Children of Men - Reality?

Posted:
in AppleOutsider edited January 2014
I saw Children of Men tonight, and I was just wondering if anyone thinks that what happened in that movie can happen in modern society. Not just the infertility, but the global widespread chaos and horrible treatment of immigrants.



Some of the scenes in the movie were very disturbing, such as the immigrants locked up in cages. The city of London was in total ruins and armed mobs rueled the streets.



Can our society today turn into the hate, fear, and violence driven society in Children of Men?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    What do you mean 'turn into'?



    At any given moment, we're about two weeks worth of electricity and water from total self-destruction, IMO.
  • Reply 2 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kickaha View Post


    What do you mean 'turn into'?




    Currently, nuclear weapons have not been detonated in the major cities of the World, the cities themselves are relatively clean; not piled with garbage. Immigrants are not being executed my the hundreds. There is still order in the World, and order is nowhere to be seen in Children of Men.
  • Reply 3 of 46
    dmzdmz Posts: 5,775member
    It think it has more to do with P.D. James' take on humanity, than any sort of prediction.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    dmzdmz Posts: 5,775member
    One more thing:



    A discussion on James' take here, with a short clip of an interview with James herself (near the end):

    http://media.libsyn.com/media/mhadig...dition_005.mp3

    Interesting stuff.
  • Reply 5 of 46
    Would it be so terrible if our society were to break down like that? The society we have now is corrupt and violent. We are cruel and start needless wars. We pass laws which hinder our freedom on many fronts (DRM, Patriot Act, airport security) and we are constantly bombarded with propanganda and biased news from the media.



    I'm not sure a restart would be such a bad thing.
  • Reply 6 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post


    We pass laws which hinder our freedom on many fronts (DRM, Patriot Act, airport security)



    Sorry turn...
  • Reply 7 of 46
    Uhm... Okay.



    Well that was just an example, sorry I couldn't think of a better one. The first two were definitely more substantial, you could have read my whole post rather than ranting about two words in it.... Anyway, I was just trying to express that I think our society needs to be rewritten from the ground up. We have a lot of problems that could be solved with a new social structure. The only way to get there is through a brief period of anarchy. But if that period is brief, and leads to a better society at the end, it is not such a bad thing.



    I was not really talking about airport security at all. Happy now?
  • Reply 8 of 46
    dentondenton Posts: 725member
    There is only one thing of which you can be sure: this, too, shall pass; me, you, our society, and even our species. It will all end sometime. When Rome fell, it heralded a dark age in Europe and western Asia which lasted to the Renaissance. When the West falls, whether that is one hundred years from now or a thousand years from now, the pattern will be the same. Billions will die, and our great cities will lie in ruin to be reclaimed by the earth until their names and locations have passed from all memory.



    You wonder if the collapse of our society is possible? Not only is it possible, but I would propose that it is inevitable. History is our template; unless we learn from our history! If you are interested in reading about how and why societies succeed or fail, I would strongly recommend the book Collapse (2005) by Jared Diamond. It is an excellent read; and fascinating!
  • Reply 9 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Denton View Post


    There is only one thing of which you can be sure: this, too, shall pass; me, you, our society, and even our species. It will all end sometime. When Rome fell, it heralded a dark age in Europe and western Asia which lasted to the Renaissance. When the West falls, whether that is one hundred years now or a thousand years from now, the pattern will be the same. Billions will die, and our great cities will lie in ruin to be reclaimed by the earth until their names and locations have passed from all memory.



    You wonder if the collapse of our society is possible? Not only is it possible, but I would propose that it is inevitable. History is our template; unless we learn from our history! If you are interested in reading about how and why societies succeed or fail, I would strongly recommend the book Collapse (2005) by Jared Diamond. It is an excellent read; and fascinating!



    I agree with you, and I go a step farther, proposing that the collapse of modern society is not only inevitable, it is even desirable.
  • Reply 10 of 46
    dentondenton Posts: 725member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by turnwrite View Post


    I agree with you, and I go a step farther, proposing that the collapse of modern society is not only inevitable, it is even desirable.



    If you think that the death of billions is desirable, I'll have to disagree.
  • Reply 11 of 46
    Realistic or not, THIS IS A GREAT FILM. Wow.
  • Reply 12 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Denton View Post


    If you think that the death of billions is desirable, I'll have to disagree.



    Not the extinction of humanity, the destruction of society. The social structure we live in will break down to allow humanity as a species to live more freely and happier. Nobody has to die.
  • Reply 13 of 46
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    So you're expecting a bloodless revolution that completely overturns the existing order of power, society, economics, and politics?



    Good luck with that, let me know how it turns out.
  • Reply 14 of 46
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Thinking about the time we live in now, in the broad context of human civilization on this planet, I think we are living in the golden age, even now with all the wars and corruption, we still live fairly free lives, we're comfortable, etc. This won't last. Gene Roddenberry had it all wrong
  • Reply 15 of 46
    Oh fine then, I give up. I was just a thought... \
  • Reply 16 of 46
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    I haven't seen it yet, but it seems to be one of those post-apocalypse movies that explore man's capacity for nastiness.



    Is it just me, or do the English seem much more interested in this theme than anyone else at the moment? 28 Days Later. Children of Men. Reign of Fire (weren't the writers British?). Saramago's Blindness (set in London).
  • Reply 17 of 46
    It may just be that given the age of the British democratic social experiment, and its obviously tenuous nature given their history, they are acutely aware of how a few bad years can turn the world upside down...
  • Reply 18 of 46
    midwintermidwinter Posts: 10,060member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hardeeharhar View Post


    It may just be that given the age of the British democratic social experiment, and its obviously tenuous nature given their history, they are acutely aware of how a few bad years can turn the world upside down...



    You may be right (although I'd like to hear a Brit chime in about this).
  • Reply 19 of 46
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    Blindness was fantastic.



    And Cuaron is a superb director.
  • Reply 20 of 46
    omegaomega Posts: 427member
    Were you like me and rooting for SARS? What a gip that epidemic was!! Bird Flu, another no show.



    Thin out the numbers.
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