Comparison of Alphaville with Today - Essay Example

The plot unleashes gradually when a secret agent is sent to catch Alphaville who is controlled by a computer Alpha 60 and the creator of this invention, Professor Von Braun (Constantine and Karina, 1965). This movie is basically symbolic of the fact that human beings have been dominated by the scientific inventions. They have lost their ability to feel and think. They have become robots like Alphaville and their behavior is termed as “outlandish”. In this scenario the relationship between Natacha Von Braun and Lemmy Caution, the secret agent, is quite significant because Natacha is unable to voice her feelings.

It is not that she does not want to. She just doesn’t have the words to describe what she feels. On the other hand the poignancy of the scene touches the audience immensely where Natacha tells Lemmy that he is looking at her in a strange way to which he agrees. Then she asks if he is waiting for her to say something to him and to this also he agrees. Here, Natacha admits that she is clueless because she has never been taught the words to say what is expected of her here and that Lemmy should help.

Lemmy replies that he will not be able to help her because she needs to help herself; that is the only way she will be saved. However, if she doesn’t, she would be “as lost as the dead ofAlphavile” (Constantine and Karina, 1965). . The fact that a person, Alphaville, is being controlled by a computer also reflects the concept of totalitarianism. This is a concept or phenomenon according to which a state or government has the right to interfere with the private life of the citizens and the opinion of the citizens do not matter.

The same idea has been portrayed in the 1965 film. The computers decide what is good and bad for the human beings and the human beings are not allowed to have any say in their own lives. According to Professor Bon Braun who is the creator of Alpha 60, everything is in control of science and machines(Conquest, 2001). It can be said that this movie was way ahead of its time but it still managed to capture the very essence and causes of the human decline, which is evident today. This movie made it clear that there is a very thin line between the human world and machine world and that time is not very far away when this line will be crossed by the human beings.

A famous essayist,Professor Susan Greenfield opines that people will have to wake up from their gadget-drugged and “pharmaceutically enhanced” slumber that has made their brains immune. According to him, soon there will be little if any difference between humans and machines. This quote can be related to “Alphaville” as well. The characters portrayed in the movies are expressionless and emotionless. They even talk like robots, without pausing and without much feeling with a poker face.

Like Natacha Van Braun speaks rarely and whenever she does, it is on the professor’s command. For instance, when she is asked about how she is, she says, “I’m very well thank you you’re welcome.”(Greenfield, n.d.). If on one hand, this film is