City of ember and sleepwalking society.


City of Ember is now out on the torrent sites for download. I thought it was great, and any of the regular readers of this blog will enjoy it. The reviews are mediocre and it was a box office failure. I think this is because people aren't really understanding the movie. This is because they don't want to think or deal with the issues brought up in the movie. It is really about consciousness, and dealing with the shadow self. On a more superficial level, it is about dealing with people who are asleep in your everyday life. Here is my brief synopsis (without giving too much away).

Some sort of cataclysm destroyed life on the surface of the earth. The remaining people fled to an underground city which can sustain life for about 200 years. The "builders" (architects/masons) decided to hide the information of an outside world, from society for 200 years. The box will be passed down to each mayor, and in exactly 200 years it will open. Future generations are born in underground with no knowledge of an outside world. Society is set up in a communist way, people work for the greater good of the whole. Children go to indoctrination school. People are taught to be scared of the darkness/shadow self, and it is actually illegal to venture into the unlit outside areas of the city. On assignment day, they blindly pick a job that they will work at for the rest of their lives. The city is perpetually lit by incandescent bulbs, but at this point everything is falling apart. It is past the 200 years, the city was designed to sustain life. There are daily blackouts, the main generator is on its last legs.
This is the mayor (Bill Murray) on assignment day, with a healthy dose of sun symbolism.
The story centers on 2 inquisitive youth who have just got their jobs assigned.
The young girls grandmother is "crazy" and literally hangs on to the threads of reality. She has yarns tied to everything in the house. She is not crazy though, she knows the truth. This kinda shows the perception society has for people who seek truth or are into 'conspiracy'.
Obelisk, and sun light.
The old man is his boss, he represents the typical indoctrinated person. When the kid tried to ask him a serious question, he literally falls asleep (LOL). You can relate this to everyday people, when you try to discuss 9/11 or something else esoteric. The old man is also compartmentalized, in his job/brain. When asked about other areas, he says "I don't know, its not my job". "Don't think too hard, your going to get a headache".
The city hall building inbetween 2 pillars of light.
Nice rug lady!
"33' double lightning bolt, much like the 'ss' logo.
I don't want to give away too much, there is tons of symblism. Its really about these kids journey through darkness/consciousness. The center square of Ember represents the heart, everything eminates from there. Check out the movie and let me know what you think in comments. It comes out on actual dvd on jan 20th, for people that don't download.

Comments

NotABlogger said…
Excellent review, seems like a movie for the ages!
Some Guy said…
Just got done watching this. Thanks for bringing it into my field of view. Interesting the boat they got out on was the 2nd one, 91.

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