Monday, April 29, 2013
The film that moon most obviously draws inspiration from is 2001: A Space Odyssey. Throughout the film, Sam struggles with things that are greater than him. Lunar industries and Gerty is akin to HAL in 2001, knowing and controlling factors that are unbeknownst to the humans under supervision. The struggle here, however, is not just between man and machine, but between corporation and man. The corporations here use machine to cheaply gain labor, and to trick their clone subjects into working themselves to death. Another film where a very similar premise is used is in Blade Runner. There is the same struggle between a replicant that is so similar to a human that it believes it is, and the entity in charge of destroying them. The ingernuity used to create their human tendencies creates the same ethical dilemma as in Moon: Just because something thinks it is real, should it be treated like it is? Lastly, the film deals with similar issues of confusion as in Primer. (The) Sam(s) never have a full grasp on what is happening or has already happened, leading him to act without a full knowledge of prior events, just as the characters in Primer. Moon is different than these other films, specifically 2001 because of the true human element of humanness in Gerty, the computer. Gerty is open to reason, and even susceptible to trickery, just like a human, while the machines in the other films, are not.
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A little on the short side and inaccurate at times. The clones don't work themselves to death. They simply deteriorate after 3 years--the technology isn't that sharp yet.
ReplyDelete"Just because something thinks it's real..." Is that the case? Are you saying Sam1 and Sam2 aren't real?
Debatable that Hal isn't open to reason.
Sam1 and Sam2 don't ever have a full grasp of what's going on? You've got to watch the movie, not read the back of box.
You really just say that 2001 and Moon are similar but then begin talking about something completely different. What you describe isn't really a fully formed thought, but more of a passing glance to the ear that in turn bursts the eardrum. Basically, you don't describe the thematic similarities well. You don't even give a real example for 2001. You should have gone into detail about what feeling the difference between the robot and human characters, and how it reflects on our values.
ReplyDeleteI would actually extend your comment about the 'humanness' of Gerty to the character of Sam as well. Even though the ideas of the intelligent computer and the clones/replicants are used in other films, they are both approached from completely the opposite direction in Moon. They are shown from the beginning as more human, rather than some sort of otherness in contrast to the traditional human.
ReplyDeleteYou say here that the supercomputer HAL is not open to reason. However, I would argue that HAL is the most reasonable character in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Frankly, we don't receive enough characterization of the other characters to establish whether or not they are able to reason. HAL however goes into the mission with a very important (and secret) mission. All of his actions relate directly to achieving this mission. For example, when HAL refuses to open the pod bay doors for Dave, he does so because he knew the astronauts were planning to disconnect me, which would defeat HAL's mission. HAL cannot let that happen.
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