MovieChat Forums > THX 1138 (1971) Discussion > Replacing a man's female partner with a ...

Replacing a man's female partner with a male partner.

posted 2 years ago by OnanTheBarbarian (11952)
2 replies | jump to latest

I always thought this was a rather poignant event in this film.

LUH 3417 is a woman of course, and she is paired by the state with the male roommate Robert Duvall THX 1138.

The pairing seems to show the expectation by the state that a sexual relationship might develop.

Once the pair are suspected of anti-state thinking, LUH 3417 is removed from their apartment and replaced with Donald Pleasence as SEN 5241.

THX 1138 is aghast. This is complicated by the fact that SEN 5241 is homosexual and expects sex from THX 1138. Hahaha.

This dystopian concept that sexual orientation is irrelevant, and the state just expects you to get with anybody, sends an interesting message.

Discuss.

[–] CalvinJarrett (437) 16 days ago

I don't think testate wanted or expected a sexual relationship to develop between THX and LUH. When she got pregnant, they separated the two and, if I recall, both were put on trial. I think men were just expected to masturbate and deposit their semen into that receptacle we see THX put his sample in. I suppose, the state impregnates women who work in that capacity, basically surrogates, with the semen so that there is no tracing of anyone's parentage. The state is essentially these individual's mother and father. The traditional family structure is anathema to this society. I don't know if they really say why; it's more like 'this is the way it's always been.' A similar future society was observed in Logan's Run (1976).

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (11952) 13 days ago

We also immediately learn that it is illegal to have sex and that people will be "prosecuted for drug evasion."

https://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/thx1138.html#:~:text=We%20also%20immediately%20learn%20that,he%20is%20making%20a%20mistake.

Okay, you are correct. It would be illegal for anyone, homosexual or heterosexual to have sex. All reproduction must start in a lab.

Still, without reproductive sex there is no distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality.

So THX-1138 was straight because he impregnated a woman. But was SEN (Donald Pleasence) gay?