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
Post a Comment