ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

The Giver, The Defenders, and Blade Runner 396 Views


Share It!


Description:

Would you rather have no memories or think you could be on equal standing with robots? And no, when it comes to dystopian literature, "I refuse both of those options" is not an option.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Just like you

00:00

The Giver The Defenders and Blade Runner a la Shmoop.

00:03

After zooming through time with the Time Machine...

00:06

Barely living through Nineteen Eighty-Four...

00:08

Surviving a Brave New World...

00:11

And having your DNA tinkered with in Gattaca...

00:13

You probably have tons of dystopian tropes floating around your brain.

00:17

Its okay if you cant remember them all as long as you remember that theyre

00:21

in there somewhere.

00:23

Its not like anyone is erasing your memory.

00:26

Not that youd remember if they had.

00:29

In The Giver we see a world where selective memory runs rampantand its not the

00:33

people selecting their own memories either.

00:36

The Elders control everything in this world from the events people remember...

00:39

To the colors they see.

00:42

When our hero Jonas is selected by the Elders to receive all the memories of

00:46

his community which have been suppressed the kid figures out that his black and white

00:50

world could be a whole lot more...colorful.

00:53

Of course as many dystopian heroes before Jonas have learned the knowledge that your seemingly

00:57

perfect society is seriously flawed isnt necessarily a recipe for instant happiness.

01:01

Having no memories most people in The Giver are perfectly fine with their situation.

01:05

They have jobs.

01:07

They have families.

01:09

Sure these things have been assigned to them but at least they have them.

01:13

And at least they have clean air to breathe.

01:16

Thats more than we can say for humanity in Philip K.

01:19

Dicks short story The Defenders.

01:22

In this tale humanity has been driven underground after a nuclear holocaust and the

01:26

war above is waged remotely by robots.

01:29

Because you know being driven underground wasnt proof enough that nuclear holocausts are a bad idea.

01:33

As is usual with anything by Philip K.

01:36

Dick however nothing is what it seems in this story.

01:39

When the humans notice that robotic defenders are coming back from the supposedly radioactive battlefield

01:44

without being radioactive the robots have some serious explaining to do.

01:47

In the end though its the humans who end up questioning themselves.

01:51

Humankind has it a bit better in Blade Runner the movie based on Dicks novel

01:55

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Of course its a little hard to tell

02:00

whos human and whos not in the world of Blade Runner since its populated with

02:04

replicants robots who look exactly like people.

02:07

No worries though.

02:08

Any troublesome replicant is taken care of by your friendly neighborhood blade runner.

02:12

With robots in the mix dystopian tropes suddenly get a lot more complicated.

02:16

When a group of particularly troublesome replicants take cover in a futuristic L.A.

02:20

the powers-that-be bring expert blade runner Rick Deckardaka Harrison Fordout of retirement.

02:24

Of course Blade Runner wouldnt be a dystopian classic if it were just a robots-are

02:28

bad-humans-are-good kind of story.

02:30

Its a movie that really makes us think about the possible gray areas that humanity

02:35

might have to face as robots steadily become more like us.

02:38

When robots look and act human what does it even mean to be human Would

02:42

some people not even know if they were robots or not Would it even matter

02:47

You might long for the days when even if you didnt get along with your

02:51

co-worker at least you knew they were human. NOTE end of file

Up Next

Shakespeare on Love
17376 Views

We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...

Related Videos

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123037 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105891 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1255 Views

Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...