pean Elena, 1st year, MA Anglo-American Studies Professor: Ludmila Martanovschi Theories of Identity 30.01.

2013

Identity as Human Emotions in Equilibrium

From not feeling anything to feeling everything Kurt Wimmer, the writer and director, wanted to tell a story about a man who makes a journey from not feeling anything to feeling everything (Grove). It is a personal journey that the writer himself has taken in his life, describing the trip as extraordinary in reevaluating what one has lost and afterwards found exciting. The protagonist does the same; he changes from a devoted policeman that serves the system into its destroyer in only several days. This is the primary idea with which the story begins: the protagonists inner journey towards feeling, through which he changes his views and attitudes. One might ask why the theme of inner transformation and journey is so important; it is, because the principal element that emerges in the story is the way in which the protagonist will eventually come to recognize himself, to come face to face with himself (which happens literary at some point), to stand out of the stream and think as a concrete individual. (Althusser 171) But first, a description of the protagonist is needed in order to understand who he is exactly. John Preston is a first class Grammaton Cleric, and he is the first character to be seen as an emotionless killing-machine, executing those who break the law; that is, those who dare feel and keep illegal material that inspire emotions (literature, paintings, music etc.) and those who do not take their daily dose of Prozium, resulting again in feeling emotions. At the end of the story, the protagonist will change his mind and opinions about everything that he knew at that point, turning to a noble goal of reestablishing humans lost identity, the emotions. This is what will happen in the following lines, the analysis of this path to feelings, this inner journey that has consequences in the exterior as well, not only in the

interior. The key episodes in which the change takes place will be discussed one by one and given short commentary on what is really happening in the protagonists mind. These episodes are as follows: Partridges arguments and death; the accident of dropping a dose; Mary OBriens arrest and interrogation; the first time he ever heard rain and saw a rainbow (in the movie) or a red beautiful dawn (in the script); the hidden room in Marys apartment full of diverse objects; saving a dog from annihilation; walking in a metro/subway; and nevertheless, the last element that completely changes the protagonist is Marys sacrificial death (movie only). Many reviewers like Martin Grove from The Hollywood Reporter and Steven Horn from Aint It Not Cool Review specifically highlighted the moment when he first meets Mary, explaining that this is the moment when Preston surrenders the dosage and starts feeling. But one should consider the very instance when, in the bathroom, Preston ponders upon looking at an amber fluid dose crashed on the floor: what if he will not take it, what will happen? Likewise, this is what the audience infers from his movements and facial expressions, if any. The first key moment is his encounter with his best friend, Errol Partridge, in an old-aged cathedral at night where he is reading a forbidden book (it turns out to be the collected poetry of W.B. Yeats, a notorious Sense Offender. Ebert). Partridges words will make Preston question in his mind throughout the latter half of the movie about the terrible things this society has done to thousands of people over the years by stopping their very nature. For example, the instance when Partridge is arguing with Preston about how the latter does not know what he is talking about, being that he does not feel sorry or anything (You dont even know the meaning. Its just a vestigial word for a feeling you never felt. Screenplay 18) or about their loss of their very nature (Dont you see, Preston. Its gone. Everything that makes us what we are; traded away. Screenplay 18). These two are very important keys that will predetermine the storys future. Partridges final words of paying the price for feeling (I pay it gladly Screenplay 18) will remain in the protagonists mind until the end when fighting against DuPont/Father, he will say that he will gladly pay (Movie Transcript 38) for reestablishing emotions as the top human quality, killing DuPont with a blow in the chest. The reviewer Steven Horn from Aint It Not Cool Review considers this Partridges fulfilled revenge.

Partridges death is the primary cause which sets the whole chain of events in motion. It will leave its marks on Preston, when he accidentally drops the night interval dose, he questions himself then if he should take the morning dose instead, but decides that he could do without it. The next day (from morning to dawn) he will experience dire consequences: seeing diverse objects, feeling/touching around things, hearing the sounds around him, being surprised and so on. All these come to him like a wave, all at once, and he cannot bear it all by himself, they are too much to handle. After coming home from work, he experiences nightmares (a consequence that shows the audience/readers that he didnt take the next night dose either). He is shocked and afraid because he has seen the ghosts of the past; he has remembered his wifes arrest. Then, he hears the rain dropping and, after removing the translucent grey paper from the windows (which seems that it was design not to allow people to see the wonders of Nature), he sees the rainbow in its might (movie) or the red dawn (Screenplay 34). These natural events will encourage and empower him not to take the doses; even so, he will still be pondering whether it is a good thing to do, fearing the Clerics will come after him. These are very rapid and slow instances on which the protagonist walks: he is neither on the good side nor on the bad side, so to say. He is still very much pondering, he still does not know what to do or what is he doing, in the first place; but he will change his view according to what he perceives it is best to do in a given moment. The second key moment is Mary OBriens arrest. During his investigation together with his new partner, Brandt, an intuitive reward-hunting Cleric, he questions Marys sense offense, but she is reluctant to speak with him. He, then, turns her to a mirror (Look at yourself! Screenplay 27), but instead he watches her: hair, blue eyes, and red lips. Realizing that he is looking at her, he draws back and continues investigating her house for suspicious objects. Later on, the Enforcers team will devastate her apartment. It should be noted that here an important aspect takes place in the protagonists already changing personality: he saves Mary from being shot by Brandt, demanding thorough investigation and interrogation as she could not have been able to provide all the objects all by herself. Thus, Mary is the first individual being saved by a changing character. It is also worth to mention that by his actions, he will be able to understand Librias situation at the hands of the totalitarian regime later on.

At the interrogatory house, he questions her actions again, only to be touched by her hand. Surprised and not wanting his feelings to be exposed, he draws his hand back. It is his dialogue with her and her arguments that puts weight on his shoulders: Let me ask you something... Why are you alive? Screenplay 31; and then she answers her own question seeing that he barely comes up with a concrete answer: To feel. Because you never done it, you can never know it. But its as vital as breath. And without it, without love, without anger, sorrow - breath is just a clock - ticking. Screenplay 32. Nevertheless, he will not recognize the value of her words and his feelings for her until her processing. (You mean executing, dont you? Screenplay 32) After Marys arrest, the Clerics have gone outside and found a yard full of dogs. Because animals (in general) can generate emotions, they are to be exterminated immediately. The protagonist stops the shooting, saving one dog, explaining that it should be taken to laboratory for medical research for any unwanted disease. This fact is also worth mentioning, because it is another important aspect in the protagonists changing personality, he saves a dog from being executed and that means that the dog is the second saved individual. By this symbolism, he has saved both human (Mary) and animal (the dog), thus making himself the future savior. Going back to the investigation, he returns to Marys hidden room which contains various objects from old ages, most notably the music box, where he picks up Beethoven and rapidly learns how to play it. The music issuing from the horn triggers his feelings at once, he is moved by its sublimity, he begins sensing happiness, and sudden tears appear from the corner of his eyes. Also, he plays around the room, experiencing everything like a little baby or a little boy. This is extremely interesting, for how it is to feel all of these at full, conscious age. It makes one feel like a baby; but nevertheless, it says something: the recuperation of humanitys old self, humanitys old identity. It is like regaining ones lost identity through humanitys Spirit Mundi; and this is what all those objects in the room stand for; of course, at a symbolic level. Or an even more elaborate symbolism, the future man identifies his connections with the past. Exposing himself to the objects in the room, exposing himself to the real human self, he realizes that this is the true nature of mankind and it should not be destroyed ever. As a continuant item of remembrance, he takes with him Marys red ribbon on which her

perfume is. This item will remind him of the loved one, or the sweet sense of smell, or the color red which is the most expressive color of all. This will become a totem-like object that will remind him that these things are sacred as life itself. Later on, he is still questioning himself what to do, or what does he really feel for that woman, or if it is the right thing to do. As such, he goes in the metro/subway, experiencing for the first time the mass, the population of Libria, how does the people are affected by the new age/regime. And it surprises him to see black, grey clothing, expressionless faces, but also feeling the coldness of the bars, and hearing the subway trains sounds; it really generates his senses again. Outside the stream, he takes a newspaper and reads it, but he senses that he is being watched, he turns around and saw the owner of the newspaper stand looking/staring at him. He freaks out, realizing that the person feels too and departs immediately fearing he might get caught. This tells the audience that the population may act to be emotionless in order not to get caught, and it explains why so many (as appears in the movie) posses forbidden (EC-10; Emotion Content) objects. This is also like a revelation to him as though he is not alone (in this silence war). The ultimate key moment where the protagonist turns fully to the good side is when he tries to save Mary, but couldnt as she was been processed in the furnace systems. This sacrificial death (as Mary intended to be: Im willing to be a lot more than the seed, I can tell you. Im willing to be the soil, Im willing to be the sun, the very water - if necessary. Screenplay 32) is significant, because it marks the protagonists alliance to the Underground, an organization against the system which has its main task to free Libria from the Fathers fascist-totalitarian regime. And because it marks the moment where Preston completes his transformation, his end of his journey so to say, being completely different from the cold-hearted, law-abiding policeman he was in the beginning. Interestingly, in comparison to the Marys failed salvation moment, there is a pre-element which is shown in his dream, when Prestons wife, Viviana, was arrested for feeling. He did not felt a thing when she was taken away, even though she reached his neck and kissed him; he was emotionless and unable to understand what she wanted to say. But now, with Mary, things have changed: he is completely aware of what he is feeling for her, and acts accordingly, to save her. But couldnt, as he was too late again.

All these have been illustrated so as to show the protagonists journey, an inner journey where he moves from an emotionless state to a full emotion sensing state, from a cyborg to a human being. Precisely, the protagonists transformation has taken shape from an observation of or argument with a close friend, and from an accident of dropping a dose. These primary instances had tremendous effects on the protagonist; but also himself, he is the one that through his one judgment did not take his replacement vials (Screenplay 22). The transformation is caused partly by external forces, partly internal ones. However, upon looking closely, the internal forces were stimulated by the external ones which guided the protagonist on other directions than the one paved by the Father. Now interestingly, if one will look closely, he/she will see the contrasting effect: in the beginning of the journey he was killing a friend without feeling remorse, and at the end of it, he was trying to save a friend, feeling something for her, but the latter was executed by another authority (Althusser 182). Quite interesting, the majority of reviewers, like Martin Grove from The Hollywood Reporter, say that the movie has a circular form. It is likely so, because the significant words are carefully played in this manner. An example will be I pay it gladly (Screenplay 18) where Partridge first says this for paying the price of feeling and, later on, Preston uses it to pay the Fathers life for (in the name of) feelings (Movie Transcript 38). Another example will be Partridges reading of the final line in Yeats poem Tread softly because you tread on my dreams (Screenplay 17), which is the exact same words DuPont, or the Father, demands Preston to tread softly on his dreams as the latter was fighting his men (Movie Transcript 38). It is contrasts and circularity that defines this movie. As it has been seen, Preston journeys through a wide range of moments, through a wide range of emotions and through all levels of society (from the authorities to the population, from humans to animals etc.), discovering what humanity has lost. Ultimately realizing for himself that suppressing emotions is like suppressing ones very nature, ones own self and ones own identity. And as an action to recover this lost identity for himself and for others as well, he will be the one, being the only one, who could stand a chance against the Father. The second idea behind the written work and movie, and which is very much linked with the first one (that of the protagonists inner journey) is the emotions that build

up humans as they are, distinct from concrete and robots, with consciousness and evaluative processes, reason and feelings. With the capacity of feeling, humans may feel a variety of emotions: rage, passion, fear, sorrow, happiness, joy and so on. These, however balanced they are, will always depend on humans reasoning and their inclination to abusive actions. As a result, this dystopian society tries to stop and to save humanity from destroying itself. The storys time and space settings encompass the 21 st century after the Third World War and, with the idea of a possible Fourth, the grand governors allied together with the pharmaceutics to discover and establish a new era in which humanity will cease its inhumanity towards itself (Screenplay 31). This implied rearrangements in the structure of politics, military, and everyday life in general. Moreover, all of these were perceived as necessary for humanitys survival. In this world now devoided of feelings, the populations birth rate is readjusted in positive standards, war has become a far-far word in the history of mankind, and murders and crimes are no more. But as in every system, there are rebels who do not sustain this new age, breaking the law by housing paintings, literature and music; products that were meant to produce emotions. As Repressive State Apparatuses (Althusser 145), the Grammaton Clerics mission is to destroy all these contraband and kill all the sense offenders (Movie Transcript 4). As it has been discussed above, Preston is the top Cleric who will handle all the work, removing the rebels once and for all; but as it was seen through the analysis, there are forces which try to persuade the protagonist, try to convince him that he is wrong, the system is wrong, because it has shut down what is the most familiar to human beings, their own emotions that give them their identity along with their reason, beliefs and personality. Identity in this case is about human emotions, is what sets humans apart from other beings and/or inanimate objects. The protagonist realizes this at the end, where he thinks about Mary, his feelings towards her, the peoples fake dosage, and his life as he lived it, or rather not lived it. Having understood that he could not continue sensing while living in a society like this, he must take a stand, doing something, something that will lead to the regimes downfall, and the emergence of a new society which will embrace emotions as a particular characteristic of human identity.

Works cited
Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. New York and London: Monthly Review Press, 1971. Ebert, Robert. Review Chicago Sun Times. (December 10, 2002). 28 Jan. 2013. http://www.compleatseanbean.com/eq-review7.html Equilibrium. Dir. Kurt Wimmer. Prod. Jan de Bont and Lucas Foster. Perf. Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs and Angus MacFayden. Dimensions Films and A Blue Tulip Inc., 2002. Grove, Martin. The Hollywood Reporter: World without feelings in Wimmers Equilibrium (November 27, 2002). 28 Jan. 2013. http://www.compleatseanbean.com/eq-press10.html Horn, Steven. Aint It Cool News Review (October 29, 2002). 28 Jan. 2013. http://www.compleatseanbean.com/eq-review2.html Wimmer, Kurt. Equilibrium Early Version Screenplay (July 12, 2002). Provided by Webmaster JenGE. 28 Jan. 2013. http://www.equilibriumfans.com/downloads/Equilibrium%28Screenplay%29.pdf ---. Transcript of Equilibrium. Complete Transcript of the Film (Undated). Provided by Webmaster JenGE. 28 Jan. 2013. http://www.equilibriumfans.com/Transcript.htm