Solaris (Solyaris) (1972)

Work Title: Solaris (Solyaris) (1972)
Medium: Film
Episode Title:
Year: 1972
Writer(s): Stanislaw Lem
"Original" Writer: Yes Writer(s): Fridrikh Gorenshtein
"Original" Writer: Yes Writer(s): Andrei Tarkovsky
"Original" Writer: Yes Own work?: Yes
Summary:

The Solaris mission has established a base on a planet that appears to host some kind of intelligence, but the details are hazy and very secret. After the mysterious demise of one of the three scientists on the base, the main character is sent out to replace him. He finds the station run-down and the two remaining scientists cold and secretive. When he also encounters his wife who has been dead for seven years, he begins to appreciate the baffling nature of the alien intelligence. (IMDB.com)

  • Self-Written?:
  • Source Name: IMDB
  • Source URL:
Era/Year of Portrayal: present_day
Distinctive characteristics of the world in portrayal:

People receive phone calls through their television

Technology

  • Name of portrayed presence-evoking technology: The technology is a higher level of intelligence, we might call them clones, but the scientists call them "guests."
  • Description of the technology: The "guests" are reincarnations or clones of individuals that are known to others. They are manifested from the memories of people who know them. For example, while on Solaris, a psychologist and the main character- Kris Kelvin, sees the return on his long-dead wife, Hari. Initially he is shocked to see her, but he slowly begins to interact with her as though she is real. What he begins to realize, is that despite his attempts to destroy her or her attempts to destroy herself, she will always return because there is an endless number of the guests.
  • Nature of task or activity: Hari is treated normally, as if she is human, but Kelvin and the other scientists do recognize that she must be destroyed.
  • Performance of the Technology: Hari is virtually indestructible. Despite the fact that Kelvin blasts her into space and she drinks liquid oxygen as a suicide attempt, she cannot die.
  • Description of creator(s): The "guests" were created by Solaris' ocean, which derives them from beams of radiation while the humans living on Solaris sleep.
  • Major goal(s) of creator(s): To create a higher, indestructible intelligence group.
  • Description of users of technology: Kris Kelvin and the two other scientists, Snaut and Sartorious, are men in the 40s and 50s. Snaut and Satorious have been living on Solaris for a period of time, but Kelvin lives on earth.
  • Type(s) of presence experience in the portrayal: social_presence
  • Description of presence experience: To someone unaware of what was happening on Solaris, Hari would appear human. Thus, it is understandable that initially Kelvin is fairly emotional and wants to believe that he can have his dead wife back.
  • User awareness of technology during experience: Kelvin is aware that there is no way Hari could be real, but he indulges himself and her for a while by acting as if they are a normal couple. He begins to realize she is not human when to returns to Solaris after he had blasted her off into space.
  • Valence of experience: Kelvin seems pained in his interactions with Hari because he still loves her and misses her, but he knows she is not human.
  • Specific responses: Towards the end of the film, Hari says she believes she is becoming more human because she has emotions, but Satorious tells her that "there is no Hari. She's dead. You're just a reproduction ... a copy, a matrix."
Long-term consequences:

Because Hari recognizes that she will not be able to return to earth with Kelvin, she willingly destroys herself through the "annihilator." It is likely that Solaris space station will be destroyed, thus there is no room for anyone up there. At the end of the film, Kelvin returns to earth and we seem him back in the same place where the film started. As the film ends, the camera pulls back and we begin to realize that what is supposedly earth is really a small island in the ocean, presumably Solaris' ocean.

Other:

Coder name: Eliza Jacobs
Coder email: eliza.jacobs@temple.edu
Coder affiliation: Temple University Philadelphia, PA