In Time is a fictional film that carries any audience away given that it touches on something that is highly valued by man, life. In the year 2169, life is going to change completely, and everyone will live depending on his or her wealth (Niccol). According to the film, money will switch with ‘time to live’, making time the only determinant of how long one will live (Niccol). Living time will be transferable from one person to another through a clock that will be located in the forearmof human beings. People’s ability to acquire more ‘life to live’ will depend on their capabilities to work, earn, and buy more time from the rich. This situation translates into the fact that ‘living time’ will be the currency used, and people will handle living time just as they handle money today. This implies that incidents of theft andabuse of ‘living time’ will be present with many people struggling to get more time to live.
The environment portrayed by the film is natural but characterized by some technological elements such as the ability to transfer ‘living time’ by body contact (Niccol). Characters in the film behave differently and according to the ‘living time’ in possession. The wealthy, who are mainly the middle aged and the elderly, live in leafy suburbs while the poor, mainly youthful, leave in ghettos and other informal settlements. Although the film reveals many real life situations, some issues raise questions about the eventuality of ‘living time’ being used as a currency. The film seems to borrow too much from fiction to the extent of making what is suggested improbable. Although there are some probable things, a lot seems unrealistic even with time.
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According to the film, the transition into a time dependent living happens after some genetic realignment occurs in humans. Although this may be possible basing on evolution theories, the movie does not explain to the audience how the electronic clock will be implanted into people’s forearms. This means that the event will be spontaneous and governed by natural forces. The probability of people changing this way under the influence of their genetic makeup is almost zero. Another notable improbability is the suggestion that people will be dying when their time expires. This is less likely, because life will still be dependent on other things like food and drinks. The existence of drinking and eating joints in those days shows a situation where food is a necessity. In addition, people will be required to work to buy time and other necessities in life. This indicates that life will still be dependent on not only time but also other things. For instance, when Will takes a dying friend to his neighbor Borel to get some time he had donated to him earlier, he is surprised to find out the Borel drank excessively and died with nine years left to live. This means that the 9 years went to waste. If time was the main thing determining whether one will live or not, then it is expected that regardless of what happens, life must continue, and no one should die provided that there is time left.
According to Niccol, the probability that ‘living time’ will be transferable from one person to the other by physical contact is low. It s difficult to justify how this will happen given that time is not visible or even tangible. It is a common sense that things to be exchanged between two persons must be visible or even tangible. In other words, it is difficult to justify the transfer of invisible things from one place to another without the involvement of any physical activity. Although the film suggests that this will be possible after some genetic transformations would take place, it fails to illustrate how this will happen via normal biological processes that influence gene formation. This makes this assertion highly unrealistic and only imaginable.
The year 2169 does not seem to be very far from now basing on some evolution theories. General scientific knowledge explains that plants and animals have evolved to become what they are today following a lengthy progressive process of evolution. Time quoted in such explanations date thousands and sometimes millions of years back. This falsifies the suggestion that genetic transformation that will happenin the nexttwo hundred years could be null and void. Given that evolution is a very slow natural process, it is highlyunlikely thathuman beings will experience a change intheir genetic makeup within a short period and form a ‘living time’ clock on people’s forearms.
There are some incidences in the film where Will and Silvia start breaking into banks and stealing ‘living time’ stored in storage capsules. The two do this with the aim of helping the poor who cannot afford to buy more time given their financial status. Storing time in capsules in the future looks more apparent than real.As noted earlier, time is immaterial; thus suggesting that it will be stored in time capsules and deposited in banks by owners is only imaginable and not probable. It is understandable that the film aims at portraying ‘living time’ as a currency in the future. The manner in which this is done is does not convince the viewers that there is a possibility it will happen. This means that the future of the world where ‘living time’ will be commercialized, stored in capsules, andbankedis unlikely to become a reality.
The fact that people will be able to buy as much time as they wish using their money also sets another unrealistic precedence. Take, for example, that one is extraordinarily rich to the extent of buying ‘living time’ in thousands or even millions of years. Does this mean that such an individual will live for the thousands or millions of years without dying? This is not possible, because other life threatening agents that restrict or limit life will also be existent. The film reveals a number of factors that can lead to death. For instance, another person, accident, or other cause such as alcoholism could kill a person. Assuming that a rich person’s fate is sealed this way anddeath occurs exposes the fact that rich persons will die just like the poor who have little living time (Niccol). It is unlikely that living time will be bought and sold just because it will be the only way to avoid death.
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In conclusion, In Time, is a film that can be said to be fiction, but there are a few observations that deviate from this fact. However, most of the scenarios presented in this film are unlikely to happen in the future. Most scenes lack logical grounds that cannot convince the viewer that they will happen.