MovieChat Forums > Z.P.G. (1972) Discussion > Floatin and Armagedon

Floatin and Armagedon


I was sooo reminded of "Zardoz" floating around in the sky whenever the scenes of the hover-announce came on. And the storylines are similar too, warning of the dystopian future if we don't put a leash on our over-manipulation of the environment.

We can see here some of the repercussions of our researches now. The doctor says they'd cured cancer and defeated heart disease. In the Museum the announcer says dental health used to cause loss of life, we'd ruined the environment and destroyed all other life (Sea too? it didn't say) and that big carrot we all want, an end to war, seems to have happened for these people. All acting toward putting the maximum possible numbers of beings on the planet. The shortsightedness of humanity is being saved by a couple of humans because: in the city people are going nuts with no real children around, they are stealing food and turning on each other (the film points to several instances of every social norm has its verboten and the reactions to petty incidents is growing more lethal in all regards not just the child-bearing). That society would never have seen it to the end of the thirty year ban. They were on the imminence of collapse and that collapse would be total. I see the film as a saga of the heroes who saved us from ourselves no matter the cost to themselves. Adam and Eve.

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"saved us from ourselves"?

But the human race was dying from overpopulation! The real heroes were both those who passed the 30-year ban on children, and all those who obeyed the law.

"Adam and Eve"... in a radioactive wasteland!

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Sorry but restricted/non-existence of children/childbirth is too flawed a policy to succeed. People need children so they know there will be a tomorrow. Don't you see all the other parts of society that are failing because of this policy? See "Children of Men" for further examination of the depravity that no-birth brings about. The traditions of "Logan's Run" address the needs of overpopulation better. They just waited too long to end the stop gap and go back to normal existence. I think the point that ZPG was making though is that Heaven can be Hell. No Death, No War, No Disease, isn't that one form of heaven? They should have found better food stuffs to support a larger population. They should have grown food in space habitat and on other worlds before castrating the men.

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