MovieChat Forums > Children of Men (2007) Discussion > What would be a possible reason for the ...

What would be a possible reason for the global infertility?

posted 11 years ago by codeinemassacre
56 replies | jump to latest

I loved this movie (saw it about three times), and I get that the reasoning behind the infertility isn't mentioned, but what could be a possible cause?

Also, I'm still having trouble contemplating why society would be in such a terrible state once extinction was being faced. My assumption of what would happen in a situation like this (which is probably based on my general utopian perspective of society) is that people would be kind towards each other in an effort to extend lives and improve the quality of living for the last generation of people on Earth. However, maybe what happens in this movie is more probable because there is competition/greed/power struggles due to the fact that children aren't around to provide a sense of innocence. I believe that is the message to obtain from this movie.

[–] Kent_Kainer 10 years ago

Read the newspaper headlines in that movie and you'll know what world it is on that the movie took place:

Copied from the trivia page:

· AFRICA DEVASTATED BY NUCLEAR FALL OUT
· U.S. TROOPS FULL ATTACK
· EXTREMIST EXPLOSION A RIGHT ROYAL RIP OFF: CHARLES SHOULD BE THRONE OUT
· MILITIAS OCCUPY CINCINNATI
· CHAOS IN REFUGEE CAMPS
· FERTILITY DRUG KILLS! SURGEON ARRESTED
· HORMONE ATTACKS: VIOLENT REACTION
· 100 Suicides: Nation in Denial
· RUSSIA IN CRISIS: Massive migration
· Police put mosques under surveillance
· Gatherings are forbidden
· BOMBING OF SAUDI PIPELINE DISRUPTS WORLD'S OIL SUPPLY (Photo by Janice Palmer)
· REFUGEES BLAMED FOR INCREASE IN TERROR ATTACKS (Thursday April 6th, 2018)
· SOUTH COAST TOWNS TURNED INTO REFUGEE CAMPS (Tuesday February 11, 2020)
· PM DENIES "TORTURE" OF BRITISH CITIZENS
· ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE DISMISSED AS A SHAM
· DIRTY BOMB DETONATED IN MUNICH (Report by Photojournalist Janice Palmer)
· England bans ALL immigration completely
· 25% INFERTILITY RATE (21.12.2008)
· Two years since last baby born
· NO BABY HOPE ADMIT SCIENTISTS
· WAR AND FAMINE LEAD TO MASS MIGRATION
· JANICE PALMER questions Britain's ethical response to the refugee situation
· MASSIVE MIGRATION, CHANNEL TUNNEL CLOSED
· All foreigners now ILLEGAL
· Refugees mass on Europe
· MI5 DENY INVOLVEMENT IN TORTURE OF PHOTOJOURNALIST (photo of Janice Palmer. Monday 16.7.2018).

My assumption of what would happen in a situation like this (which is probably based on my general utopian perspective of society) is that people would be kind towards each other

Yeah that's really a very utopian and naïve thought and impossible among the chaos anyway. With more chaos the already limited ressources needed to support the masses limit just even more.
People look to survive and at best help their beloved.
Kindness for unrelated others is luxury.
If you don't get anything out of that (shelter, food, security) you'd simply ignore it and search for a place where your basic needs a fulfilled and probably not share it with others if not really necessary for your life.

Or you simply die, either because you're too nice/naive or you gave up.
But mankind is no descendant of creatures who didn't know how to survive even in bad conditions or gave up.
It's all in us, even in you. I bet it only takes enough threat to your family to raise thoughts in you you didn't thought possible.

---
Lincoln Lee: I lost a partner.
Peter Bishop: I lost a universe!

[–] triplegrim 10 years ago

Realistically, the only thing that could infect the whole worldwide population has to be radiation in some form; perhaps a sunstorm or a radioactive fluke caused all women to become infertile. Even viruses could not spread everywhere and create the complete infertility that we see in this movie.

[–] Flora_Poste 10 years ago

There are other possibilities. What about endocrine disrupting chemicals, levels of which are ever increasing in the tissues of every person on earth, including the tissues of people in some of the remotest spots on the planet?

If these trends continue, that would do the trick.

http://www.who.int/ceh/risks/cehemerging2/en/

[–] jaystarstar 10 years ago

1) The cause:

Some kind of radiation burst from outer space which damages the chromosomes of humans (and presumably only humans, since it was shown other mammals were still reproducing) to prevent conception (or causes spontaneous miscarriage).

This makes more sense than chemical pollution or virus/bacterial disease, because those causes would take some time, probably several years, to spread worldwide, and also some women probably would escape the effects. A high energy radiation burst from space would expose virtually everybody on the planet within a couple of days.

2) Why would society be in such a terrible state?

Well, first, as Theo noted, things were already heading speedily to hell before the infertility hit, but when it did, it removed pretty much all incentive for anyone to act with any regard for the future, i.e., Theo's conversation with Cousin Nigel, "why do you bother with this (preserving the art) when in 100 years there won't be one sick *beep* around to see it?"

================

4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

[–] Patricia91 10 years ago

Some writer's gloomy vision. The premise is absurd.

[–] Grothendieck_s_Pocket_Healer 10 years ago

It's not that absurd, you just need to get more life experience.

[–] Grothendieck_s_Pocket_Healer 10 years ago

watch the series Utopia.
Political ideals can potentially lead to this situation.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ecvz 10 years ago

I always figured it was an easily spread pathogen that hadn't been directly observed yet. It was relatively benign and unnoticed aside from the one effect of infertility. For whatever reason, Kee had a mutation or a natural immunity to this pathogen. The scientists at the human project would likely try to figure out what this immunity is, what the pathogen is, and how to cure it.

[–] Sidewindr 10 years ago

It is entirely possible that the infertility happens naturally as an evolutionary response to changes in the physical environment of the world. This is seen throughout nature in many different species that have the ability to switch on and off their fertility depending on the conditions of their environments.

This would also explain why after 18 years of infertility we start to see fertility again, one individual initially of course as there is always a first for anything. However, in the coming months/years more and more people would become fertile again if these environmental conditions once again prove favourable.

The changes in the environmental conditions are unknown and not explained but could be anything which has been suggested already.

[–] ecvz 10 years ago

Yeah, it's possible it was environmental and Kee was not the only young woman who could suddenly give birth. But if Kee was the only woman on Earth her age who could give birth, I would guess it's some kind of pathogen instead; a virus or bacterium. And Kee was just lucky enough to be born with a random mutation that made her naturally immune to it.