Will the THX1138 Future ever materialize?in America

[MCK5441]

I sometime wonder will the THX 1138 future ever materialize
in America at some point in the Future?.Given the present
Terrorists alert situation,and the threat of Global thermonuclear War,
would an Underground society be the only logical choice for American
survival in the Future.Please are there others that feel as I do.Let me know with your posts.

Truly:MCK5441

[DM Corleone]

I sometime wonder will the THX 1138 future ever materialize in America at some point in the Future?.Given the present
Terrorists alert situation,and the threat of Global thermonuclear War,
would an Underground society be the only logical choice for American
survival in the Future.

Not only would a move underground be a logical step considering the situation with terrorism, but we have pretty well initiated the drug-dependancy of our society already.

Prozac, Paxil, Lexapro, Trileptol, etc.  These are already being prescribed at the drop of a hat.  If your kids are supposed to be on them according to the public school and you refuse to give them their drugs, you are hauled in for, guess what:  Drug Evasion!

-Don

[Julien Dupire]

George Lucas thinks we ARE in THX or in 1984. "We must be conscious of that and fight", he said in 1977. THX 1138 is a parable of the US society in 1970. This is NOT a vision of the future but an interpretation of the present.

[SG]

Well said, Julien.
That sums up all the crazy stuff I've been trying to say all along.

[DM Corleone]

George Lucas thinks we ARE in THX or in 1984. "We must be conscious of that and fight", he said in 1977. THX 1138 is a parable of the US society in 1970. This is NOT a vision of the future but an interpretation of the present.

Of course what GL wrote and filmed is his statement about the present.  Otherwise, it would have no meaning for us today (or in the 70's).

On the other hand, it is also one man's idea of where we can end up if we do not fight as well.  If there is no message about the future for us to see, what is the purpose of doing anything with the information in the present?

-Don

[Julien Dupire]

That's what I call "grossir le trait".

Exaggerating features.

[crs1022]

I doubt that Americans would be hiding underground. WE don't have a history of being reclusive or giving into to our enemies (just creating more of them).

Sure, there's a climate of fear in this country right now, but not all over. And no one really pays attention to the red, orange, or yellow terror alerts. It's mostly a product of the current administration (which I voted for, but now regret) than it is the feeling of the whole country. I think there'll be a lot of change here in the future, but not in that way. Most people aren't afraid enough to shelter themselves below ground. I live really close to DC, so yeah, I get pretty concerned occasionally, but I'd never cower below ground.

We do have a drug issue more parallel to the film though. It's okay to advertise and push "prescription" drugs on us, but others are illegal? I don't believe that will ever change unless the government can tax drugs that are curently considered illegal. I don't ever take or use any drugs, but I still see the alarming contradiction in that!

[Julien Dupire]

I'm more concerned about drugs. France is the first world consumer country of medicines. We stuff ourselves with antibiotics, tranquilizers or Aspirine (our Social Security is very generous). I'm afraid we could become dependant.

[Julien Dupire]

""THX 1138 is how I saw 1970. It was designed as a metaphor for the way we were living at the time," Lucas says. "The world has taken a strange twist from there, but I think the ideas that we examined in THX 1138 are still valid in the 21st century.""

[SG]

This is why I believe THX does not find another world or live very long outside his society at the end of the film.

You have nowhere to go.

As long as THX was being rebelious, he was classified as such and subject to appropriated repercussions.  You don't get away.

We're all stuck in this asylem.  Go to another country.  They're all either "Americanized" or somehow 'backward".  You have nowhere to go.
THX, like most of us, aren't actually going to run off and live with what's left of a tribe in South Amerca.  He just went nuts.  I suppose he could do that in the sequel, but that's a different movie - I'm talking about THX 1138.  There was no plan for a sequel.  It ends awful - as far as general audience would concern.
George needed to say Help.  He had nowhere to go.  He made a brilliant film.  Few cared.
In this world you can achieve some sort of self worth - unless youre ill and suffer from low self image - I hope the vision of THX 1138 is never more than a vision.

[DM Corleone]

You have nowhere to go.

If you tell a lie loud and long enough, it begins to have the ring of truth in people's ears.

The THX society told him that he had nowhere to go.  I think he proved them wrong.

SEN thought he had no where to go, until he got to the end of the tram line and heard the welders and saw the puddles.  He saw OMM was nothing more than a poster and OMM could not protect one of his own monks.

That knowledge that he had been lied to led SEN to give up.  The same knowledge gave THX the motivation to run.

But, in the end, is there only one meaning to be gleaned from THX?

-Don

[SG]

Your point are no doubt valid.
But I think you're missing the real point.
"You have nowhere to go" is the awesome reality/irony of a human life in an ultra-civilized society.

Of course there is more than one way to view the end of the film.
But, taken at face value - it is the ultimate lesson that we don't have to accept - because we are free to be individual.
My pet view of the film is that once THX has embraced his individuality, he has nowhere to go.  It IS a nightmare.

If a person relates to you that he/she wants to get away from all this materialism, consumsion, and the battery of offers to trade those - oh, so important game pieces ($) we must earn - What are you going to tell this person?

SRT: Well, You must have been going around in circles, because theres the way out... c'mon...

No.  That's not what you're going to say.

THX is a fictional character.  I certainly don't mean to imply that this is how one should view life.  THX 1138 is (in my eyes) a cautionary tale for all of humanity.
If we build glass houses without a view and to protect us from nature, we must tread softly.  
I don't mean to dissagree so adamantly but I feel very strongly about this simple fact of life.  We have nowhere to go.  This is life in our human society.

[Julien Dupire]

Chaplin said in "The great dictator" that humanity has... nowhere to go. We live hic et nunc. He thought at the end of Modern times that Charlot could leave with his bride. It's false. Skywalker, too, proved we can't leave: we must fight here and take our responsabilities. That is George's message, I think.

[SG]

Correct.  I agree, anyway.

We aren't natural beings anymore.  THX 1138 is a gross exageration of this phenomenon.

I believe there is a bigger picture going on in THX's world.  If he stumbles into that governing society that could be interesting - but again that's not what the film is about.
It's about us.  The drones, the consumers.  I like to think we can balance our consumtion with some sort of ambition...
The film THX 1138 says to me: don't give up, what if you were nothing but a drone.  The blasfemous take on religion in the film is ironic in that we are blessed.
Maybe we could even make a difference.