Brave New World

Brave New World, based on the book by Aldous Huxley, describes what could possibly be interpreted as a utopic society where everyone's desires are fulfilled and inconveniences are non-existent. The book and telemovie are set in London in 2540 AD, or 632 AF (After Ford). Characteristics of the society are a stable population, where children are created by chemicals and machines rather than mothers and fathers, a caste system where each person is conditioned to be contented with their social strata, recreational sex is encouraged and the norm whereas family ideas and monogamy are forbidden, each person takes a daily rationing of soma which reduces all their emotional needs, and being alone with ones self is forbidden - only sociability is allowed. However, the cracks within this seemingly perfect social structure are revealed when an outsider gains access. Living in tandem with these "advanced" societies are the Savage Reservations, where life does not rely on drug-induced satisfaction and social norms more closely reflect our conditions today except for their tendency towards self-mutilation and cult religions. It is an interesting point of discussion in the story as to which of these is the utopia and which is the dystopia - neither is without issue and the very simultaneity of their existence perhaps underlines the ways to go before true societal perfection can be achieved.  

Motifs: Humans in uniform vs. humans in cloth and hide, Futuristic buildings and architecture, Rubble, Wild and hostile landscape

Children of Men

Children of Men is set in the year 2027, a new world where women have become infertile and science has failed to discover the reason. Illegal immigrants seek sanctity in the UK, but are rounded up like cattle and forced into the squalor and danger of refugee camps. The protagonist, Theo, works an unfulfilling office job in a constant state of misery, but due to a series of events finds himself reluctantly escorting a pregnant West African refugee, perhaps the only pregnancy after two decades, to escape to the sanctity of the elusive and almost mythical Human Project. The film is dystopic in the sense of there being an oppressive political regime in place with violence and depravity wide spread amongst the people. It is an interesting exploration of a possible future where the collapse of mankind is imminent and known consciously by all people, so questions what we have to live for in that context and how or even if we can retain our humanity. It asks if there is the possibility of hope in the face of overwhelming futility and despair. I really enjoyed the film for its wide and continuos single-take shots, conveying a sense of scale and magnitude just as successfully as the scenes depicted by the Romantic painters but in a contemporary sense.

Motifs: monochromatic palette, fog/smog, flames, graffiti, rubble, helicopters, cars, monolithic structures, fencing/barbed wire, guns, trees