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The Movie is about a thought experiment to help someone make a decision

posted 10 years ago by timerty4
5 replies | jump to latest

I believe the movie is about Eric the teacher wanting to set up a thought experiment to 'help' Petra to decide the 'right' path she could choose to take after graduation that also includes which guy she would choose more worthy to be with. So the thought experiment is a way to help her make that decision with more insight from other people including him to make that choice.

The teacher puts in his insights about the real world that forms the rules of the experiment, and then he lets the young students run the experiment. However, he is seen to meddle too much with the thought experiment.

The teacher keep killing off the poet from influencing the girl's character with romance. He also tried to lower the worthiness of her boyfriend.

For 2 times without the leadership of Petra, the young students led the experiment to one that led all of the people in it to die. I think this could be interpreted by the teacher(and perhaps also the viewer) that the young students were still not mature enough to make the 'correct' choices in life.

However, at the last try, the supposed smartest student Petra takes hold of the decision making and makes her 'mature' choices.

Because Petra still did not choose reason over her feelings that also reflects her choice to choose her current boyfriend over the teacher, the teacher being biased as he is, saw it as a failed experiment in reasoning and lowered her grade.

Petra was of course allowed by the teacher to decide for the last round because he wishes to see her be unhappy and show that she is still immature and not capable of making the right adult decisions, but he did not expect her to be so mature and strong in her decision making and that she would get to be happy in such a scenario.

I think the message of the movie is that one has to look deeply into people to discover their true inner worth, and not just judge them based on superficial appearances. It also tells one to look for what makes one truly happy rather than attend to the superficial things in life. Petra looked deeply into people as well as her own need for happiness, and saw that her current boyfriend is more compatible or 'worthy' for her compared to the teacher who seem immature or less 'worthy'.

What do you think?

[–] therefdotcom 10 years ago

a) no. all he wanted was to get back into her pants.
b) he messed with his whole class of students for that matter, that selfish pr1ck.
c) he thought about suicide after not getting back into her pants.
d) there never was a higher goal. just selfishness and narcicism.

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

[–] horncolton 10 years ago

Considering it was the last day I think it's safe to assume the thought experiment was a last effort to win the girl over.

[–] Filmy2020 10 years ago

I think your assessment of the movie is very astute.

I am not sure that Petra felt her current boyfriend was more "worthy" or that the teacher was more immature.

I think Petra grabbed onto the fact that her current boyfriend believed anything was possible, and that is why she gravitated towards him. Though Petra is likely one of the smartest students in the class, she highly values creativity and has a penchant for thinking out of the box. This was evidenced by her selecting the artistic students in the 3rd trial of the thought experiment. Her boyfriend is somewhat similar, and feels there are always other options.

The teacher on the other hand is a paradox. He teaches philosophy, but is solely driven by logic and educated reasoning. Simply, he believes things should be white and black. This is why he was not the right choice for Petra. She showed him this by ending the third trial in such a way that seems outrageous to him, but is satisfying to the other students.

[–] bluerisk 10 years ago

Some of her choices made more sense than those of the teacher.

The girl with the IQ of 200.

First - since they had books (and normaly computers) - she could learn (actually all could do that - they could even work out a plan what do to after they leave the bunker: how to build a raft/boat, surviving on this islands etc. pp.), second, her offspring would be among the fittest and thus most needed.

The girl that was about to get cancer: right, she could no longer sing and speak, but she could still read, write and teach.

And the best is the astronaut: yes, they might have no space travels for years, but astronauts have to be the fittest in all areas: physical fitness, health, intellect, mental stability, leadership, stress resistance. Actually astronauts are among those people who could master such an scenario best. And foremost: they are also highly educated;
often PHDs in physics, engineering or medicine, and they have training and experience.

If they were two to chose, then the IQ200 and the astronaut.

Then some professions were overrated: the politician, the farmer (such things can be easily learned) etc.

They had a library, and I assume that this library would be choosen wisely.

Last but not least the sex ratio should have been 3-7 if not 2-8 in advantage of the females.

Like in this side experiment: one male and six females work easily along, six males and one female would most likely end in a bloodshed, and even if not: one woman can only be pregnant once at a time, while one man can easily impregnate 10 women in one day.

Hence:

All females except the brutish politician and the zoologist

plus the chemist and the carpenter.

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

[–] danyu100 10 years ago

yeah, i agree with this and i think it could have been an interesting story, but the character actions seemed very unnatural and unthinking to me in order for this plot and the twist to play out. it's supposed to be a class about critical thinking imo and no one did any beyond a really superficial level.