found drama

“What’s wrong?” “Oh, nothing.
I just need something stronger.”
Subdue the perverts.

It’s a little tough to believe that I’d gone this long without seeing George Lucas’ THX 1138. And in many ways, it’s almost harder to believe that it was made by the same guy behind Attack of the Clones.

As I’ve said of some books:  far more erudite and learned individuals have put together thoughtful, insightful essays that either include or are about this film.  I have no intention of doing a “close read” here.

The thing that was most startling to me was that I didn’t realize exactly how iconic this film had become. Watching it for the first time ¹, during the first 15 minutes, I recognized three bits of audio that had been used in songs I’ve been listening to for years.  It may not be iconic in the mainstream-geek sort of way that Star Wars is, but it’s definitely become part of our cultural consciousness.  It just might be the definitive science fiction film about the alienation that follows assimilation by a Big Brother-style authority.  If you haven’t checked it out already, you should definitely do so.

UPDATE: Also, it occurs to me that the film reminded me very much of This Time of Darkness, a young adult novel I read in the fifth grade (?).  Sadly, it appears to be out of print – but the two stories share a great many details and plot elements.  I’ve yet to come up with a publication date yet, so I remain curious as to which served as inspiration for the other…

1. I could have sworn I’d seen it before but apparently not.[↩]

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