revolves around the topic of science. It was aired first on October 2nd, 2016. Jonathan Nolan and Lisa’s joy write this film. The film revolves around host characters like Dolores Abernathy, a significant figure who questions about nature and reality. We have character William who falls in love with Dolores. Dolores suffers from multiple flashbacks. Characters in this story understand that death leads to truth. I would say it is a perfect representation of the robot revolution for most characters that are not real. However, the formalism approach suites the analysis of the TV show, Westworld season 1. This approach reveals the relationship between hosts and human beings. For this paper, I will examine the Cyborgs and human connection in Westworld Season 1.
Plotline
In season one, Westworld refers to a unique park where people can live without limits if they can afford the tickets. This story is meant to reveal how human beings relate to cyborgs. The partners in this park are Arnold Weber and Robert Ford. The two design life-like robots that stream for human beings called hosts. These hosts allow people to live out their imaginations and do not harm them (Goody, 2019, n.p). Arnold notices that some of these hosts are conscious. He tells Dolores to kill him and another host to stop the park from functioning. Despite the challenges face, Ford makes him a host partner. These two employees incarnate parent company. However, one of the characters, Logan, is determined to offer park experience to his brother-in-law, William.
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However, William realizes he has embraced darker emotions in the park by falling in love with Dolores, who is conscious in this case. After three decades, William returns to the park with a new Title, “the Man in Black.” He finds the path which he views as a complicated thing compared to Ford’s activities (Bigliardi, 2018 n.p). The maze here refers to a gadget made by Arnold to guide the consciousness of all hosts in the park. Suddenly, the park is full of guests. However, Ford and Bernard realize that the hosts have a peculiar behaviour, for they are now conscious. Most female characters are women, and they are treated like sexual objects. A role like Maeve remembers her previous life, and she decides to live the park and look for her daughter. Several hosts do not function, and the company’s boards pushed Ford out. He later sets a program where hosts kill all the guests and the company’s board members. Dolores kills Ford, thus reflecting Arnold’s death. The man in black gets what he has been looking for as chaos erupts in the park.
Basic themes
In this season, we have several things that are highlighted. The idea of the Agency is depicted through Dolores, who controls her programming. Also, the concept of consciousness is evident though the hosts created in this film. This theme is displayed when William realizes that Dolores is conscious. Maeve is aware, too, and that is why she remembers her previous life. Again the issue of murder is displayed through Ford’s program (Landnesberg, 2018 n.p). He sets a program that allows hosts to killboard members and all other human guests in the park. Also, Ford requests Dolores to kill him. Freedom is another critical idea portrayed in these movies. It is reflected through Maeve, although her freedom is short-lived.
Additionally, the theme of love is evident through Dolores and William. Again, we have ideas that reveal how human beings treat cyborgs like, sexual violence, intelligence and consciousness. We have other items that are critically depicted in this sorry like, power, revenge, conflict, among others.
Characters in Westworld season 1
In the movie, Westworld, the writers employ numerous styles that the reader cannot keep up with. First, we have Robert Ford, who acts as the director in the hosts’ park and one of the co-founders in this park. Also, we have Dolores Abernathy, who appears to be among the oldest hosts in this park. She gains her consciousness at the end of the film and shoots Ford. Arnold is another critical character who examines the knowledge of the hosts. He first tests Dolores’ knowledge (Kowal, 2019, n.p). Again we have character Bernard, a host that is designed in the image of Arnold. Also, we have Maeve, a host who exercises power and freedom in this story though it is short-lived. We have more characters employed in this story, like Charlotte Hale, Theresa Cullen, Simon Quarterman, and other significant aspects.
Target audience for this film
This film revolves around robots and some human guests. Therefore, it would conclude that the target audience for this series could be anybody or everybody. Everybody loves fun, and tFilm is full of joy. For instance, we have people evading robots, and the robots are hurt, robots gain consciousness. They think about their lives, they all unite, and later, these robots attack the human guests.
Socio-cultural milieu
This first season of Westworld film leaves most people with numerous questions. However, this film reflects a western-themed park. It is a good reflection of the original version of this story that reflects on three items, Romanticism, Medieval world and western-themed park. The author designs it to reveal how modern culture related to the form of storytelling employed in this film.
Formalist approach in analyzing cyborg and human relationship Westworld season 1
The formalist approach is an interpretive approach that seeks to analyze literary styles or literary structures in any work of art. Also, through the revelation of these literary styles, the reader can critically apply formalist to depict the relationship between hosts and human beings in this movie. However, this approach is the best chose for analyzing Westworld season 1 (Netolicky, 2017 n.p). The writers of this film critically embrace the use of critical literary styles or forms. They maintain twists and turns of the readers’ minds. The purpose of the formalist approach is crucial for analyzing this story, for it boosts the reader’s understanding. This approach reveals elements such as literary styles, forms of literary works, and structure of the literary work.
However, in our case here, the formalist approach guides readers on analyzing ideological formalism elements such as language, tone, production values, compelling visuals, and intelligence in storytelling. Again, we have other critical forms such as sound set, use of colour, editing, scoring, and lighting. These help the audience or the viewers to understand the story better. By employing formalism theory, one will better know the ideas expressed in the Film, Westworld season 1. Again, this theory reveals various lessons that are learned from this movie and how human beings relate to the cyborgs in this film.
The formalist is evident through the authors’ creativity in employing significant literary styles. A good example is through excessive use of moments of foreshadowing. Through these styles, the relationship between the two creatures is revealed. The authors design this literary style, which runs as the story unfolds up to the end of it. In this Film, Dolores and Teddy have great experiences in the countryside, and she informs him how cows can reason. She claims that cows can move from one point to another (Ivanescu, 2019). Dolores tells Teddy about “Judas steer.” This revelation foreshadows Dolores’ role as the prominent host who gained or obtained sentience in the entire park. Ford and Arnold created Dolore (a robot), and she later betrays them by causing an uprising of robots. Then in the story, she kills Ford, her maker. This acts reveals how human beings employ their natural intelligence to design artificial intelligence in one of the oldest hosts, Dolores.
Foreshadowing is again used in presenting Arnold’s first song, thus displaying how human intelligence relates to artificial intelligence found in hosts. Also, it reveals the power relationship in these characters. It is first introduced in the third episode before its presentation in the later chapters. In this film, we first hear about Arnold through a dialogue between Ford and Bernard. The two are in Ford’s office. As they enter the office, they find one of the hosts playing the song, “Reverie” by Claude Debussy. It is later discussed that this song had a deep partnership between Ford and his partner Arnold. This song defined the relationship between these two co-founders of these hosts’ park. They control everything that happens to the host, such as the programming of the hosts. This act of host playing the piano reveals the intelligence that human beings instil in this host they have designed.
Again, in the third episode, the author foreshadows Bernard’s photo with his father. It is easy for the viewers to assume that it was Arnold. In this case, Ford hands a photo to Bernard that revealed the Arnolds image (Marshall, 2018 n.p). This photograph showed a younger man standing next to an older man. In the real sense, the photo contained Ford and his father’s image. However, the third person in the photograph was missing, and this happened to be Arnold. The experiences of Ford’s father and Bernard provoke the viewers’ curiosity to learn the truth about this missing character, Arnold. The host and the figures used in this act reveal paternal love as depicted through young Ford (host) and Ford’s father
Moreover, in the second episode, a flashback is evident through Dolores, who sleepwalks and hears a voice. The voice says, “Wake up Dolores” and “Do you remember?” Dolores does not understand what is going on, but as readers, we realize that it is the voice of Wright. It could not be Bernard, for this would raise questions on why he kept on speaking to Dolores secretly. However, we understand who Bernard is in this film; therefore, it is with no doubt that memories of Arnold are ringing in her mind. The question asked by this voice tells us that what we are watching is a flashback or a memory (Goody, 2019 n.p). In this case, Dolores reveals how human beings fall in love with the hosts.
The author reveals the mystery in Ford and Arnold’s relationship. All this mystery is shown in the fifth episode as Ford narrates to Dolores about his deceased friend and partner. He confesses to Dolores that he would never say that Arnold was his friend. After making that statement, he closes his eyes and wipes away a tear. The partnership between the two characters is a mystery. Dolores is concerned about his feelings, but she later switches back to the normal mode. This description reveals that there is a hidden history of the two partners. This truth makes Ford emotional when informing Dolores about his deceased friend Arnold and that is why teardrops off from his eye.
Additionally, formalism reveals the use of other literary styles like imagery or symbolism. Each of the character’s names has a specific meaning or reflection in this film, and this depicts how host relates to their designers. Regarding this imagery, we should look at actors like Ford; he has a different view on humanity compared to other people in this film. Ford argues that human should not be trusted for they will always disappoint other people. He says, “ Never place your trust in us; we’re only human. We have hosts who reveal violence in human beings; a good example is William, who is brought in the park by Logan. Inevitably, we will disappoint you.” Imagery is employed in the names of most characters in this Film (Veale, 2018, n.p). Therefore, this image shows how both hosts and human beings are violent.
The authors creatively design names that reflect on specific symbols. Symbols have a significant meaning on the relationship between human beings and hosts. These characters depict apocalyptic names. For instance, we have Teddy Flood’s whose surname could imply the floods mentioned in the bible during Noah’s reign. Teddy’s opponent is known to be a plague or ready to cause damage. This name could imply the diseases mentioned in the bible. Again, we have another character, Hector Escaton, whose surname slightly differs from the spelling of eschaton. Eschaton is a biblical term that used to mean end times of the end of the world. However, these symbols have a significant impact on what happens between hosts and human beings. The cyborgs gain consciousness and decide to kill their designer. This act reveals how hosts are tired of being oppressed and violated by human beings. These symbols reflect on the end.
Additionally, Intelligence storytelling is another critical element that is displayed by applying ideological formalism (Kowal, 2019, n.p). The authors reveal their creativity in the way they narrate this story and depict how human beings treat hosts in this film. They set so many characters that the viewers cannot remember if they are not keen about them. This feature reveals how intelligent the two authors are. From the form of storytelling, it is clear that human beings mistreat cyborgs. For one, human beings use these hosts as sex objects. This exercise is evident through characters like William, who even find happiness in killing fellow humans. Delos experience romance which later turn out to be rape. Dolores is sexually assaulted, and Maeve is a brothel woman who cannot resist any man who comes to her. Therefore, the formalism approach brings a better understanding of the two groups and how they relate to one another.
In conclusion, the formalism theory or approach is essential in analyzing films. It is the most used theory in film criticism. It easy for viewers to understand the story. It depicts diverse components or elements that are evident in a given movie. In the film, Westworld season world, all items are critically examined through this approach. It is a fundamental theory that makes the process of analyzing literary works very easy. Therefore, I would say that this approach suites the criticism of this story. This film and its analysis are of considerable significance to the viewers. It teaches them about the importance of the real world and the impacts of desire for consciousness. The significant point here is that these films reveal how human beings treat hosts. The oppressive nature of human beings to these creatures evokes them to seek freedom. They are tired of being controlled. After gaining their knowledge, they end up affecting their guests. For instance, Dolores kills Ford.
Work cited
Bigliardi, Stefano. “Westworld and Philosophy: If You Go Looking for the Truth Get the Whole Thing.” Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy 1 (2018).
Goody, Alex. Reading Westworld. Ed. Antonia Mackay. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Ivănescu, Andra. “Westworld and the Pursuit of Meaningful Play.” Reading Westworld. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2019. 79-96.
Kowal, Ewa. “Nostalgia, Kitsch, and the Great Recession in Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last and Westworld (Season 1).” Brno studies in English 45.1 (2019).
Landsberg, Alison. “Post-Postracial America: On Westworld and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.” Public Culture 14.2 (2018): 198-215.
Marshall, Kingsley. “These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends: Representing Artificial Intelligence in HBO’s Westworld.” (2018).
Mullen, Elizabeth. “Not much of a rind on you”:(De) Constructing Genre and Gender in Westworld (Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, HBO, 2016-).” TV/Series 14 (2018).
Netolicky, Deborah M. “Cyborgs, desiring-machines, bodies without organs, and Westworld: Interrogating academic writing and scholarly identity.” Come 5.1 (2017): 91-103.
Veale, Tony. “Appointment in Samarra: Pre-destination and Bi-morality in Lightweight Story-Telling Systems.” ICCC. 2018.
Zhang, Lingfei, et al. “Analysis of Character Relationship in TV Series Based on Complex Network.” 2018 IEEE/ACIS 17th International Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS). IEEE, 2018.
