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I've got a lingering fear that we're inching closer and closer to a 'Fifteen Million Merits' future. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits https

by codq 11y ago

I've got a lingering fear that we're inching closer and closer to a 'Fifteen Million Merits' future. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits

ashark 11y ago
IMO the point is that we're already there, and have been for a while. It's only set in the future to trick the viewer into approaching the story as an outsider. "Oh wow, that sucks, I hope we never toil at pointless tasks to earn points to buy worthless junk that doesn't make us happy" looks around house full of consumerist garbage, contemplates largely nihilistic career "Hm. Well... damn." [EDIT] (SPOILERS!) I also take the vast wilderness outside the protagonist's window at the end to be real, not some kind of illusion or projection. I do so because the episode is more effective that way, so I'd guess that's what's intended—the viewer thinks this must be some kind of overcrowded dystopic future world-city or something the whole time, or that the Earth's surface is uninhabitable, or that this isn't even Earth, and that everyone's forced to live this way, but the reveal of the wilderness raises the possibility that in fact people could leave, but simply do not, and in retrospect one realizes that no pervasive, ultra-strict police force or anything similar is depicted. The closest they come are the drugged drinks, which are only given in some circumstances to some people (compare: anxiety meds, sleeping pills, et c.). We never see anyone try to resist the collection of "detritus", for example. The protagonist damages what may well be public property in his private room, and no-one seems to care. People are demoted to janitor status, but, crucially, we don't see them dragged away screaming or anything like that. In fact the people of that world choose same option we see the protagonist choose on the gameshow, really, just less dramatically, every single day. Safety, comfort, and familiarity over freedom.

by codq 11y ago

ashark 11y ago

IMO the point is that we're already there, and have been for a while. It's only set in the future to trick the viewer into approaching the story as an outsider. "Oh wow, that sucks, I hope we never toil at pointless tasks to earn points to buy worthless junk that doesn't make us happy" looks around house full of consumerist garbage, contemplates largely nihilistic career "Hm. Well... damn." [EDIT] (SPOILERS!) I also take the vast wilderness outside the protagonist's window at the end to be real, not some kind of illusion or projection. I do so because the episode is more effective that way, so I'd guess that's what's intended—the viewer thinks this must be some kind of overcrowded dystopic future world-city or something the whole time, or that the Earth's surface is uninhabitable, or that this isn't even Earth, and that everyone's forced to live this way, but the reveal of the wilderness raises the possibility that in fact people could leave, but simply do not, and in retrospect one realizes that no pervasive, ultra-strict police force or anything similar is depicted. The closest they come are the drugged drinks, which are only given in some circumstances to some people (compare: anxiety meds, sleeping pills, et c.). We never see anyone try to resist the collection of "detritus", for example. The protagonist damages what may well be public property in his private room, and no-one seems to care. People are demoted to janitor status, but, crucially, we don't see them dragged away screaming or anything like that. In fact the people of that world choose same option we see the protagonist choose on the gameshow, really, just less dramatically, every single day. Safety, comfort, and familiarity over freedom.