In the White Bear film, the main female character is being punished for kidnapping a young girl and filming her murder. She claimed to have been brainwashed by her boyfriend who committed the murder. During the beginning of the film, she had absolutely no clue where she was or what was happening. As she ran outside, the people around her only watched and filmed her with their phones rather than help. This is the point of the film that needs to be focused on in relation to technology and human values.
In present time, people are so focused on their phones and other technological devices that they do not pay attention to what is happening around them. Someone could be reading about a shooting on their phone and not realize that it is happening close to them. They could read about a global crisis while sitting on the couch rather than going out and doing something about it. Technology truly has changed human beings' morals as a whole. It has reconstructed them to fit with the new ideas that have come about, yet they are still relative to how they used to be.
While watching White Bear, I automatically thought of how similar it is to the real world. If something bad is happening around someone, people's first reaction is to take out their phones and film the occurrence. Rather than helping someone who is in a fight or getting robbed, many just film it. People could do so much better for one another. Simple acts such as calling 911, speaking up for something they feel passionate about, or just helping someone when they fall down can make the world such a better place. We as a collective whole need to realize what is important in life, and it is not technology or cell phones.
The main character is not receiving justice for her actions. If she were, they would have only erased her memory once and then let her live with the consequences she will receive. Her punishment became a form of entertainment for citizens rather than actually giving her her just dues. This shows that technology gets in the way of or compliments everything: even the justice system. Now, criminals can get away with actions by deleting evidence on devices or downloading a firewall system.
What's next? Making people take ugly pictures and posting them as form of retribution?
2 comments:
Rebecca I agree with you about technology. People really aren't paying attention to what is really happening in reality, because they're so wrapped up in their devices. People do film rather than help someone. This reminds me of youth or people in general when they would yell worldstar! Instead of doing something to help, people rather get it going viral online. On the other hand, I agree that the people got entertainment out of her punishment. They were giving instructions to people as if she was a vicious animal locked up in her habitat. I also noticed how children were in there; I don't think they should be exposed to that.
I really enjoyed this post because I feel that it took on a different perspective than the others. I liked that you focused more on the technology itself than the technology in relation to justice and mercy. Your post made me think of the bystander effect and how, especially in such a technological society, people are more likely to stand by and watch or run to tell their friends than to help others. This also made me wonder if any of the people who go to the White Bear Justice Camp ever feel like bystanders and if any of them would ever try to help Victoria Skillane at any point.
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