‘War Games’ on tap for Feb. 19 installment of Spring 2003 classic film lineup at Syracuse University

‘War Games’ on tap for Feb. 19 installment of Spring 2003 classic film lineup at Syracuse UniversityFebruary 17, 2003Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies will present the 1983 film “War Games” Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Maxwell Auditorium. The presentation, part of the Spring 2003 series “Back to the Future: Classic Movies of the Information Age,” is free and open to the public. The movie will be followed by a discussion led by David Lankes, director of the school’s Information Institute of Syracuse.

Directed by John Badman and written by Lawrence Lasker, “War Games,” rated PG, depicts a world of computer hackers during a time before desktop computers found their way into homes and offices. The story is about high school student David Lightman (played by Matthew Broderick), a computer geek who stumbles into the NORAD operations computer while looking for new computer games. Not realizing that he has breached a secure national defense system, Lightman inadvertently starts a WWIII simulation on the NORAD computer. The computer’s handlers in the Department of Defense fail to realize that the game is a simulation, setting off a series of events that bring the nation to the brink of disaster.

The “Back to the Future: Classic Movies of the Information Age” series focuses on the challenges of the Information Age as depicted in movies. Each film is followed by a discussion that addresses the philosophical, ethical and psychological challenges of the Information Age, including issues of identity theft, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. For more information about the series call 443-6140.