Orginally titled - "help me pls", the following essay is one I wrote unprompted with zero context. Upon reading it I found it quite enjoyable that I had this little window into the past.
Help me pls
Over time, humanity has gone through great strides of achievement and whether they be technological, cultural, or philosophical, our achievements has always been reflected in the texts that we write. Time Travel is a concept that has both baffled and intrigued humanity for centuries, from the very start we began to measure time we looked at the falling grains of sand, the diminishing pools of water and wondered, "What if the flow reversed". Over time, as our understanding of the universe grew so did our understanding of time and with it more perplexing literature was created. Studying the following four texts: The Time Machine written by H.G Wells, 12 Monkeys directed by Terry Gilliam, Arq directed by Tony Elliot and Predestination directed by Peter and Michael Spierig I have analyzed how time travel has developed in literature over Time (1895-2016) which has evinced other connections between the text such as ending on a note of tension and suspense (cliff hanger) in order to leave the audience unsatisfied or perhaps a better term "questioning" and as stated before the increasing perplexity and integration of Time Travel as a literary device, giving writers for the first time in history a way to easily and directly address the notion of freewill, fate, destiny and other abstract concepts that ultimately govern life.
The goal of all literature it to teach , it then comes as no surprise that literature featuring time travel is no exception, however a conclusion I obtained from the viewing of my four texts has lead me to the deduction that if not staple educate, a common way for literature of the Time Travel genre to end is on a opening ending or cliff hanger , a term popularized in the late 1930 's that refers to the intense chord of tension caused by unresolved questions, "Will he live? Or will he die! Who knows?" Originally used in TV series to keep viewers engaged on the series until the arrival of the next episode cliffhangers or open endings for a better word can find themselves in the literature of Time Travel as a device to cause thought and spark energy in the audience , acting in similar accordance of a Rhetorical Question. In The Time Machine by H.G Well such a question is implied at the end of the book when the Time Traveler whom has not been named, has disappeared from all view, presumably through time "One cannot choose but wonder. Will he ever return?" a hypophora posed in the epilogue of The Time Machine, H.G wells is renown as the author to first popularize the notion of Time Travel in literature, coining the term "Time Machine" in 1895, a term still used widely today, the fact that he chooses to end on such a hypophora is no coincidence, as throughout the entire book he uses the fictional future that the Time Traveler has journeyed to, as a reflection about the causes that could have created such a situation, using his notion of Time Travel to explore the effects of communism and radical Capitalism as well as many other humanitarian concepts. Well's continues to push his readers, which is why he chooses to leave the book open ended, and although he does answer the hypophora he does it in a way that is sure to incite creativity within the reader , "it may be that he swept back into the past, and fell among the blood-drinking, hairy savages of the Age of Unpolished Stone ; into the abysses of the cretaceous sea; or among the grotesque saurian, the huge reptilian brutes of the Jurassic times … Or did he go forward, into the near ages, in which men are still men, but with the riddles of our own time answered and its wearisome problems solved?" Terry Gilliam's, the director of The 12 monkeys uses the same open ending, but for a different effect. While Well's uses the open ending to expand the readers horizons about possible futures, Gilliam uses the open ending as a form of review. Throughout the film pieces are brought together, but with Time in such a lucid state, nothing seems to add up, the audience is constantly forced to look back at what has happened thus far in order to make any progress with the plot and character developments, "It's just like what's happening with us, like the past. The movie never changes. It can't change; but every time you see it, it seems different because you're different." A revelation made by the protagonist who ironically has the same job as us, to look at the past and piece together a puzzle. At the end of the film we are given the final pieces, but it is left to us to put them together, but it is up to us what the end puzzle truly looks like.
Open endings are almost open ending in of themselves, that is to say, open endings are open to be used in any way imaginable. Arq by Tony Elliot evokes a different form of open endings dealing more with the hope of free will and the philosophy that free will entitles. While having similarities with 12 Monkeys concerning the hope for a better future. How this future is address is almost at complete odds. Rather than questioning whether or not the time travel had worked, it questions the very core of time travel, questioning whether time travel can truly solve our problems. The main protagonist Renton creates an "infinite" energy source, a solution to the worlds energy crisis, and unknowing creates a time machine that loops back time. "Any battle that the block loses, with the Arq , they can loop back in time and fight again, until they get it right, until we win." The machine no longer serving as a simple means of survival but one of perfection, Elliot portrays the idea to the audience that with time travel comes the answers to all problems of humanity. However, ironically, it is the Arq's most useful feature that is it's downfall, when at the end of the film it is revealed that they have looped thousands of times, that they are trapped within an endless loop. Elliot uses this to explore the notion of free will and hope, "We let the loop reset, we try again. We send a message to ourselves in the next loop, Hannah you were right, we have to try. " The film then progresses to the first scene, but slightly different, instead of Renton waking up, Hannah is the one to wake up, a seemingly new development, but left at that. An open ending that seems to allude to the fact that this time is different, that this time, Hannah might be able to break the endless series of loops. Predestination , a time travel released in 2014 directed by Peter and Michael Spierig has similar contrasts to Arq, in that hope is an underlying theme, however instead of overly exploring the concept of freewill, it uses Time Travel to take an unique take on morality. "What if I could put him in front of you? The man that ruined your life. If I could guarantee that you would get away with it, would you kill him?" A frequently asked question throughout the film that questions human morality as nothing more than an act of self preservation. Asking whether the only reason humans do not commit crime, is because of the consequences and thus without law ,society would inevitably fall apart. This question is answered later in the film when the protagonist proclaims "Let's face it. Nobody's innocent. Everybody just uses everybody else to get what they want." These questions act as preparation for the largest question raised by the opening ending at the end of the film, asking not if the end justifies the means, but whether the means justify the ends. At the end of the film the protagonist learns that his arch nemesis is really him, a loosely deranged older version of him that kills people who will commit mass crimes in the future, learning of this, he is put into a situation where he can safe the life of thousands, while condemning the life's of ten's of thousands.
From a time not yet dominated by the advanced scientific world it appears as if Wells may be giving off the indication that anything is possible and that the world we can explore isn't limited to merely space, but time also. Wells uses the open ending in order to encourage the reader to look beyond the text, within one's own personal life experiences. What would you want to learn? What would you want to know if you could go to anytime and place. At around the time of the early 21st century 12 Monkeys was released, a time where humanity had just risen above the quarrels of ww2 and the following cold war, a time where just twenty years prior man had just landed on the moon and the possibilities of feats that humanity could accomplish seemed endless. Gilliam uses time travel as a way to both reflect on the daunting past, while striving towards a better future, leaving the ending open to evince the notion that while we are not free to control the past, we are more than free to control the future. By extension It may mean that it was our choice at whether humanity succeeded to find a cure, or failed, stuck in an endless loop, doomed to an entirety of underground dwelling until natural resources eventually ran out. Gilliam repeatedly brings up the fact that even though they can travel backwards through time, they are unable to change anything, the only thing they can do is learn about the source of the virus to help those in the present. The message is as such, do not dwell on the past it is fixed and unchangeable, instead take from the past the knowledge and apply it in your current situation to make a better future.
Released last year, Arq is the most recent of literature of the Time Travel genre that I have reviewed. Created in a time where humanity faces arguable it's most difficult problems yet. We live in a modern world in which the resources to solve global hunger, peace and even interplanetary travel are feasible and yet seem impossible. Even with everything humanity has acquired 1 in 9 people are malnourished and tensions in the middle east are at an all time high, one cannot help but think that maybe no matter what we try, and plan to do we will simply be stuck in the universal engine of cause and effect. A fact that Elliot seemingly denies, but leaves it up to the audience to figure out, after all the conundrum of Free will is almost as perplexing as time travel itself. However Elliot's belief doesn't simply lie with him, Edward M.Lerner, an American science fiction author that published the award winning The Grandfather's paradox said, "Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect –but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect." Predestination , another paradox film within the similar time frame of Arq compares yet another similarity between the two films, attempting to understand the applications of Time Travel rather than the solutions that traveling into the past or future could bring. This connection model parallels similarly to model that science models, first a phenomenon is discovered, then understood then applied.
A strong indicator points towards a common factor in all literature in which Time Travel appears and explains why they all seem to end on a open ending, and that is the pure fact that over the 100 years our time travel literature has developed, our developments on the actual use of Time Travel is zero. Our speculations of time travel may have become more in depth and convincing, but as far as the truth of time travel comes it might as well be separated by a gigantic magnitude of time and space, however this does not stop humanity from questioning and will most likely never will.
The connection that Time Travel literature ends on open endings shows that although Time Travel literature may have changed drastically in terms of ideas and themes explored, one thing remains undoubtedly clear. Time Travel literature was created to question not inform, a reflection on the very nature of time travel and humanities desire to solve mysteries, to answer questions. Time Travel literature will continue to be used into the future with open endings, continuing to help aid mankind in it's solution to impossible questions. Finishing with Steven Hawking, one of the most renown thinkers of the 21st century, "Even if Time Travel is impossible, it is important that we understand why it is impossible."
Bibilorgraphy:
https://www.brainyquote.com
https://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.worldhunger.org