Skip to main content

Why didn't the *characters* rebel or run in Never Let Me Go?


I have just seen the film "Never Let Me Go". I couldn't understand why the clones didn't try to escape. Even if they were angry at their fate they didn't try to alter this.



Were they genetically conditioned to be submissive? Was it some form of conditioning or was there an explanation in the book which doesn't make it to the film?


There was a scene early on where a ball falls outside the ground, and it indicated that the children were scared to leave, but as adults they enjoyed more freedom. I would have thought that they would at least think about it.


(In universe explanation).



Answer



This was discussed (extensively) in an interview with the film's director. Apologies for the huge blob of text.



One of the consistent questions people have about the film is, "Why don’t they run away?" What would your answer be to that?


Maybe it’s a failing of the film that the question comes up as often as it does – I don’t know


There are many ways to answer the question because it’s a question that gets to the heart of what the movie is exploring. I’m always loathe to answer this question myself because if you were to ask this of Kazuo, his response is so astoundingly eloquent, I always feel, “Oh, darn: why do I have to answer this? Why can’t we get Kazuo on the phone?” Kazuo’s answer, in brief, is that there have been many films with stories about the kind of anomaly of brave slaves rebelling against an oppressive or immoral system, and he just isn’t as interested in telling that story as he was in the ways that we tend not to and the ways that we tend to accept our fates and the ways that we tend to lack the necessary wider perspective that would make that an option.


When I have shown the film to Russian audiences the question doesn’t come up. When I show the film to Japanese audiences, in Tokyo, the question doesn’t come up. There are societies where the process of that society and the reality of the atmosphere of that society is so pervasive, since birth, that people are raised to believe that it’s noble to, be a cog, really, and fulfil your destiny and your responsibility to the greater society. It’s just how these characters think. It’s a very western idea and a very American idea that a movie story is somehow broken if it’s not about a character who fights.



If you know Kazuo’s other books and if you’re able in the reading of a novel to immerse yourself in Kathy’s perspective to a greater degree than we were able to depict in a film... that question doesn’t come up when you’re reading the book. It’s... You can tell that it’s obviously about characters that lack that perspective and that the notion of running wouldn’t even occur to them – they’ve been brain-washed since childhood to believe that they’re lucky, that they’re privileged, that they’re providing an honoured, unique service to the society.


That’s just sort of the prosaic answer to the question. The whole idea of the film is really a metaphor. If you take it too literally then you would ask those questions but if you understand that the film is a rumination on the fact of the brevity of our lifespan then that question doesn’t really come up. And maybe it’s a failing of the film that the question comes up as often as it does – I don’t know. What was your feeling about it?


That we have the illusion of choice, but a lot of us don't run away... You could have had the obligatory scene where someone tries to run away, but I wouldn't want to see that film. Or, rather, I've seen that film...


Well, we suggested it, as Kazuo does - that a mythology, a rumour, rose in the school - over the years - that that would happen if someone tried to run away.



The story's writer Kazuo Ishiguro spoke to this issue in an interview at the film's launch:



  • He wasn't looking to tell the story of slaves who rebel.

  • He is fascinated by the extent with which people (when threatened by authority) remain passive.

  • The young people in the book simply don't have any conception of a world in which they can escape. They fail to find freedom because they lack "perspective".






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...