It is not unusual in the science fiction genre for alien entities to take on human form or use the human body as a host. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) had a different take, it revolved around the notion of one person inhabiting the body of another through their dreams, likewise, the notion of humans invading or possessing another real or virtual human body via biological/technological interface has become more prevalent in the genre at least since Hans Moravic pronounced in Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence (1988), that one day we may be able to download human consciousness into a computer. The assumption being that consciousness (as function of mind or brain) is separate from the meat body and this informational pattern or energy can be used as raw source code in a computer program. A worrying concept indeed, because considered in this light human subjectivity is defined solely by the disembodied mind.
Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011) takes Moravic's notion of downloading human consciousness to the nth degree, in that, not only is the consciousness of Colter Stevens' (Jake Gyllenhaal) downloaded into a computer but it also enters that of Sean, a man traveling on a Chicago commuter train that blows up eight minutes later. When Steven's first realizes that he is not himself and is thrust between one reality, one identity and another, he assumes he's involved in a military simulation. This is partly due to the fact that he finds himself (when he's not on the train in the body of another) strapped into a confined, cock-pit like space with only a small screen in front of him, which enables communication with the outside world.
Goodwin and Rutledge the scientists in charge of an operation called Beleaguered Castle, flash playing cards on the screen in front of him as memory prompts. Interesting enough, Beleaguered Castle is a game of solitaire that requires concentration, patience, skill and an ability to work out a puzzle and this is exactly what is required of Steven's in his strange and alien space. Goodwin and Rutledge explain to him that he's not in a sim, but a real situation and must return again and again to the train and the last eight minutes of Sean's life in order to find out the identity of the terrorist and stop the detonation of the second bomb.
It is made quite clear in the film that Steven's consciousness and Sean's are identical in that the source code (residual memory traces) is only accessible (and therefore usable in that an intervention can take place to change the natural course of an event) in the last eight minutes of a person's life. It is not, as Steven imagines, a temporal slippage between the past and the present, but more like the scenario in Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) in which precogs, gifted human humans who can see into the future are interfaced with the Precrime unit in order to predict crimes that can be interrupted before they occur.
Both Minority Report and Source Code raise the age old philosophical question as to whether the future is set or if free will can change the course of history. Steven's who has been told that he cannot save those on board the train since it was blown up prior to his consciousness hijacking Sean's, but that he can intervene, find the bomber and avert a future disaster, goes against the grain and believes that he can return to the event and change the eventual outcome.
I really enjoyed this film because it made me think about time in a different way. I haven't quite put my finger on how, but it lingers in my mind in the strangest way as I write.
Source Code (Duncan Jones, 2011) takes Moravic's notion of downloading human consciousness to the nth degree, in that, not only is the consciousness of Colter Stevens' (Jake Gyllenhaal) downloaded into a computer but it also enters that of Sean, a man traveling on a Chicago commuter train that blows up eight minutes later. When Steven's first realizes that he is not himself and is thrust between one reality, one identity and another, he assumes he's involved in a military simulation. This is partly due to the fact that he finds himself (when he's not on the train in the body of another) strapped into a confined, cock-pit like space with only a small screen in front of him, which enables communication with the outside world.
Goodwin and Rutledge the scientists in charge of an operation called Beleaguered Castle, flash playing cards on the screen in front of him as memory prompts. Interesting enough, Beleaguered Castle is a game of solitaire that requires concentration, patience, skill and an ability to work out a puzzle and this is exactly what is required of Steven's in his strange and alien space. Goodwin and Rutledge explain to him that he's not in a sim, but a real situation and must return again and again to the train and the last eight minutes of Sean's life in order to find out the identity of the terrorist and stop the detonation of the second bomb.
It is made quite clear in the film that Steven's consciousness and Sean's are identical in that the source code (residual memory traces) is only accessible (and therefore usable in that an intervention can take place to change the natural course of an event) in the last eight minutes of a person's life. It is not, as Steven imagines, a temporal slippage between the past and the present, but more like the scenario in Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) in which precogs, gifted human humans who can see into the future are interfaced with the Precrime unit in order to predict crimes that can be interrupted before they occur.
Both Minority Report and Source Code raise the age old philosophical question as to whether the future is set or if free will can change the course of history. Steven's who has been told that he cannot save those on board the train since it was blown up prior to his consciousness hijacking Sean's, but that he can intervene, find the bomber and avert a future disaster, goes against the grain and believes that he can return to the event and change the eventual outcome.
I really enjoyed this film because it made me think about time in a different way. I haven't quite put my finger on how, but it lingers in my mind in the strangest way as I write.
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