MovieChat Forums > The Giver (2014) Discussion > HUGE difference: the Giver criticizes Dy...

HUGE difference: the Giver criticizes Dystopia, Divergence promotes it

posted 10 years ago by augurae
6 replies | jump to latest

[Small spoilers]
Just to say, there is ONE huge difference in the two similar scenario (but let me assure, none of these film are anything good or original):

In the Giver, everybody is given a job according to their specialities, living in an assigned family, but the hero then goes onto criticizing and destroying this dystopia.

In Divergent there is a huge difference: everybody gets a define job he chooses, which he has to chose over family, but in the end the divergent hero doesn't destroys the Dystopia, she just prevents it from getting different or worse, so in other word she SAVES the current dystopia she lives in.

[–] halbarad_loire 10 years ago

Sorry, i'm being picky and annoying here, but what it actually criticises is utopia. Dystopia is a wholly negative place (i.e. Mad Max world) wheras utopia is a seemingly perfect place.
By all accounts The Giver is promoting the destruction of utopia and a return to dystopia, the imoerfect world where war and sorrow exists.

[–] augurae 10 years ago

I'm going to be back-picky, but I assure you both are Dystopia's, one being a chaotic post-apocalyptic dystopia, the other being a secular fascistic Dystopia.

Utopia is both the promise and objective, stemming from Thomas More's Utopia, while Dystopia is actual the recount of how bad it turns out when it happens, or sometimes the plan it to install such regime.

The main key question is Freedom vs Fascism. Freedom has describe in the Magna Carta then the Universal Declaration and then the Constitutions vs. a pre-established order enforced by society, government or police in which liberties are heavily restricted and there's not much or no equality.

This might interest you: www.imdb.com/title/tt0435651/board/nest/234699537?d=234699537#234699537

[–] nomen_meltdown 9 years ago

I'm going to be grammar-pricky and point out that both are dystopias, no capitalization needed as dystopia is being used as a noun rather than a proper noun, and the possessive or conjugate "'s" being inappropriate. Generally to make something plural you just add the 's.'

English is going to ****ing Hell in a handbasket.

I'm an island- peopled by bards, scientists, judges, soldiers, artists, scholars & warrior-poets.

[–] A_Bob 10 years ago

"By all accounts The Giver is promoting the destruction of utopia and a return to dystopia, the imoerfect world where war and sorrow exists."

There is no return to dystopia. They lived in a dystopic utopia. The return was to a normal world, not a dystopia, unless you would say that we live in a dystopia since we don't currently live in a utopia.

Bob

[–] bluerisk 9 years ago

A (true) utopia IS a perfect world.
It is just that this world is seemingly a utopia but actually a dystopia in disguise.

Only if you argue that the absence of hunger and war (and other things) justify the murder of an innocent child, then it might be a utopia.
If it is worth, for you, to live as a half-way Zombies in peace.

But the movie (book?) is imho quite inconsistent for they laugh, developd friendship and have a sense for family live.

- The father who tried to save Gabriel (and even breaking rules for it)
- The jokes of Asher or that he was letting him escape for their friendship
- The whole interaction between Jonas and his girlfrined even before they were taking off their daily dosis.
- The behaviour of his little sister (...and it is actually an elephant).

Ich bin kein ausgeklügelt Buch, ich bin ein Mensch mit seinem Widerspruch.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer

[–] imdb-3754 9 years ago

In Divergent there is a huge difference: everybody gets a define job he chooses, which he has to chose over family, but in the end the divergent hero doesn't destroys the Dystopia, she just prevents it from getting different or worse, so in other word she SAVES the current dystopia she lives in.

Curious if you've read the other two books in the Divergent series (esp the third one)?