Blog Post- Control

Control. We as humans are obsessed with it. We want to control our pets, our children, and even each other. Although dictatorships and control freaks are looked down upon, there is no doubt in my mind that most of the population would seize the opportunity to have the power to be in charge, to be in control of others. In our time, we might never know what it is like to be controlled, to be primed. This is why we have movies that speculate this idea, that takes the viewer on a ride to a different alternative dimension.

 

The movie, I Robot, robots have taken positions of being public servants to humans. The main character, Del Spooner, seems like the only person who despises these robots, due to an incident in his past. When investigating the death of a scientist (the one who created the robots), Spooner’s hypothesis is that the scientist was murdered by a robot due to the strange crime scene. Not to get too much into it, he saves the human race from being enslaved by robot. This movie about control is really what could have happened. However, I came to a realization that we aren’t so far from being enslaved by technology. Our phones, for instance have taken control of our lives. I, like many others, am guilty of my addiction. An example of control by our phones comes with the new iOS 10 update. The “bedtime” feature essentially asks you how much sleep you want, and when you generally go to bed and when you want to wake up. Then it constructs a bedtime for you. My bedtime is 12:30 and I wake up at 7:30, according to my phone. When I really thought about it, I hated the concept that my phone will ring to tell me to go to sleep. I immediately turned off the feature, disgusted with myself. While reading The Circle, I slowly found myself being more aware of how I use technology and started putting down my phone when I did not need to use it.

 

Dictatorships like North Korea, see a group of people controlled by one person. In Mad Max: Fury Road, the people in the movie are controlled by Immortan Joe. He has control of water in what is basically a desert. He also has brain washed people into being loyal to him, to the point where they kill themselves to reach “Valhalla” which is their idea of heaven. The ideologies present in this movie are loyalty, control, and rebellion. By controlling access to water, an essential need for life, Immortan controlled everybody, not just their actions, but their thoughts. Kids born into this world knew one thing-  to live is to obey Immortan because he has the water. The viewer watching this movie gets an impression about the dictatorship that is evil and primes them to not like single controlling leaders. This is a great example of what society can look like in the future when water eventually becomes a scarce resource. This movie is close to the truth about our future as human beings, in my opinions. Except, we might see it more with corporate control rather than a single man.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *