Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Progressive Design: Resigning Untermenschen to Their Fate

After one Eloi (whose script we hear repeated today) says that the others, gone to their fate, never return, the time traveler raises his voice in  frustration:
“You can try. You can try. Won’t even, won’t even one of you try?

That's at in the last 30 seconds of the 4:00-8:15 segment of this clip. This is from the 1960 Rod Taylor version of The Time Machine. Explain to your friends how this so well depicts H.G. Wells' vision of how his fellow "Progressive" intended to turn the children of the too common man into mindless and meek zombies resigned to their fate.




Being a man, he naturally says “Well, I’ll try.”

Ah, 1960; before the rot had taken hold of my brother.

3 comments:

  1. Yep. H George Wells stood on the steps and preached to the Eloi until they changed their ways.

    Not.

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  2. "and preached to the Eloi until they changed their ways. "

    Actually, Og, he DID. See the opening minute of the closing scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUHI6NjdpFk

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