American Films and Dominant Regime

1. Identify the dominant regime in the film and its power source. In about 200 words, use examples and screenshots from the film to show why this is the case.

In Elysium, the dominant regime is Hegomony and its power source is Anocracy. In the film, the wealthiest live on the space, Elysium while the vast majority live on an overpopulated and ravage earth. Earth is controlled by those ruthless robots while people on Elysium get to enjoy luxurious space. The factors that affect the regime are financial and human rights.

Figure 1. Earth policed by those ruthless robots

The wealthiest have more authority over others. Those on earth are not treated like humans. For example, they sent ruthless robots to check on people and they didn’t even give them chance to speak. When max is getting attacked by the robots, the people just stood there and do nothing even though they are the majority on earth. They can’t do anything or else they will get shot and attacked by the ruthless robots. This shows that the wealthy has more authority over them.

Figure 2. Invading the citizen house
They use threat of force to control the people on earth. They carry a lot of weapon with them and this is also one of the reasons why they are more dominant than the majority on earth. The citizens have no rights to speak at all.

Figure 3. Competing

Power is not vested in public institutions but is spread among elite groups who are constantly competing with each other. They are all deterritorialised because of greed.

Figure 4. Cruger attacked Jodie to take control of Elysium.

Men are self-centred and easily deceived. They only want the best for themselves and don’t really care about others. Cruger wanted to be control of elysium and use all sorts of method to kill Jodie Foster.

Figure 5. When the citizen on earth took over Elysium.

2. Pick one philosopher: Machiavelli, Hobbes, or Locke. What would he have said about the state of man in the film? Explain with examples in about 400 words.

Machiavelli would say that they are doing it right and that the state of man is greedy. It is going according to his philoshophy. His philosophy is that man is selfish, self-centred, fickle, easily deceived and have the tendency to imitate. Everyone in the show is selfish. All of them want to live in luxury, use the med bay, be rich, a better live and of course freedom. In the film, because all of them want a better live, they have to find a way to get to Elysium even though they know that they will get shoot down. Machiavelli argues that a successful leader needs to be ruthless and must be respected by leader. For example, the elysian secretary of defence delacourt ( Jodie Foster). Her goal is to ensure the well-being of the country and the citizens. She uses force and violent to protect Elysium and her own power. When the illegal immigrants from earth attempt to invade and use the med bay, they were caught and executed on the spot. She did all sort of bad stuff just to protect Elysium and its citizens. Citizens on earth respect the authority from Elysium even though they are the majority because they are afraid of the violence executed. Machiavelli thinks that human nature (self-centred, selfish, instinct for self-preservation.) can be useful in establishing a successful society. He said that the end justifies the mean which is quite true according to the film. Killing people seems to be a bad thing to do but that is what you will do when illegal immigrants step into your boundary. For the safety of the citizens living in Elysium, she got to be ruthless and execute them. This can be threatening for the citizens on earth because they know they will be executed if they step into Elysium. It is better to be feeling feared than loved when you rule a country. A ruler should be cruel because it lessens the likelihood of rebellion and also at the same time gain respect from everyone.