George Lucas and cinema: no future?When we look to the future, people see many different things. Whether it's flying cars, buildings floating in the air or people walking around in spacesuits, everyone has their own idea. Most of the time, when people look to the future, they look far away, not into the years to come. The future is generally defined as twenty or more years beyond the present. Many films and stories written about the future world seem to have a common theme that technology will play an important role in the development of the future. The development of technology will lead to the advancements that will take the world into the next century and beyond. George Lucas's THX 1138 and Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future are both examples of films that depict the technology and advancements of the future. THX 1138 and Back to the Future both portray technology as a danger to society that could ultimately lead to its downfall. George Lucas made THX 1138 long before he found fame in his later films. He based the film on his film which he used as a graduate project and thesis. It was his first attempt at directing and producing a Hollywood film. His goal was to create a film that would show the future state of the world if he wanted to continue on the path of seeking perfection in everything. It shows the future as a place that many people would probably not want to live in or be associated with. Lucas shows that everyone will be the same. People will wear the same clothes and have the same haircut. Names are no longer part of society. In the film, each person is given a prefix of letters followed by a number. They are essentially drones that follow orders. Technology has advanced so much that every movement or action of the person is monitored. Every time one of them does something wrong, what they are doing and what their number is immediately appears on the computer screen. It is possible for the computer to monitor all of their vital signs and mental activity. Each person is carefully monitored and monitored. People are told what to do and act based on how they were trained. They work in shifts and are almost extensions of the computer that tells them what to do. It is no longer possible to guess illness or what a person is feeling... middle of paper ... This would mean that there would be no fixed future for the world. Everyone would try to change the future so that everything benefits them. This would ultimately lead to the destruction of society and perhaps no future at all. George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis both depict the future in their films. The future, however, is very different between the two films. In THX 1138, everyone is controlled by technology that created computers that can control things. In Back to the Future, each individual has the opportunity to control the future of the world. Both films give too much power to one thing. Technology or the individual has too much power for society to function properly. Both of these things would most likely lead to the destruction of society as it is. A middle point needs to be reached, otherwise there may not even be a future that people can dream of. Works Cited Back to the Future. Real. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson. 1985. Video cassette. Universal Images, 1986.THX 1138. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence. 1970. Video cassette. Warner Brothers, 1971