Terminator Genisys Ending: What Does It Really Mean?

What Does It All Really Mean?

Of course, for all its time travel wrangling, there's always something at the core of a Terminator film (or at the very least an attempt at subtext). The Terminator realised the then-very real horror of nuclear war, as well as putting a lot of effort into showing the difficulties for young women living in modern society. Terminator 2: Judgement Day continued both threads, bringing the threat of destruction out of the Cold War and extending the social metaphor to look at fractured familial dynamics. There's certainly an attempt at creating an odd family structure in Genisys as well, with Sarah and Kyle having to take on their "son" and the film ending with the couple and Pops working as an unconventional unit. However, here that's secondary to the technological elements. Having Genisys be, essentially, a syncing app makes it a product purely of our obsession with tech. Overuse of mobile phones is a well-covered criticism of modern technology, but here operates as a contrasting element to the original; in 1984 everyone was aware of the nuclear threat, but in 2017 Judgement Day came from something everyone had willingly welcomed into their lives.