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ACF Middlebrow #11: Never Let Me Go
Our own Flagg Taylor joins me on the podcast this week for a discussion of Never Let Me Go, from the novel by Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. Flagg assigned the novel in a class on dystopias this semester and so we talked about how Ishiguro’s story compares with other famous dystopias, what it has to say about our society, and how it dramatizes the emergence of soul in love, art, and care-giving, even in the face of a dehumanizing scientific tyranny. It’s a fine movie and I can confirm it is as beautiful on a second viewing, so well told that when once you know the big surprise, it touches your heart even more. Listen to our conversation, comment, and share, friends! As always, please subscribe to and review/rate us on iTunes.
We mention our friend Peter Lawler in the conversation. Here are his essays on the movie: 1, 2, and 3.
If you’re interested in reading any of my recent essays, here they go:
On Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff, both book and movie, as befits the ACF.
On Tom Wolfe’s novels. These are by way of an obituary…
On a funny, intelligent, and insightful stand up show by the young John Mulaney.
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This sounds amazing. I hope my bookmark feature here is working right now.
Thanks for the kind words.
By the way, the other authors on dystopia Flagg assigned were Orwell, Huxley, C.S. Lewis, & Koestler–Flagg has a fine essay on the latter’s Darkness at noon.
Hands down the dreariest, most depressing movie I’ve ever seen.
I downloaded this podcast and will listen as soon as i can.
I loved this movie but it is very hard to watch. I’m looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.
The article you linked was excellent. @FlaggTaylor did a great job. There was a lot to Koestler’s background that I was unaware of.
Listening to the podcast next.
Evening Titus,
So in Romania in spring a young man’s fancy turns to dystopia, hmmmm, I guess this is a difference between USA and Europe, you guys are always in the mulligrubs. In America one has to be Abby Normal to have dystopian thoughts.
I’m her friend, Debby Downer, I guess…
I’m glad to be reminded that Americans, even if they’re fried, tend toward sunny-side up!
There’s a very old song that rhymed thusly: Life can be delish with a sunny disposish!
It can, indeed!
Or if your are the ever so European Noel Coward then “There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner” (was he speaking of NR). Hurray, Hurray, Hurray
Misery’s, here to stay
Fine song, thoroughly conservative:
With a scowl & a frown we’ll keep our peckers down,
& prepare for depression & doom & dread.
We’re going to unpack our troubles from our old kit bag,
& wait until we drop down dead.
There are bad times just around the corner,
we can all look forward to despair.
It’s as clear as crystal
from Bridlington to Bristol
that we can’t save democracy & we don’t much care.
If the Reds & the Pinks
believe that England stinks
& that world revolution is bound to spread,
we’d better all learn the lyrics of the old ‘Red Flag’
& wait until we drop down dead.
Evening Titus,
Noel Coward could not exist in another time, we are lucky to have recordings of him. And it is a delight to joke with you about dystopia and datopia.
Titus, I think you and I are developing some podcast chemistry together. I listened driving home from a conference yesterday.
Morning Flagg and Titus,
Thinking about dystopian imagery, what do you think that dystopian writing tells us about culture at large. Also consider the dystopian topics, scientific discoveries tempt choices leading to a dark future, political ideologies producing a dark reality, how do these topics relate. Is the dystopian topic a more modern topic? Lastly, to create dark imagery is so much easier than to create joyous imagery, doesn’t this speak to our human nature where fear is perhaps the greatest attention-getter.
Scott Adams said something the other day i found interesting. He said that robots, Androids, cyborgs, and the like get more creepy to us humans (subconsciously) the closer they get to looking more human.
Cloning parts warehouses is about as creepy as we can ever get. If a person were to come into contact with a clone I can’t imagine how damaging that would be.
We have such compassion for animals that these clones would generate huge pushback from the citizens. The frigid coldness of this concept boggles the mind.
But, those are practical aspects. The movie itself had quite an affect on me. I found the parent aspect in myself filled with sorrow.
Great movie.
I know what you mean, Larry! But I’m not sure people wouldn’t shake it off in some guilty way.
It’s hard to say that people will behave in a humane way unless they have hope that there is a future for humanity…
I can be Claude Rains to your Bogart!
Jim, I think visions of the future are so dark for two reasons. Most people are scared to think about the future–they don’t really believe there is one. & storytellers are angry & scared to be stuck in a situation where their fellow-citizens won’t pay attention.
Think about Hitchcock movies. He didn’t start with horror. He just learned, through lots of successes & quite a number of popular or critical failures, too, that people weren’t paying attention. He tragically upped the dosage of fear & inured people to it at the same time because they kinda like the thrills…
There is a distinction between the crisis of our civilization & the practical troubles that hit next year or a few years later. In story, these two can be put together & storytellers have no way to get people to pay attention to a civilization crisis–our souls!–except through practical problems. But whether even that will work is doubtful…
I do agree with you that joyous stories are just much harder to pull off. Plotting is the specialty of comedy–story with a happy end–not tragedy–the other kind…
No mention of abortion, not even a brief nod to Planned Parenthood’s selling of “components” even though they have referred to the source as being “donated?”
Still, a good podcast. Pay no attention to the crank.
Great point.
We didn’t mention it? Huh! I guess we must have been too taken with the story–but of course, it’s a massively important part of the way we move to a society where we think dignity means the state decided we should live while others die, whom we instantly banish from mind!
By the way, in re dystopias, here’s my latest at L&L, on Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 for the digital age.
An aside: I prefer the term “political philosophy” to the term “political science.” Philosophy is bigger than science. Science grew out of philosophy. It seems some scientists have forgotten that, or more likely never knew it, and it gives “political scientists” a warped view of what it is that they do.