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serenissimaFive facts about me Alex Trebek could use to introduce me:
Why do we have so many stories about preventing a threat of turning people into helplessly obedient sheep? That plot point of "Serenity" reminded me of another movie, of which I saw the tail end, in which a society is kept drugged so they don't feel emotions. I can't remember the name of the movie or the main character, but he was a representative of the quasi-religious totalitarian authority who turned to the resistance and ended up destroying the authority with gunfire and martial arts, in a scene that seemed to me ripped off from "The Matrix," except that he was dressed all in white instead of black. "The Matrix" had the theme of allowing people free will, too, although there were others. I'm sure I could think of more if I took the time.
Edited To Add: I was thinking of "Equilibrium."
- I once got trapped inside my own apartment.
- I'm beginning to learn how to rollerblade. I've figured out how to go, but not how to stop.
- While on a family vacation, I was once "targeted" by a sea gull.
- I like to register my dollar bills on WheresGeorge.com.
- I don't watch television.
Why do we have so many stories about preventing a threat of turning people into helplessly obedient sheep? That plot point of "Serenity" reminded me of another movie, of which I saw the tail end, in which a society is kept drugged so they don't feel emotions. I can't remember the name of the movie or the main character, but he was a representative of the quasi-religious totalitarian authority who turned to the resistance and ended up destroying the authority with gunfire and martial arts, in a scene that seemed to me ripped off from "The Matrix," except that he was dressed all in white instead of black. "The Matrix" had the theme of allowing people free will, too, although there were others. I'm sure I could think of more if I took the time.
Edited To Add: I was thinking of "Equilibrium."
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Date: 2005-10-09 02:05 pm (UTC)It's just a new spin on an old story that used to be framed more along the lines of Gilgamesh and Inkidu; the difference now is that civilzation is everwhere, and what will the kings do to you next, and how do you -keep- them from becoming immortal?
The forties showed us the grim reality of ultranationalism's impact upon a shrinking world. Not just Hitler and Stalin, either. Consider, won't you, our own war against independent thinking in the fifties and sixties, and--whether or not you consider the threat of the USSR to be sufficient justification--it is a war that, largely, has been won by the market thanks to careful policy decisions.
There aren't many dangerous thoughts anymore, outside weblogs and prisons and those troublesome foreign countries!
While the "totalitarian empire that wants your mind and soul" is, of course, an oversimplification. Many people vie for those all day, every day, and not just religious leaders, marketing execs, and politicos. Whether you are sent to a re-education camp or fed sound bites by the Associated Press until you believe them, the effect is the same: a shrinking sphere of personal control in a society where the media, the marketplace, and the meddlers at the think tanks are carving up your brain.
Or they're just worried about Hitler and strapped for ideas, because this isn't just the modern take on civil versus barbarian, which, let's face it, is a stretch even from Jung and Campbell.
You know, whatever.