City of Ember - A Libertarian Must See!
Submitted by ramboworld on Tue, 12/30/2008 - 13:06
I recently watched the film City of Ember. A children's Armageddon movie.
Around the middle of the film unmistakably libertarian themes began pouring out. I really could not believe it. I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but it's there. This underground city of dying light, "Ember", is loosing it's power, and it's only hope for survival is in a long-lost book given to the people by the "Builders" of the city.
The analogy was so refreshing. The Builders were of course our Founders, the long-lost and ignored book is the Constitution.
I was also happy to find a well written article on the same subject on LewRockwell.com by Peter Sipes....
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They're trying to invoke the
They're trying to invoke the spirit of the Right to Self Determination. Though the movie itself is probably meant to stifle this.
"But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution it is true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it."
"But, indeed, no private person has a right to complain, by suit in court, on the ground of a breach of the Constitution. The Constitution it is true, is a compact, but he is not a party to it."
Armageddon for Children :)
A children's armageddon movie? You mean like Road Warrior?
Freedom from Oppressive Government is a common theme
Oppressive government, or oppressive society (where people create the government to go with it) are the common themes of sci-fi. Often represented, visually, by really tall buildings, dark, dirty cities, spy cameras and bureaucracy.
Sci-fi writers are often libertarians, and I've met quite a few of them through the LP. Almost all screenplays (sci-fi or not) are about the journey from slavery to freedom, though it's usually self-imposed slavery such as a reluctance to leave one's comfort zone, or a bad habit. But you could say that about our government today!
I work in Hollywood, so I'm surprised I didn't hear about this either. If it has any socialist themes, it's probably a case of the original story being re-written by the producer or actors (Tim Robbins?), which, of course, ruins the effectiveness of the story, muddles the message, and could explain why it didn't go anywhere. Or else the writer was inexperienced and used the kitchen sink approach to writing, not sticking to one theme. This happens quite often in movies.
I'll have to check it out.
IMissLiberty
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IMissLiberty
I watched it the week it came out
When I saw months ago I was also mystified as to why I'd never heard of the movie before especially since Bill Murray was in it. It was such a great movie. I absolutely loved it though I have to say it's a bit weird in places.
It's a double apocalyptic movie. They do have their own constitution, corruption, fear based cultural controls, and other issues the same as any oppressive society.
There was definitely a lot of socialism going on in Ember. It's a view into a classic socialistic society and the struggles to get out of an unfair system among many other things.
There's a LOT of social-political-economic facets in the movie including literal symbolic messages. It's a GEM and one I intend to add to my movie collection.
...or you could read the books.
Your kids are sure to love them. She is an excellent author. http://www.jeanneduprau.com/books.shtml
There are some other really interesting kids' series: Bar Code Rebellion, by Suzanne Weyn. The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix is about population control.
The Shadow Children series
The Shadow Children series is great. I think most kids would love them.
I'm pretty sure...
Ember is part of a series as well...
thanks for the book tips...
"A children's Armageddon movie."?
Is this a Christian film?
*****
Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it. John Adams
Ron Paul "Sign Wave Across the USA" -- November 5th!
No...
I just said that to mean that it takes place after a catastrophic world event that has killed most people on earth. It is not a reference to the Biblical Armageddon though.
The event, or what caused the them to build Ember in the first place, is never explained actually.
RElease date:
January 20,2009, in case you can't find it in a nearby theatre.
http://killfiat.blogspot.com/
http://killfiat.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
I think I will take my daughters to watch it tommorrow.
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Buried by the Elite
This movie was buried by the elite.
They didn't want children watching such an educational show. They spend something like 30 million dollars on this film. They had Tim Robbins and Bill Murray, two big stars and I didn't see one advertisement for this film.
Thus no one knew it was out, thus no one watched it. Luckily I saw that Lew Rockwell post and took my siblings to the dollar theatre when it arrived.
Seriously?
That looks like a great movie, and it's a little startling to not have seen it advertised. For a while there I thought it was for an Oct 2009 release, and I thought, wow, thanks for the heads-up - I can't wait; then, I come in here, read the comments, and discover that it has already been released. That's an amazing thing, considering the commercialization that wallpapers contemporary life nowadays.
The "message" of the film must have really scared the movie execs enough to squander it potentials at the box office .
By the looks of it, City of Ember would have made some money. Who ever decided not to market the hell out of this movie was a real boner. Real smooth, ex-lax. The very fact that it's kid-centric (is that a word? It ought to be.) practically guarantees box office receipts. Geez.
%%We need to build political strength and political will***
We need to build political strength and political will.
Thanks
Nice to have at least one movie out there for older children which doesn't have socialist undertones and messages. I'm such a mean parent- I wouldn't let my kids see Wall-E or Happy Feet, LOL.
My take on Wall-E was that it showed the results
of people who gave up their inititative for being taken care of completely by a supposedly nanny computer-programmed robot work force. The people were plugged into an entertainment matrix that kept them indolent and happy, until a rebel robot accidentally woke up some humans who began a rebellion and took back their responsibility. I loved it.
The film on the main post looks very interesting too.
Second That
Let your kids watch WALL-E. Well maybe, it does try to convince you of the stupid religion of planet worship. But the other parts of how America is becoming stupid, sitting watching TV all day. Text Messaging, etc. Also the fact that it is now controlled by giant coporations.
But then again, the planet worship thing is probably it's most overt theme, you know the global warming cult. So I probably wouldn't let my kids watch it because I hate being preached to. Especially if it is something I disagree with, like Planet Worship.
That was my understanding
of Wall-E as well. Fat lazy worthless sheep.
Colchester, New London County, Connecticut
thanks
looks interesting
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