There Is No Ocean
This is a paper I wrote as an assignment for my Science Fiction Visions of the Post Human Future: Cyborgs, Robots, Viruses, and AI class. That class rules. The assignment here was to analyze a film (or TV show, or even a computer game) and discuss how it related and represented some of the post human themes that have been brought up in class thus far. Don't vote on this unless you really feel strongly about it. I am getting graded on it. And I apologize in advance for all the film faggot talk. This node is about the movie Dark City, so if you haven't seen it, don't read this. Here goes...
March 30, 2000
There Is No Ocean
Dark City is a
visual journey through a highly
stylized world of darkness. The
main character,
John Murdoch (
Rufus Sewell), wakes up with
amnesia and must find his past in a world where
the past really doesn’t exist. The journey leads him to find that he has a power called “
tuning,” which allows him to control
the physical world simply by using his
free will. His journey continues on and he finds a
psychiatrist by the name of Dr.
Schreber (
Kiefer Sutherland), who attempts to
tell him the truth. He
discovers the
Strangers, a
mysterious race he finds out live in
vessels of the dead citizens of his world and control it with their
collective mind. His
quest climaxes with a
final showdown with the Strangers, which produces an interesting
semi-surprise ending. The
themes in this film completely
encompass the aspects of a semi-post-human future (or
civilization). The
properties of the film that create these themes are the film’s
visual style, the
story, the
characters, and the
subtext of the
plot.
The visual style of this film
calls upon many previous films that each have their own
unique style. The
collaboration of these different styles give the film own
unique style that
fuels the story
beautifully, with a
dystopian, dark look at this world which allows no self-control of the citizens’ own though. This darkness definitely represents the
darkness of the minds of the citizens, as they have no power to remember anything and if they do remember, it is because they have been
programmed. The style calls upon some
film noir styles from the
40s, most likely to
assist with the lonely feeling of the sequences that take on that particular style. Another heavily
assimilated style is
German Expressionism. The film is dark, has
deliberate shadows and
skewed
angles,
camera work, and
lighting; almost everything that is
visual in this film can be related to
Expressionism. This
assists the story in its
emotional visualization, and is a very successful
technique in that it gives the audience
a feeling of separation from the characters and the world. Another important aspect of the visuals of this film are the fact that the
special effects are there to
serve the story, and not just for
eye candy. The
subtle insertion of these effects provide a more effective, almost
subliminal execution of the effects, making them more
comforting and
believable for the
viewer. They
magnify the
sick realism of the dark world and improve it’s
mysterious qualities. Story-driven special effects like these are used in
The Matrix as well. The story is completely backed up by the
images, making the film a visual and stylistic success.
This film is about what
being human really is. If there were only one theme that represented the whole film, that theme would be the properties of the human
soul that are the reason humans are not simply products of their own
memory.
The Strangers, much like
robots and other
aliens in other
films, think that they can figure out
what makes humans human by changing their memories around and seeing how they react; their
mistake is their denial of the fact that
being human is a special and unique thing. The main theme is that free will is what really makes humans what they are. The proof that free will is the one thing the Strangers cannot get around is the
bold action Walenski (
Colin Friels) takes when he jumps in front of the
train. The Strangers could not have prevented this action because of Walenski’s free will. The
triumph of Murdoch at the end is an example of the common overcoming of
evil portrayed in
science fiction films, but the
overthrow consists of a different kind of shootout than usual; Murdoch faces off with the main Stranger in
a battle of the mind and free will. The battle shows the usual triumph of the
hero, but this fight seems much more
dangerous than
the everyday shootout. Murdoch’s risk of
losing his mind is backed by a much more fearful risk; if he loses the battle, his entire race
loses their freedom. The story presents
humanity’s loss of freedom. If
the events in the film did not take place, the world would forever be
controlled by the
Borg-like race that would, ironically, never find out what the soul is. Each character does his or her own part to
execute the story in a near-
flawless and completely believable manner.
Murdoch’s
actions, his
amnesia,
realization,
execution of power, and
triumph are all very important in his quest for the
freedom of the human race. His and every other character each has his or her absolute
destiny within the film. The idea of destiny is a
spiritual theme that exists subtly, once again playing on the subliminal action more than being a direct part of the story. Another extremely important character is Dr. Schreber. He is the character that truly
fuels the actions of Murdoch,
from start to finish. Schreber is the
mad scientist of this story, with his belief that the
experiment, which is the Strangers’ search for what makes humans human, is more important than the
victims of the experiment. His actions, especially towards the end of the film, are evident of
Rotwang in
Metropolis. He programs the characters throughout, and in the end he programs Murdoch basically to
be the hero. This action proves his
loyalty to his own species, which is a definite theme of other science fiction; the survival of species of self drives him to save Murdoch, and, in effect,
the whole human race. Another very important set of characters are the Strangers. They are
the classic communist villain. The collective
population make up the Strangers’ one unified mind; they all control the
nightly tuning; they all
think the same and feel nothing. They are
a modern representation of communism and the still existent
fear of governmental control. Much like
the Borg from
Star Trek, they are one collective
entity that creates a seemingly all-powerful
evil. They are never seen by the
innocents in the film until the end, which displays a sort of danger in the unknown property
as seen in
The Matrix. The
invisible evil theme is
constant to the end, when the main Stranger challenges Murdoch to
a fight to the death by way of tuning.
The equivalent of a human soul, the
life force that lets the Strangers take over the
dead as
vessels is released from the head Stranger and dies without a
host. This sort of
parasitic life is somewhat evidence of
virus-like activity, and could be considered a virus if the hosts were not already dead when they were taken over. The characters are the
closure that gives this film its
unity.
Quite a bit of
subtext to the actions and plot of this film
exist. The main example of this subtext is the almost godlike
persona Murdoch takes on after he defeats the Strangers. At the beginning of the story his character is born out of
womb-like bathtub, and then is lost and must find his way. He
discovers his power and destiny, and fulfills it to the point of
ultimate power. He becomes
godlike; he can mold the physical world any way he
pleases. He creates
a new world from what had made up the
dark city. The mentioning of
evolution is another important
event.
Dr. Schreber comments on how Murdoch might be an evolution over
the regular human. The Strangers
deny the idea out of
disgust, which is really their fear of being equaled by
a mere human. Their belief that they are higher beings than humans is a common belief held by many
aliens and robots in science fiction films. Overall, the sub textual comments made by this film are highly
intriguing and
thought-provoking.
This film’s visual style is very
dynamic. Its sampling from other
genres and styles creates an altogether
new style that is effective in
execution of the story. The story itself is a new
twist on
a classic idea; it is simply the
theft of control by an
evil force that is recovered by a
messiah-like hero. The characters in this film fit the story
flawlessly with their transition from the unknowing to
the final discovery. The subtext gives the film multiple
layers; it adds new
depth to the film that makes the film a new experience every viewing. While it may seem
at first like a simple
stylistic film with a
shallow story,
Dark City is a film that
takes advantage of all important pieces of a film, and
blends them together to make an
artistic piece that intrigues
time and time again. In the film there may be no ocean, but there are definitely
depths.