Distopian Film

A typical dystopian film illustrates a functional society portrayed in the existing future when life is not only unpleasant and frightening; it resembles characteristics of the current time period. These characteristics are often taken to the extreme with the intention of critiquing present political and technological influences. In an excerpt titled, "Technology and Politics in the Blade Runner Dystopia," the author, Judith Kerman, discusses the relationships between Blade Runners' (1982) "implicit political critique and the technologies which it presents as a typical of and central to the story."

(Kerman,) This critique is also evident throughout other dystopian films such as Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Matrix (1999).

There are three main themes that are apparent in all three movies; the evident hierarchy structure of society where upper, middle and lower class are definite and for the most part, unchallenged, a strict conformity among citizens of what is real with the general assumption that individuality is unacceptable and lastly, the questioning by the protagonist of what is real and what is not from the confusion caused by the advanced technology in society. These three themes are explored in each of the films based on the fact that these films central idea was to criticize the societys' heavy absorption of technology and political control.

In all three movies it is evident that there is a hierarchy societal structure where the upper, middle and lower classes are definite and these roles are often accepted in response to the strict political influence the government. The government is usually corrupt and creates or continues to promote the poor quality of life, which conditions the masses to believe the society is normal and just.

In Blade Runner, the hierarchy is clearly displayed through the police force and the large corporations, notably The Tyrell Corporation control the society and keep the social classes distinct. The police function as parliamentary and are consistently seen through the scenes of the film as police cars constantly whiz by. A section of the police force are the Bladerunners'; whose job is to kill replicates which are life-like humanoid models created for slaves to explore off world colonies. In the opening scene of the film a bladerunner is interviewing a fugitive replicant Leon, through administering an empathy test to determine whether he is a replicant. The bladerunner has the ultimate power to decide whether he will let him live or 'retire' (execute) him based on the results of the replicant determinant test. When having this type of power, great authority is apparent placing police on the top of the hierarchy structure.

Along at the top is the Tyrell Corporation; the manufacturer of the replicants. This corporation posses the means and the intelligence to produce artificial animals and humans possessing the desired qualities- loyalty, love, patriotism. With a built in life span the corporations and police use them to perform slave-like duties then after four years are expired leaving the corporations little to worry about, or so they think. The Tyrell Corporation plays God by creating life with the intention of expiring them a few years later. The large corporations as well as the police force are at the top of the hierarchy structure while the people left on the earth are middle class and the replicants- having little control over their life and little power to change the situation is seen as lower class.

A class system is also evident among the group of replicants. Roy Batty is brighter than most replicants and is a combat model who is better equipped mentally and physically to defend himself and survive, he is a higher class and is comparable to Rachael. She is a highly intelligent replicant and holds a significant job in the Tyrell Corporation showing prestige and power of an upper class elite. On the other hand, Leon Kowalski, a nuclear fission loader and waste disposer along with Pris; a military prostitute, hold undesirable jobs that are often taken by lower class mind numbing citizens. Although it is evident that some replicants may be higher in the structure it is obvious that they were all created as slaves by the ultimate hierarchy in power; the corporations and the police and this proves the existence of a hierarchy system and the political means of making it impossible to change it.

In the movie A Clockwork Orange Alex; the protagonist, is middle class while his victims who he rapes, robs and beats are of upper class. At first this seems to contradict the theory of the powerful upper hierarchy structure but further into the movie it is evident that those who hold the most power are truly the minister and the British government. The government has ultimate power and goes to great length to keep it, such as employing corrupt cops that are just as violent as Alex is. The citizens do not see the crimes of the police and they believe that the government is protecting them feel comfortable. The government

"rehabilitated" Alex through a program of aversion therapy, which mimics torture-like procedures and virtually brainwash him to cure him from his desire to commit violent acts, programming him to choose only good. The government takes scientific methods in their own hands and literally reprograms Alex robbing him of his own free will by taking away the desires he had in the past. The ethical question of whether the government has the authority to do was not initially questioned because the government has sole political power and is unquestioned.

This structure is also loosely seen The Matrix and is a little more complicated because there are two different worlds. The computer simulated world perceived by the protagonist Neo, initially as reality is called The Matrix. The Matrix was created by Artificial Intelligence; hiding the truth from humanity. The computers control this sense of reality and ultimately create a hierarchy structure where the computers are the parliament and the people are the mindless lower classes who are enslaved to believe that this simulacrum is reality. There are agents within The Matrix who see the human race as a virus and goes to great lengths to stop anyone particularly Neo from finding out the truth of the ultimate reality. The agents are computer programs which keep humans thinking everything in their society is good while stopping anything that interrupts this thought. They have super human strength and agility and show no mercy. They can be seen as being at the top of the hierarchy system because of the power and authority they poses but they are truly created and governed by the computers that create them. Through each of these films a political critique is evident by revealing the definitive power the top of the hierarchy