freaking_out
Saddam's new life
hey this is my bnw/br essay, can u pls. tell me ways of improving it? thanx.
How do the constructed societies of each world reinforce the composers
concerns that humanity should maintain an equilibrium with nature or suffer
the consequences?
Both the film Bladerunner (by Ridley Scott) and the novel Brave New World (by
Aldous Huxley) reinforce the concerns that humanity should maintain equilibrium with nature
or suffer the consequences. The texts suggest that mankind should keep a balance in his
relationship with nature, and if not he will have to suffer the negative effects of doing so as -
ultimately providing a stern warning of the destructive path that humanity has put itself in.
Brave New World (BNW) and to Ridley Scotts futuristic film Blade Runner (BR), despite
the urban setting explore notions of humanity and humanitys relationship with the natural
world through the use of setting, characters and style.
Huxley was writing BNW in a period of great change and disillusionment. It was an
era in where nature generally was regarded as resilient. Progress and stability was sought at
all costs. But, the rapid industrialization, consumerism, mass production and technological
progress were to Huxley rampant and threatening, as Huxley was reacting against the
prevailing H.G. Wellsian/Victorian view that the advances in science would automatically
lead to benefits for mankind. For Huxley such rapid advancements seemed to be hurling
humanity along this path of divorcement from its connectedness with natures rhythms and
into areas of moral ambiguity.
The society and value system of Huxleys BNW are ruled by technologically
enforced conformity and uniformity. Huxleys tone is cynical as he condemns the perception
that the elimination of dirt, unhappiness, unemployment and loneliness, are worth the
accompanying loss of personal freedom and independence. Our complacency is challenged as
he depicts a clinical, insensitive and oppressive world that is in direct juxtaposition to the
accepted and valued patterns of contemporary society. It is also very disturbing to listen to
inhabitants of this world ponder what the old values would be like: I often think that one
may have missed something in not having a mother. Statements such as Erotic play
between children has been regarded as abnormal and you ought to be a little more
promiscuous are contrary to the contemporary social norms and imply a world that has
become decadent and perverted. Love, religion and the arts have been eradicated and
natural childbirth has become anathema represented as an act of shame. Try to imagine
what it would be like to have a viviparous mother.
The readers horror at this violation of the natural world is given a voice in the novel
through John. His presence also allows the reader important insights into this completely
mechanised and artificial environment and his observations serve to highlight the pitfalls of
intellectual, emotional and spiritual deprivation. His alienation and exploitation show the
tyrannical control of all facets of human existence. He is a victim who is held in captive rather
than be allowed freedom of banishment. He rejects the logic of the controller and demands
the things that signify his humanity I dont want comfort. I want god. I want poetry. I want
danger. I want freedom. I want goodness. I want sin Im claiming the right to be unhappy.
His suicide therefore, symbolises the tragic fate of the natural world, as humanity in the
contemporary world continues to cut ties with nature.
However, the frightening this about this world is the fact that it seems to be a very
realistic projection of our future. In order to create this verisimilitude and to allow us to
believe in the possibility of such a world, Huxley in his novel employs the jargon of science,
psychology and technology. Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre, bottling
room, extogenesis, viviparous, hypnopaedia. Furthermore all familiar humanistic
terms have disappeared, rendered obsolete and irrelevant in this society. There are also
references to real people such Pavlov, Malthus, Ford; to real places such as London,
Westminster Abbey, Iceland and this allows us to more readily accept imaginary aspects of
the novel.
Unlike BNW (in where Huxley was challenging certain views), the futuristic setting
of BR, in Los Angeles 2019 builds on the concerns of the 1980s, when it was created
pollution, acid rain, smog and overcrowding (the street scenes) rampant capitalism and the
divide between rich and poor (Tyrell and his corporation). The ads for Coca Cola are familiar
to the 1980s. In many ways humanity has not changed as the lack of relationship with the
natural world in Los Angeles 2019 seems to be an extension of the situation today in many
modern cities.
The film opens with a panoramic shot of a place that resembles hell. Fires explode
sky bound, the world in perpetual darkness. Nature seems markedly absent as it has been
replaced by dominating monolithic, man-made structures. The haunting and eerie music of
Vangelis provides an ominous backdrop as visual imagery is used to create the impression of
a dark and sinister cityscape that seems a foul, soulless place.
Los Angeles 2019 is a bleak and hellish place in where nature has truly been
conquered and exploited. The world humans inhabit is cast in shadows, decaying and gloomy.
It is a scene of an industrial, urban wasteland. It is a world where animals and nature seem to
have been sacrificed in the name of progress. Man has been able to replicate life but at a
terrible cost. The constant hubbub of machines, rain and sirens, as well as streets in disrepair,
buildings neglected, crumbling, dilapidated; this scenario constitutes the urban nightmare of
Los Angeles 2019.
Sebastian has a profound significance in the film. He is presented as a victim who is
made enigmatic by the juxtaposition of his simple cloths and Southern farm boy accent as
well as his manner and intellect. Although a nave man, he is a genetic designer. It is very
ironic that Sebastian suffers from accelerated decrepitude, as he in many ways symbolizes
the condition and state of humanity it self in the technocratic world. Sebastians disease forces
him to make friends with robotic toys, which he has manufactured - paralleling in a number of
ways, the path that humanity has taken and its destructive companionship with technology
and science. Furthermore, the composer has used Sebastian as a means of expressing his
views on the fate of humanity. In the film Sebastian is used in expeditious ways by the
replicants to reach Tyrell-much the way humanity has been enslaved by its own technology.
Sebastians easy and quick elimination by the replicants evokes a lot of sympathy from the
viewers, as he is surrounded by a selfish careless world.
Incongruously, it is the replicants who posses real humanity in this shallow world.
Although they said to have a lack of emotions (hence the Voight-Kamff test), the film shows
otherwise: Rachel loves Deckard enough to save him from Leon, whereas Tyrell calls her an
experiment, nothing more and wont even speak to her after her V-K test. Also, the replicant
Batty Shows compassion and saves Deckard from death, but Bryant shows no compassion in
telling Deckard to air em out.
In addition, Batty in his dying moments shows us, that he has achieved humanity,
through his compassion, his sense of individual worth (Ive seen things all those moments
will be lost in time) and sense of a soul-as symbolised by the dove. The eloquence with
which Batty speaks his last lines and the empathy the viewer feels for his character by this
stage in the film shows that Scott saw his emotional human qualities as valuable. Thus,
through the debasement of nature, mankind has become enslaved to technology that has
dehumanised him and made the species decline to the point where robots have become
innately superior.
In conclusion both texts reflect concerns about humanities equilibrium with the
natural world, by projecting into the future, and presenting depressing outlooks of the worlds
that are shockingly close to reality. In BNW humanity has lost its contact with nature as a
deliberate policy of the World state because nature or the lessons learnt from nature generate
instability. Whilst in Bladerunner, humanity has lost contact with nature, not as a deliberate
act of policy, but as a side effect of industrialisation, exploitation, greed and indifference.
Nevertheless, both texts give a detailed account of the destructive consequences of
overturning the equilibrium that humanity shares with nature.
How do the constructed societies of each world reinforce the composers
concerns that humanity should maintain an equilibrium with nature or suffer
the consequences?
Both the film Bladerunner (by Ridley Scott) and the novel Brave New World (by
Aldous Huxley) reinforce the concerns that humanity should maintain equilibrium with nature
or suffer the consequences. The texts suggest that mankind should keep a balance in his
relationship with nature, and if not he will have to suffer the negative effects of doing so as -
ultimately providing a stern warning of the destructive path that humanity has put itself in.
Brave New World (BNW) and to Ridley Scotts futuristic film Blade Runner (BR), despite
the urban setting explore notions of humanity and humanitys relationship with the natural
world through the use of setting, characters and style.
Huxley was writing BNW in a period of great change and disillusionment. It was an
era in where nature generally was regarded as resilient. Progress and stability was sought at
all costs. But, the rapid industrialization, consumerism, mass production and technological
progress were to Huxley rampant and threatening, as Huxley was reacting against the
prevailing H.G. Wellsian/Victorian view that the advances in science would automatically
lead to benefits for mankind. For Huxley such rapid advancements seemed to be hurling
humanity along this path of divorcement from its connectedness with natures rhythms and
into areas of moral ambiguity.
The society and value system of Huxleys BNW are ruled by technologically
enforced conformity and uniformity. Huxleys tone is cynical as he condemns the perception
that the elimination of dirt, unhappiness, unemployment and loneliness, are worth the
accompanying loss of personal freedom and independence. Our complacency is challenged as
he depicts a clinical, insensitive and oppressive world that is in direct juxtaposition to the
accepted and valued patterns of contemporary society. It is also very disturbing to listen to
inhabitants of this world ponder what the old values would be like: I often think that one
may have missed something in not having a mother. Statements such as Erotic play
between children has been regarded as abnormal and you ought to be a little more
promiscuous are contrary to the contemporary social norms and imply a world that has
become decadent and perverted. Love, religion and the arts have been eradicated and
natural childbirth has become anathema represented as an act of shame. Try to imagine
what it would be like to have a viviparous mother.
The readers horror at this violation of the natural world is given a voice in the novel
through John. His presence also allows the reader important insights into this completely
mechanised and artificial environment and his observations serve to highlight the pitfalls of
intellectual, emotional and spiritual deprivation. His alienation and exploitation show the
tyrannical control of all facets of human existence. He is a victim who is held in captive rather
than be allowed freedom of banishment. He rejects the logic of the controller and demands
the things that signify his humanity I dont want comfort. I want god. I want poetry. I want
danger. I want freedom. I want goodness. I want sin Im claiming the right to be unhappy.
His suicide therefore, symbolises the tragic fate of the natural world, as humanity in the
contemporary world continues to cut ties with nature.
However, the frightening this about this world is the fact that it seems to be a very
realistic projection of our future. In order to create this verisimilitude and to allow us to
believe in the possibility of such a world, Huxley in his novel employs the jargon of science,
psychology and technology. Central London Hatchery And Conditioning Centre, bottling
room, extogenesis, viviparous, hypnopaedia. Furthermore all familiar humanistic
terms have disappeared, rendered obsolete and irrelevant in this society. There are also
references to real people such Pavlov, Malthus, Ford; to real places such as London,
Westminster Abbey, Iceland and this allows us to more readily accept imaginary aspects of
the novel.
Unlike BNW (in where Huxley was challenging certain views), the futuristic setting
of BR, in Los Angeles 2019 builds on the concerns of the 1980s, when it was created
pollution, acid rain, smog and overcrowding (the street scenes) rampant capitalism and the
divide between rich and poor (Tyrell and his corporation). The ads for Coca Cola are familiar
to the 1980s. In many ways humanity has not changed as the lack of relationship with the
natural world in Los Angeles 2019 seems to be an extension of the situation today in many
modern cities.
The film opens with a panoramic shot of a place that resembles hell. Fires explode
sky bound, the world in perpetual darkness. Nature seems markedly absent as it has been
replaced by dominating monolithic, man-made structures. The haunting and eerie music of
Vangelis provides an ominous backdrop as visual imagery is used to create the impression of
a dark and sinister cityscape that seems a foul, soulless place.
Los Angeles 2019 is a bleak and hellish place in where nature has truly been
conquered and exploited. The world humans inhabit is cast in shadows, decaying and gloomy.
It is a scene of an industrial, urban wasteland. It is a world where animals and nature seem to
have been sacrificed in the name of progress. Man has been able to replicate life but at a
terrible cost. The constant hubbub of machines, rain and sirens, as well as streets in disrepair,
buildings neglected, crumbling, dilapidated; this scenario constitutes the urban nightmare of
Los Angeles 2019.
Sebastian has a profound significance in the film. He is presented as a victim who is
made enigmatic by the juxtaposition of his simple cloths and Southern farm boy accent as
well as his manner and intellect. Although a nave man, he is a genetic designer. It is very
ironic that Sebastian suffers from accelerated decrepitude, as he in many ways symbolizes
the condition and state of humanity it self in the technocratic world. Sebastians disease forces
him to make friends with robotic toys, which he has manufactured - paralleling in a number of
ways, the path that humanity has taken and its destructive companionship with technology
and science. Furthermore, the composer has used Sebastian as a means of expressing his
views on the fate of humanity. In the film Sebastian is used in expeditious ways by the
replicants to reach Tyrell-much the way humanity has been enslaved by its own technology.
Sebastians easy and quick elimination by the replicants evokes a lot of sympathy from the
viewers, as he is surrounded by a selfish careless world.
Incongruously, it is the replicants who posses real humanity in this shallow world.
Although they said to have a lack of emotions (hence the Voight-Kamff test), the film shows
otherwise: Rachel loves Deckard enough to save him from Leon, whereas Tyrell calls her an
experiment, nothing more and wont even speak to her after her V-K test. Also, the replicant
Batty Shows compassion and saves Deckard from death, but Bryant shows no compassion in
telling Deckard to air em out.
In addition, Batty in his dying moments shows us, that he has achieved humanity,
through his compassion, his sense of individual worth (Ive seen things all those moments
will be lost in time) and sense of a soul-as symbolised by the dove. The eloquence with
which Batty speaks his last lines and the empathy the viewer feels for his character by this
stage in the film shows that Scott saw his emotional human qualities as valuable. Thus,
through the debasement of nature, mankind has become enslaved to technology that has
dehumanised him and made the species decline to the point where robots have become
innately superior.
In conclusion both texts reflect concerns about humanities equilibrium with the
natural world, by projecting into the future, and presenting depressing outlooks of the worlds
that are shockingly close to reality. In BNW humanity has lost its contact with nature as a
deliberate policy of the World state because nature or the lessons learnt from nature generate
instability. Whilst in Bladerunner, humanity has lost contact with nature, not as a deliberate
act of policy, but as a side effect of industrialisation, exploitation, greed and indifference.
Nevertheless, both texts give a detailed account of the destructive consequences of
overturning the equilibrium that humanity shares with nature.