The human race has been relocated to a underground city located beneath the Earth's surface. In the underground city, the population are entertained by holographic TV which broadcasts sex and violence and robotic police force enforces the law. In the underground city, society controls all life, all citizens are drugged to control their emotions and their behavior and sex is a crime. Factory worker THX-1138 stops taking the drugs and he breaks the law when he finds himself falling in love with his room-mate LUH 3417 and is imprisoned when LUH 3417 is pregnant. Escaping from jail with illegal programmer SEN 5241 and a hologram named SRT, THX 1138 goes in search of LUH 3417 and escape to the surface, whilst being pursued by robotic policemen. (From IMDd http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434/plotsummary)
George Lucas is able to create a future world within THX 1138, within this world each individual is seen as a part to the larger whole. People are not seen as individuals only to sever the goals that must be achieved. Within the film there occur a few different instances that stand out within my own mind. These sections of the film bring into question many of Lucas's choices for plot and characters.
1) The presents of African Americans within this film are minuscule, only seeing them as part of the hologram program ( and later when the hologram escapes). This brings into question Lucas's thoughts about African Americans, in my option Lucas classifies everyone within this film. All of the humans have been broken down into their most basic function. This can be seen with the African Americans being used as only entertainment value. Now this notion of classification of group is not only seen in THX 1138, it can also be seen within the Star Wars Services. Often there are alien that depict different human races, these aliens are often stereo types of these different races. Could George Lucas have elements of closet racism that he hides through the use of digital technology?
2) The Hologram and THX 1138 comes across is very symbolic of Huck Finn and the run away slave Jim. Jim and the Hologram have many things in common, both freed black man on the run with a white companion. The Hologram is freed from the Holoprogram(TV) and is now on forced to flee with THX 1138. As Hologram and THX flee from their imprisonment they pass though a corridor filled with people, a metaphor for the Mississippi river referencing Huck Finn once again.
3) The last scene of the film shows THX existing the silo with the sun setting in the distance. This end scene only make me think of Japanese films with the rising/setting sun and the samurai. Even looking at the stance of THX resembles to an individual preforming Kata(practice/training fight). Many aspects of the last scene are lost on me for all I see is Samurai and not THX. This brings into question where Lucas is creating his ideas from, referring to #2 it can come apparent that Lucas is borrowing from past stories and events from both western and eastern civilizations.
Lucas is able to show what would be possible with technology and its use within the media of film, even though he used many elements of other stories to piece his plot together.
