The real problem with suspension of disbelief and "In Time."
In Time, a movie in which time is literally money (and a hundred other puns), people work to make time for themselves. Work hard or just be born rich, and you can live longer than normal humans in our world ever could. (Although, I'll point out that the oldest person we meet in the movie is not older than is possible in our world today.) Go broke and you die.
And that's the problem of tying money to life so literally: if the clock that most working people already watch so diligently was also a countdown timer to their deaths, no one would get anything done. It would be anarchy from minute one. The only reason people who are stuck in the wage-slavery of life that seems especially bad in this economic downturn don't all run out and jump in front of buses is that the threat of destitution hangs over them. It may be a real threat, a credible one, but if someone is fired tomorrow, even if they are losing their home and are sick with a terrible disease, they don't go from being fired to being dead immediately. If losing your job meant dying, you'd be too distracted to do your job. Chaos. It just wouldn't work.
That, to me, is why this movie does not and could never work. Forget that Justin Timblerlake and all twenty pounds of Amanda Seyfriend (most of it her wig) hold up banks and entire squads of police/security dudes with two guns and the occasional truck. Forget that. The real problem is that time as a currency and as a life force does not lead to stable, oppressive regimes. It never would.
In other news, I got up early to go to the dentist. It must be a reaction to going to the doctor, but I booked an appointment at 8 am, fully anticipating that it would still find some way to threaten making me late for work. (Seriously, I've booked doctor's appointments at the same time and not been seen for 45 minutes which, on top of the appointment itself, has made me late for work.) Dentists, apparently, work much more efficiently than doctors. (Are their issues with insurance forcing them to see more patients not as onerous?) I was done with an hour and change left to go before I had to be at work. I hope I make it through the day. I've already proved I'm not paying as much attention as I should with a completely stupid LJ comment I made. I'm probably going to have to ruin the nice hurty-but-clean feeling in my mouth to get some caffeine, aren't I?
Speaking of hurt, that was The. Most. Gory. visit to the dentist EVER. I swear to God, I rinsed and spit and it looked like I had been eating bits of grapefruit or something because there was a ton of fleshy bits in the sink after. I was told, however, that I have been excellently maintaining my teeth (very little plaque, all of it in the front where my overlapping teeth make it hard to get them brushed well enough--must floss more!), so I hope that that crime scene isn't indicative of massive gum failure or something. I did, however, get a warning about issues I may have when I'm 50. I think this is a lopsided priority scale--mouth falling apart in chunks now versus bone receding when I'm another two decades older--but hey, at least I've got that plaque situation licked.
And that's the problem of tying money to life so literally: if the clock that most working people already watch so diligently was also a countdown timer to their deaths, no one would get anything done. It would be anarchy from minute one. The only reason people who are stuck in the wage-slavery of life that seems especially bad in this economic downturn don't all run out and jump in front of buses is that the threat of destitution hangs over them. It may be a real threat, a credible one, but if someone is fired tomorrow, even if they are losing their home and are sick with a terrible disease, they don't go from being fired to being dead immediately. If losing your job meant dying, you'd be too distracted to do your job. Chaos. It just wouldn't work.
That, to me, is why this movie does not and could never work. Forget that Justin Timblerlake and all twenty pounds of Amanda Seyfriend (most of it her wig) hold up banks and entire squads of police/security dudes with two guns and the occasional truck. Forget that. The real problem is that time as a currency and as a life force does not lead to stable, oppressive regimes. It never would.
In other news, I got up early to go to the dentist. It must be a reaction to going to the doctor, but I booked an appointment at 8 am, fully anticipating that it would still find some way to threaten making me late for work. (Seriously, I've booked doctor's appointments at the same time and not been seen for 45 minutes which, on top of the appointment itself, has made me late for work.) Dentists, apparently, work much more efficiently than doctors. (Are their issues with insurance forcing them to see more patients not as onerous?) I was done with an hour and change left to go before I had to be at work. I hope I make it through the day. I've already proved I'm not paying as much attention as I should with a completely stupid LJ comment I made. I'm probably going to have to ruin the nice hurty-but-clean feeling in my mouth to get some caffeine, aren't I?
Speaking of hurt, that was The. Most. Gory. visit to the dentist EVER. I swear to God, I rinsed and spit and it looked like I had been eating bits of grapefruit or something because there was a ton of fleshy bits in the sink after. I was told, however, that I have been excellently maintaining my teeth (very little plaque, all of it in the front where my overlapping teeth make it hard to get them brushed well enough--must floss more!), so I hope that that crime scene isn't indicative of massive gum failure or something. I did, however, get a warning about issues I may have when I'm 50. I think this is a lopsided priority scale--mouth falling apart in chunks now versus bone receding when I'm another two decades older--but hey, at least I've got that plaque situation licked.