Editing The Terminator (section)

====Genre====
''The Terminator'' features a narrative where elements of the [[science fiction film]] and [[action film]] genres prevail.
While rarely considered a [[horror film]], the film does feature iconography associated with the [[slasher film]], such as The Terminator as an unstoppable villain, and Sarah Connor as a [[final girl]] archetype.{{sfn|McGowan|2021}}

Authors Paul Meehan in his book ''Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir'' (2008) and Emily E. Auger in ''Tech-Noir Film: A Theory of the Development of Popular Genres'' (2011) found that ''The Terminator'' belonged to and was the originator of the term [[tech-noir]]. Both authors applied the term as a film genre to several works from the 1980s to the 2000s.{{sfn|Meehan|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Frelik|2012|p=119}} Academic [[Carl Freedman (writer)|Carl Freedman]] was critical of Meehan's categorization, noting Meehan's lack of interest in [[Genre studies|genre theory]] and that his handling of generic categories of science fiction and ''[[film noir]]'' were not clear.{{sfn|Freedman|2011|p=528}} Paweł Frelik also critiqued Auger's lack of knowledge in genre theory, and dismissed the notion of tech-noir being a unique film genre. Frelik wrote that the films Auger mentioned including ''The Terminator'' and ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982) had no applicable reason to be understood as tech-noir rather than science fiction.{{sfn|Frelik|2012|p=119}}