Just because scifi movies have something deeper to say, doesn’t mean that something is good. We discuss the strange mixed messages that stories can convey, how a film’s message may depend on interpretation For some reason, Mike and Chris also let Oren go on and on about his weird fan theory for Star Trek: First Contact. Even though we ran long, we barely scratched the surface of all the films with something to say, so expect part II in the future.
Show Notes
- Gattaca (1997) An additional note on problematic issues with Gattaca that was missed during recording: the setting’s ableist views were in part vindicated by the story’s end when Jerome Morrow (Jude Law) kills himself because he is crippled.
- Children of Men (2007)
- Inside Out (2015)
- Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
- Cloud Atlas (2012)
- Steven Universe (2013 – )
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The cause that the FISH terrorists were fighting for in Children of Men (Unrestricted immigration) only seems like an unambiguous good if you’re on the Left or Far Left, especially since Children of Men world is one in which Britain is one of the only stable nations left and as a result basically every asylum seeker in the world wants to get into a society with very limited resources.
So it’s an unambiguous good if you’re a decent person.
I was disappointed that you didn’t address the intense ableism in Gatica, as one of the biggest negative messages the movie sends is that it better to be dead than disabled and that being disabled means that your life is over and you are unable to accomplish anything with your life. This is a huge problem, especially as this is a common pattern in disability representation (see the Bury Your Disabled trope).