Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Fallen Utopia

Imagine a world filled with no inequality, corruption, poverty, or war. All of the people in that world would work for the good of those who work for them. Weapons are nowhere to be found, and the poor and destitute do not line up on the streets begging for food. In place of hierarchies lie equalities and communities. Everyone lives equally, and everyone is healthy. But at the same time, imagine a world without color, joy, true family, camaraderie, and free choice. Within this world, love is an obscure term that has no meaning and the joy of music has faded to a diminuendo of decrescendo. Dust covers strange paper bounded by cardboard (once called “books”) and food has become reduced to blanched ailments that only provide what the body needs, with no option of indulgence or variety. Life is simply one mundane cycle after the other, with no excitement or tragedy to make it interesting or meaningful. A group called The Elders assign jobs to the members of this community, giving the assigned no option of change or adjustment.

Enter the world of The Giver, the Phillip Noyce directed film starring Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, loosely based off of Lois Lowry’s acclaimed novel. I had the chance to view it a week ago. Spoilers regarding both the film and the novel will be included in this post. Most of the young adult novels that have found their spot on many summer reading lists (The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent among others) mostly rely on a more explicitly dystopian setting and the progression of the plot relies on fast-paced action and brutal battle scenes (not all the time, but most of the time). Such novels display the typical symptoms of a dystopian world: cruel dictators, futuristic technology, a hidden society, and a “chosen one” character. Such symptoms are often found in their cinematic counterparts (The Maze Runner has not yet hit theaters, but from what the trailer tells, it seems to fit the same category). Don’t get me wrong; I admire all of those books, but The Giver is much more slow-paced and docile. The film does not jump out at you with tracker jackers or mechanical Grievers. The body count does not reach that of a bombed District or the massacre of an Abnegation community. Both when I was reading the book and when I was watching the movie, I still had to remind myself that the novel/movie was DYSTOPIAN fiction, not utopian. The initial flaws of The Giver’s world was not so clear. Many of the rules that the community in the film followed seemed quite beneficial to society. Precision of language? In a world where the vernacular of the pedestrian has severely declined and the egregious obscenities that have weeded themselves into modern culture have increased, such an indictment is not an imprudent decision. No touching others in public or PDA? The world could certainly use more restraint in that area as well. No weapons or violence. ‘Nuff said. What could go wrong with these rules? This foundation is solid ground for society to base their lives upon.

But like pulling out staples off of a seemingly smooth floor, or uncovering a nest of house centipedes under a comfy futon, the underbelly of the main character’s (Jonas) “utopian” community has very clear dystopian roots. Color, for example, is all but gone from the world. Both the viewers and the characters live in a world of black and white, both figuratively and physically. The paragon of such a lifestyle is found in an event called “the release.” The young and the old members of the community are killed through lethal injections, both to keep the numbers of the community succinct and manageable, and for usage as punishment. After viewing this scene, I realized that whenever human beings attempt to confront evil, unfortunately they become evil themselves. Jesus was the only human who was able to confront evil and conquer it. I am a Christian and though I have been given a new nature,I will always be in battle with my old nature. I must not lose myself to evil. Instead, I must be lost in God’s grace. I must call upon God and fight for what is right, even if the rest of the world may be against me.

The Chief Elder later confronts the Giver and asks him why he would possibly want to bring pain back into the world. The Giver believes that if given a second chance, humanity can do better. That second chance is Jesus. We are saved and redeemed by Jesus. The Giver states that although humanity gained peace, they lost the beauty of things as well. In our own selfish pursuits, do we often do the same? Too often, we wish to pick and choose the parts of life we want/don’t want. In terms of my Christian faith, I can see that. Will I step into Christian faith with both feet in, or will I sit on the fence of passiveness?

“When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong.” says the Chief Elder. And yes, for the conflicts that are going on in the world now, it certainly seems so. Why must human beings make choices that are so destructive? Why did God give us the freedom of choice? For me, this question has been plaguing me for most of my life. If God did not want such things, why let us have free choice? He knew the consequences, so why would he do it? Certainly, I don’t have all the answers. In fact, I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of such a profound question. But the one thing I do know is that without free choice, genuine love is not possible. Respectively, in 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV) it states “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” So true freedom, is in fact being a slave to Christ, and ridding oneself of any attachment to the world.

Lastly, Job 36: 21 (NIV) states “Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.” Rather than going through the pain of working out the good and the bad in life, humanity turned to evil. In confronting evil, they turned evil themselves. But is it possible to have only the good without the bad? Is it possible to have only the bad without the good? The answer is no. At least for now. God is the ultimate victor, but until his second coming, when sin will finally be destroyed forever, the good and the bad will continue to wrestle with one another, in a seemingly never ending battle. But the beauty is that one day, God will come to establish a new heaven and Earth. And for the first time since The Fall, there will be a true utopia.