“For few to be immortal, many must die.”
“No! If even one man must die, then no one should be able to be immortal!”
The nice thing about “In Time”, is that you can just gather a trite takeaway message of “we should all treasure each day and loved ones and not waste bla bla…”
On the other hand, the film also is one of those that makes you re-visit your political beliefs. It causes you to reflect on the capitalist and socialist lectures you half listened to/half slept through while drooling onto the wooden school desk during the last period of high school humanities class.
In reality, you’ve got your naysayers and champions with their respective followings regarding socialism, or capitalism, or whatever. Then, you have this movie that comes along. And it comprises this fantastically metaphorical Robin Hood meets Bonnie and Clyde plot, wherein time itself – the new currency – is the deciding factor in how long you get to live.
For Salas, the combination of an encounter with a rich and ancient stranger coupled with the loss of his mom due to the seemingly unjust “time” system, sets him ripe for revenge; Ready to beat the system. Get a hot side kick! Kick ass! Take names! (and numbers), etc. It’s got all the facets of a good high energy action flick.
For the viewers, suddenly, when time itself is really money, the whole concept of “socialism” suddenly doesn’t seem like such a bad idea after all! I mean, like Timberlake’s character says in the film, if even one man dies, no man should be allowed to live forever. That’s the same thing as “If even one man is near-death dirt poor, then no man should be disgustingly rich with more money than synapses in his brain”, right?
Wrong.
Now, I’m not going to say “Boo socialism… Yay capitalism” or vice versa. I’m not big into championing one thing or another. What I do enjoy, though, is stating facts. And, logically, when it comes to money – if everyone got money for free all the time – you’d have lazy ass video gamer boy-men who never grew up , directionless bitch girls who party all the time, addicts… oh wait!
That reminds me! I think I have an example straight from the movie to prove my point: Tell me, what happens when Salas gifts ten free years to his best friend? Does he… I dunno… drink himself to death?
Yes. The answer is yes.
Sidenote: Anyone else wonder how you stay best friends with someone for ten years and not realize they’re a raging alcy who is just going to waste their money on booze? It’s not like he exactly hides it…
(Other sidenote – I love that they cast Leonard from BBT to play him)
Digressing…
I’m not knocking socialism as a hypothetical – if time were literally money. And in the real world, there is always going to be a drawback to any economical system that is in place; However, in reality I can’t help but ascribe to the mentality of there being merit in working hard to get where you want to be. Why should the lazy ass next to me have the same things I do if I busted my ass going to college and working every day?
However you want to look at it and whether you want to talk about how the “cliches in life are cliches for a reason”, the truth of the matter is that however cute, symbolic, metaphorical, and all that crap this movie is, it is not the same. There’s a difference between getting to have your dream wedding of massive cost versus getting to have a… well… funeral. “Standard of living” does not equal “not living at all”.
Here, in the real world, time is not money.
Well, unless of course, you’re my coworker, boss, etc. and you need to talk with me after my shift ends. Because I’m damn sure staying on the clock for that….
xoxo
<3~A