Week 1

1984

George Orwell’s “1984” is a drama film based upon the novel of the same name by acclaimed author, George Orwell. The films tells the story of Winston Smith who lives the typical life of a citizen in the super state, Oceana, a country run by a brutal, totalitarian government.  Over the course of the film, he meets and falls in love with Julia, another typical citizen, only they have an affair and discuss political ideas that are treacherous and rebellious to the State.  They question the morality and the legitimacy of their government, their preconceived conception of the world, and how the government distorts the truth in order to preserve power.  By the end of the film, they are both apprehended by the authorities and are tortured for committing “thought crimes” and are ultimately rehabilitated to accept the authority of the State.  The film ends as Winston sincerely and heartily declares his love for Big Brother.  The film contains many themes that stem from the brilliant writing of Orwell’s novel.  

The film explores the ideas that the compromising of the truth can lead to the three following principles: war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.  War is peace is the idea that the totalitarian State of Oceana can maintain peace within in its homeland territory if it can successfully distort the truth and convince the people that an exterior enemy can only be defeated in the name of preserving their safety if they unite together and support their government.  This is an idea that Winston and Julia question together when they read the book supposedly written by the rebels.  The notion that freedom is slavery can mean that when the people are left to believe they are “free” when in reality the only freedom they think they have is what the government has granted them, then they are actually slaves, because it should be for the people to give the government such opportunities.  Winston and Julia realize this when they acknowledge the lengths they must go just so they can have their harmless affair.  Finally ignorance is strength may be the most significant source of power for the state because if the people are completely consumed by ignorance, how are they expected to pose any challenges to those who oppress them?  The State knows this and not only endorses such ignorance of the people, it encourages and perpetuates such vices, thus securing their power for yet another generation. Winston and Julia come to this understanding when it is too late they are ultimately apprehended by the thought police because of the tele-screen that was in their room all along.  The ultimate irony of the story is that while Winston and Julia were becoming educated of the greater questions that could have possibly led to their freedom, they were doomed by the ignorance of their very close surroundings.

However, the film is very different from that of the book.  In the book there is a strong indication that Winston was killed, not only a broken man, but a sincere “patriot” of the State.  The film ends with Winston simply declaring his love of Big Brother, removing any trace of the much darker tragedy that plagues the books ending.  While one could argue that it was subtleties that the filmmaker was striving for, it can not be refuted that the removal of such imagery completely diminishes the power of such an ending.  And ending so bold that it would be tough for any viewer to walk away with the same “ignorance.”

THX1138

THX1138 is set in a dystopian world where society is controlled by police android officers and citizens are forced to take mind altering drugs. The story focuses on the protagonist, THX1138, who works in an operating cell building police androids. He shares a room with his roommate, LUH 3417, who works at a control center keeping surveillance over the city. THX has been having difficulties maintaining his focus at work and takes more of the usual dose of drugs. He is less focused on his work and this drug imbalance becomes is more of a federal offence if one is caught. As THX passes out in front of his roommate, LUH, his roommate has also taken sedatives from THX medicine cabinet. THX and LUH both break the law as they begin to feel for one another. Emotion is another offence in society and the two break it by having sex. The drugs cause THX to not be able to concentrate at work and soon he is taken away to a detention center as he awaits a trial for breaking the law. However, he manages to escape the scene but realizes his route takes him into an unknown world that looks like our present day society. He has a moment of realization of what appears before him, as if the world he was living in was not real to begin with.

“THX1138” is a really well thought out movie but it was very difficult to follow. I had to re-watch many scenes just to understand what was going on in the film. Many of the themes associated with “THX1138” is the loss of individuality and how the growth of technology has become mankind’s imminent doom. Technology is what controls everything and as this movie was released in 1971, many people’s fears about the increase usage and rise of technology could have been what inspired George Lucas to make this film. Society in “THX1138” exists where consumerism means nothing and religion is going into a booth and praying, as a tape recorder repeats the same message to reassure that everything is going to be fine. Even the TV has 3 useless channels that doesn’t make sense to the viewer, one of them containing a person speaking about nothing but trying to convey a meaning to the viewer. This dystopia really examines how a tight, closed and controlled society, does not always prevail. The people’s yearning to break free is not revealed unless the protagonist accidentally or willingly breaks the law. It’s as if the fate of society rests on the shoulders of the protagonist to see if he can change the laws to be fair again. “THX1138” like “1984” both have a society where heavy surveillance and monitoring accidentally creates the individual to break free from this vicious cycle. What I thought was interesting to see was how drugs, sex and any form of emotion is forbidden. If the government wanted no revolts or retaliation, there is no need to take the liberties to make humans feel free, therefore there is no suspicion that they would try and revolt.

Soylent Green

“Soylent Green” is directed by Richard Fleischer and based on Harry Harrisons novel, “Make Room! Make Room!”. The year is 2022 and New York City has become over populated as fewer jobs, depleted resources and food have become scarce. Due to the dangerous effects of greenhouse gases, earth is slowly reaching the stage of becoming uninhabitable. The population survives on rations called “Soylent Green” to survive. Soylent Green is a product from Soylent Corporations and this food item is said to give a high value of energy to its consumers. The story focuses on detective Frank Thorn, played by Charlton Heston, and his partner Solomon Roth. Solomon is able to remember a time when the world wasn’t heavily polluted and often advises Frank as he helps him with his crimes.

This movie was interesting because it shows what people will do if the world suddenly has limited resources to offer. However, I found it to drag on a bit too much and found myself wanting the movie to speed up. What was an unexpected twist was how “Soylent Green” was actually just recycled dead humans being fed to the consumer. It shows what people are willing to do in order to survive. It also brings the question, is this what mankind would do if our resources will diminish? Would we really eat one another? “Soylent Green” brings many questions into mind. Did Soylent Corporations try to dominate people into buying their products by accidentally destroying the earth itself? Was this just a ploy into achieving more capitalism? The environmental catastrophes that occurred in these films seem to be the result of how greed and capitalism brought the downfall of society. Now they have to rely on one corporation, whose food supply is just basically recycled humans. Our protagonist, Thorn, undergoes some problematic questions whether it is right to help the people rioting because they are hungry or serving the police department in quelling the riots. In one scene, Thorn has to use “scoopers” a large machine that scoops up people and are dumped into receptacles. It doesn’t seem right that because of the overpopulation, one has to treat people like livestock.

This film is really important because it shows what can happen to the world if it were suddenly destroyed by mankind’s desire to become greedy. Therefore it teaches many lessons on why we should take care of the earth. The film shows how the environmental degradation and increase capitalism brought the downfall of humanity. This resorted people to take the necessary precautions in order to save what is left of humanity.