Week 2 - Dystopian Scifi

Minority Report 

Minority Report is a drama film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel of the same name by author Philip K. Dick. The film's strongest element is the theme of free will, fate, and how it collides. Our protagonist, Captain John Anderton is the chief of PreCrime in Washington D.C. PreCrime is a police force that tries to stop crimes before they happen by operating Precogs, special humans with precognitive abilities. When one of the Precogs predicts Anderton murdering a man by the name of Leo Crow, even though Anderton has never met anyone by that name, he flees the scene. Anderton believes he is being framed and decides to visit Dr. Iris Hineman, the creator of PreCrime. She explains how one of the Precogs, Agatha, does not have the same visions as the other Precogs, which tells Anderton how the system isn’t always right when it predicts crimes. Anderton must now go back in time to kidnap, Agatha, in order to prove his innocence. A previous film that you can compare “Minority Report” it to is, Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” as both films take place in futuristic, dystopian societies, with misguided means of fighting crime through the use of advance technology by manipulating man's free will. Minority Report deals with the elements of free will and its compromise by also manipulating time itself.  This is what brings the theme of fate into the conversation.  It explores the idea that we can see into the future to apprehend a criminal before he or she has the opportunity to carry out a crime, regardless of any preconceived intentions. This is why fate comes into play.  If someone is captured for committing a crime that he or she has not even thought of committing, was he or she truly and utterly capable of having a change of heart before pulling the trigger if things were left unaffected?  This also brings into question the fundamental principle that governs the justice system:  Innocent until proven guilty.

The question is, how can someone be convicted of guilt when they never have the opportunity to become guilty?  Sure one can argue that the ends justify the means, but then one can wonder the dangers if such a system were actually implemented. One can ultimately conclude from such a scenario that laws exist to protect the decent man, even at the expense of convenience in pursuing criminals. What I really liked about “Minority Report” is how it brings so many possibilities of how someone can catch a crime that you would expect to be loopholes in the storyline but there’s not. Despite its complexity, “Minority Report” goes down as genuine, creative, dystopia sci-fi film.

The Handmaid's Tale

“The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in a dystopian world of Gilead, where woman are used for reproduction purposes and those who are fertile can only bear children for the elite class that controls them. The story focuses on the protagonist, Kate, who tried to escape by crossing the border but was instead caught and brought back to the harsh, controlling environment of her society. The story focuses on the unbearable conditions these poor woman go through and unfolds the underlying themes such as love, marriage and identity throughout the film. These women are being treated like livestock and they cannot express themselves freely because of the society they are in. Love is dangerous and can only be thought of as a memory. The recollection of things past is the only thing love stands for. The Republic of Gilead forbids love and does not allow handmaidens to marry as it is forbidden. Although it considers marriage to be sacred, it’s not honorable as it is in today’s society. Our heroine, Kate, abides to these rules but still preserves her identity by desperately wanting her old life back. She is assigned to be the handmaiden of the Commander of Gilead and his wife Serena Joy is renamed “Offred”. Most of the woman and men of higher status are sterile and Serena tries to break the law by having “Offred” be impregnated by a man named Nick, the commanders driver, in order for her to have a baby. In return, Kate will be spared. There is also a growing, secret resistance, to fight the oppressive society these woman are kept in. Kate finds out Nick is apart of that and Kate decides to flee with some of the resistance soldiers after killing the Commander. She still keeps the baby and unfortunately left Nick behind.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” is an interesting concept but I wasn’t as into it as I was with the other two films. The storyline did not make me think of it as a dystopian society until it brought up the question how society today perceives woman. Many women are just seen as stay at home moms who clean, cook, and take care of their children. They perceived only to be beautiful with no regards that they are also intelligent too. Our heroine is able to break those boundaries, fight for her freedom and not be subjected to what society wants her to be. As Margaret Atwood, the author of the book that inspired the movie, stated in her novel, "It's a study of power, and how it operates and how it deforms or shapes the people who are living within that kind of regime" Not all the contents in the book were found in the movie, however, I understand it’s not possible to add everything in. I know the movie pertains to a specific audience in mind but adding additional content would have made the film a lot more exciting to watch. 

Fight Club 

“Fight Club” is one of my all time favorite movies. Directed by David Fincer, it was based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The movie begins with a narration from our protagonist, Edward Norton, plays an officer worker who is also an insomniac with low self-esteem. He finds relief for himself by joining support groups. His life is depressing and filled with consumer items such as Starbucks lattes and buying himself the next available items at Ikea. He is so consumed in his daily routine that he’s forgotten how to live. When newcomer, Marla Singer, starts to appear in his support groups, the protagonist starts to perceive her as a bad omen, which begins to make his life all miserable again. Insomina strikes again, even when he is being flown in and out of different airports on business trips. Our lonely protagonist meets with Tyler Durden, an uplifting, carefree businessman who makes soap for a living. Tyler Durden is everything Edward Norton’s character is not. He is the complete opposite and this newfound friendship gives the protagonist a different perspective on life. After having a couple of pitchers of beer, Tyler Durden and the protagonist live up their carefree lives by deciding to fight with one another. They soon form a crowd of people and fight with one another. The fighting creates a new life for the protagonist as he starts to loosen up. As the protagonist and Tyler Durden move in together, they also create an underground fight club as a way to continue their fighting away from the streets and in a basement where they can't get caught.

However, the protagonist realizes the fight club is becoming more of a cult and less about a group of people wanting to fight each other. It becomes a way of life, away from the materialistic, consumer world in which we live by and more about the concerns of what people want. Trying to separate oneself from society and bending to your own rules that you create. The protagonist sees how the club grows away from fighting each other as it begins to expand into what we consider “terrorist” activities. The club begins recruiting members  and soon as they begin planting explosives in order to send their message across. The protagonist tries to stop it, however, he can’t seem to find Tyler Durden and everyone is calling him Tyler Durden. The twist is that our protagonist really was Tyler Durden all long. What I really found interesting about this movie was how Tyler Durden and the protagonist was the same person. It completely caught me by surprise. This film shows the brilliance and the madness behind one person and their struggle to fight the demons in himself to feel better again.