MovieChat Forums > Elysium (2013) Discussion > Ok Movie. Fatal Flaw

Ok Movie. Fatal Flaw

posted 7 years ago by callumfaulkner
5 replies | jump to latest

Im sure others have pointed this out, but why don't they just heal the people of Earth? I healthy happy work force is a super productive one. And by the looks of things it doesn't seem to cost much too heal people.

I mean, maybe it does cost too much to heal everybody... But in a society this advanced I don't think we'd be lacking the necessary resources, technology, and know-how.

Also like I said, if you justify this already for moral reasons, chuck em a bone and at the least you'll keep the work force happy, e.g. Less likely to revolt!

[–] momur (107) 4 years ago

Same logic can easily be applied to real life all throughout history. Bottom line, human beings are generally incredibly selfish. As long as we've got a roof over our heads and enough food on the table, the likelihood is that we're not going to personally go out and buy the homeless guy sleeping on our street a dinner and take him to a shelter. Of course, there are some people who would do that but they are few and far between and most of us can find ways to justify not particularly give a damn about people worse off than us as long as we personally are doing okay.

The people on Elysium seem to operate on an "out of sight, out of mind" policy - to a fairly literal level. They literally have no reason to care about anyone on Earth because...exactly what does it matter to them whether the Earthlings are happy or not? The point is that the citizens of Elysium are happy. I'm willing to bet this is even why Elysium is a space-station in the first place: the people of Earth literally cannot revolt against them because they do not even exist in the same place. Say Max getting dosed with radiation had sparked a revolution in the factory where he worked - okay, that's one droid-producing factory down but what exactly would it accomplish in the grand scheme of things? Virtually nothing. Carlyle would probably have just headed back to Elysium at the first sign of trouble so the workers' only "bargaining chip" would be a yes-man foreman. And even if the revolt had somehow spread across LA without the police-droids shutting it down, they'd still have very few realistic options to substantially change anything. Spider and Max only succeeded more due to luck than anything else - if the security folks on Elysium hadn't been so distracted with the Max/Kruger situation, they would have noticed Spider's shuttle and taken measures to contain it once it landed. Also there's the fact that even with the healthcare, it doesn't solve the Earth's issues of overpopulation and pollution...

[–] The LA Baker (799) 2 years ago

Private charities do far more good now and historically than any government program. People give a lot to help others and it is used much more efficiently when there is accountability. Government programs are mostly embezzlement scemes to steal tax dollars. If it helps a few people out in the process, so be it. E.g. the "pallet shack" housing that is so popular in California these days. I could build one for $1-2 thousand. Due to government corruption, they currently cost over $800,000 each.

As for medical care, we require highly skilled professionals and tons of time, medications, hospital beds, food, and a place to house said necessities. In the film, every house on Elysium had a medical device that could cure any ailment/injury in seconds. There really is no comparison.

All the people on Elysium had to do was send down a dozen of those medical devices and people on Earth will queue up for it and the problem is solved.

As for overpopulation, the people on Elysium face the same exact eventuality due to never getting sick or even ageing because of said medical devices.

In a nutshell, this movie makes damn near no sense and juxtaposing our problems with the film is beyond asinine.

I do enjoy the action scenes.

I found myself rooting for Jodie Foster, but I am quite sure she was supposed to be the villain. Too bad the writing is so atrocious.

[–] Burk48917 (10975) 2 months ago

Human beings are generally very giving. Unfortunately, to make it to the top 1% of wealth, you usually have to be fairly ruthless. However, amongst the average population, more people try to help there fellow man than not.

[–] aavfreak (2861) 2 months ago

For me, the issue is that they made the healing too easy. Any disease or ailment can be fixed immediately with just a push of a button.

With that scenario, there's really no need to withhold any of this from anyone.

They should have made the med table more resource intensive or limited in use, that way there's at least some reason why the elites keep the technology from the lower classes. The idea that they do it just because they are the "evil rich" is far too heavy handed.

[–] Truthtalker (1870) 2 months ago

You think that whore played by Jodie Foster would approve that?