THX1138 — A brief analysis Excerpts from a talk delivered by Zulfiqar Awan
We will focus on two themes:
• Illusion and reality
• Coupledom (union between man and woman) as a bridge to liberty
THX-1138 is a 1971 dystopian science fiction film directed and co-written by George Lucas.
Set in a massive underground city, completely cut off from the natural world, the film presents a society whose human population is forced into dehumanising and oppressive conformity.
Co-living arrangements between men and women are chosen by a central computer, and drugs are administered to everyone in order to suppress emotions.
The population is kept in line by an android police force; the manufacturing of which, ironically, is depicted as being one of the few jobs people are assigned.
All activity is closely monitored and behavioural infractions often result in imprisonment, torture and/or execution.
Regarding his motivation for making the film, Lucas has said he was “trying to investigate the ramifications of an unbridled consumer culture that has lost any connection with the organic world and is completely self-contained.”
1-Illusion and reality
Quote:
“How shall the new environment be programmed? It all happened so slowly that most men failed to realise that anything had happened at all.” (THX1138)
The tyrannical system gradually emerges without the citizen body realising they are heading towards totalitarianism. We find the same process in the series ‘Handmaiden’s Tale’. This is as a result of the modern education system not equipping the youth with the tools of analysis and how society actually works. This is how the illusion is sustained or perpetuated.
Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’
In Plato’s ‘Republic’, he explains the route to knowledge and the responsibilities of philosophers through an allegory about prisoners in a cave.
The cave allegory is a p
erfect literary tool that represents the people and the system in the movie.
Most of Plato’s writings are not about nature, but his ideas of reality and knowledge.
Quotes from the movie:
“Let us be thankful we have an occupation to fill. Work hard, increase production, prevent accidents and be happy.” (THX1138
“Let us be thankful we have commerce. Buy more. Buy more now. Buy. And be happy.”
Both quotes illustrate the imposing commands of the system and the people sitting inside the cave.The path to enlightenment is painful and arduous, says
Plato, and requires that we make four stages in our development:
1. Imprisonment in the cave (the imaginary world)
2. Release from chains (the real, sensual world)
3. Ascent out of the cave (the world of ideas)
4. The way back to help our fellows
Quote
“…the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and … the journey upwards [is] the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world….” (Plato ‘Republic)
THX 1138 is the man who looks behind the wall, walks up to the entrance and leaves. He realised he had been living in the shadow world, illusory world. He made the ascent!
2-Coupledom
THX1138 was ‘awakened’ by his female companion, LUH. This is a very important theme. He could not have done it without her. Woman liberates man!
The brilliant music composer Beethoven illustrates this very powerfully in his opera, ‘Fidelio’.
Here is the story line:
Florestan is a political prisoner in the hands of Governor Don Pizarro. Leonore, Florestan’s wife, wants to free her husband on her own. She dresses up as a man and gets hired under the name Fidelio by the prison ward Rocco. Rocco’s daughter Marzelline falls in love with Fidelio.
The minister (and rival of Don Pizarro) Don Fernando announces a visit to the prison. Don Pizarro panics and orders Rocco to kill Florestan before the minister’s inspection. Rocco refuses and Pizarro decides to commit the crime himself. Rocco and Leonore have to dig the grave. To find her husband, Fidelio asks Rocco to let the prisoners come to light. But she doesn’t find him.
After that Leonore goes to the prisoner who could not leave his cell and recognises him by his voice. Florestan, exhausted, does not recognise her. Don Pizarro appears with his pistol drawn to kill Florestan. Fidelio throws herself in between and shouts: first kill his wife! At this moment the trumpets announce the arrival of Don Fernando. Pizarro flees. The rescued Leonore and Florestan fall into each other’s arms. The dungeons are opened, all are freed.
Zulfiqar Awan
