The Speculative Voice - Huxley vs Niccol (Bnw & Gattaca)
The Speculative Voice (Huxly vs Niccols) - Elliott Dooley
The purpose of the speculative voice is to not only to warn people of inhumane trends developing into widely accepted culture but also to make people reconsider the whole idea of a "utopian society". The idea that a world can be a place of perfect equality between all humans and still have stability is an idea that if put into practice is sure to fail and cause upheaval and possibly the demise of humanity itself. A composer’s outlook on creativity comes from their contextual background, whether it be their social, cultural, political or personal history, their context has a profound effect on their texts. Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World", published in 1932, explores the issues that can evolve from a totalitarian society where technology is considered more important than human values. Similarly in Andrew Niccol's 1997 film "Gattaca" people are dehumanised and branded by their genetic makeup. Though these texts were composed 60 years apart they both explore similar issues and share the same theme of technological, genetic and scientific advance taking over and replacing human values and culture.
The title "Brave new world" is a quote taken from Shakespeare's "The Tempest". It refers to Miranda's Quote "O' brave new world that has such people in it" upon meeting people from the outside world for the first time in her life. She is overwhelmed with joy to see these exiting new people, However, Huxley used this as a juxtaposition to emphasise the bland, tasteless people of his dystopian society. Huxley's use of the satirical title was to warn his high cultured audience -who would be familiar with the quote- about the current hype of the recent industrial revolution and how technology would eventually replace emotion and individuality if the trends of the period were to continue. Thus resulting in a bleak dystopian society as Huxley accurately represents and mocks through the use of this
The purpose of the speculative voice is to not only to warn people of inhumane trends developing into widely accepted culture but also to make people reconsider the whole idea of a "utopian society". The idea that a world can be a place of perfect equality between all humans and still have stability is an idea that if put into practice is sure to fail and cause upheaval and possibly the demise of humanity itself. A composer’s outlook on creativity comes from their contextual background, whether it be their social, cultural, political or personal history, their context has a profound effect on their texts. Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World", published in 1932, explores the issues that can evolve from a totalitarian society where technology is considered more important than human values. Similarly in Andrew Niccol's 1997 film "Gattaca" people are dehumanised and branded by their genetic makeup. Though these texts were composed 60 years apart they both explore similar issues and share the same theme of technological, genetic and scientific advance taking over and replacing human values and culture.
The title "Brave new world" is a quote taken from Shakespeare's "The Tempest". It refers to Miranda's Quote "O' brave new world that has such people in it" upon meeting people from the outside world for the first time in her life. She is overwhelmed with joy to see these exiting new people, However, Huxley used this as a juxtaposition to emphasise the bland, tasteless people of his dystopian society. Huxley's use of the satirical title was to warn his high cultured audience -who would be familiar with the quote- about the current hype of the recent industrial revolution and how technology would eventually replace emotion and individuality if the trends of the period were to continue. Thus resulting in a bleak dystopian society as Huxley accurately represents and mocks through the use of this