The Guilfordian
April 10,1998
The relevance of humanities today
♦Daukas and Kircher suggest that humanities are still practical in technology-based society
BY EMILY DINGS
Staff Writer
The Guilford College \veb site lists "an
unflinching pursuit of truth" as part of the
college's creed. The fusion of technology and
truth encapsulated here reflects the attitude
leading to the radical changes that have vis
ited Guilford over the past year.
Curriculum changes indicate a desire to
streamline disciplines. Faculty reduction and
the consolidation ofhumanities subjects (such
as first-year English and history) are rooted in
a concern for ''relevance." Vast expenditures
on computers, smart cards and internet ac
cess suggest that technological literacy should
be synthesized into a liberal arts education to
ensure their practical applicability. Jeff Jeske,
who chairs the Curriculum Committee and is
the coordinator of curriculum revision, com
mented "Higher education generally is tilting
more towards developing skills and compe
tencies, information technology and quantita-
Carter and Morscheck Go to the Movies
♦This Week: Lost In Space, starring Gary Oldman, Matt Leßlanc, now playing at Brassfield
J HOTO BY BECCA
LEE
that science fiction is meant to be campy and
silly and nothing else. But the new movie based
can the series has partially redeemed the name.
Having said that, the movie, like many
sci-fi movies, has predictably generic charac
ters and dialogue. Oh well. You can't have
everything.
The story follows the Robinson family s
trip through space after the villainous Dr. Smith
(Gary Oldman) endangers their ship, forcing
them to use the ships hyperdrive, which
throws them across the galaxy. Arriving in
uncharted space, they run afoul of sane giant
spiders, crash on a desolate planet and then
get involved with an interesting time-travel situ
ation that gets convoluted but is still light-years
ahead of what happened on the TV show.
(Did I mention how bad that show was?)
Unfortunately, between action scenes
the movie attempts to be heartwarming. Pro
fessor Robinson realizes that he can't save
tive reasoning."
Parents and administrators envision stu
i dents leaving graduation like baby birds pushed
5 out of a nest. They fear that students will
I have grown too dependent on the comforting
: threads of the humanities that have sustained
them over the past four years, and will be wholly
unprepared for a society which treats this area
) of study as a luxury rather than a valuable
I skill.
i History professor Timothy Kircher and
t philosophy professor Nancy Daukas claim that
; this handicap is an illusion. Both professors
decided to study and teach their disciplines
I despite a lack of encouragement from outside
i influences.
Kircher came from a family of engi
; neers who shook their heads at his decision to
pursue studies in the humanities Only his
; grandfather supported him arguing "let the kid
do what he wants!"' Daukas was met with a
■ warning from the American Philosophical As-
BY J ON ATHAN
CARTER
Features Flm Critic
Let's get one
thing straight: Lost
in Space was a
crappy TV show.
Besides having in
credibly bad stones,
it influenced many
people to believe
the families of Earth if he can't deal with his
.own. Will teaches the robot what friends are.
Aww...Don't worry; action scenes in this
movie are never tar away.
William Hurt, who was good in the re
call Dark City, is lamentably miscast and both
he and Mimi Rogers woodenly portray Mr.
and Mrs. Robinson. Oldman attempts but foils
to be as menacingly-threatening as the original
Dr. Smith without camping it up Of course, I
don't know if that was possible anyway.
The rest of the cast is made up of hot
young stars like Matt Leßlanc {Friends),
Lacey Chabert ( Party of Five), and Heather
'Rolleigirl' Graham ( Boogie Nights), who all
do decent jobs with the material they're given.
For anyone who hates the show or
hasn't seen it, don't worry. Besides the char
acters' names, the basic situation, and the voice
of the robot (still done by Dick Tufcld), the
movie has nothing to do with the original se
ries. The goofy stories and effects of the 60's
have been replaced b\ extraordinary special
effects and banal characters, the standards of
90's movies. It may not be wonderful, but it's
far better than things used to be.
Lost in Space defines the term 'eye
candy,' with its astounding effects but also
manages some interesting plot twists and genu
inely exciting moments. Anyone who wants
two hours of escapism should love it. (By the
way, the TV version was really bad.)
Features
sociation printed on the front
ofherGßE; it staled that jobs
would be very scarce and that
applicants should oily con
tinue with the exam if the
study of philosophy was of
intrinsic value to than. After
careful consideration, she
went back to take the test.
Her parents met her decision
with ''incomprehension.""
I asked the two pro
fessors a central question:
does it undermine the intrin
sic value of your discipline to
focus on its practical rel
evance in contemporary so
ciety?
Both Daukas and
Kircher state that the distinc
please see HUMANI
TIES on pg. 8
rtirtk" *
J HOTO BY AMY
ROUSE
science fiction and I didn't particularly like the
old TV show, so naturally , I wanted to skip this
one. It turned out to be, though, one of the
most fun films I've seen in the past few rronths.
the perfect way to escape real life on a Satur
day afternoon.
The year is 2058 and the Robinson famiK
is set to go on a ten-year trip to colonize distant
Alpha Prime, as Earth will be completely un
inhabitable within a few decades. Unfortu
nately, a group of rebels called the "Global
Sedition" sabotage the mission, leaving them
drifting in the far reaches of an uncharted sys
tem decades in the future.
What makes this film more than barely
vvatchable is the family dynamics: we liave
the father, a scientist so obsessed with his woik
tliat he's neglected his wife and kids; an older
daughter who's done the same; a pre-teen brat
who can't believe she's forced to leave her
friends; and Will, a ten-year-old genius who
MO9.SCHUK
.a I I /
Kircher and Daukas are living proof that you can get a
job (sort of) with a humanities background.
PHOTO BY AGNIESZKA FRANKOWSI
BY PETER
MORSCHECK
Features Film Critic
Lost in
Space presented
me with yet an
other object lesson
in how preconcep
tions can color your
outlook cxi a film.
I'm not big on new
works in vain for his father s love. Throw in a
supporting wife, a rogue fighter pilot enlisted
at the last minute, and a traitorous Dr. Smith,
shamelessly overacted by Gary Oldman
(Romeo is Bleeding, Air Force One), and
you get a film which tries at more depth than
your usual sci-fi fluff.
Even though there were sane blatant
rip-ofls from The Trilogy, namely a well-staged
dogfight in the beginning, and later sexual ten
sion between a couple which screamed Han
Solo-Princess Leia, the film managed to hold
its own on so many levels: family drama, ac
tion film (with scary spider aliens), suspense
(What to do with evil-traitor-guy?), and con
voluted time-travel mystery. I thought it
worked. Lost in Space is a good (not great)
film which I heartily recommend to those in
terested in movies for escapism, even if (like
me) you arc skeptical of the science fiction
genre.
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