Fantasy Imagery To Reinfore A Conformist Message

Much as I love this movie and find it fascinating, ultimately it is in many ways a movie that uses fantastical imagery to reinforce a message of conformity.

We see an incredible utopia, a world without shame and of sexual freedom and hedonism, a world free of responsibility, condoning of drug use, even a world where sex is totally divorced from traditional pregnancy and childbirth.

Ultimately it is a world in which even the cannibalism taboo is violated; Box provides the food not from animals any longer but from the runners.

One could say that the movie argues this comes from a loss of faith... given that the 'Cathedral Plaza' is in ruins.

And the transition from being people of the city to fuller human beings involves a baptism in the pond... when their lifeclock crystals turn clear.

Logan uses a pole with the remnants of the American flag within the halls of American government to kill Francis; that is, using 'traditional' American to kill the representative of the City ways.

And yet in the end the movie tries to sell the idea of a traditional monogamous and heterosexual and married couple for the purpose of procreation... they talk about growing old and having children together, calling each other "beloved husband/wife".

You could say that it uses a depiction of the hippie ideal to bash hippie culture.

Of course, this is nothing new. The earliest example of a film using futuristic imagery to sell a conformist message that I know of is a Soviet film called Aelita: Queen of Mars from 1924.

I suppose it could also be seen as an 'expulsion from Eden' narrative with the Old Man giving Logan and Jessica true knowledge of life and death.

Anyone have any thoughts?