Film: Children of Men
I am going concentrate on a few
aspects of the Ark of the Arts scene (time: 19:10-~21:27). In the preceding scenes all information that has
been presented to the viewer either specifically or in the “background” has
served a very specific purpose in yielding insight into the terrible future
that this story is taking place within. For
instance, the date and place alone allude to a past event in
history that can shed more light and information into this storyline. November
16, London; in 1961 Great Britain limited immigration from Commonwealth
countries; obviously the immigration policies are much stricter and visibly of
great concern in the film, but point being, the date was chose for a specific
reason and as a result the film has indirectly given us a large piece of
information. In this scene I believe the
“Pink Floyd Animals Pig” floating
over a smog-free Battersea Power Station is telling the viewer a lot more than
just, “Hey, this collector likes giant inflatable pigs.” The director, (or writers, whoever…) could
have placed literally anything outside of that window, why the pig?
If we indulge into the Pink Floyd Animals allusion, we c(w)ould say that
the pig is a symbol of the big capitalist government and Nigel is just the
human extension of that corrupt government, a pig in his own right. Additionally within this theory Theo Faron
would fill the role of the dog, a man that abandons his moral beliefs in order
to climb the corporate ladder. Wait,
that’s exactly what was revealed to us already… Hmmm, interesting. Could this hypothesis be reinforced by the
notion that dogs “like” Theo? Well, the “attack
dogs” didn’t seem very interested in him when he entered… Shall we dig deeper? Hell yes, the allusion doesn’t stop there! Pink Floyd’s “Animals” is widely known to be
a musical adaptation (for lack of a better word) on George Orwell’s famous
literary work Animal Farm which
cleverly addresses Karl Marx communism and arguably policies adopted by Vladimir
Lenin. With this in mind, the director
is quite possibly giving us some insight into exactly what kind of government
is operating within the “surviving Britain.”
Is this not the famous monarchy we are familiar with today, or is there
a communist regime that has ultimately clenched control, hybrid of the two
maybe? Specifics are not revealed, but
one could infer through observation. Additionally,
as can be deduced from this scene, there is definitely a very large monetary
inequality between those positioned in high governmental roles rather than a
man that holds a common position at the Ministry of Energy.
These
theories I have presented may seem unrealistic and far-fetched, but it is very
common for art to allude to other works of art, who says that the allusions
have to remain within the same medium.
Mathew, thank you for answering one of my biggest questions when that entire scene was playing out! What is with the pig in the sky? I love your understanding of what you think it means. You give a great background that I did not know about various topics and certainly lead me to a great conclusion! The one question that I have to further this discussion is does communism rule the world after years of the rest of the world hating and trying to break it down? Was society wrong about everything that communism is and how can Britain maintain its power? A lot of signs point to a certain communist regime, but again the director or writers never explain what kind of government Britain has. I believe this is a central part of the movie that should have been explained because the movie leads on that some form of government is still holding true and keeping society from dying off.
ReplyDeleteThe background allusions to Pink Floyd's "Animals" and George Orwell's "Animal Farm" aid in interpreting an important motif, as you begin to point out. Animals, particularly dogs, occupy the same space as the infertile humans and hover throughout the film. Whether they're represented by heaping piles of cutesy knick-knacks in the cubicles at the Ministry of Energy or a burnt pile of cows on the countryside, there appears to be another story occurring in the background. There is unspoken realization that unless fertility is resolved, the animals are next in the line to the throne, which is a very Animal Farm-ian concept:
ReplyDelete"Soon or late the day is coming,
Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone." - Animal Farm, The Beasts of England
This blog was helpful for me to understand another piece of artwork in the film. I thought the same thing about why the pig was in the movie. I looked at the David statue as a sign of fertility which ironically did not happen in the film. I liked how you went further and compared other characters in the film to animals. Biologically we are animals and we can have those vice and virtuous characteristics that animals have. There was plenty of corruption in the film showing how this world can truly be a "Dog eat Dog world".
ReplyDelete