As a unique ideal country in human history, the United States was originally founded by a group of Puritans full of dreams. After entering the modern era, the United States has become the only source of human dreams and turned this dream into a commodity. This is the movie. Today, Hollywood has become the biggest dream factory of mankind. As a wonderful commodity, the value of dreams even exceeds that of arms and other daily necessities.
"The World Against the World" and "Elysium" are the two most imaginative films launched in Hollywood this year. These two utopian films predict the danger of polarization in the future of mankind. Compared with the division of religion and ethnicity, wealth will become the most terrifying factor tearing apart human society. At that time, the poor will become poorer and richer, and the rich will become richer and richer, eventually forming a human society split into two halves. Some people enjoy a rich and comfortable life, while more people are living in poverty and unable to extricate themselves. .
"The World Against the World" draws on the story of Romeo and Juliet, trying to use love to save this class division, which also enveloped the whole movie with a hazy poetry. In contrast, "Elysium Space" is much more cruel, because of this cruelty and violence, "Elysium Space" is also more thorough and critical, and even closer to reality, completely turning the future into a nightmare that cannot be awakened. . In fact, as the director of "The Ninth District", this film by Neil Blomkamp is to a certain extent an enlargement of the "Ninth District".
The movie sets the time in 2159, 150 years after the present. At that time, science and technology were more advanced, so that human beings created a perfect living space in outer space-the space of bliss. As the price of science and technology, the heavily polluted earth is no longer suitable for human habitation, but most people still live on the earth. They are all poor people who have lost their citizenship and can only rely on government charity and relief to survive. The film was filmed in slums in Mexico and other places. The so-called poor people mean poor living conditions, enough food and no medical insurance. Because of the advancement of technology, all jobs are done by robots, so people have lost their jobs and their source of livelihood. Technological progress has caused people to fall into poverty, which is also one of the paradoxes of technology.
The advancement of technology is fully reflected in the way the country governs. In this future society, the country has been completely machined, and a large number of robots are responsible for social governance in the country. In front of the country, every poor person without citizenship is a potential enemy. Both the police and ordinary civil servants are served by cold and highly intelligent robots. At the same time, each person's body is implanted with an identity coding system. With the help of powerful robots, the state monitors and controls everyone around the clock. Those brave and invincible robots can arrest and destroy "enemies" that threaten national security anytime and anywhere.
In such a world where no work is needed, the only job is to make robots for work. Max (played by Matt Damon) was lucky to find an assembly line job in the robot factory, but unfortunately, because of an equipment failure, he was severely irradiated and Max’s body suffered disease and he could only live another 5 days. At the same time, he and his childhood sweetheart have a daughter who is suffering from leukemia and is in urgent need of medical treatment.
In fact, the medical technology at that time was already very advanced. As long as the brain did not die, the treatment equipment could instantly restore health. In Bliss Space, these medical equipment are almost essential daily necessities for every family, but the poor on earth have no right to enjoy these medical technologies and equipment. Some poor people ventured across space and came to the bliss space in order to treat their family members, but were killed as gangsters.
In order to survive, Max decided to venture into the bliss space. As a price, he participated in a revolutionary operation through space. At the same time, Elysium is undergoing a court coup, and Della Coot (Judy Foster), who controls the robot army, teamed up with robot manufacturers to subvert the moderate president. Max successfully obtained the original robot program from the brain of the robot manufacturer. Just as the country launched a crackdown on the poor, Max rewritten all the robot's programs at the cost of his own life. According to the new procedure, both the poor and the rich enjoy equal citizenship rights. Robots no longer only defend the rich but suppress the poor. Every once cruel and terrifying robot becomes the guardian of justice.
The success of "District Nine" is not only the selling point of its commercial action film, but also has a lot to do with its critical spirit of reality. Movies are the mirror image of reality. Director Neil Blomkamp is very good at combining dreams with reality, business and culture seamlessly. In "Elysium Space", the poor live an extremely miserable and desperate life in hell, while the rich live in a dreamlike paradise; for the poor, their greatest desire for the blissful space turns out to be fresh Air, clean water, and medical treatment without the slightest difficulty.
Since the day it was born, science has run counter to religion. Science can serve society, but it is more likely to be used by the state, making the state the Leviathan that governs the society. In the movie "Elysium", the country is a machine controlled by one hand. All poor people without citizenship are ruled by robots, and robots are the masters of human beings; on the contrary, rich people with citizenship live in bliss, where robots are human slaves. The same robot, because of different programs, plays different roles as angels and demons.
Marcuse criticized in "One-dimensional Man" that in the contemporary background of the development of machine industrialization, technological rationality has become the main force that dominates society. The biggest perplexity of human civilization is that technological progress does not necessarily lead to the advancement of civilization. Science and technology are neutral, which may benefit mankind or help others. Human nature has both a good side and an evil side; for the evil person, the advancement of technology will give him a more terrible impulse to do evil.
As the craziest invention of mankind, the country is also just a machine; this machine can create a heaven or a region. The only difference lies in its program system, which is software. The difference between country and country lies in the difference in software. Whether totalitarian or democratic, it is actually just a kind of software.
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