By Travis Maynard
Taken as a whole, it is readily apparent that Terminator the Second is a product of remix, as it remixes a science-fiction film with the conventions and tropes of Elizabethan theater. Shakespearean plays are known for their five-act structure, and the plot of Terminator the Second combines this structure with the plot of Terminator 2, as illustrated here:
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Act I - Introduction of John Connor, Sarah Connor, Both Terminators
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Culmination: None – the conditions for action are set.
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Act II – The Rescue of the Connors
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Culmination: Two chase scenes from the Mall and Pescadero State Hospital
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Act III – South of the Border
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Culmination: Sarah’s Dream of Judgment Day
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Act IV – The Seige of Cyberdyne
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Culmination: The Destruction of Cyberdyne and Miles Dyson
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Act V – Showdown in the Foundry
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Culmination: Death of both Terminators
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Copying elements of Shakespeare and combining them with an action film, we see the play as being a new creation, a remix of two pre-existing texts. This process of remix is also apparent in the script, where we have any number of plays being drawn upon. The opening solilquoy draws from Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Henry VI, Cymbeline, and Henry V, and in the minigun scene, we also see lines from Julius Caesar and the sonnet “I Shall Return.” Even in two short clips of the play, seven different source materials are being remixed together with Terminator 2. I have yet to tabulate how many different sources are drawn upon in the production, but even with this small data set, we can safely say that the script is a remix. We can see how remix is also present in the visual experience of the play. Similar to the plot structure mirroring Elizabethan drama, the production worked within the confines of a theater and executed staging and blocking appropriate for the medium; with that structure in place, the costumes, props, and characters of the film were remixed into a stage production.