I am not going to write an essay, but I will address the questions that have been put to us to consider.
I purposefully have not researched the background of the film, so as to not sway my thinking. Once I have posted this I will engage in discussions with my classmates. My opinions and views may well change as a result, as there are many others out there with better minds than mine.
What is this film suggesting are the ecological and social implications of an obsession or fixation on technology?
The film certainly tries to make a point about ecological implications of technology, particularly with a focus on our current consumerist attitude toward everything. The themes presented and elicited by the repetitive and speedy cycle of new technology ending up in a scrap heap seem to represent this.
It is not only technology that ends up on the heap though. In one of the final scenes, a human is dumped along with the technology. Whether he is dumped by the tribe on purpose, or by accident is not clear, but in the final credits, a bird on the scrap heap is eating him. I read this as the obsolete technology not being the sole victim of society's consumerism.
I suppose a further interpretation could be read into the scavenging birds on the scrap heap. Perhaps all of the victims of the technology ended up on the heap - including those that they squashed/killed on the way. The birds may be seen as a metaphor for those in society who prey on the victims of technology (eg. scammers, fraudsters, hackers, profiteers, etc...)
Do the film’s characters have any choice in relation to their technologies?
I think that it is important to point out that the film's characters have had access to a diverse range of technologies apart from the main focus technologies. Some examples are: tools, bridges, huts, gas masks, carts, cars, balls, wine.
I believe that the characters have choice in some of their technologies, but not all. Certainly having the Radio Cow and the TV and the Big Mama (thrust upon them with no input) at the end as centrepieces in their community made their choices difficult, and perhaps factors within their society drove them to engage with the technologies. They still had choice. They decided to scrap things. They utilised other technologies to help them to achieve their goals (eg. a cart to move the Radio Cow to the scrap-heap & the War Machine that destroyed the TV was controlled by a human) .
What are the characteristics of various technologies as portrayed in this film?
All of the focus technologies in this film enabled a glimpse of life outside of the culture of the tribe that was shown (perhaps more desirable in parts - with cars and aerobics etc...but also threatening and scary in parts - images of war). It was depicting that technology can transform culture - the tribe emulated what was communicated to them on the TV. So was it the specific piece of technology, or what it enabled that was the focus?? The anthropomorphic portrayal of technology in the film could be interpreted as a physical metaphor for the extent to which it can be also be detrimental - crushing people etc...
There is much more to say, but at this point I cannot articulate it. So I will leave it there and trawl through various discussions to find ways to elaborate my thinking. Maybe even find some people who have interpreted some things in the same way...
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