Sugaree
August 9th, 2013, 10:22 PM
For any of you who have not heard, there is a movie out right now called “Elysium”. Tonight, I decided to pay the insane price of a ticket to see this movie, and I must say that it inspires some interesting topics that, I feel, should be the center of a debate.
Without giving too much spoilers, “Elysium” tells the story of Max, a man who is stranded on Earth in the late 21st century. Sometime in Max’s life, Earth became overpopulated, and the wealthiest humans on the planet decided that they needed to preserve their way of life. So, in an effort to rescue themselves, they built a space station which orbits the Earth. This space station, a utopia by all means, was called Elysium. Only the most privileged of society live in Elysium, which explains the extravagant nature of its setting. Elysium offers everything for those lucky enough people...extraordinary medical care, food, fresh air, personal servants, and so on. For all of those who cannot afford to live on Elysium are forced to stay behind in the crumbling ruins of society. The Earth becomes mostly a dump yard, littered with all types of trash and covered in dust. There are a few themes and topics that come up during the movie. The first one I would like to talk about is the difference between the rich and the poor.
This first topic is very sensitive, especially in a time where many world economies are struggling to keep afloat. What could drive an insane amount of wealthy people to actually move into what is essentially a space condo while leaving the rest of us behind? Can the people who have been left behind work their way up to being rich enough to go to Elysium? Well, the answer is no. You see, even though the rich have left the Earth behind, they quite clearly still control their former abode. Many of Elysium’s citizens own corporations on Earth which help the government, which has also moved into Elysium. The government is mostly focused on one thing: defense against illegal immigrants from Earth. Every time an unauthorized ship comes from Earth, it is shot down without a batted lash. Innocents are killed so the rich do not have to have their eyes burned at the sight of poverty and disease. So who can be blamed here? Is it the people who live in Elysium, who have lived there for years? Or is it the government, which goes to extraordinary lengths to keep its citizens protected from people, just like them, from entering this paradise?
While many of you, I know, will say it’s the rich people, let’s look at this again. The rich are no different from the poor, save for the fact that one has a wealthy disposition. However, the rich have been tricked by the government into thinking that they, the citizens of Elysium, are above the fodder which inhabits the Earth. Can the citizens, then, be blamed when they have been clearly brainwashed by the government into thinking that they are the equivalent of a master race of people? The government, which invests highly in defense contracts, is corrupt. It denies the rights of the poor, casting them as something villainous. The Secretary of Defense in the film, played by Jodie Foster, even thinks that the citizens of Earth would forcefully take everything that the citizens of Elysium have worked for. She sees them as parasites that must be eradicated by any means necessary. So, again I ask, who is really to blame here? Is it the citizens of Elysium, who have been coerced by the government that they are above everybody else, or is it the government, which prides itself on wanting to kill every poor man, woman, and child that ever dares come near Elysium?
But not all forces in the government are corrupt. President Patel does what he feels is right and tries to dethrone the Secretary of Defense, but he is unsuccessful. Not only does this prove that the entire government is not corrupt, but it proves that there is still hope for those on Earth to one day enter Elysium. Not much is seen or heard of President Patel in the movie, which is a shame as I felt he could have been a major character in the film. But I digress.
The second topic is class warfare. This term is thrown around a lot by the mainstream media today, and even the 2012 United States elections were almost overcome by it. In “Elysium”, you have two very distinct classes of people. On Earth, the poor are unaffected by race or sexuality. They are all united as one collective, the proletariat if you will. They build the machines and luxuries which those on Elysium use in everyday life. The main character, Max, even has a job in a factory making robots for a multitude of purposes. The poor, however, stand up by the ways of street gangs. Spider, a notorious gang leader who often tries to migrate a few select people into Elysium, is famous for being the world’s number one exporter of humans. As crude of a term as this is, it is true that Spider is nothing more than a human smuggler. However, he often fails trying to get his passengers to Elysium safely, as many of his ships are shot down. The rich rely on the government to protect them, and the government generally does its job well. If you can consider killing innocent humans a “great job”, then the government is doing what it’s supposed to do.
Back to the topic of class warfare, what do we see in “Elysium”? Well, we see that the divide between the rich and the poor is so huge that it makes one question how far we are, right now, from reaching such a drastic point in our history. Never before in world history has the gap between rich and poor been so wide, and it grows wider by the day. As people hold more and more contempt for businesses making money, it may not be very long before a movement of uprising comes. A coup, if you will. While class warfare is obviously not the main topic of the film, it is a very strong secondary focus, which leaves the viewer afraid of our own situation. As the average working man finds his wages going down, his hours cut, his wallet growing empty, and even his job on the line daily, there is no doubt in my mind that we are very soon going to see an uprising of the middle class, or what’s left of it, in the future. And it won’t be 10 or 20 years from now, it will be before the next presidential election cycle.
In conclusion, while “Elysium” does not intend for political discussion to take place after viewing the film, it’s hard not to discuss these topics. It offers a deeper insight, something which many of us might be able to relate to. I certainly was able to relate to it, as my family was once considered “poor”. However, we were able to get past it and are now financially stable. Many people in the United States, and the world, have not gotten out of poverty. Many more are born into it and even more die in it. But who can we blame? Should we blame people who have worked for their wealth? Should we blame corporations doing what they’ve done ever since their conceptions? Should we blame ourselves for letting a select few, those wealthy who view anyone who does not make millions a year as being subhuman? Should we blame anyone at ALL? My answer: We shouldn’t blame anyone. In my eyes, “Elysium” shows us that we cannot explain how things are the way they are. We can’t blame one group for all of our woes. Would you blame yourself for gambling away your life savings, or would you blame the casino for taking that money which you lost? In the end, society will always have a distinguished few who are seen as “above” or “beyond” normal human beings. And while this is unfortunate, it is how society works. No one political idea or set of ideals is going to change this. Communism, Socialism, Capitalism…each and every economic system distinguishes between the rich and poor. There will always be wealth, just as there will always be poverty. While we can try to quell poverty, it will never go away. We can do the same to wealth, but it will never go away. This is how things work, and we must learn to live with reality.
Without giving too much spoilers, “Elysium” tells the story of Max, a man who is stranded on Earth in the late 21st century. Sometime in Max’s life, Earth became overpopulated, and the wealthiest humans on the planet decided that they needed to preserve their way of life. So, in an effort to rescue themselves, they built a space station which orbits the Earth. This space station, a utopia by all means, was called Elysium. Only the most privileged of society live in Elysium, which explains the extravagant nature of its setting. Elysium offers everything for those lucky enough people...extraordinary medical care, food, fresh air, personal servants, and so on. For all of those who cannot afford to live on Elysium are forced to stay behind in the crumbling ruins of society. The Earth becomes mostly a dump yard, littered with all types of trash and covered in dust. There are a few themes and topics that come up during the movie. The first one I would like to talk about is the difference between the rich and the poor.
This first topic is very sensitive, especially in a time where many world economies are struggling to keep afloat. What could drive an insane amount of wealthy people to actually move into what is essentially a space condo while leaving the rest of us behind? Can the people who have been left behind work their way up to being rich enough to go to Elysium? Well, the answer is no. You see, even though the rich have left the Earth behind, they quite clearly still control their former abode. Many of Elysium’s citizens own corporations on Earth which help the government, which has also moved into Elysium. The government is mostly focused on one thing: defense against illegal immigrants from Earth. Every time an unauthorized ship comes from Earth, it is shot down without a batted lash. Innocents are killed so the rich do not have to have their eyes burned at the sight of poverty and disease. So who can be blamed here? Is it the people who live in Elysium, who have lived there for years? Or is it the government, which goes to extraordinary lengths to keep its citizens protected from people, just like them, from entering this paradise?
While many of you, I know, will say it’s the rich people, let’s look at this again. The rich are no different from the poor, save for the fact that one has a wealthy disposition. However, the rich have been tricked by the government into thinking that they, the citizens of Elysium, are above the fodder which inhabits the Earth. Can the citizens, then, be blamed when they have been clearly brainwashed by the government into thinking that they are the equivalent of a master race of people? The government, which invests highly in defense contracts, is corrupt. It denies the rights of the poor, casting them as something villainous. The Secretary of Defense in the film, played by Jodie Foster, even thinks that the citizens of Earth would forcefully take everything that the citizens of Elysium have worked for. She sees them as parasites that must be eradicated by any means necessary. So, again I ask, who is really to blame here? Is it the citizens of Elysium, who have been coerced by the government that they are above everybody else, or is it the government, which prides itself on wanting to kill every poor man, woman, and child that ever dares come near Elysium?
But not all forces in the government are corrupt. President Patel does what he feels is right and tries to dethrone the Secretary of Defense, but he is unsuccessful. Not only does this prove that the entire government is not corrupt, but it proves that there is still hope for those on Earth to one day enter Elysium. Not much is seen or heard of President Patel in the movie, which is a shame as I felt he could have been a major character in the film. But I digress.
The second topic is class warfare. This term is thrown around a lot by the mainstream media today, and even the 2012 United States elections were almost overcome by it. In “Elysium”, you have two very distinct classes of people. On Earth, the poor are unaffected by race or sexuality. They are all united as one collective, the proletariat if you will. They build the machines and luxuries which those on Elysium use in everyday life. The main character, Max, even has a job in a factory making robots for a multitude of purposes. The poor, however, stand up by the ways of street gangs. Spider, a notorious gang leader who often tries to migrate a few select people into Elysium, is famous for being the world’s number one exporter of humans. As crude of a term as this is, it is true that Spider is nothing more than a human smuggler. However, he often fails trying to get his passengers to Elysium safely, as many of his ships are shot down. The rich rely on the government to protect them, and the government generally does its job well. If you can consider killing innocent humans a “great job”, then the government is doing what it’s supposed to do.
Back to the topic of class warfare, what do we see in “Elysium”? Well, we see that the divide between the rich and the poor is so huge that it makes one question how far we are, right now, from reaching such a drastic point in our history. Never before in world history has the gap between rich and poor been so wide, and it grows wider by the day. As people hold more and more contempt for businesses making money, it may not be very long before a movement of uprising comes. A coup, if you will. While class warfare is obviously not the main topic of the film, it is a very strong secondary focus, which leaves the viewer afraid of our own situation. As the average working man finds his wages going down, his hours cut, his wallet growing empty, and even his job on the line daily, there is no doubt in my mind that we are very soon going to see an uprising of the middle class, or what’s left of it, in the future. And it won’t be 10 or 20 years from now, it will be before the next presidential election cycle.
In conclusion, while “Elysium” does not intend for political discussion to take place after viewing the film, it’s hard not to discuss these topics. It offers a deeper insight, something which many of us might be able to relate to. I certainly was able to relate to it, as my family was once considered “poor”. However, we were able to get past it and are now financially stable. Many people in the United States, and the world, have not gotten out of poverty. Many more are born into it and even more die in it. But who can we blame? Should we blame people who have worked for their wealth? Should we blame corporations doing what they’ve done ever since their conceptions? Should we blame ourselves for letting a select few, those wealthy who view anyone who does not make millions a year as being subhuman? Should we blame anyone at ALL? My answer: We shouldn’t blame anyone. In my eyes, “Elysium” shows us that we cannot explain how things are the way they are. We can’t blame one group for all of our woes. Would you blame yourself for gambling away your life savings, or would you blame the casino for taking that money which you lost? In the end, society will always have a distinguished few who are seen as “above” or “beyond” normal human beings. And while this is unfortunate, it is how society works. No one political idea or set of ideals is going to change this. Communism, Socialism, Capitalism…each and every economic system distinguishes between the rich and poor. There will always be wealth, just as there will always be poverty. While we can try to quell poverty, it will never go away. We can do the same to wealth, but it will never go away. This is how things work, and we must learn to live with reality.