The Truth

For a horror film, I found The Fly (1958) quite amusing. Simply the concept of a man’s head turning into a fly, with his wife trying to catch every fly in sight to try and save him is ridiculous and funny! As a person interested in the sciences, I know how much energy it takes to teleport even just one particle, what more a human being! Until now, the greatest advancement we’ve had in this field is the teleportation of light particles, and even that is challenging.

After a little research though, my amusement slowly disappeared, seeing that the movie was actually a reflection on the state of science and technology during that time. Coming from World War 2, it was a time where in research and exploration in the sciences focused on warfare, with the invention of the atomic and nuclear bomb, as well as the development of computer circuits, to accompany these studies. Ideas as far as teleportation and invisibility were also studied, with the attempt of making ships and vessels hidden from enemies during war. During the 1950’s, this was not merely an idea, but was rumored to have been secretly done by the US Navy through the “Philadelphia Experiment”.

As of now, there has been no confirmation of what actually happened in this experiment, but evidence and rumors say that a ship with crewmen actually turned invisible and teleported successfully but had effects on the crewmen. Some felt nausea, or even became crazy, while others were embedded and fused to the structures, or even disappeared. Personally, the film is a take on this incident, with the concept of teleportation, and the desire to discover the truth on what happened during those “secret” experiments; and science and technology, in general, and its negative effects when it is abused or taken overboard. The movie, more than just being a horror (or for me, amusing) film, shows how science can be really useful, with unlimited possibilities, when handled in the right manner; but at the same time how it can harm and destroy lives when used for the wrong reasons.

Reaction paper for The Fly