Final Essay 319

Children of Men, V for Vendetta, and the Holocaust
Julianne Arnstein

The films Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 1/5/07, Japan, U.K., and U.S.) and V for Vendetta (James McTeigue, 3/17/06, U.S., U.K., and Germany) do not have alien others or non-humans, but there is a clear separation of certain people from the main population that is reminiscent of the Holocaust. In Children of Men illegal immigrants are the targets of a military government; in V for Vendetta a military government keeps its citizens in check. These films address ethnicity by showing scenes that display common stories of genocide. Futuristic technology is hardly present in either film, but they are set in the future: the films show a futuristic world that is not moving forward because of how it is run. The two endings of the films are very different but both convey change. The “alien others” of each film spring from political wrongs and scientific issues: military governments, infertility, and human experimentation.
In Children of Men the alien other is the pregnant woman and the child when it is born, but the illegal immigrants are the ridiculed “others”. Although the immigrants in Children of Men are a mix of races, they are treated as a group of similar people facing genocide. They are gathered by the military government and put in living camps which are like concentration camps and ghettos merged together. The image above is of immigrants in prisons, some being tortured. After this scene the main characters are taken to broken-down living quarters, which are surrounded by war zones. This is how Jews had to live during the Holocaust. At first they were put together in broken-down ghettos, though not as destroyed as those in Children of Men. Then they were moved and tortured in concentration camps. The first woman to be pregnant in eighteen years, Kee, is also an “alien other”. She is the only hope for the human race yet still she is in danger. The military government does not know what to do in her case. Whenever Kee is confronted with people who seem to want to help her, they turn out to want to hurt her. The first group of people she trusts has made a deal with the government that does not sound like she will get to see her baby after it is born. “The film focuses on the reaction of individuals and societies to the unexpected reproductive crisis.” (5) These issues show that once devastation sets in, it is hard to get out of it. It also shows that if something is shocking and hard to understand, such as if aliens landed on our planet, that it would not be taken well by all people.
In V for Vendetta the human test subjects of the past, including the main character V, are even more similar to the Jews. The military government in the film has a party symbol, like the Nazi swastika, there is a liberty-taking police force, like the Gestapo, and there is one leader who has complete power, like Hitler. (This can be seen above) There is a curfew for common citizens: in the beginning the main character Evey is harassed by the police as if she is a rebel, but she is still a regular citizen as this point. The test subjects from the past were tortured and then used for scientific experimentation: this happened in concentration camps in a much more gruesome way. Also, the woman who lived next to V in the facility was gay; this is a clear reference to the Holocaust where homosexuals were killed without question. Children of Men and V for Vendetta both have military governments torturing and concentrating certain groups of people.
Technology is most present in the giant flat-screen televisions in both films. The second-most popular technology is the military’s guns and trucks (seen above). Then there is the new science: home suicide kits in Children of Men and testing vaccines on humans in V for Vendetta. Most of the present technology is in the background. “The true focus of the film is there in the background and it is crucial to leave it as a background.” (3) The old science fiction of new technology and mind-bending science is hinted at while the film focuses on political science fiction. There are no flying spaceships or hovering cars or laser weapons. Why is this? Why do two science fiction films, set in the future, hardly show new technology at all? It is a message. In Children of Men there are no new humans so there is no need for new technology. In V for Vendetta the military government is too secretive. The point of each film is that if the common citizens are held back by a corrupt government and unsolved social realities, then the innovation of new technology will not come forward. Each film also has a message of the persistence of nature. In Children of Men the countryside and the city are very different. The country is very dangerous: there are crazy people there and rebels also live there. In the city the people are supposed to feel safe but it is dirty, packed, and also dangerous. Humans have destroyed their natural environment and made it unliveable. So nature has in turn made sure that humans will be destroyed so that nature can someday rebuild itself. In V for Vendetta science is unable to fuse with nature. Human test subjects are not helping sick people; they are just being tortured to death. Scientists think that they have finally found a source of perfect experimentation, but V breaks out (seen below) and they see that they cannot mess with human beings. It turns out that V was genetically superior, meaning he had stronger senses and was resistant to disease; he becomes the lead “alien other” and begins destroying the system that made him one. The lack of new technology in both films is a message that people who are not in a fitting environment will not be able to prosper.
The ending shot of Children of Men (seen below) is a beacon of hope: no matter what, humans can still find their natural side and nature will always dominate. At the end of V for Vendetta the military order is destroyed and the science lab is destroyed. When the military order is destroyed it is a victory of the people. When the science lab is destroyed it is a message that science will not dominate. It is not a victory but a sign that unnatural order cannot last when there are victims.
In Children of Men and V for Vendetta certain groups of people are separated, tortured, and killed just as the Jews were in the Holocaust. They are political science fiction films showing a future gone wrong.

“The dystopia--a fictional society that got lost on the way to utopia--differs from traditional science fiction by its emphasis on political and social systems rather than science or technology, and therefore allows filmmakers to speculate wildly on the political future.” (4)

Although the “dystopia” idea was formed from a fear of Communism, it was used in the present for anger against George W. Bush and the Iraq War. The “alien others” in Children of Men were illegal immigrants and in V for Vendetta were rebels of the government turned human test subjects. Each film makes references to things that happened during the Holocaust, addressing ethnicity in science fiction. The lack of technology in each future is a message that the destruction of humanity will lead to a loss of innovation, and ultimately nature will return. In the end both films break free of the ordered environment and lead into a new society that the audience will not see. Children of Men and V for Vendetta are reminiscent of events from the Holocaust and display ethnicity through science fiction. (1)(2)


Works Cited

(1) Children of Men, dir. Alfonso Cuaron, perf. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. 2007. DVD, Universal, 2007.
(2) V for Vendetta, dir. James McTeigue, perf. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. 2006. DVD, Warner Bros., 2006.
(3) Zizek, Slavoj. “Zizek on Children of Men.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbgrwNP_gYE
(4) Berg, Chris. “Goddamn you all to hell: The revealing politics of dystopian movies.” Institute of Public Affairs. 2007.
(5) Hsu, Jeremy. “Reel Science: Children of Men.” Scienceline. 2007.

Visual Essay 2: Film 319

The First Scene of Children of Men
Julianne Arnstein

In the very first scene of Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 1/5/07, Japan, U.K., and U.S.) we see several special effects followed by one big one. Although this scene leads to the most important effect, it is important to know about the smaller ones that come before it for a sense of background. Clive Owen walks into a coffee shop and walks out. On his way out we see massive screens on the sides of buildings, playing advertisements or advising the public to report suspicious activity (as seen below). This is the first special effect of the scene: using green screens. Intricate sets were built for Children of Men so that green screens did not have to be used for the general surroundings. Then we see Clive Owen about to drink his coffee when the shop he was just in blows up. Now this is the highly coordinated special effect. These special effects were used to enhance the reality of this future and to show us what kinds of things happen in this future.
The film’s position on technology is very obvious in this first scene: it is bad. We come out of the coffee shop and see dirty streets and giant screens only to experience an explosion two seconds later. We see the “wonders” of future technology and then see its horrible and destructive technology in the same scene. We are given a taste and it is yanked away. Having this scene be the first was perfect placement. The audience is immediately aware that this is a serious film and that the future will not be good in it. Then, in the aftermath of the explosion, we are left with a brief image of what looks like a woman holding her blown off arm (seen below). Before we can be sure about the image the film cuts to the title. Now, everyone is ready to see the film. Everyone is in the right state of mind to continue.
Let’s take a closer look at the explosion (seen below). According to the special features on the DVD, this scene needed extreme coordination. The explosion was not real so it would not affect the surrounding area. Windows and the giant screens had to implode at the same time as the explosion. In the image below glass is breaking in the background, but the explosion was not strong enough to cause this because it was fake. So the destruction was fake. Explosions are always the hardest special effect to set up. You cannot just explode something with real fire, but a fake setup with dust will not cause the same destruction. Destruction must be simulated.
This scene was very important to the entire film. Sometimes the first scene in a film is something forgetful or something to play the credits over, but Alfonso Cuaron wanted to make an impact and set the tone right at the beginning. Since explosions do not happen near us every day, they are like fantasy to us. And when we see explosions in blockbuster movies the fire and flames are still fantastical. Cuaron wanted to stray away from this. Instead of an explosion being “cool” it is shocking, like a real explosion. He wanted the audience to feel the effect of a real life explosion. The explosive special effect at the beginning of Children of Men was used to show the audience a new reality where technology is not friendly.

Images for Midterm

Midterm Essay (Images are in upper post)

Children of Men, V for Vendetta, and the Holocaust
Julianne Arnstein

The films Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 1/5/07, Japan, U.K., and U.S.) and V for Vendetta (James McTeigue, 3/17/06, U.S., U.K., and Germany) do not have alien others or non-humans, but there is a clear separation of certain people from the main population that is reminiscent of the Holocaust. In Children of Men illegal immigrants are the targets of a military government; in V for Vendetta a military government keeps its citizens in check. These films address ethnicity by showing scenes that display common stories of genocide. Futuristic technology is hardly present in either film, but they are set in the future: the films show a futuristic world that is not moving forward because of how it is run. The two endings of the films are very different but both convey change. The “alien others” of each film are regular people who are condemned because of a category they are put in.
In Children of Men the alien other is the pregnant woman and the child when it is born, but the illegal immigrants are the ridiculed “others”. Although the immigrants in Children of Men are a mix of races, they are treated as a group of similar people facing genocide. They are gathered by the military government and put in living camps which are like concentration camps and ghettos merged together. The image above is of immigrants in prisons, some being tortured. After this scene the main characters are taken to broken-down living quarters, which are surrounded by war zones. This is how Jews had to live during the Holocaust. At first they were put together in broken-down ghettos, though not as destroyed as those in Children of Men. Then they were moved and tortured in concentration camps. In V for Vendetta the human test subjects of the past, including the main character V, are even more similar to the Jews. The military government in the film has a party symbol, like the Nazi swastika, there is a liberty-taking police force, like the Gestapo, and there is one leader who has complete power, like Hitler. (This can be seen above) There is a curfew for common citizens: in the beginning the main character Evey is harassed by the police as if she is a rebel, but she is still a regular citizen as this point. The test subjects from the past were tortured and then used for scientific experimentation: this happened in concentration camps in a much more gruesome way. Also, the woman who lived next to V in the facility was gay (seen above); this is a clear reference to the Holocaust where homosexuals were killed without question. Children of Men and V for Vendetta both have military governments torturing and concentrating certain groups of people.
Technology is most present in the giant flat-screen televisions in both films. The second-most popular technology is the military’s guns and trucks (seen above). Then there is the new science: home suicide kits in Children of Men and testing vaccines on humans in V for Vendetta. There are no flying spaceships or hovering cars or laser weapons. Why is this? Why do two science fiction films, set in the future, hardly show new technology at all? It is a message. In Children of Men there are no new humans so there is no need for new technology. In V for Vendetta the military government is too secretive. The point of each film is that if the common citizens cannot move forward in their communities then technology will not move forward. Each film also has a message of the persistence of nature. In Children of Men the countryside and the city are very different. The country is very dangerous: there are crazy people there and rebels also live there. In the city the people are supposed to feel safe but it is dirty, packed, and also dangerous. Humans have destroyed their natural environment and made it unliveable. So nature has in turn made sure that humans will be destroyed so that nature can someday rebuild itself. In V for Vendetta science is unable to fuse with nature. Human test subjects are not helping sick people; they are just being tortured to death. Scientists think that they have finally found a source of perfect experimentation, but V breaks out (seen above) and they see that they cannot mess with human beings. The lack of new technology in both films is a message that people who are not in a fitting environment will not be able to prosper.
The ending shot of Children of Men (seen above) is a beacon of hope: no matter what humans can still find their natural side, and nature will always dominate. At the end of V for Vendetta the military order is destroyed and the science lab is destroyed. When the military order is destroyed it is a victory of the people. When the science lab is destroyed it is a message that science will not dominate. It is not a victory but a sign that unnatural order cannot last when there are victims.
In Children of Men and V for Vendetta certain groups of people are separated, tortured, and killed just as the Jews were in the Holocaust. The “alien others” in Children of Men were illegal immigrants and in V for Vendetta were rebels of the government turned human test subjects. Each film makes references to things that happened during the Holocaust, addressing ethnicity in science fiction. The lack of technology in each future is a message that the destruction of humanity will lead to a loss of innovation, and ultimately nature will return. In the end both films break free of the ordered environment and lead into a new society that the audience will not see. Children of Men and V for Vendetta are reminiscent of events from the Holocaust and display ethnicity through science fiction. (1)(2)

1. Children of Men, dir. Alfonso Cuaron, perf. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. 2007. DVD, Universal, 2007.
2. V for Vendetta, dir. James McTeigue, perf. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. 2006. DVD, Warner Bros., 2006.

Visual Essay 1: Children of Men

Our Own Future in Children of Men

Julianne Arnstein

Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 1/5/07, U.S., U.K., and Japan)(2) came out in 2007, and although it is set in the future it is a warning about the effects of our actions today. The film has a huge message on illegal immigration, a continuing theme on human decency, and subtle hints about destroying the environment. But the ultimate message is to always have hope. The last scene of the film (a shot below) conveys a tear-jerking message: if the world has nothing else, there is always hope.

The film is set in 2027 London and the surrounding area, a bleak and grungy future. Women have not been getting pregnant for 18 years and the human race will become extinct, which may not be a bad thing since everyone lives in a violent and terrible world. “The film focuses on the reaction of individuals and societies to the unexpected reproductive crisis.” (1) Theo, the main character, is led to a girl who is very pregnant. He is to take her to a group called “The Human Project” who will protect her and the baby. There is constant danger in reaching this goal; when the baby is born and cannot be hidden very easily some people want to take it as a commodity and others are in awe that it is around. It is the valiant soldiers, as seen in the picture, who are in amazement but briefly remember to cease fire.

Children of Men is a science fiction film because it is set in the future and there is a fictional scientific problem in the future: all women not being able to have children. We know it is the future not from spaceships or digital decorations, but mostly from the actions of the military. There is a combination of Holocaust, Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib actions against illegal immigrants, who are the main target of oppression. In the scene below, immigrants are in cages, being tortured by standing up (as we have recently seen from Abu Ghraib), forced to strip naked and receive a hard “shower”, and some are lying dead on the ground. After this scene the immigrants are taken to a large city where they will live, like a new age Jewish Ghetto. By mixing the past of the Holocaust and the present of Guantanamo Bay, the film obviously wants to say that these things can and will happen again. All it takes is a panic over a human problem, in this case illegal immigration. It is strange that the military is spending all its resources on the illegal immigration problem when they know the human race is at an end because of infertility; they are focusing on the wrong issue.
Children of Men is based on the book The Children of Men by P.D. James. The synopsis is pretty much the same as the movie, except all men are sterile, not the women, and the youngest people are 25, not 18. (3) Alfonso Cuaron has also directed A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y tu mama tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and a piece in Paris, je t’aime. (2) I would say that is pretty varied. There is a kid’s film, a poorly rated Dickens remake, a sexy film, one Harry Potter film, and a short film. I am not really sure how Cuaron wound up with Children of Men or what his other film experience has to do with his style. Other films that came out around the same time and may remind us of the film are V for Vendetta (McTeigue, 3/17/06, U.S., U.K., and Germany), where a Nazi-type government is compared to our fear of George W. Bush making all of our political decisions for us; Doomsday (Marshall, 3/14/08, U.K., U.S., S. Africa, and Germany), where a disaster is threatening the human race in the future; and 28 Days Later (Boyle, 6/27/03, U.K.), where most humans have become super zombies and a small, healthy group is trying to get to safety. (2)
Although the film was made with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, and by Universal Pictures, it actually was not really a Hollywood picture. It was premiered at the Venice Film Festival. (2) The style of the film is unique and different, a mark of the “independent” style. The camera angles and well-known shot lengths are completely off the beaten path. There is a shot, and a clip below, that is more than ten minutes long, no cuts. Blood is spattered on the camera and remains there for the duration of the shot, as shown below. This is a very unique choice considering the scene: there were many people involved, lots of violence, and constant movement down the rocky street. For a scene like this most films would cut in typical places. A long shot might be given to a calm film for a scene where someone gives a speech. But the shot would not be way over ten minutes. If you ever talk to anyone about Children of Men this scene will come up. It puts you more in the film and the suspense level increases immensely.

Works Cited

(1) Hsu, Jeremy. “Reel Science: Children of Men.” Scienceline. (2007) http://scienceline.org/2007/02/21/reel-science-children-of-men/
(2) http://www.imdb.com/
(3) http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Children-of-Men/PD-James/e/9780307275431/?itm=1
Images: Children of Men. Dir. Alfonso Cuaron. Perf. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. 2007. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2007.