Aeon Flux (background)

Jessica and I went to see Aeon Flux Saturday...at least, I think it was Saturday. This being me, my memory is a lot like Mt. Hood on a typical day...you can see it and see it is beautiful but it is just a bit hazy sometimes. Stupid metaphor jokes aside, it was certainly an entertaining movie in the Utopian genre and worth a look see.
I knew going in I would miss a certain amount of context. It is based on a series of comics. Now, I know the typical comic consumer is supposed to be a mixture of nerd, geek, and dork who lounges in their parent's basement playing Dungeons & Dragons while consuming mass quantities of pizza and coke. Why a life where you eat pizza, drink soda, play games all day and never work is inferior to a life where you work 22 hours a day and sleep the other to I am not quite sure, but...well...there it is.
Anyway, the stereotyping of comic consumers overlooks a powerful and important point. Some of the comic writers have long been making specific social justice arguments. For example, every X-Men title had both implicit and explicit themes of racism and tolerance. The famed Green Arrow/Green Lantern team-ups where they explored numerous social issues was as subtle as a jackhammer at midnight. The entire basis for The Punisher was a debate over the morality of vengeance and the rightness or wrongness of vigilante "justice" (see also Batman, Superman, the Fantastic Four for similar themes...and Jonah Hex, an underrated yet entertaining series that died too soon.) Even Groo the Wanderer, a very funny series about an imbecile worked various morality tales into every issue. The list goes on but the underlying point is the important thing...although primarily an entertainment venue the world of comics has long actively pursued issues of social justice.
Aeon Flux the movie, then, to be fully comprehended would require some knowledge of the "world" inhabited by the characters. This becomes even more important when you realize it occupies the genre of "Utopian societies".
Ever since More wrote Utopia the concept has continually been a society that has perfection for some people yet rebels see the seamy underside and battle against it, sometimes successfully (the unbelievably bad Sean Connery driven Zardoz, for instance) and sometimes not so successful (the weird, sometimes funny, sometimes extremely disturbing Brazil, for instance).
Each world sees the group seeking to create the "perfect" world stifle something in order to maintain their perfection. In 1984 it is the all-pervading eye of government that allows no privacy. In the Terminator franchise the seeking for an easier life led to machine driven destruction. In The Island the search for eternal life through cloning caused moral issues over tha validity of a perfect life (for the clones) until time for them to die...is their life "real" and therefore valuable or do they belong to their "sponsor" and "owner"? Is a clone real life? So naturally the safe, well-fed, well-clothed, carefully maintained healthy life of the clones is no longer perfect.
Now, by the nature of it being Hollywood, in Utopian movies we never see life from the side of the people for whom the life really IS Utopian. Instead, we see it from the viewpoint of the rebels, the people for whom it is a nightmare existence, the people who rise up against the oppression, who, like the early people in Plato's The Allegory of the Caves, are able to see not just the shadowy figures but actually step into the light and see what is really going on.
I guess in Judge Dredd we saw it from the point of view of the people for whom life is great...until, of course, he is sold out and becomes the very rebel he previously fought against. Dredd's world, however, is not Utopian in the sense of something like The Handmaid's Tale or even I, Robot, but with but little tweaking it could be wedged in.
The point is simple. Utopian movies are always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS making a social justice argument. It might be hidden under a good story (The Island, I Robot) or under a complete pile of steaming smurf (Zardoz probably heads that list) but they still want to implicitly or explicitly put a thought in your mind that something is wrong with society today.
It takes a little while to figure out what that problem is, sometimes. For example, in The Island we follow the life of the lead character whose name, both in the movie and the actor, eludes me. He wakes up having his health levels monitored. There is a slight discrepancy, so he is automatically scheduled for a health appointment (free and complete health care. Later we see him at his guaranteed job...no unemployment exists. Still later we see him in the cafeteria (free food where they watch your health needs for you) and then engaged in recrational activities. In other words, his physical, mental and emotional needs are carefully monitored and cared for to keep him happy and healthy.
Naturally, he sees problems with this...he develops free thought...he asks questions...these allow him to see the problems...he and an actress whose name also eludes me...although if pressed I might be able to present a mental picture :-), escape the world and discover the "real" and "better" world...a world where money is needed to get along, fear, hatred, killing, anger, greed, and selfishness cause people to act in harmful ways with money being a driving force in everything portrayed...yet these flaws are overcome by the "joys" of having freedom and sex...to make it a better place than the "safe" and completely cared for but controlled world.
The arguments are many. One, it makes an argument about the moral legitimacy of cloning and what value is, or should be, placed on life, both of clone and clonee. Second, it argues that the right to question is more important than safety and comfort, and sex is the highest expression of freedom. Third, it argues that money driven cultures are inherently corrupt. There are other claims made, but I think you get the sense of what I am driving at.
Utopian movies revolve around social issues. Thus ends the background....