A World At Risk

Monica Martins essay A World at Risk, writes about how there are multiple ways in which an Apocalypse could happen. Because of these apocalypse, the world will end in a dystopian future of mass differences from the world in which we know today. I like how Martin explained films such as V for Vendetta are great examples of political and media manipulation. I really enjoy the example because V for Vendetta is another realistic possibility for a future. granted it may not be in London but is very possible. Martins take on dystopian films is that films like Children of Men, 1984 and V for Vendetta are realistic visuals that we should watch and interpret intently.

Gattaca

 I wasn't honestly excited to watch Gattaca mainly because Ethan Hawke was the one of the main stars. Perhaps if it was Training Day, I might have had a little bit more enthusiasm. Gattaca was actually interesting from a hybrid dystopian film where the problem isn’t man vs cyborgs but a realistic problem with the advancement of human anatomy. However, the film itself still lacked an interesting catch and because of no punch or catch, the film was on the more boring side for me. Where Gattaca was very interesting was somewhat similarities to the Handmaids Tale in the sense of discrimination based on who you are biologically and the culture or dystopia that the protagonist find themselves in. Vincent is basically cast aside and discriminated against because of the fact he isn't a super human or had any genetic alterations. This film sheds light on how the last few decades we have tried to clone ourselves and change our genomics which in a way is like playing God. We see this almost once a week with NBC World News with Brian Williams that scientific research centers have made another breakthrough in human genomics. As interesting as these reports maybe, people need to ask themselves if perfecting human genetics is must, where should we stop? The reason for that question is very simple in how much alteration to genetics is enough to satisfy our desires to change ourselves. Although I support genomic research, Gattaca shows great symbolism in how through human genetic change, it shows the process of cloning and tampering with natural human DNA is actual an unnatural process that we as humans are actually trying to go above our natural evolutionary principles and evolving at high speed and dangerous rate. However, in the film, the one thing that Vincent has in the other super humans is that he is highly intellectual whereas the super humans are only physically more superior making it that our level of intellect cannot actual be manipulated and is in true hereditary genetics. When it comes to this film being a dystopian film, for some reason I felt that out of all the films we have watched, this actually seems like the most realistic possibility for our future. (If we covered the Terminator, it would have been second) The reason why this film is so crucial to us is that this process of human genetic modifying is happening right now as we speak and is only going to move in this direction. I’ve always felt that since the invention of television, the human race has tried and succeeded in going above its evolutionary traits in always trying to go farther and farther along without seeing the implications of what we create and how it affects us.  As much as I enjoy seeing progression in this world from a scientific point, we should learn to take advice from our senior citizens and “stop to smell the roses”. Because if we don’t learn to slow it down, we will no longer be humans and cause our own extinction.

The Truman Show

The Truman show is truly one of Jim Carreys greatest performances, none greater than Lloyd Christmas, but the film itself was a masterpiece. This film seemed to be more of a less disastrous dystopia than the other films we have watched. Maybe I'm the only one but I couldn't help but make numerous connections to the Truman show to the Matrix. First, the obvious connection is that the primary characters are living in a false reality that has been set up for them. Obviously the difference between Neo and Truman is that Neo has always been skeptical of his existence and the world he lives in where Truman doesn't begin to question the world until a film light falls from the sky and is claimed to be an antenna that fell off a plane. Both resonate with Plato's the Allegory of the Cave because just like in a few of the films we have watched including THX 1138, there is a strong consistency with his philosophy and it seems numerous dystopian themed films have used the theory of the world you live in is not what you believe it to be. I really love this theory that Plato wrote about because it is so very applicable to everything in the world. This theory always makes people (including myself) skeptical of the world we live in and curious as to whether it’s a governing body or particular culture, how true or real they are i.e. say one thing and act another way. One question that Truman show brings up is ignorance bliss? I feel that people have a hard time deciding whether they would live in a fake paradise or the a real hell. Realistically would viewers of this film should ask themselves if they would live in a world that is perfect but the relationships you have and life you lead is fake but a perfect design. Me personally I found that it is better to know the truth rather than pretend that a lie is better. The sad truth of the Truman show is that Jim Carreys character is actually alone because everything and everyone he has ever known is actually not real and that since birth he has only ever know people that have pretended to love him. The even sadder part is that even though it’s a movie, if this were to actually happen then that would mean that we as humans have officially become bored with animals at the zoo and would rather see our own species in live action. It’s in this truth that allows someone to prefer the real world (no matter how miserable or depressing it is) because at least in the real world, everything is real including the relationships that you have are real. By living Truman living in this reality show, it makes Truman as person fake even though he thinks that he is himself when actually he is a character that's been created but when you think about it, the creator actually represents a symbolic metaphor of God and that should really make someone question their existential beliefs. The one silver lining at the end of the film is that when Truman finally steps off set into the real world, his first actual choice that he made as a free man. I really like the ending because it backs my own personal belief that we have free will. 

Unmasking the Real

In Peter Fittings essay about "Unmasking the Real", he puts a strong emphasis on how all dystopias are not critical dystopias. He explains the basically the reason that it is a critical dystopia is because of its obvious oppression and gender inequality of woman. Its extremely important to Fitting that the reason for critical dystopias is that he worries that in critical dystopias, that they are very real and probable futuristic society's that we as humans are setting ourselves up for. The next ( and most critical to me) is the comparisons he makes to The Terminators. The reason we all fell in love with Arnold Schwarzenegger is because he was so awesome as a Terminator but many people are constantly undermine the critical metaphor that the very thing we created is what will eventually destroy us. Although now a days a Terminator is very real and possible while when it first came out seemed light years away, Fitting tries emphasize the point that  the Terminators are actually metaphors for the idea that our obsession as humans to constantly innovate and update technology is a slippery slope we are on to nuclear bombed destruction that has become planet Earth. I really enjoyed Fittings piece because while many people are only worried about their tweet on twitter or buying cloths to impress someone else, they are very unaware (and uncaring) about how their own future could be in jeopardy based off of Fittings take on how dystopian films have given us realistic visions into the future.

Children of Men

Children of Men really brought out a much more modern/ realistic dystopian society than a few of the films. For example, in The Minority Report puts you in the future over 50 years later with a premise of you have a predetermined destiny or at least a possible path to whatever the PreCogs foresee. In Children of Men, the premise of the human race is on the verge of extinction based solely on that in this dystopia, the natural biological balance of reproduction is nonexistent with the exception of one. I found that this dystopian theme is very much more believable and realistically based on the premise that the ability to reproduce is nonexistent which is a biological condition making it seem that combining a scientific and medical premise mixed in with an apocalypse theme, gives it a scary reality. I couldn't help but notice that Children of Men had similarities to the bible with the obvious parallel of the miracle child that will save mankind from destruction. Because Luke is using her child as a form of propaganda, I was intrigued by the film and how there were similarities to the real world of people involved or leading radical movements, use people, objects or events as an instrument to forward their own agenda/ movement rather than thinking of the peoples true needs and desires. Not to be disrespectful but you actually see this pattern all the time from radical religious movements of all sorts. I'm not sure if this was the ideal message of the film but I couldn't help but see the parallels. Along with seeing this parallel’s on movements, because I love seeing things on media corruption, this film had a lot of that. A very important scene is following Julian’s death, the media came out strong warning the people about terrorists on the run and how the people should be worried. Again, not to press buttons but this has multiple connections to the media in which we see today. Regardless of your political views, Fox and MSNBC news share these exact traits of overrunning a news segment on a particular story, giving the people false information and twisting the facts to create a sense of insecurity and fear with viewers. In theis film, the theme of media corruption is brought up much more than the other films we have watched and reviewed. I think the reason I enjoyed this film so much was the obvious emphasis on media corruption and the effect that it has on people. The best examples are the ones we see in everyday )as I mentioned before) and the scary part is that people actually hang onto every word that their particular news network reports regardless of how true the story is. On a side note, there's not a lot to back this theory but I also found that this particular dystopian film was an in between dystopian film. In Fight Club, it showed the shaping if Tyler Durdens revolution taking place with you making up your own idea of the future, in THX 1138 you see the end result of the revolution in which they are living in an underground city. This film is more of a transitional/ revolutionary film that is in extreme panic mode rather than the end result.

The Minority Report

When it came to the choice of our movies, I had to go with The Minority Report. I found it to be a clever whodunit mixed in with a metaphorical philosophy of our destiny and is it predetermined or do we make the ultimate choice. I also found the premise of the film to be believable yet a little on the extreme side. When I originally saw the film, i thought of it only as another Tom Cruise action film (Before he went crazy). Once again, I saw many recurring themes of free will, drug inducing and obvious political metaphors. The film was originally made in 2002 but it is surprisingly applicable to the modern world of our existential and political views. In this film, the Precogs are able to see the future i.e. see a crime before it happens and prevent it making the audience believe that everyone has an ultimate destiny and that we truly don't have free will. Tom Cruises character works for PreCrime but becomes a fugitive for he is seen by the PreCogs as killing someone. I argue the point that if someone knew their own future; couldn't they change it for the better and prevent the absolute worst? I mean, take yourself out of the film and try to picture yourself being able to see yourself kill someone. Wouldn't having the knowledge of knowing that you are going to be responsible for someone death ultimately make you think differently about the choices you make going forward? As I was watching this, in my head I kept imaging Christopher Lloyd’s character from Back to the Future contradicting the film because the age old message has always been that knowing your own future puts the future in danger and ultimately alters the everything going forward. As much as I enjoy Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, I felt the film was overall great and a clear example of government dystopian Hell but had more flaws in it than the other films we have watched just based on the theme of free will. Now granted Anderton worked for PreCrime so he was able to see the crime he committed unlike all the other criminals he had locked up (making a good argument that we all have a destiny) but his example alone is strong enough to make a case for free will. He is the one who decides not to kill Crow at the expected time thus making it that he avoided his so called destiny. he does all of this before he is informed about Crows deal and eventually Crow actually makes him pulling the trigger and makes the free will question very mixed like was it just Crows destiny to die? I say no because he chose to dies. It’s that scene alone that makes me believe that we have free will and while one destiny is always a possibility, every choice we make realistically leads to the ending or fate that we wanted all along.

Wegner Fight Club

It takes watching Fight Club from a classroom structure to see it as a dystopian film. In the essay written by Phillip Wegner, Wegner puts emphasis on how Tyler Durden believed that by destroying and leveling a major credit card company, the worlds financial records would be destroyed. By destroying the records, Tyler believes that the world can start over to a new beginning. This belief backs the premise that Fight Club is a "Dystopian Film" but the film itself is sort of backwards than what we are used to seeing. Normally, we see dystopian films in future, but we don't see how they got there. Wegner paraphrases that Fight Club actually shows how a dystopia society can be created. The movie shows two guys fighting, then a dozen and progressively grows "out of the basement". Fight Club becomes project Mayhem and becomes a revolution against the financial, materialistic world thus showing the first part of the dystopian society Tyler creates.

"The First Rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club"

"The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club" I was so excited when I saw this was in the syllabus I mean come on, this was such a great film. Between the script and cast, it's hard not to love this film. I always thought Brad Pitt deserved an Oscar for his performance. I love the premise Tyler Durden puts on his new band of brothers of not giving into advertisement, corporations or even conforming to others. One scene in particular I loved was when Tyler is driving the car and the real Tyler tries to grab the steering wheel and Pitt replies "look at yourself, your fucking pathetic, when are you going to learn you can't control everything and let go?". The idea Tyler was trying to tell Norton is that things are out of his control no matter how much he tries to control them i.e. saving yourself from death even though you are going to die regardless. There are a few better points of the films take on conformity is when Brad Pitt tells Tyler "Reject the basic assumptions of civilization, especially the importance of material possessions" and "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive" really gives strong rebellion to conformity because sadly, no matter where in the world you are (especially a western civilization) people are measured by what they have rather than who they are. This film so quotable and most people enjoy it for what it actual is rather than a bunch of grown men physically beating the hell out of each other. I found that the reason this film is considered to be Dystopian is because perhaps we already live in a dystopia except instead of being overrun with government officials or cyborgs, it’s perhaps we live in a metaphorical hell that we are overrun with the consumerism apocalypse. The motive for project mayhem to destroy a credit card companies building. Credit cards are at the root of all capitalistic unethical principals of overspending for with no guarantees of payback for no logical reasoning. My favorite quote in the film is “We buy things we need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like”. The abuse people put themselves through all in the effort to somehow alter or force a change in their social or economic rankings in society and are willing to drown themselves in debt. Tyler sees this as hell and pointless which is why he tries to tell his army of aggressive alpha males that none of them are special and that they will die someday making all the materialistic things they acquired in life absolutely pointless. The film itself is sort of an anti-dystopian dystopia film (If that makes sense) and makes a strong stand against what Tyler saw as evil capitalism. 

Handmaids Tale

I did not enjoy The Handmaids Tale as much as I thought I was going to based on the films synopsis summary. There were parts of the film that I did enjoy and made very bold and intriguing statements. I enjoyed the theme of this dystopian film (not because women were oppressed and treated as second class citizens) but because of how the film shows how women in society are still treated with different standards and this film gave a futuristic reality of what gender discrimination and oppression could be. Without offending ones beliefs, the film also put a strong emphasis on how religion can be the cause of war through its extremist and fundamentalist of creating war and using propaganda to force its beliefs onto a society. The film uses the maids as symbolism for how woman (even to this day) are still seen as house cleaners, meal makers and baby producers. Woman are subjected to discrimination that might be equivalent for cases of the 15th century. Obviously the film is dystopian themed but I think that the filmmakers wanted to show rather than a typical government oppression based film, I believe that the clear intent was to showcase the societal standards and treatment of women but at an extreme, visual of how woman in the future are treated and are realistically not that different than the society that we live in today. For example, a maid explain how she was at a high school party, got drunk and was raped by six friends she said she knew well and then had to have an abortion. First, the fact that an abortion is still controversial is beyond me but the reaction of the crowd being shocked that after she was raped, she got an abortion because clearly a woman who is raped against her will, should carry that child to full term (sarcasm). Quickly, the crowd is encouraged by the Aunts that its her fault and that she is a whore in a collective chant. Even in this dystopian film, free thought and will is still banned and is a continuously popular theme. We see this every where whether it is on Facebook, at work, in a bar, etc that woman are often socially persecuted because rape is somehow her fault. This scene alone is one giant metaphor for the rest of the film and its message. What should disturb people that most is that regardless that it is a film, the fact that the film was produced back in 1990 and to this day we see these same problems. Although we have made progress, we haven't been able to fix society and cultural construction. Not even in the United States, but all over the world the oppression of women continue to get worse. Even in this dystopian film, free thought and will is still banned and is a continuously popular theme. I thought that even though the film was a little lackluster, I thought the message was strong and should be a must watch and not just in film courses.

The Sympathetic Villain

The essays take on the Sympathetic Villain is an interesting take that allows us to see the villains from another perspective. In 1984, O'Brien is seen as the relentless villain however, you take sympathy on this villain. According to the essay, we take sympathy on villains because part of the reason they become the bad guy is because early on during their life, they lost out whether it was being a failed rebel or a life altering experience of losing something or someone. For example, Darth Vader is a prime example of losing his mother altered his internal struggle with other conflicts that lead to his developed hatred, eventually turning him evil. In the dystopian theme, the majority of themes include control, manipulative villains who might be bigger than one person, still maintain many universal character traits that we can assimilate our love/hate relationship with the bad guy.

THX 1138

In his much needed directing debut, the master creator of Star Wars George Lucas, revealed one of his many cultural significant films. In THX 1138, the future society is in complete totalitarianism. Much like 1984, the idea of free thought is taken away but it is free will that is the prime focused theme of this dystopia. In THX 1138, many human practices have been outlawed including sexual intercourse and yet citizens of this society are subjected to daily drug inducing which results are usually mind altering. The film itself lacked luster from the characters (with the exception of Robert Duvall) because they all have shaved heads and wear similar clothing, however the cinematography with use of lights and color in the picture added a another level of depth and intrigue to really bring out the image of the dystopian theme. The scene that stood out to me the most is was obviously the ending. I found that as Robert Duvall is trying to escape, the police try to talk him out of escaping by saying that “you have nowhere to go” which sort of makes a parallel to 1984 with the opening scene in the theater. The parallel is how the authority is trying to manipulate its people into giving up their will and in THX 1138, the police are trying to prevent Robert Duvalls character from escaping thus empowering his freedom. When he finally climbs to freedom, he discovers that the city is actually underground and he was actually living in the real world for once. The ending brought the entire film together and brought back one of the greatest philosophers of all time, Plato and his “Allegory of the Cave”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2afuTvUzBQ

the "Allegory of the Cave" in simple form is that people are chained in the bottom of cave and are forced to watch a wall of shadows of images. The theory goes that once someone unchained or freed themselves, they could see the puppeteers who display the images and then escape the cave. Upon leaving the cave, the prisoner discovers the real world and is able to see the life for what it really was instead of someone telling them what to believe. It is clear that Lucas got his influence to create the film form Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave". I find that Platos theory has been one of, if not, the greatest theory that has inspired film makers to use the theme of unshackle yourself from the cuffs of oppression and see the world for what it really is.

1984

George Orwell was a master at being able to use his literature's great metaphors to predict what he saw the future of not just America, but the world as well. He often tried to predict what might become of future civilizations and what the reality of governing societies during his time were really trying to do. In 1984, the film opens with the people at the Ministry of Truth watching a daily segment intently in a movie theater about the Oceania's biggest enemies and threats. Right off the bat, the theme and practice of propaganda and brain washing to assure Big Brother that its people have no free thought and the extent of intellect is strictly limited to what they want them to know. Because of the films powerful message, the crowd becomes more and more excited and even aggressive when Julia throws an object at the screen. While the crowd is blindly falling for this mind control tactic, Winston Smith looks on in disgust while trying to keep his true feelings of resentment, anger and loathing  for Big Brother a secret. Winston is the only one in the crowd who does not get sucked into the daily film like everyone else does. Because the government is a totalitarian state, Big Brother makes its people watch the film everyday. The biggest reasoning is that when one walks ever morning, how the beginning of their morning happens can shape how they feel, think and act throughout the entirety of a single day. By showing a daily brainwashing film seminar, Oceania's totalitarians government can be reassured that its workers are going to obey everything they want to institute. The conformation of this practice happens when the film seminar is over and they all make an X in the air, saluting their flag (along with saluting the goodbye of their individuality). Winston works for the Ministry of truth in a small, confining cubicle helping them write about information but mostly history because most knowledge is based off the truth of the past. The old saying and cliche is "History is written by those who survive it" and by using history or information, Big Brother can control people even more by making it seem that Oceania is the good guys while everyone else is evil. On a side note without trying to create controversy, the first 20 minute of the film can really make you question everything that's been recorded in archives of world history ranging in all topics, making one wonder how much of historical events are actually accurate with what really happened. Winston manages to see past the face value of the film and Big Brother and chooses to have free thought by writing his thoughts in a journal which is strictly against everything that Big Brother and Oceania are trying to promote. Free thought is always a key theme in Dystopia films because future governing bodies are always trying to prevent free thought. Combine the idea of history's cliche of those who survive it, write it and government trying to prevent free thought, it makes most question the authority and media of today's societies around the world.

On Dystopia

The term "Dystopia" has become a critical and significant not just in the film world, but has become a topic of controversial discussion in society and culture. There have been tons of books and movies that have helped shape our own perception of what a future dystopia might become. Ever since the 1950s, post apocalyptic genres have become more and more popular while the premise and image of the films have become more and more believable. Both Fahrenheit 451 and Soylent Green give shining exampoles of how government corruption can reach a tolitarian liek state and destroy the very structure society has built leading to the creation of realistic nightmare future. Booker touched on how at the turn of the 21st century, most Western Civilizations began to rapidly change and not for the better. In both Fahrenheit 451 and Soylent Green, each civilizations changed so rapidly that their world spiraled out of control and lead to the living hellish, post apocalyptic world.

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 has been legendary in opening up societies eyes to the true nature of an unfree, nightmarish future. Fahrenheit 451 uses perfect symbolism of what dystopia future is supposed to resemble  as the in the future after the year 1960, the people are forced to listen to the radio with any and all books must be burned by fireman. The use of symbolism through the “firemen” parallels the actions and attitude of many historically oppression based groups including the Hitler’s Nazis in Germany and the Red Scare during the McCarthy era in the 1950s. In the 1950s, the Red Scare was fear campaign created by the United States government to scare civilians into believing that the spread of communism from Russia would reach the US. Because America was in the middle of the Cold War, many people were easily convinced of fearing their own neighbor because they might be a communist. Although the two groups were not necessarily the same in their actions, their intentions of trying to use intimidation, propaganda and controlled information to maneuver their society’s into not questioning the governing bodies’ intent. For example, the opening of the film shows numerous types of antennas staged on different buildings to portray a clear metaphor of the government having a massive overreach of trying to control its civilians through different forms of technology. Following the antenna’s, the firemen show up to a man’s apartment and begin to strip search the place for the books. After they discover the books in the ceiling light, mini bar, radiator and television, they gather them all and then proceed to burn them. Ironically, in normal society, firemen are supposed to put fires out and save people but in Fahrenheit 451, the firemen are ordered to burn books and endanger the civilians for trying to have free thought.  As mentioned before, this tactic can be compared to the Nazis of Germany doing search and seize of home homes mixed with the McCarthy era of FBI agents searching peoples home that were suspected of being  a communist. During the duration of the film, the use of books is clearly to symbolize the idea of information or any form of intelligence other than what the government wants you to know. In Fahrenheit 451, the idea of the firemen is to try to control any thought outside of what society told them to believe. People are controlled like sheep and do as they are told. Much like the Russian revolution, the people are willing to believe anything they are told except for the few who try to hide their books (and free will) from the firemen. A great example of how much some people believed in having free will so bad was the woman who opposed her books being burned so bad that she set herself and the books on fire. I believe that this was to articulate the message that she was willing to die not just for what she believed in but was willing to die having free thought and with her books (or the information she had attained from reading them). I believe this scene is critical for the old cliché of dying free rather than living in slavery.

 In Soylent Green, much like Fahrenheit 451, the people have become suppressed by the relentless grip of the government on its people. With unemployment at a sky rocket record and the homeless population at an all time high and the very rich are hidden away from the poor. It seems that in every Dystopia or Post Apocalyptic themed film always has the exposure of total government control. With more government mandates and overreach, every civilizations falls into a state of anarchy except instead of no government, the government is the enemy.