MovieChat Forums > After the Dark (2013) Discussion > I didn't care for this particular charac...

I didn't care for this particular character change or the... (SPOILERS)

posted 10 years ago by TheatreNachos
3 replies | jump to latest

The film made clear that besides what is written on the cards, every other personality trait, affliction, sexual preference, etc. would remain the same. In the third iteration, James is relegated to the profession of 'florist', instead of the aforementioned "organic farmer" as the sum of the first card classified James as a "gay organic farmer". All that was changed in the third iteration was his profession. Some might say that it is implied that because his profession has changed, the first card is thrown out all together. However, the "rules" of the film being as they were, I think it a better implication that James is now a gay florist.

The third iteration didn't really sit well as it was, as the purpose of the exercise was to survive and procreate. All the hippy crap was played as some great revelation, but in the end, everyone still ends up dead. The explanation by Petra was equally as asinine. If there were ten people and ten spots to begin with, fine. The fact that she made a choice to leave the best candidates to die outside the bunker, thinking that she and the bunker kids would die themselves down the line was ridiculously selfish. Why not send the others into the bunker, and stay outside with your wine and card tricks and opera singers? You're dooming the best chance for humankind so you can smoke weed, put on plays, and dance for 12 extra months? The professor was right to keep dropping her grade.

[–] yurenchu 10 years ago

In the third iteration, when Jack (the gay Chemistry PhD) asked "am I the only one who won't have anyone to be with in the bunker?", it was James who replied "There isn't anyone now". So yes, that implies that James wasn't gay anymore. And I don't see anything wrong with that; we just have to accept it as the movie's reality.

(James' question to Mr. Zimit was: why did you bother to make me important (as an organic farmer) at first, but then later make me obsolete (as a gay person, who wouldn't be able to contribute to the "pregnancy program"); why just not make me a florist at the start, so that I would be worthless from the get-go? And so later that's what Mr. Zimit does; no more coy games of "you're important yet you're not contributive"; he just makes him an insignificant guy, by making him a florist.)

Petra originally stayed outside the selection, she didn't vote herself into the bunker in the third experiment. She ended up in the bunker because Chips tricked her.

Petra didn't leave the best candidates to die outside the bunker; according to her, every person is worth as much as any other; so according to that logic, there are no "best" candidates. You may not understand or agree with such an approach or line of reasoning, but she wasn't inconsistent nor selfish.

By the way, the third bunker group contained a Chemistry PhD with genetic perfection, an orthopedic surgeon, and a structural/electrical engineer; the group outside contained (among others) a psychotherapist, a zoologist, a senator, a hedge fund manager, a wild card, a housekeeper who's too gentle to fight a barracuda, a midwife who can't swim, and an electrician with bony tissue disease. Was the outside group really that much better (utility-wise) than the bunker selection?

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0

[–] therefdotcom 10 years ago

the movie follows only one rule: the teacher makes crap up.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] cifra2 10 years ago

... in case you're not noticing, it's explained right after (but it's the 2nd important hint about it), she's playing revenge on her ex-lover (the professor) for bullying his new boyfriend and co-student. As the professor clearly sees this, he starts blackmailing her (and rightfully) with removing the top honors and downgrade her into mediocrity, for taking the experiment too personally, and derail it.

At the very end, the teacher kills himself, out of frustration. His best student, did not learn a single thing about it, plus he pushed her away from him.

As much as nice as it sounds the outcome of the third experiment, the outcome by her was utterly nihilist and selfish, rather than assuming the rule of the game: the survival of humankind, above any other consideration.