Culture The Terminator Scene That Aged Poorly

Looper (Archive) - December 13, 2021
by, Carolyn Jenkins

"The Terminator" had a multitude of timelines, sequels, and reboots, proving that James Cameron's story of a robot war and a messiah meant to stop it continues to resonate for generations of fans. The original 1984 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger maintains a 100% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And while "The Terminator" has many elements that have stood the test of time, not everything about it is perfect.

Most recently, the 2019 film "Terminator: Dark Fate" course-corrected many original elements that may not have aged well. Female representation is present even more than in the first film, as new Terminator Grace (Mackenzie Davis) defends her female counterpart Dani (Natalia Reyes) in the movie. "Terminator: Dark Fate" was also praised for calling out its sexism (via The Hollywood Reporter). Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) assumes that Dani is the mother of another messiah. Instead, it is revealed Dani herself is the messiah and is meant to lead the human race into salvation. This addition to the franchise has made some aspects of the original film more palatable. Even with this correction, one scene from "The Terminator" is more jarring the more times you watch it.

Sarah's personality changes in the last scene

In the span of a movie franchise that has spanned over three decades, Sarah Connor is considered a feminist icon by many. Director James Cameron has lauded his character for her contribution to feminism. "She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit," Cameron said in an interview with The Guardian. But as Patty Jenkins pointed out on Twitter, women can be more than one thing. This makes Sarah's sudden transformation in the final scene of "The Terminator" a poor representation of women.

After Sarah learns that her son John is meant to lead the human resistance in a fight against machines, she immediately sheds all femininity. In the movie's final scene, Sarah is suddenly hard and tough, with all previous traces of her personality erased. Many fans on Twitter agree that this has not aged well. "James Cameron subscribes to the problematic & entangled Ripley/Sarah Connor movie trope that strong women have to act/look a certain way," states @JBraverman1 on Twitter. Some fans on Reddit agree to this point. "Notice that the characters they cite as 'strong female characters' are basically characters who are strong in spite of being women than strong because they're women," says Redditor u/rattatatouille. This scene implies that in order to be significant, women have to act more like men and give up any traits that are coded as feminine.

 

[pwnest injun]

They also cut the dream sequence where she sees Kyle, which is a shame, it's super heartfelt and really shows the pain she's in while locked up.

Then there's the scene where she calls the robotics guy a Termanigger, which was cut for unknown reasons.

 

[Penis Drager]

When shit hits the fan, makeup, dresses, long fingernails and friendly, compassionate attitudes are the first shit to go unless you want to die.

Tell that to the British.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

The woke fundamentally don't understand people.... or humanity.... what great tragedy seems to have broken them all?

The tragedy of living a pampered existence in a technological bubble that shields them from reality.

 

[Grub]

>here's why the last few minutes of a movie about time travelling killer robots made in 1984 doesn't conform to current year standards of whatever the fuck

 

[AirdropShitposts]

The woke fundamentally don't understand people.... or humanity.... what great tragedy seems to have broken them all?

Capitalism without consent.

 

[Burned CDs]

The Terminator series is one of my favorite, if not favorite series ever. Fuck the wokefags.

Also, anyone remember the 2008 TV series, the Sarah Connor Chronicles? The chick Terminator Cameron was an absolute badass. She was feminine and yet dangerous.

 

[Grand Wizard Wakka]

The woke fundamentally don't understand people.... or humanity.... what great tragedy seems to have broken them all?

They're pedophile sex monsters who mutilate their bodies into things that aren't men or women. They aren't human or people themselves anymore.

 

[The Final Troondown]

so what the fuck was the point of this?

How do you show femininity in a fight? Best you can have is showing physically sexy feminine traits, but that's about it.

Basically these retards want a reboot where the humans fight back by sending in a bunch of women to recount 'difficult times in their lives and what we learnt' and the emotionless killer robots shed a tear and promise to never commit genocide from that day forward

 

[nigga that crab pollack]

The writer of the article doesn't realize that the last scene of the film takes place months after the ending. So Sarah has had time to change personalities. Also what Mandrake said.

Oh yeah both of those movies are heavy on the maternal themes. Momma bear protecting her cub.

In the Terminator the character arc is a transition from childhood to adulthood. Sarah goes from being a dopey carefree child to being a fully grown mature adult with serious responsibilities that she knows how to handle confidently. In the beginning she is weak and scared and unsure of herself but her experiences and the help she gets makes her into a stronger person who can address the world on her terms.

This same arc is then repeated in the second movie with John's character.

i wonder why this woke fuck doesn't like it. hmm. this is a tough one. it must be the jews

 

[Alexander Thaut]

Basically these retards want a reboot where the humans fight back by sending in a bunch of women to recount 'difficult times in their lives and what we learnt' and the emotionless killer robots shed a tear and promise to never commit genocide from that day forward

isn't Ex Machina the killer robot movie for women?

why don't they talk about that one more often?

 

[Feline Supremacist]

The guy in the neighborhood nicknamed me Sarah Connor when they saw me working on my car. They had me over for beers, were really nice and towed my parts car away for free (one was a cop). This dumb bitch can bite me.

 

[JK Rowling]

The Terminator series is one of my favorite, if not favorite series ever. Fuck the wokefags.

Also, anyone remember the 2008 TV series, the Sarah Connor Chronicles? The chick Terminator Cameron was an absolute badass. She was feminine and yet dangerous.

Terminator 3 had a female terminator too, she wasn't that believable though.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

Terminator 3 had a female terminator too, she wasn't that believable though.

I hope you remember the reeeeing that went on over Arnold slamming her head first into a toilet.

 

[JK Rowling]

I hope you remember the reeeeing that went on over Arnold slamming her head first into a toilet.

No. I remember the reeing that went on because she made her breasts bigger to bamboozle the traffic cop though. Don't remember any reeing about naked Arnie walking into a hen night but maybe I missed it.

 

[Sex Cannon Lupa]

I'm more annoyed by the sudden Patty Jenkins name drop. Who gives a shit what that complete failure of a writer/director has to say? WW84 is the modern UltraViolet. She should be in director jail next to Kurt fucking Wimmer.

 

[The handsome tard]

Terminator hasnt been good since 2, Dark Fate was the final nail and I doubt we will get another movie anytime soon. (Im not kidding, Dark Fate really seems to have been the final nail on the franchise in the cinematic sense because the movies have been making less and less money each entry so the point making another one would be burning a fortune).

LOL. So assuming a man is the leader of the resistance is bad, yet Sarah/Ripley actually acting like tough leaders is bad as well.

Never mind that the actual point, especially in both T2 and Alien 2, is that Sarah/Ripley's feminine and motherly instincts to protect those they love is what is actually driving them to be strong leaders. Sarah is driven to action by the goal of protecting John and Ripley is driven to action by the goal of protecting Newt.

The leader should be a tiny girl with absolutely no leadership qualities or skills whatsoever and no motherly instincts because she has no children to protect. People told her that she was the most important person evar and she got dragged around by everyone else because the plot said so, with her moments of coming across as a leader were laughable at best.

So Dark Fate took away the entire storyline of protecting and sacrificing for the next generation because the little girl IS the best after she was told so. She made absolutely no character growth on her own because she had no reason to do so and no personal stakes on the line.

Sometimes it's hard trying to figure out what it is the author of articles like this actually wants, and then I remember that what the author wants is just to bitch about oppression.

Indeed but honestly, why bother stating all of this? We know it, the retard also might know it deep down but he will still try to spin this dumbass narrative because the left cant meme, cant think, cant create, only corrupt and twist.

 

[Duke Nukem]

So, not being prepared the first time you're thrown "in the shit" but ready the next time is "problematic"?

Look, what she does? It's not a feminist reaction, it's a HUMAN reaction...

Everyone who isn't a sociopath can relate to hiding under a desk because an unstoppable murder-machine from the future is after you and only yards away, having slaughtered EVERYONE who said they'd protect you from it......

It's what made the gritty original so great, no quips, no one-liners, no pop culture references, just cowering in pure, mortal panic that you are about to die and nothing can stop it..... and only your animal flight instinct is still working, if that. You could really feel that thing bearing down on the back of your neck.

But, like any menace, once you've survived it and gotten a chance to observe it, you aren't going to be scared next time, in fact, you'll probably be damn ANGRY the next time. Come after me? Kill everyone I know and love? Including my own child? I'll SHOW YOU.

Her reaction is completely understandable, logical and realistic for the given circumstance. That's what makes it a great film, she doesn't act like a hand-wringing academic's wet dream of a "proper" woman, she acts like a REAL PERSON would.

The woke fundamentally don't understand people.... or humanity.... what great tragedy seems to have broken them all?

Well said, they certainly don't make movies like they used to.

As much as I liked Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies I can't say I'm particularly excited to go see this one.

And the "woke" aren't real people so much as they are brainless NPC cultists. So yeah they don't understand people.

 

[Some JERK]

Tell that to the British.

I'll see your 'British' and raise you 'the Russians'.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Woke millennials and zoomers aged poorly.

 

[thx1138]

You know what the underrated best part of T2 is, and I simply cannot believe that these idiots haven't pounced on it like very fat cats on a maple and tuna doughnut, is the bit where Sarah, John, and the T800 are confronting Miles Dyson in his house and he (Dyson) is aghast at what happens to the tech he's developing, saying "I never thought..." and Sarah cuts him off and goes off on a feminist rant...

...and John tells her to shut the fuck up, that it's not constructive, won't help, and won't fix anything.

I simply can't believe #current_year hasn't called for that part to be stricken from all prints, deleted, and sent down the memory hole.