Near the beginning of the semester, our discussion focused
on technology’s role, and whether or not a Utopia was possible (with or without
technology). As time has progressed and
technology has evolved, so have the rulebooks associated with it. New technological intricacies have been a
boon for fine print, litigation, paperwork, etc. This problem is nothing new, and was explored
brilliantly in the film Brazil (1985). This film is best summed up as “George Orwell
meets Monty Python.” Basically, humanity
has become so heavily bureaucratized that only the most foolhardy and incompetent
people are willing to legally work (many of whom are employed by “Central
Services.”) The following scene does a
great job of showing just how bad things have gotten.
You know things have gone downhill when even the heating and
cooling guys have gone rogue. This
battle between the buffoonish authority figures and their minions, and the competent
“terrorists” continues on throughout the film.
The parallels with earlier works, such as Modern Times, are quickly
evident. Having two films made 50 years
apart still depict the same issue so well speaks volumes about the
philosophical significance of matters concerning technological utopia.
When you mentioned Modern Times it got me to thinking about quite the opposite effect. I think that by having two movies over fifty years apart depicting similar problems we could say that perhaps both then and now we are over-dramatizing the problem. After all here we are in the "future" as it where and we are still not in the nightmarish scenario so often depicted in film. You might argue that because these films warn of impending disaster we have averted them, but i suspect it is much more likely that it was never that problematic to begin with.
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