The World of THX = Mental Institution

[DM Corleone]

A thought came to me the other day:

What if the underground world of THX is really a mental hospital / insane asylum?

-Don

[Julien Dupire]

Yeah, we all turned crazy.

[DM Corleone]

What I meant was this:

THX and the others are constantly drugged.  The uniform and slippers (!?) that they wear everywhere, the constant oversight, etc, lead me to think about the whole thing as a mental asylum.

-Don

[Julien Dupire]

Well, maybe SEN :lol: , but did you really see a fool in THX 1138 ?

[DM Corleone]

Well, maybe SEN Laughing , but did you really see a fool in THX 1138 ?

As in our world, sometimes people are wrongly committed to asylums.  THX seems to fit into that category, and he sees it himself when he comes down from the drugs.

The guards etc don't know how to handle him for two reasons:  He is not drugged to the gills, and he has all of his mental faculties.

-Don

[SMH1982]

I don't agree mainly because of the whole prison scene, the detention area, whatever you want to call it. You got all the weirdo's grouped together, making that more of a mental institution within the whole system.

I posted a long while back, but never went into detail of what I saw the story to be about. I always saw the story more of "Adam and Eve" theme. Here's the gist of it.

THX is taken off the drugs by LUH, and his eyes are "opened" in some sense of the word. While Adam is giving an apple by Eve, and his mind is "opened." The whole underground society is a representation of the Garden. If you read the book, you kind of get a better sense of this theme I think, especially with the character "Control," which could be identified as being "God."

Any ways, its pretty crazy to see so many interpretations of this movie.

[Julien Dupire]

Actually, the main question is: what behavior must be considered as "normal" from different points of view: a person, a system... ?

[DM Corleone]

Any ways, its pretty crazy to see so many interpretations of this movie.

Why?  Which then is the "proper" interpretation?

-Don

[SMH1982]

Any ways, its pretty crazy to see so many interpretations of this movie.

Why?  Which then is the "proper" interpretation?

-Don

Well, there isn't "one proper" interpretation. I hope what I wrote didn't imply that. I guess my statement was more to say its crazy how this movie has affected so many people, giving so many possible interpretations. And its interesting to see how some ideas, as different as they may seem, somehow come together.

[DM Corleone]

I understand.  Thanks.

-Don

[RHM110]

Has anyone seen The Prisoner starring Patrick McGoohan? I see so many parallels of plot between THX and this one. The biggest question I have is why are the prisoners not destroyed? I like the idea of the environment being a mental institution. If the citizens of this place can be found incurable as THX was, why do they allow those types to live? It seems like in 1984 the same issue came up.   just a thought