Utopian Pastiche

As I re-watched The Island (our final text!) last night, I reminded myself why I chose this film and why I feel it's a good way to bring our discussions to a close.

It's the gripping and in no way repetitive action sequences!

Um, no. But it was directed by Michael Bay, so were you expecting something else?

It's the Dick-and-Jane scene!

Hmm. Still no...

Two Ewan McGregors?

Possibly...

No, seriously now. This movie has been called a pastiche of utopian/dystopian fiction, an assessment that I completely support. But deeming something a pastiche (OED paraphrase: a work that incorporates distinctive elements of a particular style, artist, genre, etc. and/or that takes elements from many different sources and incorporates them into one work) isn't necessarily derogatory. The Island is a pastiche because it manages to take all of the themes that we have been looking at this semester and smooshes them all together. It's a big Utopian mashup.

A good pastiche is in the eye of the beholder. There are many people who think this is a godawful film, and I can see why. The movie takes a clean, sleek, Utopian first half and tries to attach it (like a Barbie head jammed onto the neck of GI Joe figure) onto a big, loud, explosion-riddled, car chase extravaganza. Two films for the price of one!

But the thing that ultimately intrigues me about this film - or any mashup, for that matter - is the way it encourages us to take a look at all of its constituent parts and think about how they fit together. Often, the combinations are predictable, but sometimes they are surprisingly appealing. If you have any doubts about this, see one of my favorite recent mashups at the end of this post.

By now, we are all incredibly familiar with the tropes of Utopia, and this movie tries to squeeze them all in here. But, by the act of cramming so much into a single film, Bay and his production team have issued us an engraved invitation to see which of these elements work together, how they work together, and why they work together - or don't. Whether it intends it or not, this film is a reflection on the whole idea of Utopian fiction and why the idea of Utopia can so easily be used against us if we aren't careful. 

And hey, who doesn't love a good mashup now and then?

(if you don't, DO NOT CLICK THE VIDEO BELOW!)