Introduction
In the current world, science fiction has been employed by many people to address political, social and economic issues. Through their imaginations, which are in a way related to the day-to-day real events, fiction plays a crucial role in maneuvering these issues. To some extent, science fiction achieves a great role in that some of the things that would be unimaginable in the real life scenarios. In order to achieve this, however, a high level of creativity is needed. This is effectively carefully address the contemporary issues that happen in the society. Failure to capture them effectively would mean that the purpose of the science fiction film is not met. Essentially, people should watch the movie and relate it to the things that happen in the real world (Dowd, 2010). Through this, they can learn some moral lessons that may make the world a better place for people.
Elysium is one such science fiction movie that has achieved to address a number of contemporary issues in the society. Neil Blomkamp, is both the writer and the director of this dystopian film. The setting of the movie is used to connote the differences that exist between the poor and the rich in the current Australian community. The earth setting in the film represents the majority of the citizens who lack basic needs such as health care. Elysium, on the other hand, represents the minority who are rich. They are given access to the basics that the poor cannot afford. When Max accidentally gets poisoned, he struggles to enter Elysium in order to get medication. This is the struggle that the poor people in the community face in their attempt to be equal with the rich persons. This film addresses several themes, both political and sociological. Some of the themes include overpopulation, exploitation, health care, immigration, class issues and the justice system. Most of these themes are perfectly demonstrated to look similar to the ones that take place in the day-to-day events that take place in the contemporary world.
The plot of the film is based on the two distinct places, a ravaged place on earth and a luxurious space habitat. Essentially, life in these two places is of great contrast. Whereas the Elysium citizens enjoy the luxuries and the free medicine they can access, those on earth do not have a chance to enjoy these services (Sutherland&Feltey 2012). Max, who is about to die because he is poisoned by the radiations, seeks to enter Elysium in order to get the free medication that can save his life. In order to succeed moving to Elysium, he is bound to face many hurdles. After trying all his best, Max succeeds to enter Elysium, albeit with injuries. However, he does not succeed to cure himself. He instead manages to destroy the computer program, the effect of which he successfully registered the citizens of the earth as being Elysium’s citizens. At this point, the citizens on earth start benefitting from the free Medicare access to the med bays, hence attaining some sort of social equality with the citizens that were in Elysium. Eventually, all citizens become equal, despite their geographical position.
In this film, social inequalities are constructed in a number of ways, which is in most cases a reflection of the contemporary social classes. A flashforward into the year 2154, the main issue or theme expressed by the film is that of the gap that exists between the rich and the poor. In essence, the gaps seem to be widening, since the rich have been transferred to a more comfortable space station, Elysium. Meanwhile, the poor will still have to fight for their survival on earth. These two geographical locations, despite being fictional, expose the discrimination that is widespread in the world currently. Despite all the human beings being equal, some are treated with dignity while some are ignored to face the challenges that present themselves to the world. This gap is so large that it seems difficult for the inhabitants in both places to be considered as human beings. Definitely, the inhabitants in Elysium are considered more superior when compared to their counterparts on earth.
Largely, the film portrays how there is a struggle to attain equality and some of the challenges that the poor people in society are subjected to. Initially, the film shows some of the people on earth doing their best in order to flee and join Elysium. This is because of their pursuance of the free medical care available in Elysium (Henslin et al. 2013). Jessica Delacourt, who is the secretary of Defense in the Elysium, gives directives that the illegal immigrants be shot down. This incident is a major prove of the societal struggles that exist between the rich and the poor in the society, where the rich are considered as being special and the poor are not considered. In their attempt to equal the rich, the poor are always subjected to several challenges that it becomes difficult for them to overcome. In order to overcome this challenge of the widening gap in the society, the poor are always motivated to try all means in order to equal the rich. This is shown through the attempts that Max tries in the film to ensure he can access Elysium in order to be cured. Despite the med bays being free, many people are dying on earth and their attempts to get to Elysium in order to get medication are thwarted. The class inequalities have contributed to the struggles that are experienced daily in an attempt to access the necessities to life. Despite such services being freely available to the rich in Elysium, the poor are denied access.
In actual sense, the plot of the film is similar to the events that take place in the world on a day-to-day basis. This applied even to the Australian society. The film discloses how such struggles are essentially race-based and anti-feminine. In order to achieve the equality, the black resort to enticing the whites in order to get some proper avenues to access the lifestyle in the rich category. The film portrays women negatively, mostly as being power-hungry. The secretary of defense, Delacourt, has an agenda of controlling the space base personally. Through this, she is more determined than before to kill the king. The fact that Max is chased down by Kruger shows the extent to which the rich in the society can go in order to prevent or protect themselves from interacting with the poor. This is the height of social injustices and segregation in the society, which divides people according to the social classes they belong to. Inadvertently, this leads to discrimination based on class in the society.
In challenging the social inequalities that are portrayed in the film, several attempts are made with the intention of ensuring that all human beings are treated equally, regardless of their social class in the society. Max, who was a former car thief, leads the challenge. In essence, falling among the poor people in the ravaged earth, he gets poisoned by radiation and is determined to move to Elysium in order to be healed, lest he dies. He attempts to request Spider to help him access Elysium. However, in order to assist Max access Elysium, he gives him a number of conditions, one of which was to steal the financial information. Despite Max succeeding to download the program, its encryption makes it invalid for use. This prompts a fierce fight when Delacourt realizes Max’s plans and deploys a mercenary to recover the program. A lot of people are killed in the fight and Max is wounded as a result. All these were attempts by Max in order to ensure that the people on the earth would be registered as Elysium citizens in order to enjoy the free services. Max decides to die a martyr when he decides to reboot Elysium’s computer core. In the end, all the citizens on earth are successfully registered as Elysium citizens and as such, they can access the free services that the residents of Elysium could access. Through such a struggle, social equality was finally achieved (Eschholz et al. 2002).
Elysium is a perfect example of the social injustices and inequalities that are present in the world and particularly the Australian society. In essence, the rich want to widen the gap between them and the poor in order to be considered special in the world. Any attempt by the poor to close the gap is subjected to several challenges, which make it difficult for equality to be attained. Overall, for the social equality to be achieved, several challenges ought to be overcome.
References
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Eschholz, S., Bufkin, J., and J.Long (2002) “ Symbolic Reality Bites: Women and Racial/Ethnic Minorities in Modern Film” in Sociological Spectrum, Vol 22 (3): Pp 299-334.
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