David Huynh
050:316
21st Century Expression
December 16, 2015
Like every other piece of science fiction we have studied this semester, Pacific Rim has man important messages that can be related to society today. Specifically, Pacific Rim is able to show us that togetherness rather than individualism is the source that can power us through times of trouble.
The movie is able to show us how the struggle between good versus equal exists and how it can be overcome. In the movie Jaegers fight against Kaijus, which are creatures cloned by an alien race. Jaegers are robots that are built to fight against these creatures. Within the introduction of the movie, it showed that these Jaegers were only possible because the world came together in order to pool their resources and create them. It was a collaboration between the world to save these creatures. In addition, it saved the world from the Kaiju blood which was having environmental impacts. This is a very good parallel to current situations in the world with climate warming and how the United Nations along with other countries must come together to pool their resources and fight this form of evil in the world.
In addition, the movie shows togetherness is a strong trait by demonstrating how the machines are operated. The machines are only operated if two people are drift compatible and are able to work together. The drifting allows two people two share each other’s memories and feel each other’s memories deeply. This is seen between both Raleigh and his brother as well as Raleigh and Mako. In fact, the memory sharing between Raleigh and Mako is shown to be so powerful that it almost overwhelms the both of them and causes the Kaiju to cause destruction. However, they are able to overcome this by having such a strong bond together. This shows that human bonds are the most powerful thing to overcome evil. This evil can be many things in the world, but more specifically hate. Hate against many things such as racial, sexual, and cultural differences between societies and individuals. The only way that we are able to overcome such things is to realize that human bonds is what keeps us together just as drifting demonstrates in the movie.
Finally, togetherness is seen a powerful factor when Marshall Stacker Pentecost makes his speech at the end of the movie where he claims that tonight that they end the apocalypse. Once again, this apocalypse can be seen as hate in many forms in our current society and the evil that will overcome us. He states that that night, no individual will stand alone, but together they will be able to end the apocalypse. This is a clear and direct example of how individualism alone will not be able to save our society.
Pacific Rim does a great job of explaining many themes throughout the movie. Most importantly, what we should take away is that our ability to stick together and be empathetic towards each other will help us fight our own modern fight against the evils in the world.
Works Cited
Pacific Rim. Dir. Guillermo Del Toro. Perf. Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, and Idris Elba. Legendary Pictures, 2013. Film.
Envisioning Other Worlds 