Abstract
This research is situated at the intersection of design and Science and Technology Studies, focusing on training as a form of mediation which provides a pathway to rethinking our relationship with smart technologies. It draws on a provocation from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), with particular attention to the relationship between Private Pyle and his rifle during the training sequence. The rifle foregrounds the way that technology cannot be reduced to purely material, moral, or constructivist accounts, but is constituted through the mediating role of training. The analysis mobilises translation as a design method, treating the film prop as a discursive resource for exploring alternative technological relations. Building on this, I propose a reconfiguration of smart technologies by repositioning training as a third force that shapes the relationship between user and system.
Keywords
mediation, smart technologies, film, interaction design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.683
Citation
Marechal, N. (2026) Rethinking our relationship with technology through the translation of a film prop: The case of Pyle and his rifle, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.683
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Rethinking our relationship with technology through the translation of a film prop: The case of Pyle and his rifle
This research is situated at the intersection of design and Science and Technology Studies, focusing on training as a form of mediation which provides a pathway to rethinking our relationship with smart technologies. It draws on a provocation from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), with particular attention to the relationship between Private Pyle and his rifle during the training sequence. The rifle foregrounds the way that technology cannot be reduced to purely material, moral, or constructivist accounts, but is constituted through the mediating role of training. The analysis mobilises translation as a design method, treating the film prop as a discursive resource for exploring alternative technological relations. Building on this, I propose a reconfiguration of smart technologies by repositioning training as a third force that shapes the relationship between user and system.