MEST 4 Coursework Blog: Critical investigation 2nd draft

To what extent do contemporary sci-fi films such as ‘Elysium' comment on social class?

Through the years of science fiction (SF), the genre has always sought to act as a medium for expressing the anxieties of their contemporary audience. However, in recent years this genre "has generally been quite poor (too much CGI in place of character development, too many explosions in place of ideas)”^{^[1]}. This lack of finesse and articulation in the plots of modern science fiction cinema, questions whether they still create the same effect as they did in previous years. In the 1950's, where science fiction was considered to be at its pinnacle, Don Siegel's 'Invasion Of the Body Snatchers' was and still is a prime example of how the SF genre can act as a social commentary and raise social awareness. Although this film is classed a "black and white B-picture", it was very effective in bringing to life the fears that inhabited the public. The main reading of this film "was the alien (read 'Communist') dehumanization and take-over of an entire community" which was the prominent apprehensiveness of America in the 1950's. It is proclaimed that Siegel's 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' "takes pride of place in a chain of 1950s sci-fi classics of the questioning, doubting, paranoid variety"^{^[2]}.

Science fiction as an allegory could also be seen in modern SF films, such as Neil Blomkamp's 'Elysium'. Blomkamp's long awaited film hit cinemas in the summer of 2013. Its international box office sales were $193,141,974 and worldwide, a total of $286,192,091. The audience response were mixed with positives and negatives, positives being the spectacular use of CGI and negatives being the lack of character and setting development, but the resonating subject matter were the overhanging subliminal messages within the film's narrative. Through the binary opposition in the film, rich vs poor, it can be argued that Blomkamp’s ‘Elysium’ is an allegory portraying the inequalities of social class in the 21st century. This representation of social class in 2053 makes this provides personal identification to all audiences as “social class is intertwined with every fabric of everyday life.”^{^[3]}

Firstly, Blomkamp’s ‘Elysium’ is seen to be an allegory for the social inequalities prominent in the 21st century. In the opening scene, the same establishing shot used to display the carnage of Earth was also used to flaunt the glamour of the space shuttle of Elysium. This is interesting because it accentuates the contrast between the two settings. The resounding contrast in colour between both places also establish contrast between lavish and decaying. On the ravaged earth there is the prominent use of the colour brown. This choice of colour implies that there is famine thus implying poverty. On the contrary, the space shuttle, Elysium, is in abundance of crops with the dominant colours of blue and green. This use of primary colours represents a purity as well as a sense of wholesomeness. On earth, the overcrowding is very evident as seen with the people living off the sides of the skyscrapers further accentuating the sense of poverty. With the use of the long shot, the buildings are made parallel with a decaying plant. This is done through the buildings having rubble stemming from the sides and the use of colour black. The slow pace editing allows the audience to bask and to internalise the extremity of the contrast between the two settings. The use of positional communication further outlines the contrast between earth and Elysium. Elysium is placed above earth, looking down on earth thus creating heavenly and religious connotations. It creates the sense that the space shuttle is like heaven and is for people that are celestial and are holy. The fact that such a heavy contrast created right from the offset of the film, it instantly creates a binary opposition. This therefore acts as an enigma code for audiences as questions are raised as how earth has got into such a state. The establishing shot of the space station, makes it clear from the offset of the film that this film belongs to the science fiction genre because the futuristic feel as well as the very typical setting of space in the science fiction genre.

Through this contrast, it exposes the inequalities of wealth. This is created through the massive contrast in wealth; being extreme poverty to excessive wealth. This inequality is ever prominent as “the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says.”^{^[4]} Also, through the binary opposition outlined by the two settings established in the opening scene, it draws likeness to Karl Marx’s ideology the the world is set into two groups, “Ruling class, class that is ruled”^{^[5]}. By the order of wealth represented, being parallel with the order of wealth in contemporary society, it links with the decorum doctrine. “This doctrine is the idea that genre and styles are ordered hierarchically, and that the hierarchy of literary genres should reflect and maintain social hierarchies”^{^[6]}. Therefore presenting how it is credible that one may argue that social class is represented in modern science fiction film.

Another excerpt in the film that expresses social inequality is the final scene. When both the protagonist and his helper infiltrate the space shuttle's main system room. The choice of the colour white for all the appliances in the room shows how the space shuttle is for the pure and the holy because the colour has implications of purity. Also, the use of editing to create the slow motion of the special forces team trying prevent the coup, enhances the climax that is happening because it makes the whole situation more significant. This use of slow motion coupled with the opera music playing in the back accentuates the climax but also this use of parallel it makes the protagonist's sacrifice more moving and sentimental. Additionally, slow motion is used at the end when Max slowly dies. This intensifies the feeling of sorrow and emotion that the audience would feel towards Max's death because the audience are left slowly watching Max's death. Moments before Max sacrifices himself for the sake of equality, he looks out the window to see Earth. This point of view shot of Max looking over the earth is a conventional moment is science fiction film “when the narrative flow is stalled to make way for visual spectacle”^{^[7]}, but also makes his sacrifice synonymous with the crucifixion of Jesus. This is because Max died for the sake of the Earth, just like Jesus this parallel further makes Max's sacrifice moving. The flash backs into the beginning of the film, to when he was a child creates a sense that death is near because it shows how he is looking over his life which therefore makes the ending much more climatic as well as emotional.

By Max pioneering social equality, it defies the pre notion of the ordinary person. "Ordinary people are now convinced that there is no alternative to the morality of the acquisitive society; that Britain's seemingly intractable economic problems are quite beyond human control; that social inequalities are therefore unalterable."^{^[8]} This positive resolution allows audiences to see that there is always hope for change therefore providing the audience pleasure personal identification. This links also links with the 21st century perception that “classes are indeed being fundamentally remade.” ^{^[9]}Therefore, by Blomkamp challenging the status quo, empowers the audience as they are introduced to idea of change and equality. However, this shows how Blomkamp is beginning to present more futuristic ideals, like the idea of equality. This links to the science fiction genre as it aims to “is to pictorialize the unfamiliar”.^{^[10]}

Secondly, Blomkamp’s ‘Elysium’ presents the effects of capitalism and the exploitation of the working class. In an excerpt of the film when Max goes to work assembling and repairing droids, the conditions of his work place was far from ideal. The use of low-key lighting in shows how he and his fellow colleagues are kept working in darkness which highlights the poor working conditions workers from earth deal with. These life threatening conditions are further seen when Max gets trapped in a radiation chamber and then begins to suffer from radiation poisoning. After this event in the film, Max’s make-up changed drastically to being very pale and always perspiring. This physical change of the protagonist becoming very sickly and weak, accentuates these hazardous conditions hence making Marx’s theory of alienation very applicable.

The exploitation of workers is also very prominent in the 21st century. In BBC’s Panorama, an episode called ‘Amazon: The Truth Behind the Click’, it documents how amazon employees work from day to day. Workers work with a scanning device which directs them to the item in the warehouse and gives them a specific time limit to get that item. The BBC reporter experiencing being an Amazon employee, says how the shifts are very intense and are very physically tough, this also is synonymous with the other employees. This documentary exemplifies how the discrimination of the working class is very relevant even in the 21st century. In SF movie, plots tend to fall into two categories, utopian and dystopian; in the future, society will either become better or worse. “Because of controversy, most science fiction films will fall into the dystopian film category rather than the Utopian category.”^{^[11]} In ‘Elysium’, Blomkamp also chose to take the dystopian approach to his science fiction blockbuster in order to expose the flaws in modern day society. Director Blomkamp states, “Elysium may be set in the future, but it’s merely an amplification of an age-old problem.”^{^[12]}

Furthermore, the effects of capitalism is seen in the scene where Max is beaten by a droid, which results in Max’s arm breaking. In the Media Magazine they wrote that earth’s “impoverished inhabitants abuse and herded by robotic police.”^{^[13]} Verb choice ‘herded’ suggests that the people of earth are like sheep which has connotations of submissiveness and inferiority. The ‘robotic police’ is a convention of the science fiction genre. This show ‘Elysium employing the conventions of the science fiction genre like “advanced technology, [and] robotics”.^{^[14]} The fantasy of droids being police catches the audience “between that which does and doesn't exist and which might be a logical extension of what exists.”^{^[15]} This presents how SF film can provide the audience pleasure of escapism. And how the audience encode and decode the films plot, characters and narrative structure are through their personal cultural and social experiences. With Hall’s model it would definitely support that Elysium is a projection of 21st century society as all the interpretations of the film is based around the problem faced in society.

In addition, another reading of Blomkamp’s ‘Elysium’ is that it represents issues of immigration, poverty and overcrowding. In the film, Secretary Delacourt, the head of Elysium’s defence, orders two ships carrying people from earth down causing numerous casualties. These deaths are parallel with the continuing death toll of migrants who try to escape poverty in war crossing “from Africa in leaking overcrowded boats, to reach their own version of ‘Elysium’.”^{^[16]} This portrays “the myth that people who should be held responsible for the nation’s multiple social and economic ills are those at the bottom of the pecking order”^{^[17]} because it is almost like, those trying to escape poverty are being denied as they are seen as the problem and the variable that will corrupt. This shows how the science fiction is representing modern day society, and could even be regarded a “vehicle for ‘safely’ discussing controversial topical issues”^{^[18]}

Furthermore, the representation of women is interesting in this film because there are two women that are represented in two very different ways. The character named ‘Fray’ is represented as a traditional woman (dominant representation). This is done through her occupation as a nurse in the film and through her following the role as a carer, because she nurses her daughter suffering leukaemia, and the protagonist Max when he is wounded. In contrast, the other woman secretary Delacourt, is the head of defence in Elysium. This is unconventional as women aren’t generally linked to war and battle. Also, her character is ruthless and relentless as she shoots down 2 ships carrying citizens from Earth causing 46 casualties. Furthermore, she is the character that organises a revolution. Her character defies the expectation of women because she is so desensitised to death that she will murder at any cost for power. The construction of Secretary Delacourt would represent the increasing level of equality that women are gaining. The dichotomy that is created between Fray and Delacourt accentuates the struggle in which women face, choosing to follow the stereotypical role, or going against the prescription of society and being independent. However, as the film begins to resolve, secretary Delacourt is killed, but Fray and her daughter survive. An interpretation of this could be that women that defy the typical role of women are punished, and those women who adhere to the traditional expectation are rewarded. Interestingly, this goes against modern society because it can be contended that women are empowered to become more independent and shouldn’t be confined to just the domestic sphere. This therefore shows that

The representation of race is more straight forward as it follows common stereotypes. When Max seeks help to be smuggled to Elysium, he approaches Julio, the pioneer in smuggling people from earth to elysium. Right from choice of name of the character, the audience will realise that he is from hispanic descent. Furthering this, two of his helpers who equip Max for is mission also embody the stereotype of the hispanic male. This is done through the costume and the make up of the characters. The main helper is seen covered in tattoos and people who have them are often associated those that are uneducated and/or are involved in some crime. Additionally, this sense of crime and anti-establishment is created within this sequence because the low-key lighting creates a sense of secrecy as well as concealment; also, the graffiti on the walls would also support the underground, anti-establishment reading. Moreover, the use of props would suggest a sense of crime. The surgical tools that were used to attach the exo-suit to Max were tools to deal with metal like welding irons, drills and metal cutters. The increased pace of editing when flashing the utensils accentuates the danger and provokes a sense of tension and anxiety. The use of dialogue further stresses the distrust of Julio’s helpers. When Max asks “will it hurt?”, they respond in laughter. This gesture would defiantly question the helpers’ reliability and trustworthiness because this sarcastic and sadistic laughter would evoke a sense of evil. This negative light that the hispanic race is represented in would tie into Brathes theory of stereotyping. That those in power create stereotypes of those who are in less power. This is seen as the hispanic race in America as always seen to be the minority race hence those that are in less power. This use of stereotyping could be interpreted as just trying to “organise and simplify”^{^[19]} and not actually enforcing any ideas upon the audience. However, it is inevitable that this use of stereotyping tries to convince the audience to this “certain representation”^{^[20]} of the hispanic race; that they are all criminals and are people that aren't to be trusted.

Dating back in the history of science fiction film, the genre has always served as a vehicle in which the anxieties of the era can be presented as, “genres may be defined as patterns, forms, styles, structures that transcend individual films.”^{^[21]} Don Siegel’s ‘Invasion of the body snatchers’ would be a prime example of this. In this film, the audience sees that the town that is inhabited by protagonist Miles, is acting very strange. People begin to make conclusions that their family members are not acting the way they usually do. Some of these accusations that are made protagonist, Miles, considers deranged because “there is no difference you can actually see. He looks, acts, sounds and remembers…” This would link to the era’s “dangerous path of McCarthyism”^{^[22]}. McCarthyism is the practice of making unfair allegations without proper regard for evidence which. In the 1950’s also known as the McCarthy era, thousands of Americans were accused of being communists, the primary targets of suspicion were government employees, entertainers, educators and union activists. Moreover, these accusations being made amongst the family was also seen in America in 50’s where the Red Scare was at its epitome, to the extent to where people began to suspect family members of being spies.

Additionally, it would could be seen that the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers goes beyond Cold War politics into an anxiety more deeply rooted in human consciousness”^{^[23]}. These anxieties are seen in Siegel’s SF blockbuster when the people are swapped with the pod people double. In the film, when the people are swapped, the pod people act with no emotion and arguably lose their individuality and eccentricity. This ties in with the stereotype of how the America represented communism in the 1950’s - making “all its citizens lockstep into a sameness of purpose and behaviour.”^{^[24]} This ‘red-scare’ was very prominent in America in the 50’s; many citizens in America feared communism “could destroy American society from the inside as well as from the outside”^{^[25]} This would definitely present that the science fiction genre has served as a medium in which society’s fears is represented.