Star Trek and Sunrise The Symbolism of Modernity Essay Example

Star Trek and Sunrise: The Symbolism of Modernity Paper What is Modernity? Modernity is the epoch that began with the Enlightenment, shaped people intellectually by the beliefs that through reason. â€Å"The major movements and events of modernity are democracy, capitalism, industrialization, science, and urbanization. The rallying flags of modernity are freedom and the individual† (Barrett 17). There are many aspects that reflect on modernity, however, cinema is one that best describes modernity. Cinema is believed to be one of the forms of modernism, it expresses modernity in its meaningful ways as it plays a role in functioning to imagine modern selves and lives and also represented â€Å"a specially modern type of public spherein which individual experience could be articulated and find recognition by both subjects and others† (Hansen 70). Cinema brings people together and makes them experience modernity through films. It can be said that â€Å"Modernity somehow shaped human perception, which then somehow shaped the movies† (Singer 104) Here, I would like to draw the comparisons between classical Hollywood film, Sunrise and modern Hollywood film, Star Trek: Into Darkness. How are they decades apart but still be able to play their roles in expressing their own modernity in their own meaningful ways. We will write a custom essay sample on Star Trek and Sunrise: The Symbolism of Modernity specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Star Trek and Sunrise: The Symbolism of Modernity specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Star Trek and Sunrise: The Symbolism of Modernity specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Miriam Hansen suggests that cinema is the vernacular modernism as she said â€Å"Hollywood did not just circulate images and sounds; it produced and globalized a new sensorium; it constituted, or tried to constitute, new subjectivities and subjects† (Hansen 71). She shows the example of even classical Hollywood cinema â€Å"could be imagined as a cultural practice on a par with experience of modernity, as an industry-produced, mass-based, vernacular modernism† (Hansen 65). Take Sunrise: A tale of two Humans for an example. Sunrise is an American silent film in 1927 by F.W. Murnau. T