We talked a lot about the film, Source Code, and how it relates to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. I don't know if it's a perfect fit, but what is? I think further research is needed for this topic and if you guys can find it pertaining to the film and Plato, that would be great (don't forget to read the illustrated handout for more details).
The film opens up some questions about fate that I don't think it really answered or that we really touched upon too much. When Capt. Stevens kept being pulled out of the SC and back into his "capsule," he saw these glimpses - call them deja vu, precognition, whatever - of himself and Christina at Chicago's Millenium Park and the big chrome bean. These scenes occurred even before he felt like saving anybody on the train or understood his situation - as if he was headed towards that future "alternate universe" no matter happened. Could it be that every obstacle that Stevens ran into (or literally ran into him - see below!) kept him moving towards that inexorable future?
What about the morality of using Capt. Stevens as a lab rat for the Source Code? It's obvious by the end of the movie that he's in a terrible state of physical trauma, and that only his mind is the most complete and functioning part of him. At points in the film, it appeared that Dr. Rutledge was "torturing" Stevens by sending him back into the memories of Sean Fentress only to be blown up again and again. We did mention that Capt. Stevens, as a member of the U.S. military, most likely, had signed away his rights to do with his remains as his parents wished. However, it is hard to imagine a father wishing this for his son. And by the end of the film, if it has reset and everything starts anew, Capt. Stevens will continue to be used further in the GWOT (global war on terror).
Lastly, how do you explain the ending? Goodwin and Rutledge have no knowledge of the previous day's events (if those events even occurred - but they had to have existed somewhere, b/c Stevens sent her the email - it came from somewhere, sometime, right?). And at the end of the movie, it looked as if the whole day had been reset, Capt. Stevens was alive and in his previous "state of being," in addition to the bomber being caught and the initial train bombing never having occurred.
Questions to choose from:
1. How could the filmmakers have changed the film to make it more or less like Plato's cave? Explain your reasoning.
2. What role did fate play in this movie? Why? Or, did fate play no role at all and why not?
3. Did the military cross the line with the use of Capt. Stevens' body and mind for the Source Code? Why or why not?
4. Is the ending a new "movie reality" (for lack of a better term)? Why or why not? Is it possible that Stevens' determination somehow merged the alternate universe with the movie's original reality?
Pick one of the following questions and answer it as fully as you can. Stay in the nuances of the question as long as you can. Your response should be a minimum of 250 words and is due Wednesday, Sept. 21 before class begins.
Online articles to check out if you have time:
"Here I Am: The Identity Philosophy of SC" - http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/here-i-am-the-identity-philosophy-of-source-code.php
"Who is Sean Fentress?: A (Completely Serious) Exploration of What Happened After the End of Source Code" - http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/what-happened-after-the-ending-of-source-code.php
I really think that the military crossed the line with this program. I don't think that anyone should should be placed into a program without their knowledge or consent. Military people volunteer themselves to fight for their country, so if they were open about it I think they could have gotten volunteers. Captain Stevens was kept out of the loop even though he repeatedly asked what was going on. They sent him into weird situations without him even knowing what was going on. You could tell that going back time and time again was causing him pain. They didn't do anything to help him better understand what was happening. He was getting attached to people and this was not something that was planned for.
ReplyDeleteIf they were to keep going with the program and make it so it didn't cross the line they would have to make several changes. First off, they would need the consent of the soldiers going into the program. Second off, they would need to be way more open with their subjects. If Stevens felt like he wasn't alone and had someone to talk to then he might be able to perform better. I think that a lot of people would be more efficient with just a little bit of positive reinforcement.
In the end, they did make it up to him a little by sending him in one last time. Even though they did this, I still don't think it makes up for previous acts. Sending him in was a good thing to do. Since he was put into the program against his will, doing his last wish was a good thing. He deserved it after he had to go back in again and again on their terms.
Philip Johnson
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that the military crossed the line when they used Captain Stevens’ body and mind for the Source Code. When he chose his occupation of being in the military, I believe that he signed on because he truly wanted to help defend his country and save lives. He most likely knew, when signing on, the risk that he may die while in battle or something so that couldn’t have been too surprising to him. I feel like it may be true that If he were still alive, the idea of being killed for his mind and body to be used as the source code might not be desirable to him but if, before he died, they asked for his permission for them to use his body whenever he did die, he would most likely be okay with it. Since he’s going to be dead anyway, they might as well utilize him and his services to the fullest extent until his memories from the last 8 minutes fade and he isn’t useful. Being able to have their body used after death in order to continue saving the lives of others is most likely something every man in the military would want since they aren’t self-centered. Another thing is, if they wouldn’t have used his body, millions of people in downtown Chicago would have died from that bomb. Rather than letting one military man’s body live on in peace, saving the lives of 3 million people was definitely the smartest decision.
I think that fate played a huge role in the movie. I don’t only think that fate played a large role in the movie, but I think that it was about fate and the possibility of changing it. Throughout the movie, Cpt. Stevens is trying to convince Dr. Rutledge and Goodwin to let attempt to alter the past inside the Source Code to save all of these people, rather than just preventing the next bombing by finding out who the bomber is, he had a more heroic mindset, aiming higher to help the people. Now, in the movie, it seems to be that in the end he alters the fate of the bombing, but that makes me think: is the altering of the fate set in a preconceived path as well, is that fate too? Was he destined to alter the past in order to create a better future and present? It’s something to think about. We try to define fate and think of it like different forks in the road creating alternate universes, or any other ideas but its not often that one considers the possibility that its not our choice at all, that even if we chose one thing, then changed our mind and chose another, that was meant to happen too, you were always going to change your mind. That’s one of the things that I thought about in Source Codes conclusion and its relation to fate, how does fate really work? How could it work? We don’t really know, but maybe that his alteration of the past and what they thought was the fate of the moment, was really always meant to be changed.
ReplyDeleteEver since the first time Captain Stevens went into the source code and came back, he saw clips, almost a déjà vu or a cognitive thought of him and Christina. At first while watching them I just figured they were more like dreams. These dreams or visions kept getting more and more vivid the more times he went into the source code and came back, as well as the time that he spent in the source code. Though, the number of times Stevens went into the source code was not the only other variable, which could have effected the way the dreams started to get longer and more detailed.
ReplyDeleteAfter more and more times in the source code, he started to learn things about the people on the train, himself as a person, what he could do in the source code, as well as the limits or rules of this unknown/ virtually unexplained place. For example, when Steven figured out that he had died in Iraq serving his country, the source code as he and Doctor Rutledge knew it started to glitch. Christina started to disappear, and everything seemed to go out of wack. And at this time in the movie the visions were getting long enough, almost like he was finally starting to understand what he had to do, and because he now knew the key, he was finally almost “determining his own fate” in a way.
His entire “fate” or events at the end of the movie were never shown all at once. Not only was his experience strengthened throughout the movie, but also as he learned more and made decisions. By doing this he molded his own fate based on his thoughts, ethics and overall understanding of the source code and his place and abilities within it. I think that there may be something or somewhere you are supposed to be (almost like fate) but it is the way you get there and the decisions you make, determine who you are as a person. And the manner in which you reach the place you’re supposed to be in, inevitably determines your actual fate.
#1 I think the writers could have made the film more like Plato's cave by changing the last trip back to the source code. Although, I really enjoyed how for the most part of the film the plot line and small changes in detail did resemble the story of Plato's Cave. For Example, At the beginning of the film Stevens is extremely tight in the chamber and doesn't know what is going on around him. After Stevens finds out what the source code is the straps begin to loosen, to a point where he can stand. The more knowledge Stevens gains the more free he is. To follow the story of Plato's cave the moment where Stevens sees the light, in my opinion, would be when he found out who the bomber was and realized that he could change the course of fate my stopping the bomb. The last trip is the major point where I feel that the plot line defers from Plato's cave. At this moment Stevens has seen the light and returns back to reveal his findings with the others on the train. When Stevens returned to the train he was able to save everyone and even make the people on the train laugh and have his “final” kiss from his lady friend. In my opinion a better ending would be if Stevens returned to the train and told them all about the source code, and about the bomb. This way everyone would think he was crazy, tackle him, or even kill him. Although this ending would be a lot sadder, it would follow the story of Plato's cave much better.
ReplyDeleteEllie Toth, 5th hour
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, Source Code, fate played a large role. I think it was fate that Captain Stevens ended up in the source code. Death was a part of Steven’s fate because if he didn’t die, more people would have been killed in the bombings. However, I think fate wanted Stevens to live still even if it wasn’t in his body. It was fate that he ended up in the source code because if he hadn’t, he would have met Christina and saved her life.
I’m one of those people who believes that there is someone out there for everyone. Stevens never found that person until he died. He had to die so he could meet her. Christina’s fate had to be changed so she could meet her person too. It was fate that she was on that train and that she ended up living. If Stevens had never died and saved Christina’s life, her fate that day would have been to die. Fate was set for Christina and Stevens to be together; and they ended up together. Fate always gets its way.
It was also fate for every single person on that train that they ended up living. If Stevens had never gone back one last time, they would all be dead. Their fate was to live.
Everyone’s fate will always take control in their life. On the day of the train bombing, everyone’s fate came together. They were all meant to live, including Captain Stevens. Christina and Stevens were meant to be together.
Question 3:
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the military crossed the line by using Capt. Stevens, but I do think they crossed the line in how they used him. They were acting in the interest of millions of people, but in the process of saving them, they effectively killed the Captain at least 9 times (basing that off the number of times we saw him jump back into Sean Fentress. There were presumably more leaps than that). They only used him because they couldn’t find anyone else they could send. But they also wiped his memory of the Source Code at least once (he’d been “working” for Beleaguered Castle for two months and only found out when the movie started), likely because he made the same bothersome requests then as he does in the movie (“Can you tell me what’s going on?” “Can I talk to my father?” “Can I please die? My body is nothing but a broken husk, and the trauma from that fact is so great that my perception of reality is completely shattered…” “Can I at least try to save all the people on the train? Even if they aren’t from our reality, they’re still people…”).
The whole thing reminds me of the story “the Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” The story is about a utopian city, which like all utopias has some horrible underbelly. In this case, the city is run by the endless suffering of a child. The citizens are given the choice of either living with the fact that they live in a paradise created from Hell, or they can leave. They can’t help the child. The logic being that “to throw away the happiness of thousands for the chance of happiness of one” would be morally wrong. Same logic the military is using. It’s easier to understand the military as they’re definitely saving lives, while Omelas just has this random rule that if the kid isn’t suffering, they aren’t allowed to have paradise (it’s a short story; they don’t have room to explain everything). But the basic idea is the same: the needs of the many (everyone in Chicago) outweigh the wants of the individual (one soldier that couldn’t live without life support and can’t even communicate without the advanced technologies of the program he is forced to work for).
I think the military had the best of intentions, and it definitely had noble goals (even beyond the scope of terrorism prevention, imagine if that technology could be used to possess a murder victim. Since other universes don’t seem to matter, the cop they send in could do anything they need to get info on who the killer is. Crimes could be solved in hours, instead of days or weeks or months), but with their limited resources (only one working brain) and desire to keep what they had (as opposed to developing a system that wasn’t so narrow in activation), it acted in a way that crossed the line.
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PS: The life of Sean Fentress also falls into the many vs. one debacle. By being robbed of his body, the lives of Stevens, Christina, and everyone else on the train were improved (Stevens gave some decent advice about enjoying life, and then got a bitter comedian to make people happy. He possibly even made the guy less bitter in the process), and everyone on the [final version of the] train (minus Sean) got to keep on living. In fact, they got to live in a world with two less terrorist bombings than a world were Sean got to keep existing.
3. Did the military cross the line with the use of Capt. Stevens' body and mind for the Source Code? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI think that the military did cross a line using Captain Stevens' half dead body and mind for the source code. Although they never specified if he volunteered for this or not, they were still pushing him past his limits in order to be part of a mission that he didn't entirely want to be on in the first place. From what the movie lead on, the project was experimental, so they were risking Stevens' life in that way as well. Once I saw what condition Stevens' was in at the end of the film, I was even more disgusted, nut just by the fact that half of his body was gone, but because they were keeping him alive and torturing him until he completed the mission. The whole thing made me anxious just thinking about dying but having someone keep you alive and using your remains as a tool for their experiment. I understand that there were millions of lives at stake, but they could have found someone who was actually willing to do it, and cut them off when they asked. I personally think the idea is fantastic, but if they had possibly found more candidates for the job before they sent anyone in the Source Code would have worked out a lot better. I also think that they could have just used a live person to do it, like in Avatar. I think it would be way easier to gain employees/volunteers that way.
Question #3 Sydnee Cohen
ReplyDeleteI think the military definitely crossed the line with the use of Captain Stevens’ body and mind for the Source Code. Although Captain Stevens signed up for the military, he signed up under the understanding that he would be a pilot of a helicopter in the Afghanistan War. Whether or not he signed up for the possibility of being used for the Source Code and it was just written in the small print, it’s still unfair that they used him like that. For one thing, they tricked him and deceived him. The military let him think that he was actually alive and in a simulation. Eventually, when Captain Stevens found out he was almost dead and none of this was real, he was outraged and almost started to believe the military was his enemy. If these tests were giving him the idea that the military (which he proudly served in) was the enemy, it goes to show that these tests were not fair. The military not only crossed the line at this point, but they crossed the line even more when Captain Stevens asked them to stop and just let him die and they told him he had to keep going until he completed the mission. It was very unfair because they were taking advantage of a semi-dead soldier, who basically died serving his country, and forcing him to try to save his country even more even though he was in pain. If Captain Stevens had been fine with the experiment from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been unfair for the military to use him for the Source Code, but considering the circumstances that Captain Stevens wanted to die, it was an immoral experiment.
If I were asked to sign a petition giving up rights to my brain, body, and mind when I am near close to death, I don’t know what I would say. Captain Stevens must have given up the rights to his own mind after signing up with Source Code. We are never told the complete background story, but Source Code is a government facility, therefore there must be official papers somewhere.. As I watched Source Code for the first time I didn’t think about these experiments as being humane or inhumane at all. They never say he goes through pain, and if he does, he doesn’t ever complain about it. Watching this movie in class for the second time made me wonder if he felt the pain of the explosion every time. If so, I believe the military did cross a line by using Captain Stevens’ mind and body, I doubt he knew how long and how much he would suffer in these experiments. I also think they crossed a line when Dr. Rutledge told Captain Stevens that he would stop his life support, once he gave them the name of the bomber. At this point I was a bit outraged, Stevens begged to die several times, yet the military kept him alive, until Goodwin finally decided to pull the plug. To an extent, I believe the military didn’t go too far, considering Stevens probably signed up for it, but they should have ended his suffering when he asked for it.
ReplyDelete3. We find out towards the end of the movie that Captain Stevens body has many severed limbs --he is essentially left with just his brain. The military team that runs source code believes that since his parents gave them rights to Stevens’ remains, that they can keep putting him in source code over and over again. I do not agree with this at all. He isn’t dead! There would have to be informed consent for it to be okay; either Captain Stevens would have had to agree or his parents knowing exactly what would happen when going into the source code.
ReplyDeleteThe military went way past the line of what is right. It is absolutely cruel to make someone first believe they are alive and then have them killed over and over again --nine times, was it? It is one thing to choose to do a job like that, it is another to force a person into it with no choice. The military should not have manipulated Stevens to do something so traumatizing. As I mentioned, informed consent is the only way something like source code could ever be used. Even if Stevens is dead, he believes he is real and alive for some time, and no one should be subjected to that. Keeping someone alive and taking away their memories is simply disgusting, and I don’t believe it’s worth it to gain the knowledge source code gets.
Which leads to the greater good argument. It sounds contradictory, but I believe one life is worth saving hundreds, thousands, etc. However, the person has to know what’s going on! An informed sacrifice is better than a clueless one! Free will is everything.
Question #2.
ReplyDeleteI feel as tho fate plays a very big role in this movie, and though it may not be explained as clearly as some would like, it is important to pay attention to. After the first couple of trips in, Capt. Stevens begins to experience little flashes of images on his way out of the source code. The images he keeps seeing are of him with christina and the giant metallic bean. We do not know what these images are but at the end of the movie he finds himself looking at christina with the giant metallic bean in the background. Obviously recoginizing this image he poses the question to her "do you believe in fate?". Since he had already seen these pictures I believe everything after that was predetermined by fate. He was obviously suppossed to end up with her, where he did because he had seen it. Because of this i believe that fate drove Capt. Stevens to go back in one more time, after the bomber was already stopped, because deep down he knew he was supposed to end up with her in the alternate universe. I also think it was fate that saved the rest of the people on the train as well. He had begun to realize that the people in the source code might not be doomed as goodwin was saying. Any other person might have choosen to not save them but i believe it was fate that led capt. stevens to be chosen for the mission and understand that he could in fact save them. In short, fate chose capt. stevens for the mission and drove him to save everyone on the train and to end up with christina.
2. I think that fate played a huge role in this film. If it didn’t I feel like Stevens would not have for seen him and Christina at the silver bean. However, I don’t agree with the opinion that seeing these images gave him the will to keep going back into the source code. I think that this will was because of Goodwin motivating him several times to save the future of Chicago. I also think he was motivated by “real life” Christina who he got to know on the train and eventually fell in love with. I think fate is involved because since he was time traveling, he was seeing the future in his capsule which was bound to happen no matter what he decided. But this movie also points out that other people and their decisions are involved in one’s fate. For example, Goodwin deciding to send Stevens back on one more mission. She felt that Stevens deserved to go back because of how much he served his people. That then leads to the idea that other people may not be involved in our fate because of the fact that she allowed him to go back because of who he is and what he has done. This movie also touches on the idea that we don’t control our own fate at all. Stevens died in Afghanistan and then it was not up to him that he was chosen for the source code mission. However, this did eventually lead him to his final fate of meeting Christina. Cheyenne Stone, Fifth hour
ReplyDeleteThe ending is a new movie reality. I say this because a different world was presented at the end of the movie with a new reality that people must live in. The realities are similar but Captain Stevens’ can now tell the events that will occur. The different world becomes the new reality for Captain Stevens and others because they now have to live in this new reality. The only difference from the new reality and the old reality is that Captain Stevens knew what was going to happen before it happened and he can let others know. Another difference in the reality is that Captain Stevens’ now must live as Sean because he died in the old reality. So now in reality, Captain Stevens’ is Sean and will live as Sean for the rest of the alternate universe. For the most part, everything else is the same. It could be possible that Stevens’ determination merged the alternate universe but I think this is when fate comes into play. I don’t think Stevens’ changed his fate, I believe Stevens’ determination was destined to happen and fate brought the merge to alternate universe causing a different reality. Fate is planned before any actions are made, which makes me think that fate planned for Stevens’ to be determined to save those people. Although Stevens’ wanted to die, fate did not plan for Stevens’ to die because fate wanted him to merge into the alternate universe also. Fate merged the alternate universe from the movie’s original reality.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that fate played a huge role in the movie. It exemplified freewill (Capt. Stevens chose what he wanted to do, and because of his determination he saved the change and changed the past/future). I don’t think that fate exists, there are purely coincidences that we as human like to think that it’s fate or karma or something because it’s a comforting or cool thing to think about. Fate is like magic, it only really exists in books and movies. Real life doesn’t work like that. In real life, people make their own decisions. Fate has nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteWhen Capt. Stevens returned to his “capsule” he got glimpses of the future. I don’t think that just because he got those glimpses that he was fated to make the decisions he made that created that future. I think that the future changes based on decisions you make, or that that the future doesn’t exist at all until you reach it. And since you never really reach the future, it never really exists. But since this is a movie and weird magical things happen--like the ability to travel eight minutes back into the memories of a guy who exploded on a train (how did they get his brain?!?!?)—I guess he can get glimpses of the future when he’s being brought back to the “capsule”. They may not have been glimpses of the future; they might have been glimpses of an alternate reality, repercussions of Capt. Stevens saving everyone on the train.
(Rachel Goldstein)
In the movie Source Code, Captain Colter Stevens' body and mind are used to enable him to go to a different time and find a bomber who has the intent of bombing downtown Chicago. I don't think they just chose a random person to go into the source code so there had to have been tests to see who was compatible or not and even training (going through the cards to help him remember). I don't think the military crossed the line with the use of Captain Steven's body because he must have signed up for it before he was killed. Also by using his body and mind in the Source Code they were able to save lives and even give a new life to Captain Stevens. The whole idea of sacrificing one life to save a whole group actually makes sense. If there is a possibility that many can be saved by sacrificing one, then I think it makes more sense to sacrifice that one life instead of wasting everyone elses’. It’s not like they killed Capt. Stevens and then used his body and mind for the Source Code, he was already (or at least partly) dead. So he didn’t really sacrifice his life for the people on the train and in Chicago, he actually gained a new life through the Source Code which actually makes the question of crossing the line irrelevant. If they hadn’t done it then Captain Stevens wouldn’t have been able to live again through Sean Fentress.
ReplyDeleteThe military did cross the lines in some ways, but didn’t in other ways. They didn’t cross the line because when Stevens’ signed up for the military he’s basically saying he will do anything to help his country, and being a part of Source Code is technically helping his country. He is still fighting but he’s getting rid of one person at of time instead of a whole country. People who really love the military would love the fact that they can still serve their country even when they’re dead. They did cross the line in a way too because he had no say into what they were making him do. They took advantage of him because he had no way of saying no. The military knows most people aren’t going to sign up for a mission that has you die multiple times in brutal ways. It’s not fair to leave someone with no say in his choices in some world that is completely confusing. Would if Stevens and Christina broke up? Where would he live? Would if this Fentress guy already had a wife and Stevens had been cheating? The military should have made the Source Code something you sign up for when your almost dead, so people who are only focused on the mission will be working in the Source Code. Stevens wasted a couple missions just trying to figure out who and where he is.
ReplyDeleteI do consider the end of Source Code to be a new “movie reality,” but it’s more confusing then that. In the movie, Stevens asks Goodwin if she wonders if there is an alternate version of her somewhere that made different choices in life. In Captain Stevens’ question, he is referring to the other universe as having another Goodwin. At the end of the movie, I think Captain Stevens is in another reality but he has taken the place of Sean Fentress, rather than another Captain Stevens who has made different choices. I still think of this as another reality because, Captain Stevens sends an email to Goodwin and she receives it after the bomb would originally set off. For her to receive the message, I think there has to be another reality. All in all, I think there was another “movie reality,” (Sean Fentress’ reality) although I do not think Captain Stevens was a part of two different realities.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been possible for the alternate universe to somehow merge with the movie’s original reality because Goodwin received the message that Captain Stevens had sent. Whether or not Captain Stevens’ determination was the cause of the merge is the question. I do think it was his determination that brought the two realities together. If it wasn’t, I don’t think the filmmakers would have made it such a big part of the movie. Right before his last trip, Stevens says, “I’m gonna save her Goodwin.” His perseverance to find the second detonator and keep Christina alive was what continued reality for Christina and Sean Fentress’ body, taken over by Stevens. If their reality had not continued, the other reality wouldn’t have anything to merge with. Looking at the displacement, from Stevens starting point to his endpoint, , the realities merged together because of Stevens’ determination.
1. How could the filmmakers have changed the film to make it more or less like Plato's cave? Explain your reasoning.
ReplyDeleteAs discussed in class, "Source Code" is almost an exact allegory to Plato's cave theory. However, because of the commercial nature of filmmaking (and the need to tell a good story rather than be completely accurate), it isn't a perfect match. Certain things (albeit small things) just didn't quite match up with the Platonic Allegory.
The end. In the end of the film, Capt. Stevens asks to go back into the source code one more time, in order to save the people on the train. Keeping in mind that, up to this point, the film has almost perfectly followed the cave allegory presented to us earlier. The next logical step in the film/cave analogy is the part where our protagonist goes back into the abyss, hoping to show everyone what's really going on. However, in this metaphor, those who have not yet been shown "the light" turn on our protagonist and eventually kill him. In the film, this didn't happen. Nobody turned on our protagonist, because he really didn't "enlighten" anyone; he just stopped the bomb from going off.
This is the point in the story filmmakers made the decision to deviate from Plato's allegory, a decision I wholeheartedly agree with. In Plato's story (yes, I believe we could call it that), we end on a melancholy note; a note of despair, where (I believe) we have a feeling of lost hope for humanity as a whole. On the other hand, Source Code's ending is uplifting, happy, and resolved (in a sense). However, depressing endings don't sell tickets, especially in mainstream action thrillers. Therefore, the ending had to be changed, and I agree.
Ryan Williams
ReplyDelete3rd Hour
Source Code Bog Response
1. I think the Source Code Capsule, Capt. Stevens was, played a big role in making the movie similar to Plato’s cave allegory. Without the presence of the capsule I think the movie wouldn’t have related to the cave allegory as much as it did with it. At the beginning of Source Code, you see Capt. Stevens in the Sourced Code Capsule. He is securely strapped down to the capsule’s chair and can barely move, he can’t even unfasten himself from the chair. At this point Capt. Stevens is clueless to what has happened and what is happening in reality. He believes just yesterday he was in Afghanistan, and he has little to no knowledge of where he is or what exactly Source Code is. This is just like the chained prisoner(s), in the cave, who can only view their own little reality and our oblivious to what is actually happening in the outside world. In the Source Code, as Capt. Stevens learns more and more about what really is going on he gains more and more movement around the capsule, when he finally learns the truth about what happened to him in the “real world” Capt. Stevens is virtually freed from the capsule. This is just like the prisoner who escapes and sees the light/learns the truth about reality, in Plato’s cave allegory.
2. I think fate played a large part in the movie. All along, I think Capt. Stevens was meant to kindah survive and live the rest of his life as Sean Fentress. I think the silver egg sculpture being in everyone of Capt. Stevens’ flashbacks supports my idea. I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that the image of him and Christina together by the silver sculpture was in all of his flashbacks. I think this showed, that event was something that had already occurred in Capt. Stevens’/Sean Fentress’ life. I feel that no matter what had happened to Stevens in the Sour Code, because of fate he would eventually end up next to Christina in front of the silver egg sculpture.
3. I don’t think the military crossed the line by using Capt. Stevens in the Source Code. Capt. Stevens knowingly signed his body over to the military, when he enlisted, so they legally had the right to do whatever they wanted with his body. I also think what the military was doing was sort of noble. Capt. Stevens was physically dead, his lower body had been destroyed in Afghanistan, and his brain was the only part of his body that was really functional. Not only did using Capt. Stevens in the Source Code save millions of lives, it gave a physically obsolete soldier a 2nd chance at life and another opportunity to serve his country, which I feel is pretty noble.
4. I don’t think Capt. Stevens changed reality, in his last trip in Source Code, but I do think he created an alternate reality. I think there still is a reality where the bomb went off on the train, the bomber was caught after the first bombing, and Capt. Stevens died when Capt. Goodwin terminated him from the Source Code program. But I think on his last Source Code trip, Stevens created an alternate reality where he stops the bomb from going off and lives the rest of his life as Sean Fentress.
(3) Although their intentions were good, I think the military crossed the line with the use of Captain Steven's body - not because they had used his body up to a specific point physically or for too long of a time, but rather because he became aware of his situation. You never know what you're missing until you get a little taste of it, but once you take a taste you never want to go back. Call it blissfully unaware before, but now, you're longing for what you can't have and taunting you with it seems wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think because Captain Steven's in a similar position. If the Source Code is all he knows, or remembers at least, I think that he would be happy serving his country. We get the idea that he signed up for something that would place him in Source Code, yet I'm sure if he knew what he was signing up for exactly there would be an entirely different story. Nonetheless, Stevens doesn't realize what he is going through "trip" after "trip," and moving through bomb after bomb doesn't appear to hurt him physically, or if it does his desire to complete his mission over-rides his pain. Once he learns of his situation though, and realizes he cannot get out, his emotions start to get tampered with. It isn't until he becomes unhappy that the military begins to cross the line, because now they are pushing his boundaries and forcing him to follow command when he wants out. Another quote this situation reminds me of is, "Ignorance is key."
When you sign up to serve your country you are signing up to fight, save lives, and basically sacrifice yourself for the majority. You must give your all and do exactly what your commanded, and Capt. Stevens was commanded to go into the source code and find the bomber. The military did not cross the line with the use of his mind and body, because they only really used a part of his brain, everything else he created in his head. They were the ones keeping him alive with life support. Without the military he would have died and even if he would have survived he wouldn’t have been happy with less than half a body and being partially brain dead. The military tried to avert all question he ask, never told him things that weren’t true, and debriefed when needed. But, would you have continued without putting your own emotions in it if they told you straight off the back that you’re only alive because you’re on life support, part of your brain works and half of your body has been mutilated? The military didn’t have time to do that then get him back on task because millions of people who weren’t on life support or practically brain dead were in danger. Think about it, the source code is not worse than being in the military in Afghanistan, if anything it’s almost the same either way you’re watching innocent people died, your trying to find a terrorist, and trying to save your home country. If you’re fighting for your country in Afghanistan you can’t stop in the middle of a battle and ask questions, you can’t stop and beg to go back home, this is what you signed up for when you joined the military so it’s your duty to do it no matter what.
ReplyDelete(Alexis T)
Oran Lieberman 3rd Hour
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1
The directors and writers could have changed this movie to make it more like Plato's allegory of the cave. This is because in Plato's allegory of the cave, there are 5 stages. The first stage is the state of being trapped inside the cave, this relates to when Cpt. Stevens was strapped in. The next step is leaving the cage and the obstacles that come with it. This occurs as Stevens breaks free of being strapped in, and begins to come closer to getting the bomber. The third step is when one of the "cavemen" who made this journey will see whats outside the cave. In the movie this never happens. The director may have made an attempt of this by showing that Stevens lives after the 8 minutes when the bomb explodes while he is off the train; even though he only lived briefly after the 8 minutes, nevertheless he lives on. If this is the directors attempt then it is not clarified because the end of the movie shows Stevens taking a blind leap into the unknown as his life support is cut off. Having him either break free of his capsule entirely or having him live longer after the explosion would've established the completion of Plato's allegory of the cave.
*Jacob Seid
ReplyDeleteIn answer to number four, I think that “movie reality” is much dependent on the viewer. As a viewer, I can see two sides, I can see that what Captain Stevens wanted, he got out from the source code. Even though he is dead, it appears he is living his dreams. Although we do not know what it is like to be dead, it is up for speculation to what really happens. Do we continue on with our lives as we normally would have? If so would we be in the same state of mind and physical appearance? What Stevens wanted-- even when dead, was to fall in love with Christina and go for coffee. Even if he physically was dead, what he wanted before he died, or whatever he was doing while he was dead (no one really knows), was real to him. So yes, I think that it was a new movie reality. If someone was filming a sequel to this story, it could very much be a reality. To others, it may not be a reality because they are not in the same situation. Maybe they could be living in their own moment creating their own unique reality. I think that Stevens’ determination did merge his alternate universe with the original reality because he-- in a way-- followed his dreams. Like when people dream and are told to follow those dreams (which are sometimes very real and obtainable in one’s head), although not part of reality at the time, can be made into life’s reality by pursuing the tasks which will make the dream or dreams come true. Very difficult concept to explain. Hopefully I kinda got it.
Fate played a massive role in this movie. While he was traveling through the source code, he continuously saw the image of that famous mirror thingie in Chicago, and BAM that's where he ends up. He hadn’t been to that sculpture or seen Christina before, and he was still having “flashbacks” of it. The movie obviously has a thing for parallel universes, but with all of the flashbacks of Chicago, one begins to wonder if these universes are controlled by fate. So no matter what your decision is, the ending is inevitable. He continuously saw the end scene of his final journey into the source code so was that might have been fated all along. I would say that he was just seeing alternate endings, but what he saw in those moments were either past events or the Chicago scene.
ReplyDeleteSure, he had a lot of determination and chose to do what he wanted, or did he? He used his free will to walk headfirst into his destiny. This philosophy (I must sound really intelligent typing that word) says that free will is an illusion, and I think the movie follows that argument. See, Captain Stevens had the free will to exit the train and choose that one guy to pursue. What happened was that he ended up dying because he “coincidentally” fell into the path of an oncoming train that was heading towards him at that exact minute in the general time frame that he didn’t stop the train from exploding. That’s a little too in place for me to believe it was a coincidence. Just saying.
I believe that fate played a huge role in the film. I think that it tied into the images that Stevens saw as he returned to the Source Code as well as the outcome of the mission. If fate hadn't have played a role at all, I don't think that Stevens would have been able to save the passengers on the train and he also wouldn't have ended up with Christina in the end. In a way, fate chose Stevens to be a part of the source code and ultimately meet Christina. I feel that Stevens met an untimely demise which was changed through fate. He was allowed to finish living his life, even through it was as another person. Along with fate, I feel that freewill and Stevens personal morals also aided in the outcome. Any other person may not have begged Goodwin to let them go back in the Source Code, but Stevens believed that there was a way to save the passengers on the train and knew that he had to find a way to do it. I feel that it was fate subconsciously telling him that he had to go back in and ultimately achieve his intended fate.
ReplyDeleteKhadijah Howell
Question #4
ReplyDeleteIs the ending a new "movie reality" (for lack of a better term)? Why or why not? Is it possible that Stevens' determination somehow merged the alternate universe with the movie's original reality?
I dont think the reality that we witnessed at the end of the movie was a whole new reality more like what the world would have been like if things would have gone right. more and alternate universe as opposed to a new reality its not really new it just took a different path than the one we were watching in the beginning. I think this world was there for as long as the other one we just weren't watching it.
I think that his determination changed that universe slightly just for the simple fact that Cap. Stevens was in someone else's body but other than that i dont think he did much of anything because whether or not he saved those people somewhere they would have been saved either way because that is just the path that their universe took as opposed to the one we were watching.In a way i think he did connect two different universes just because when he sent the text he communicated with Goodwin which i what i think determines whether or not two universes had an interaction. sorry to say but him saving the people on the train meant nothing and him calling his father meant nothing because once he did it it was written into history.
I wouldn’t call the ending a new “movie reality”, I would call it more of an “alternate movie reality”. Mainly, because I don’t think one soul could take over a body and kick the other soul out. For this reason, I assume Captain Stevens is just trapped in the Source Code which will basically just be a simulation. To explain Goodwin’s appearance in the end, I see the Source Code is like a map, when you get away from where you’re supposed to be and what you’re supposed to be (like Captain Stevens does to save everyone on the train), you can see everything “simulated” from reality where the Source Code was used. In reality, the train still blew up and everyone died, and that can’t be changed, what’s done is done. Although when Captain Stevens saved everyone in the Source Code, he made it so the simulation could keep going, so I guess you could call it an alternate movie reality.
ReplyDeleteNo, it’s not possible. I just don’t think there’s anyway, even theoretically, to merge a reality with an alternate reality. They are to separate things that cannot be combined. They may interact with each other or cross paths, but never merge. All Captain Stevens did was make the alternate reality interact with the reality. And that interaction changed the outcome in reality (no second bombing), and changed the outcome in the alternate reality (Captain Stevens living on in the Source Code, Goodwin not getting in trouble, everyone on the train is saved).
Jasmine Berger
ReplyDelete#4
The ending of the movie was not a new reality but a combination of the dual realities that existed throughout the film. In the beginning of the film Goodwin and Rutledge were intent on putting Captain Stevens into the source code to figure out who bombed the train and where the next bomb was going to be set off. But after Stevens’ final time in the source code, in which he stopped the bomb and saved all who were on the train he ultimately changed to future. By changing the past in any way it will affect the future. Because Steven’s captured the bomber, there was no train explosion, and he was never put into the source code as shown in the last scenes of the movie. In the end of the movie Rutledge is heard talking about a train bombing attempt that was stopped, which proves that Stevens changed reality, through changing the past. Also the text that Goodwin receives is further proof that the two realities merged as one, because if there were two entirely separate realities people from alternate realities would have no methods to communicate with each other. But the very fact that she could receive a text from Stevens when he was in the source code goes to show that the two realities were merged.
I think when Stevens’ went back into the source code for the final time and changed the outcome it reset the day of the bombing, so that no one would have any recollection of the day and just relieve it a second time in its new form because Stevens’ had changed how the day would play out by stopping the bombing.
4. Is the ending a new "movie reality" (for lack of a better term)? Why or why not? Is it possible that Stevens' determination somehow merged the alternate universe with the movie's original reality?
ReplyDeleteI believe the ending is a new "movie reality" because the events resemble a time-line where the teacher (don't remember his name) stopped the anarchist cold, completely denying his attempt to "remake the world". I don't really believe that any one man's determination could actually break down the barrier between parallel universes. However I do believe that the instant Captain Stevens decided that he could and was going to save everyone that was on that train, as he contemplated the idea, the alternate universe was created. In the end, within the Source Code, he took the place of the teacher and, as he had no place to return to in the "real world", he was allowed to remain within said parallel universe.
Of course, there is always the alternative that the Source Code program was much more complex than what Rutledge let on, regardless of whethere he was aware of it or not and was capable of simulating not only the events that originally occurred but seemingly allowing for random occurrences, including how Stevens was capable of completely affecting everything that happened, finding the killer even though the teacher didn't know who it was. If Rutledge didn't exactly know the extent of his program, then it would seem to suggest a Singularity, an AI which is more intelligent and creative than a human being and capable of upgrading itself. However, Occam's Razor would seem to suggest that this is even more unlikely than the previous hypothesis.
Asia Ross
ReplyDelete#2: I think fate played a big role and it's very apparent in the ending. Maybe he died because he was supposed to save all the people who would've died in the bus bombing. I also believe he came back as Sean so that he and Christina could be together. The scenes that showed these examples of fate were when try saw the silver egg and the part where he sent Goodwin her a message.
To me, the point of the movie is, if something is meant to be it will be!
Goodwin was supposed to do what she did and it was all meant for them to use Stevens body to help save millions, which ended up happening.
Claire LaSota
ReplyDelete#4
In the end of the movie I believe that there was a new reality created. There was still the one that was there in the beginning of the movie, with Goodwin and Rutledge and then there was after the train should have blown up, where sean and christina are walking in Chicago. Once Colter started to develope feelings for the other passengers on the train he strated to think more about saving them rather than just catching the bomber and stoping the bomb. Every action that Colter did that was not completed in the original created a part of the new reality that was only for the passengers on that train. Every time that colter went into the source code he added a little bit to the reality increasing their chance of living. And in colters last trip into the source code when he was successful in catching the bomber and saving the passengers he fully created the new reality was completed and every though it is different from the reality from the beginning of the movie, they are related, whatever happens in the one of them affects the other, they still share ties between them. And they can communicate between each other as it was shown when Colter sent Goodwin an email from the train.
Alan Panley
ReplyDeleteIn the ending of the movie Goodwin receives an email from Captain Stevens. Rutledge has already explained to Captain Stevens that anything you do inside the source code cannot affect everyday or life or reality. Since Goodwin received the text message that Stevens sent while in the alternate reality, Goodwin must also be in the alternate reality. This boggles my mind because it brings up the question "are we in reality." If an alternate universe is created every-time we make a decision, then there are millions of alternate realities created every second. By itching your nose, you inadvertently create an alternate reality where this did not happen. Using this logic, we can assume that there are infinitely many alternate universe and the chance that we are in the real reality is slim to none. This makes me wonder how we know if anything is real. For all we now we could be an alternate reality where an astroid did hit the earth, and in reality dinos still exist. But if the astroid did not wipe out the dinosaurs then that means the human race was never born and there is no such thing as people.
I think fate did play a role in the movie Source Code. In the transition scenes between returning from the parallel universe and entering the capsule, Stevens could see glimpses of himself in the future. The reason I believe fate had to do with Captain Steven's ending is because as he gets closer and closer to completing his mission and saving the people on the train, the visions and flash backs became longer and more clear. When stevens was first sent into the Source Code, the scenes were short and unclear, but as Stevens began escape the cave and reach enlightenment the visions became more clear and lasted longer. In a way this fits Plato's Cave theme. Stevens escapes the pod just as Plato's people escaped the cave. And the motive was to find his fate ( Plato's people found enlightenment). At the beginning it was hard to see his fate and as he exited his cave (Pod) he saw the sun (fate) and was eventually killed for it.
#4
ReplyDeleteThrough out the movie Source Code Capitan Colter Stevens is sent back and forth through the source code many times. In between these missions of varying success, we learn that the source code allows a person (Capt. Stevens) to relive the last eight minutes of someone else’s life (Sean Fentress). We are also led to believe that the source code is like a video game, with amazing graphics of course. The Source Code seems to be a computer program where you can have an infinite amount of detail in the last eight minutes of a person’s life, places they had not been and may never have been are clear as day, and only when you try to get out of the source code or try to change your “ending”, you will inevitably either die or the Source code will break down. The fact that Capt. Stevens is still alive as Sean Fentress after the source code is terminated (the end of eight minutes) and after his body and mind are taken off of life support and his body dies his new reality as a teacher continues, and possibly his consciousness is transferred to this alternate timeline. If the source code were just a video game, with the greatest possible incentive for not dying you could possibly have (besides a metric ton of cash), Stevens would have been “terminated” with his body and the source code. Now, if we look at what happens when Dr. Rutledge tries to explain the source code, he tries to avoid describing it in any real detail and tries to push it aside as “quantum mechanics” almost as if he more discovered it rather than invented it. Because the source code is used so many times it very well could have made a new time stream through quantum mechanics, or there could be a me right now that actually got this in before class started, we may never really know. But there seems to be a different time stream at the end of the film. Capitan Stevens “determinism”, that seemed mostly forced on him by our friendly neighborhood secret time reassignment bureau, may have caused enough turbulence in our time stream to make it branch off into an alternate reality.
It seems that the source code is not so much time reassignment, so much as it is time stream manipulation.
Question 4-source code blog
ReplyDeleteI think that the end of the movie did create a new parallel universe. In the beginning the doctor and the military lady talked about how it was not time travel, it was time reassignment. Since it could not be time travel, then how at the end was the day reset to how it was before they used the source code. There are many other reasons why there is a new universe. The train attack was stopped unlike it was in the original universe. The captain is now in Ross’ body as himself. The way that I thought about it clearly is to just walk through it. He went into the source code to save the people. It worked and the bomb never blew up. When they pulled the plug, it was not killing him inside the source code; it was killing him on the outside so he stayed in. Therefore since the source code existed and it held all the personalities and all the people in the world, it is a new universe. In order to reassign the time properly to stop the bombing. You need the world to be the same. The captain could have traveled anywhere in the world and the people would have been doing what they normally would. So now in this universe, Captain Stevens will figure out the next natural disaster. Since we have seen his persona and he basically needs to save the people, every time he won’t die in the source code and the military lady will pull the plug. This will leave him in and create another universe. Constantly making almost parallel universes forever.
David Bellefleur 5th hour
Response 1.
ReplyDeleteI think that Source Code related to Platos Cave allegory very strongly, however, I think that was a complete coincidence. In the movie, Captain Stevens was trapped in a capsule and forced to enter an alternate reality. He went back and forth, learning more and more with each trip, but he gets killed by the people in the train. This is similar to Platos allegory because Platos view of life was that people are strapped down in a dark cave, sort of like the capsule. If they can find enlightenment, then they will escape to see the light, and come back and get killed by thier friends while trying to rescue them from the dark, or ignorence, because they were rocking the boat.
The movie would be accurate though, if Captain Stevens found some sort of truth or came to appreciate life more from the source code, which would be like the sunlight. He would then come back to the real world and try to reason with them, but then they kill him, which is what happens in the cave. Instead he is killed in the source code (and in real life, sort of but that is another part) which in this case is the sunlight, which dosnt correlate with Platos analogy. If the director wanted made the movie like Platos analogy, there would be no happy ending (Captain Stevens comes to live in the source code) but unfortunetly this was a hollywood movie and there was no deeper meaning.
I choose question #3 and what I think is that how can a person have the heart to treat another human with no care. When Steven woke up he had no idea where he was. When he finally finds out who he is and what is he doing he does his job. What was so unfair is after everything that he had done for the world, or should I say for the heartless military people, the only thing he wanted in return was just to die. The guy in charge didn't care at all about what Steven wanted. The guy in charge just wanted to keep him because he was afraid that the invention would not work on other humans. What the guy in charge also did that I did not like was use Capt. Steven's weak points to get him do whatever he had his mind set up to. I think that the military this time took it a little too far. Yes, everyone would be happy if they could go back in time and change something bad that is going to happened but it is not nice to use a human as a machine. Imagine that you have eight minutes to live and you are helping the world and the only thing that you know is that you are almost dead but you are attached to a machine and you can not do what you desire because you have n control over your body. And when you finally complete your job you still can’t have the one thing you want, to die. That is not fair to anyone and I think that the military took this one too far for the above reasons.
ReplyDeletesimay
3. I definitely think the military crossed the line in regards of using Captian Colter's mind and body for the source code without his pernission. I tink that since they had a way of communication with him, and they didn't ask him for permission, that it was a direct violation of his basic civil rights. I think that he should have been given a say in whether or not he wanted to stay partially alive and go into the source code, or to die. I constantly found myself sympathizing with Captian Colter, because I would be extremely upset if this had happened to me. To have absolutely no say in whether or not I wanted to go through this over and over again would be almost like torture. Even though while in the source code, he didnt actually ever die or get hurt in "real life," he still had to go through the pain of dying, or getting shot. I would be so upset. I think the worst part about it was that he couldn't control when he went into the source code. I was nearly infuriated when Dr. Rutledge told Goodwin to clear his memory so he could go back in and fix something else against his will. I couldn't believe that he had the audacity to just completely clear Colter's memory to torture him again. I highly doubt that Rutledge put himself in Captian Colter's shoes to think about what he went through.I felt really bad for th Captian throughout a lot of the movie.
ReplyDeletePatrice Bell
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ReplyDeleteCrystal O.
I have chosen to respond to question #4 for this assignment.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the idea that the movie does, in fact, end in a new reality. I think that Source Code has inadvertently found its way into new dimensions, not just short term memory. I agree with this because the movie appeared to offer obvious cues at the end that Capt. Stevens was in a different reality. For example, in this reality, Dr. Rutledge was still talking about how great Source Code is going to be once he’s able to use it, and Goodwin is confused, surprised, and delighted by Sean Fentress’ email.
It’s hard to say whether the shift in realities was caused by Stevens’ determination or the simple mathematics of Source Code. Perhaps there was a gap in the original algorithm that Dr. Rutledge missed. Perhaps there was a sort of divide-by-zero effect that no one was expecting—nobody died at all, so the new dimension was created, existing parallel to the original one. Or maybe Stevens was just so determined to live that he somehow pushed past the eight minutes. It’s sort of like asking “did you slap me?” and someone responding with “no, your face hit my palm.” Silly as it sounds, it could go either way.
I suppose my only question for the ending is this: what happened to the original Sean Fentress? If he never died in the new reality, then who was he before? What happened to him once Stevens took on his body? Did he die at an earlier time in this new dimension? How was Source Code able to access him if Source Code is supposed to reassign the last eight minutes of someone’s life, and in this reality, there is not eight minutes (at least not that day.)
Leah S.
3.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Stevens would do anything for his country, at least that's how he seems. He asked to go back on the train to try to save the people. He was very dedicated and wanted the best for the people around him. I mean, he even tried to save Christina by trying to get her off the train. He willingly chose to go back in, and do what he pleased. Therefore I don’t think that the military crossed the line by using his body and mind for the program. He signed up to help our country, and he was still doing it by being a part of Source Code. He was already half gone, with only his top part of his body left. His mind was still there, according to Rutledge. Even though Captain Stevens was traumatized, he was already going to die according to his plan. If Captain Stevens didn’t want to do the Source Code and seemed upset all the time then I would think that they were using him, but that wasn’t the case to me. When Rutledge “tortured” him, I think it was kind of a motivation for Captain Stevens. Captain Stevens seemed more and more aware and ready to get the job done every time he went back in. I think it was just more just of a push that Rutledge was giving him. At the end of the movie Captain Stevens was successful, preventing bombs, finding the bomber, and turning him in to Goodwin. Captain Stevens was helping his country, just like he wanted. He was kind of like a helping hand for Source Code and the world. Afterall, he pratically saved the world.
-Crystal Oropeza
#3
ReplyDeleteI think the military did cross the line with Capt. Stevens because the more trips that he went back and forth, he became more traumatized because if he messed up then, he had to go back on the train and retry his mistake, for example; when he was trying to open the door, he had found a gun, and the employees on the train found him, tazed him, and cuffed him. Capt. Stevens had to go back and redo the assignment 10 times which was plenty of times he did well, I think he was a perfect person to do this assignment, he understood and knew what he had to do. Going back and forth ten times did traumatize because of the amount of suspects there was. I think that Capt. Stevens was a choice for them to use because part of him was alive and the other half was dead. I think after each trip Capt. Stevens became more alert and more sneaky, I think he found out who the bomber was after a couple times because there was so many suspects that looked like the bomber. The bomber was trying to be smart and leave his wallet on the train so people thought he died on the train so he couldn’t be a suspect I think he was pretty sneaky when he was trying to be an innocent person, but Capt. Stevens caught it and didn’t t believe it. Capt Stevens jumped off the train and followed him and saw what was in his van…. The bomb.
Angelina E.
I believe that the US Military in Source Code was justified in using Captain Stevens’s body and mind to thwart terrorists. Although Beleaguered Castle — the semi-secret government agency in charge of the Source Code experiment — subjected Stevens to intense psychological stress, their (and Stevens’s) efforts saved millions of innocent civilians from instant death.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, Beleaguered Castle sacrificed one person’s mental comfort to save the lives of millions. I think that this is an excellent trade-off. If I were in control of the situation — as the President, for example — I would definitely use Stevens’s mind to figure out the bomber’s identity. Stevens may feel some temporary distress from the intensity of the situation; however, the human cost of keeping his soul imprisoned would be small compared to the grand payoff of rescuing all the mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, and friends in downtown Chicago. Stevens wasn’t even forced to die — and he would have been dead anyways if the military had not recovered his mangled body from the wreckage of his airplane crash in Afghanistan.
If Stevens were forced to die to save Chicago, however, things would be much different. (For the sake of philosophy, I will disregard the fact that he wanted to die.) As I mentioned above, I do not think it morally objectionable to put a person through psychological trauma to save many lives, especially if the person is already half-dead like Stevens. But no person should ever be forced to give up his or her own life. (If a person volunteers to give up his or her life to save the lives of others, on the other hand, then that is his or her choice.)
#3
ReplyDeleteEven though when you sign up for the military, in the contract it states that the government "owns" your body, and your body is their property, I think the military DID cross the line with the use of Capt. Steven's body and mind.In the beginning of the movie, Capt. Steven didn't even know or understand what the source code was or how it worked. He could have at least had the privalege to know what his mission was, and what was going on, where he was at, etc. The fact that his actual brain was used for mission without his permission is unfair. Since he was technically dead, the military could have at least have the deceincy to send his body back home so his family could've had a proper mourning. Not a funeral with just a couple ashes. Even though the whole situation was for the gvreater good of the city and the citizens, he could've been informed on what he was doing in the BEGINNING. Atleast it for a good purpose.
Brittney J. 3rd hour
I do think the military crossed the line by using Captain Stevens' body and mind for the Source Code. I do think that they could have at least respected his wishes and told him the situation. However, they did have good intentions of using his body and mind, to help thousands of people and save many lives. I also think they should have respected his wish when he said he want to die, instead of Goodwin having to sneak to give him his wish. I do not think they should have tried to continue to use his body after he did not want to. They should not have agreed to let him die then reneged on the offer. They discovered many new things and saved many lives but they were unreasonable on some things. At the end of the movie, they show his body in a capsule. He was in a horrible state of being and I do not think they should have kept him like this. I do not think they should have put Captain Stevens' through this. He had to be sent back into Sean Fentress memories repeatedly and hearing his father's voice saying he wanted his son back was not easy for him. In addition, not knowing what he was there to do was unreasonable and I think they could have saved some time if they would have just told him his task before the first trip. They may have been unreasonable but they discovered what the source code could do and possibly discovered an alternate universe.
ReplyDeleteAmber