Most dystopian films draw from some type of idea or concept that exists in reality, and stretch it to a fictional extreme. As science and technology grow faster and faster by the year, the techniques used in this movie become less and less of a fictional extreme. As the science of neurology begins to understand the brain better, we might not be too far off from actually being able to monitor and visualize the thoughts or sights of a person based purely off of their brain activity. In this sense, the movie pulls from a realm of absolute possibility.
So where do the dystopian themes come in? Firstly, in any dystopian film, the public must be controlled into thinking something, or believing something, under the direct order of the elite or ruling class. This is usually done through some sort of propaganda, and such is the case in Minority Report. The Precrime division does everything in it's power to convince the citizens that it is the way of the future, a flawless way to keep them safe and protected. As this movie is a dystopian film, this is of course not the case. When dealing with matters of this magnitude, and mistake or discrepancy is monumental. As depicted above, there are three pre-cogs who work in conjunction to produce the visions necessary to fuel the Precrime division. When they do not agree on something, this is what causes the film's namesake, a minority report. With this type of situation even being a possibility, it shows a fault in the system, and it cannot be trusted with absolute certainty. Beyond these happenings, there is an even more serious issue with the precrime system, and that is that it can be beaten. Even though the availability of Precrime is used to portray a perfect utopian world, where violent crimes are no longer existent, the director of the department himself, Lamar Burgess, abused the system to commit murder. Oddly enough, he did so to actually save the Precrime system itself. Burgess killed Ann Lively, the pre-cogs mother, in order to gain back custody and continue their position in the Precrime system. Even the film's protagonist, who is also supposed to be the picture of justice and safety, uses illegal drugs, and is eventually himself predicted of killing a man. It's through his eyes (eyes being a very common theme in this film) that we slowly start to see the flaws in this system, tipping the balance from utopia to dystopia.
The premise of Children Of Men is somewhat similar to last weeks film The Handmaid's Tale in that it's based around fertility issues. However, in Children of Men, things are much more serious. The entire world has gone sterile, and when the movie begins, not a single child had been bored in the previous 18 years. Right away, this is not the typical set up for a dystopian society. In the film, the scientists of the world are unable to explain why the world has gone sterile. The first dystopian domino that fell was not pushed by any one person or organization, nor totalitarian government. It apparently fell on it's own, without the assistance of any outside causes. This is a creative set up for a dystopian story because society did not manufacture it's own circumstances. Civilization did not construct it's own dire situation using science, or technology, or military prowess. Instead, Children of Men shows a reactionary situation, in which the world must adapt to happenstance that's out of it's control. In most cities around the world, chaos reigns. Britain is supposedly the last viable city standing, and as such, people from all over the rest of the world want in, and they want it bad. Obviously Britain cannot accommodate the world's population, so this is what sets the stage for the dystopian-esque government to arise. People trying desperately to enter Britain are held in cages, and are treated like subhuman creatures.
The inability to conceive children has had a profound effect on society, and it's very intriguing to see how this is portrayed in Children of Men. When watching this film, I considered how this would effect every aspect of human existence. The entire education system would become useless, leaving all people employed at elementary, middle, and high schools without jobs (principles, teachers, assistants, even janitors). Babysitters, Nannys, and day-cares would no longer be necessary. Children's books and television would no longer be produced. Almost every facet of the global economy would be directly effected. Displayed more in the movie are the psychological effects. It seems the main the thing that disappeared shortly after the children did was hope. Without the continuance of the human race, people began to lose faith in the future altogether. If after the current generation of people are gone, there will be nobody left on the planet, what point is there to anything anymore? It's an incredibly heavy issue that you can see weigh down on the characters of the film in many different ways. You can also see how strong of an effect the sound of a crying infant had on people who were literally in the middle of a gunfight killing each other, as they all stopped and listened in unison. Our senses are directly tied to our memories, and it was apparent that hearing that child cry brought each person on that battlefield to a special place in their minds, so much so that the gunfire was halted until Kee and Theo had completely cleared the building. After a very dark a grim movie without giving the viewer a whole lot to go on in the way of optimism, that's what we are left with, the cries of a newborn child.
No comments:
Post a Comment