Surrogates – The Real Impact of Technology
09 Friday Apr 2010
Written by Josh Lipovetsky in Film Analysis
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Every day, new technological advances are being made. Every day, we are getting lazier and lazier. As technology advances, we also get stressed more easily, and we become more impatient. Surrogates is a Science Fiction movie that deals with the laziness problem in an extreme case. But is this story really Science Fiction? Or do the Surrogate bodies represent our dependence on technology today?
What if you could stay at home, lay back in a chair, and put yourself in a different body? What would you do if you had that kind of freedom without being able to be harmed? At first, it sounds like an incredible idea. A new technological revolution. But when things get that extreme, you realize how negative technology really is. Sure, I do love technology. I’m writing this post from my Mac, I have lots of gadgets in my house. I like websites like Gizmodo and EnGadget. However, I do enjoy writing in a journal. And I read books every day. With my time spent in the hospital, I learned patience, and I learned to embrace silence. Unfortunately, as a society, we aren’t patient, and we don’t appreciate silence. Is there any way around this?
The only way around the problem would be to force every human being to log 1 hour every day, of ‘unplugged time’. Time when no technology is used and we are free to regain our sense of humanity. To wake up from this virtual world. Of course this may be a very impractical idea. But hey, I can dream, right?
Surrogates is a foreboding story, about letting technology run our lives. What we must remember at all times, is that we are human beings. We are powerful beyond our wildest beliefs. We are almost completely unlimited. Do you want to let technology continue to run your life? Or do you want to unplug for some time every day, and reconnect with who you really are?
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6 comments
May 5, 2010 at 12:09 am
This movie was ruined for me when it was obvious that just about anyone with a gun could break into the mainframe controlling all the surrogates.
They really needed a matrix style scene.. originality would help here of course. Bruce Willis and others just seemed to walk in barely noticed by a soul and take over the most important room in the world. Maybe I am thinking too much about that key point?
The other thing that bothered me is the robots. They had HUGE similarities to the recent movie iRobot which was surely a copy of something else but still played out much better in my mind as a whole.
Anyhow, that’s my two cents. The site looks nice. Good luck.
May 5, 2010 at 8:32 am
You’re right. It was way too easy to enter the room. Extremely unrealistic! That’s why I don’t write movie reviews
.
Instead, I choose to focus on the overall message of the movie. There are lots of plot holes in every movie; I’ll let other people point them out. I’m here to write about how movies can improve your life.
Thanks for the kind words, Benjamin. I really appreciate that! I like your avatar!
May 31, 2010 at 3:42 am
Sounds a bit ridiculous to be honest, and Bruce is showing his age. Good point on technology mind: the way most people are addicted to crackberries really annoys me.
May 31, 2010 at 11:09 am
Thanks Bud! I’m glad you left a comment. I do agree about the Crackberry’s. I try to avoid technology when it isn’t absolutely necessary. I sometimes use it too much, but I do love to use good old fashioned paper and pen!
June 27, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I disagree with the statement of the film being unrealistic. Today, we have sporadic versions of the film… Avatars… to change our appearance. Bio-technology used to aide in heart palpitations, just to name a few. Benjamin, himself is using a modified version of Surrogates. He to exhibits the traits that started the idea of Surrogates.. An avatar and not his real image. He disguises himself with an photo of something else that represents something. And while the film may have script flaws, that should not distract from the real point and message of the film. Are we too, far from the idea of having a virtual self? Moving away from man-kind to Bio-technical AI’s?
July 11, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Akilla21,
I was stating that the unrealistic part of the film, as Benjamin mentioned, was how easy it is to break into the room that controls the surrogates.
I would expect us to get closer to real virtual bodies in the future. So to answer the question, we are not that far away from it. Thank you for the comment!