Whenever we teach CMC to our students we always try to have them see the way the issues we discuss in class are also represented in popular fiction. We usually like to do this movies. Remember, CMC is as much about how people talk about online interaction as it is about the way people actually communicate with each other online.

The movies we list here are just some of the better known ones which we think will be interesting to you. Of course, some of them are more 'classic' than others. It's always interesting to track historical changes in cultural products like these. We also recommend you use the Internet Movie Database to find out more about each one (e.g. plot, characters, producers).

Films about the internet and CMC issues

• The Net (1995)
• Hackers (1995)
• You’ve got Mail (1998)
• Takedown (2000)
• Swordfish (2001)

Films about cyberspace and cyberborgs

A lot of these films are specifically concerned with the relationship between humans and technology - some more optimistically than others.

• 2001 (1968)
• Tron (1982)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• Videodrome (1983)
• Lawnmower Man (1992)
• Disclosure (1994)
• Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)
• Matrix (1999)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Matrix Reloaded (2003)
• Matrix Revolutions (2003)
• Tron Killer App (2003)

You might also be interested in looking the following book which looks at how films of the 1980s and 1990s demonstrate fictions of technoscience and contribute to popular understandings of science and technology:

Wood, Aylish. (2002). Technoscience in contemporary American film: Beyond science fiction. Manchester: Manchester University Press. [Click through to publishers' notice]

TV Programmes

One of the most outstanding series of television programs about issues related to CMC and technology is the BBC/Open University's Digital Planet. There are six programs in the series, although we recommend the first two especially:

• Cybertalk
• Cybersouls
• Fighting for space
• Cyberwar
• Never mind the quality
• Africa renaissance

What's also great about this series is that it comes with a dedicated website. So, even if your Course Leader isn't able to purchase copies of the programs for you to see, what you can do is look at the online resources which include full transcripts of each program, biographical information about the main people being interviewed, etc. There are also links to even more materials.