Out of this world

Philip K. ('Kindred') Dick wrote the stories on which science fiction movies such as 'Blade Runner', 'Total Recall', 'Minority Report' and 'Paycheck' were based. That doesn't exhaust the list. At least two of these films, 'Blade Runner' and 'Total Recall' are unequivocal classics of the genre. Both have high ratings on IMDB. Apparently the writer touches upon themes that are relevant to today's society, although they may go unnoticed. What are these themes and what is their relevance?



One of Dick's comprehensive themes seems to be the relationship that individuals have to reality: what is reality and how does it differ from what we think it is? The films I just mentioned have a plot that spins from the attitude of the protagonists to their perception of reality. think of 'Total recall', where you can't actually tell if the action happens only in the protagonist's head or in circumstances where the other actors 'really' exist. Douglas Quaid wants to go to Mars and pays a company to embed a voyage to that planet in his memory. What happens next, is exacly what we have seen him order: secrets, a revolution and a grand romance. The deck is stacked for the viewer, who can only enjoy the experience if he joins in the reality that is accepted by Quaid. In doing so, we run the same risk as Quaid does: we might just be sitting somewhere in a chair, unguided by any reality. Well allright, Quaid runs a heavier risk: he can lose his mind by lobotomy if he can't snap out of the alternate reality any more. According to Rob van Scheers, who wrote a terrific biography of Paul Verhoeven, the film's director, this is actually the case. The screen goes to white and then to black right before the final titles, indicating the lobotomy.


De laatste scene uit 'Total Recall' (1990)

How is this theme of subjective reality relevant to current society? I think Dick's themes refer to a number of suppressed desires in modern man. There's the idea, imprinted on us every day through news, internet and modern media, that the world is not what it seems. Apparently there are powers that control our lives, powers which must be identified and contained. This idea is combined with frustration, as our efforts are thwarted time and again. The frustration builds up to a desire to change everything on a grand scale, so that everything will be right all at once. In the process of chance you have the right to destroy everything that has been before, because of your higher goal and the realisation of some nondescript ideal. The suppression of these emotions explains the virulence with which they come to light every now and then.


Fragment uit 'Zeitgeist' (2007). Wat verwoestte de Twin Towers?

In my eyes there is firm ground for the proposition, looking at the countless numbers of lunatic conspiracy theories floating about on the internet, that loads of people have lost their minds, giving to grave meaning to alternate realities. In this respect we may all have something of Douglas Quaid in the 21st century.

Out of This World

Philip K. ('Kindred') Dick wrote the stories on which science fiction movies such as 'Blade Runner', 'Total Recall', 'Minority Report' and 'Paycheck' were based. That doesn't exhaust the list. At least two of these films, 'Blade Runner' and 'Total Recall' are unequivocal classics of the genre. Both have high ratings on IMDB. Apparently the writer touches upon themes that are relevant to today's society, although they may go unnoticed. What are these themes and what is their relevance?



One of Dick's comprehensive themes seems to be the relationship that individuals have to reality: what is reality and how does it differ from what we think it is? The films I just mentioned have a plot that spins from the attitude of the protagonists to their perception of reality. think of 'Total recall', where you can't actually tell if the action happens only in the protagonist's head or in circumstances where the other actors 'really' exist. Douglas Quaid wants to go to Mars and pays a company to embed a voyage to that planet in his memory. What happens next, is exacly what we have seen him order: secrets, a revolution and a grand romance. The deck is stacked for the viewer, who can only enjoy the experience if he joins in the reality that is accepted by Quaid. In doing so, we run the same risk as Quaid does: we might just be sitting somewhere in a chair, unguided by any reality. Well allright, Quaid runs a heavier risk: he can lose his mind by lobotomy if he can't snap out of the alternate reality any more. According to Rob van Scheers, who wrote a terrific biography of Paul Verhoeven, the film's director, this is actually the case. The screen goes to white and then to black right before the final titles, indicating the lobotomy.


De laatste scene uit 'Total Recall' (1990)

How is this theme of subjective reality relevant to current society? I think Dick's themes refer to a number of suppressed desires in modern man. There's the idea, imprinted on us every day through news, internet and modern media, that the world is not what it seems. Apparently there are powers that control our lives, powers which must be identified and contained. This idea is combined with frustration, as our efforts are thwarted time and again. The frustration builds up to a desire to change everything on a grand scale, so that everything will be right all at once. In the process of chance you have the right to destroy everything that has been before, because of your higher goal and the realisation of some nondescript ideal. The suppression of these emotions explains the virulence with which they come to light every now and then.


Fragment uit 'Zeitgeist' (2007). Wat verwoestte de Twin Towers?

In my eyes there is firm ground for the proposition, looking at the countless numbers of lunatic conspiracy theories floating about on the internet, that loads of people have lost their minds, giving to grave meaning to alternate realities. In this respect we may all have something of Douglas Quaid in the 21st century.