The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself. I know because I would never have come this far. A person who had no one would be well advised to cobble together some passable ghost. Breathe it into being and coax it along with words of love. Offer it each phantom crumb and shield it from harm with your body."
49
These lines are spoken by the man's wife as they discuss her intended suicide and what she projects to be his future with their son. The wife rightly points out that man's drive to survive will be fueled by his love for the boy. In other words, in order to survive in the post-apocalyptic chaos and destruction, love for another human being is required. Someone who does not love another individual would be "well advised to cobble together some passable ghost" of a loved one. The way in which the man's wife describes how this ghost should be treated is exactly how the man treats his son. He shields the boy from harm and offers him "phantom crumb[s]" of whatever hope and sustenance he can find, whether it is an outdated Coca Cola or half a tin of canned fruit, and he constantly encourages the boy to survive "with words of love." His moral and literal survival depend on being concerned for the boy
"... there is no other dream nor other waking world and there is no other tale to tell.
On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world. Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was?"
27
The first sentence of this quotation alludes to the theme of narrative power. Only one tale can be told, and this tale legitimizes or brings to reality only one waking world ("no other dream nor other waking world"). The second section of the quotation offers a hint as to what kind of catastrophe might have struck the world. On the road that the boy and the man travel together, no "godspoke men" exist. The term "godspoke men" may allude to prophets, which arguably align with Ely's statement (see the seventh quotation below) later in the book. The prophets are gone, having "taken with them the world," which suggests that some kind of religious war has destroyed human civilization, or that whatever happened has completely destroyed the moral world, the moral principles that commonly are seen as religious values.
The final statement in this short quotation first places an emphasis on the importance of the present. The man also adheres to the importance of the present; he does not wish to be attracted to his dreams of false happiness, nor does he enjoy being affected by memories of his dead wife and past life. Those who seek the "never to be" entertain deluded hopes, the falseness of utopia, while those who yearn for "what never was" similarly maintain meaningless illusions; both harm one's capacity to focus upon the present, and in this aspect, they do not differ. If the resurrection or Messiah or nirvana has never really come in this world, if these are the only end times, there is not really any role for "godspoke men" anymore; this is the one, awful world.
"The world shrinking down about a raw core of parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. The names of birds. Things to eat. Finally the names of things one believed to be true. More fragile than he would have thought. How much was gone already? The sacred idiom shorn of its referents and so of its reality."
75
The first sentence here indicates that the post-apocalyptic world has been reduced to basic elements, "a raw core of parsible entities," where complexity is a luxury. More sophisticated aspects of human civilization have been obliterated, and the names of such things are slowly being forgotten by the remaining humans, following the things themselves into oblivion. Such things include colors, types of birds, and certain foods. More importantly, fundamental truths and customs regarding human life have been lost. These perhaps include the capacity to hope, or to feel empathy, love, and altruism. These concepts, once "believed to be true," are in fact "[m]ore fragile than he would have thought," too easily lost in the new reality. Significant principles and the words that signify them ("sacred idiom") are forgotten and lost; the objects and concepts themselves cease to be. One can infer from this vision that the process of naming and storytelling lends reality to the object or concept being named and described, while in the absence of naming, memory, or narration, the object or concept no longer exists in a way that has human meaning.
Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it."
234
As he lays dying, the man has this conversation with his son, who wishes to be able to die with him, but he tells the boy to persist, to survive and carry the fire. This fire, the kind found within the self, is a symbol of everlasting hope and human resilience. Instead of succumbing to the circumstances and resorting to evil acts to survive, the boy carries the fire and does not compromise his higher human morality. The boy demonstrates that he carries the fire throughout the book, since no matter what horror they narrowly escape, the boy always seeks to help other individuals and never believes they should be hurt or punished, even if hurting others might ensure his own survival.
This allusion to "carrying the fire" may be more than a reference to the dangers of Promethean fire. It also might refer to McCarthy's previous novel, No Country for Old Men, in which one character dreams of his father carrying fire. "I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there" (No Country, 309). Human fire brings hope to confront the bleak future of the post-apocalyptic world.
To the extent that the novel resonates with the real world as readers find it, the message is the same: people like the boy always carry the fire. The sad truth, however, is that the world is all too much like the one in The Road, with far too many people seeming to choose self-preservation at the cost of genuine human concern for others. Our more complex world is not so simple as the tradeoff involved in killing others in order to survive, but McCarthy points out to us our human nature--the fire of human compassion is all too easily extinguished when we encounter adversity.
"Maybe he understood for the first time that to the boy he was himself an alien. A being from a planet that no longer existed. The tales of which were suspect. He could not construct for the child's pleasure the world he'd lost without constructing the loss as well and he thought perhaps the child had known this better than he."
129-130
This passage more explicitly describes the power of storytelling to create realities. The father tells his son "tales" about life before the catastrophe which has rendered the earth a wasteland to its survivors. However, to the son, these tales are hard to believe because they are so unlike the current reality. The father, having experienced the pre-apocalyptic world, is thus alien to the son, who knows only life after the disaster. The earth enjoyed by the man during his own childhood is a "planet that no longer existed" to the boy. When the man considers attempting to make this old world real to his son by telling stories about what used to be, he realizes that the story is too difficult and sad to tell; the whole story is a story that ends in loss. His son, perhaps, knows that the story of the old world ends with the present world, that his father's nostalgia cannot reproduce that older world unless the story leads them right back to where they are.
"He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like groundfoxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."
110
This vividly desolate passage reveals the utter indifference of the universe to the plight of man, a cosmic condition that he takes to be the "absolute truth of the world." The earth continues to revolve, "cold" and "relentless," indifferent to the sufferings of its inhabitants. Furthermore, the earth is "intestate," a word used to describe a person who has died without leaving behind a legitimate will. In other words, in its own death from whatever calamity has struck, the earth has left no future, no means of survival or compensation for its survivors. Even the sun is blindly indifferent in the midst of the "crushing black vacuum of the universe," which extends far beyond the human world of just the earth and the sun. Yet the survivors really exist for the moment, somehow. The hunted animals probably represent the man and the boy, living in spite of the universe's disinterest, witnessing this wasteland with their fleeting lives.
Guy Montag is a guy who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ears. Montag encounters a gentle seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse McClellan, who opens his eyes to the emptiness of his life with her innocently penetrating questions and her unusual love of people and nature. In the story there is lots of controversy if guy should become a self aware person or be like everyone else and be blinded by the government he believe in.
"I Robot" takes place on Twenty Thirty-five and robot are now under the control of human. The robots are widespread and used as servants and for various public services. They are taken to be inherently safe and programmed to live in harmony with human beings, being designed in accordance with the Three Laws of Robotics. The visuals are very futuristic with auto-pilot cars and large buildings. The movie is based on man realizing that machines are not perfect and that even people can put something intelligent in there minds. The main character attempts to work with a robot to find the reason that someone was murdered and throughout the movie you see the two characters interact and slowly work together. Eventually man realizes that using the robot is like bringing back slavery and that although robot were created by man they have a self awareness that makes them human,
The Fifth Elementis a 1990s movie with great visual and political images that give a great example of how society may be in the future.
In 1914, the extraterrestrials known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple and collect the only weapon capable of defeating the Great Evil which appears every five thousand years. The weapon consists of four stones, representing the four elements, and a sarcophagus that contains a Fifth Element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a "Divine Light" that can stop the Great Evil. They give a key to their human contact, a priest, and instruct him to pass it on to future generations.
In 2263, the Great Evil appears in the form of a giant ball of black fire and destroys a terrestrial battleship. As the Mondoshawans return to Earth, they are ambushed by the shape-shifting Mangalores, hired by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg who was hired by the Great Evil itself to dispose of the element stones. The Mondoshawan's spacecraft is destroyed and the only thing Earth scientists could recover was the hand of the Fifth Element, which they use to create a humanoid woman, known as "Leeloo". Terrified of her unfamiliar surroundings, she escapes and jumps off a ledge to land in the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in the special forces.
Dallas delivers Leeloo to the current priest of the Mondoshawan key, Vito Cornelius and his apprentice, David, whereupon Cornelius learns that the four Element stones were entrusted to Diva Plavalaguna, an opera singer. Because the Mangalores failed to obtain the stones, Zorg kills them, but their compatriots attempt to obtain the Elements for themselves. General Munro, Dallas' former superior, re-enlists Dallas and orders him to travel undercover, as a radio contest winner, to meet the Diva on a luxury cruise in space. The publicity of the contest attracts the Mangalores and Zorg to the space liner as well. Dallas takes Leeloo with him, while Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple and stows away aboard the vessel.
This movie has tons of visuals, some of the scenes have lots of futuristic machines, weapons and even has aliens. Society has had the ability to make contact with aliens and now live together in harmony. Society seems organized and everyone seems to understand what they have to do and what they can and can not do. People seem to have there own religions and even adopted the religions of alien species and with that are afraid of the larger threat that wants to destroy the entire race. The main issue is that one woman is the last element that needs to be sacrificed in order to save the society. The problem is that the main character can not decide whether he wants to sacrifice the one he love or save the the world. Could any normal person be able to accept the fact that sacrificing a human life and be ok with that? Or would a mans emotions get the best of him and not do it? Movie unfortunately put a person in that kind of scenario and capture that emotional impact of the character in in a deep struggle. The Fifth Element has amazing visuals and an interesting plot that can both inspire and attract people to its glory. With a large enough budget anyone can make a film that can look as cool as this one.
Vanquish is a robo-tech apocalyptic hyper awesome game with flashy scenery. If futuristic is the topic this game is full of it and it does it in a way that can make a person go "wow". Vanquish takes place in the near future where planet Earth's human population has grown so rapidly that nations of people around the globe are fighting for the scarce available resources. The United States of America has attempted to alleviate its own energy problems by launching an O'Neil Space Station space station harboring a solar energy-driven generator to provide them with an alternative source of fuel from the sun. However, the government of the Russian Federation on Earth has been overthrown in a coop de'tat by ultra-naturalist forces calling themselves the Order of the Russian Star. Russian forces capture this space station and divert its harvested solar energy into a blast wave that devastates San Francisco, aiming to force the U.S. into a total and unconditional surrender. The main antagonist, known as Victor Zaitsev, demands that the American government surrender or he will choose New York City as his next target. The President of the United States of America, Elizabeth Winters, refuses to back down in the face of such a threat. Instead, she takes Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Burns, a decorated war veteran, and puts him in charge of a newly-commissioned task force called Bravo Company. This team consists of several space-faring special forces, veteran Marines, and the remnants of the defending U.S. forces on board the space station. On top of that, she also gives them the game's protagonist and playable character, Sam Gideon. Sam is a researcher equipped with an Augmented Reaction Suit, a cutting-edge mechanical suit outfitted with a vast array of functions (similar to MEGAMAN), including jet boosters attached to both arms and legs. He is armed with an experimental Battlefield Logic ADaptable Electronic Weapons System (BLADE), which is capable of scanning any existing weapon and then transforming into a perfect replica of that weapon. Its ability to store three scans at a time means that at any given time the BLADE can shape shift between three completely different guns.
A lot to take in right. The design of the game is amazing the city on the station is wonderful full of flashing light and a beautiful lighting. There is always something crazy happening within the background, with flying cars huge explosions, and a lot of giant robots. Because Russia has only sent in robots to fight against the Americans, the Americans are not prepared for the fight but Sams suit is by far the most powerful thing made. Russia has the bigger machines but America has the stronger ones.
The government plays a huge role protecting an making sure that they can stop the threat of the enemy. Society is also in grave danger and in order for them to live the government must protect the station and the people without risking another major attack. Its a scary thought to believe that this can happen in the near future but if now people were losing resources, and the situations were dire, a possibility for a WWIII would be imminent.
Fast adrenaline and crazy action Vanquish is certainly a game worth looking at, and although the game could be to much at first the scenery can make anyone's mouth drop. Anyway who would not want to have the ability to beat up giant robots with ease.
The Bicentennial Man is a bio-futuristic movie that plays a twist on the circle of life. This movie was made in 1999 so the future in this movie, is our past. In the setting of the movie, it is2005 and every house hold has a robot servant that does everything that the human master says, but a new model is made and this new robot will change the view of something that is living and something that is made to look alive.
"Andrew" is the name of the new robot model and a family has purchased this robot to fit in with the nuclear family idea of their time. After unboxing this robot it tells the three main laws that robots must follow: Robots must follow there masters commands, Robots can not harm there human masters, and Robots can not be ordered to harm any other humans as a command. Andrew does his job well and his masters begin to grow emotional connection towards Andrew. Little do they know that Andrew is a robot that was designed to have artificial intelligence. Andrew begins to show this by his creativity, after breaking a little girls toy horse he makes her a new one out of wood. Andrew also begins to make new things by carving and even begins saying the things he carves is from dreams he has. The people that created him do not like this and wished to terminate Andrew but his owner stopped them since he was the lead designer and the one that actually created the artificial intelligence in Andrew. Andrew lived over his owners life and would live his life alone so Andrew went to find a way to live like a human. then the rest of the movie goes like Pinocchio, a robot wishing to become a real boy.
The idea that a robot that should not have any emotions, can have ideas and creativity is a scary thought.especially when in our society we depend so much on technology. Especially when most people would wish to live forever and be immortal but a robot with that ability would give that up just so he can live like a human. Not to sound like humans are flawed or anything but a robot that is perfect has no worries of disease, death of natural causes and is excellent at everything it does, it is a twist that it would wish to be human. technology in this time is not very known to be much better that our own now, the most advance thing that have is Andrew and the servant robots. Although the design of Andrew is very futuristic and seems smooth and not as mechanical as most images of robots we imagine.
There is a point where the higher counsel refuses to accept Andrew because he is a robot. Andrew eventually finds a way to become human in every way and falls in love, has a family and eventually changes the minds of man. If this were to happen in our time I do not believe they would be so light on this subject. Especially fear, if robots were to ever rebel would a flawed being like man be able to defeat a perfect machine? What if a robot like Andrew appear, would people be willing to accept that, and the thought of making humans from scratch, we would be playing God and destroy the circle of life.
There are many questions we could ask but in the end Andrew touched the hearts of people. If a person was to ever have connection with a machine that was similar to a human, would we be out of our minds or human. Although there is a chance to give a robot human qualities, there can be a fine line between starting a new generation in technology and playing God.
Gears of War is a futuristic game that is in a post apocalyptic setting where humans fight against the forces of the Locust, monsters, that threaten to eradicate the human race. This game has amazing visuals and a great cast of characters that each play an important role in the story of this fascinating world. the game tells a story about the government and how it misleads the people and sacrifices hundreds of lives to save humanity but instead make it into a dystopia.
The human race has been attacked by a mysterious threat called the locust, human like monsters that have lived in the center of the earth for millions of years. The locust have risen from the center of the planet to reclaim their rightful place as the dominant species. The only thing stopping these monsters is the earths final defense force, the COG. The COG is a united force of military. The technology in this world is very advanced from present day. The humans only had one weapon called "the hammer of dawn", which was a cannon from space that was used to eradicate all the locust. Using the weapon killed millions of lives and unfortunately killed humans as well. The locust never died there were more under the earth and the wars continued and cities were in rubble and the COG still fights against the locust to defend the human race.
The humans in this game are all very muscular and large. Most of the characters are soldiers of the COG and they all have a background to represent themselves. The weapons they use are very advance and a bit savage for humans to be using, especially since the main weapon of choice is called a "lancer" and the weapon has a chainsaw attached to it. The images in the games are very gray and brown with hardly any color. The scenery in the game is usually very ghostly and lifeless due to the eradication of humans. The locust are very strange monsters with human like appearances they can be very deceiving. Although others are mutated and are ruthless in combat.
The citizens int his world are hidden throughout most of this story. They have lost trust in the Government, because of the large sacrifice using the "hammer of dawn". Even in the present people are skeptics about what the government may do to protect their country. Even now the military is trying to create weapons that can better chances of victory. The characters in the game can also be relatable since they all lost loved ones and they all fight for the people they love.
Gears of War is a very compelling game that has great artwork and a fantastic atmosphere. Although the game is very violent there is actually a book based on the game that can be equally as good. Gears of War is a must in apocalyptic story and with characters that will tare the heart strings. Love or hate Gears of War will make anyone love this amazing world.
Megaman ZX is a futuristic graphic novel that takes an approach of making robots and humans live together in harmony. The book has many visuals that capture the essence of how the cities and robots look and gives a decent back story on how the world is what it is and what situations have risen making it a dystopia.
The technology in the book is very futuristic and they even explain how these machines help society. Man has developed a new type of Bio-metal made from a crystal with mysterious power. once a person has unlocked this power they can us it to transform into what is known as a "Megaman". With this strange power man has created machines that do whatever a person tells them, like any other futuristic movie they do whatever their master wished. Mavericks are robots that have gone rouge and threaten to destroy humans, to free themselves or have been hacked by another person. Vent is a young boy that finds a Bio-metal and merges with it to become a Megaman. Vent and his friends stop all mavericks from causing any people harm.
The story is very heavy on Vent trying to unlock the power of the Bio-metal and stopping the mavericks. Bio-metals are not like regular machines where you control it with a device of some sort. These metals merge with the human host of its choosing and give the wielder the abilities of Megaman, but a person can have more than one Bio-metal. If a person that possesses a Bio-metal gives its power to another person with one, the person being given the Bio-metal can fuse the two together to cause a Mega-merge. In a Mega-merge the person can use the combined power of the Bio-metals and unlock more powerful weapons and powers. The catch is that the human host will slowly gain fatigue and if use this power to much, will die.
Because Bio-metals are so powerful people attempt to steal them and hack robots designed to help society, and turn them into out of control machines. The government want to use the Bio-metals to help society and protect people, but scientist wish to use them for there own selfish reasons. Society is very oblivious to these events and the government covers these incidents with excuses, ex. "the machine had overloaded and became reckless". People are so unaware of the larger threat that they believe mistakes happen and move on with there lives.
Today people are slowly starting to make machine that will do our bidding but what if something similar to mavericks happen. Can the government hide this from society forever? People are only human and the fact that we can use machines to replace a body part can make us seem less human. If advancing our technology can help create a better society, it can also create a darker future used in the wrong hands.
But it would not be a bad idea to become a "Megaman"
