The Emerald Forest - Movie Review Example

The Culture of the Invisible People in The Emerald Forest (1985) In the 1985 movie, The Emerald Forest directed by John Boorman, the complex interactions between man and his environment, along with his culture and the use of technology for various purposes was shown, along with the contrasts between three groups of people: the Invisible People; the Fierce People; and the Modern People, also known as the Termite People (“Emerald Forest”). The elements which contrast the three groups of people were through their interactions with the environment, interactions with other groups of people, their use of technology, and whether or not they preserve their linkages with the spiritual realm through traditional customs. While the movie may not cater to everyone’s tastes, it is able to show viewers the differences on how modern and primitive cultures think, as well as how they attain their happiness and satisfaction. The Invisible People’s chieftain maintains an authoritative watch over his people, and shows this through his beliefs that people should not be asked to do things they do not want to do. This kind of authority structure is every different from modern society’s authority structures, wherein people are always reminded of what they can and they cannot do, creating a complex authority system (Coleman 167). Thus, the chieftain delegates greater autonomy over his people while still being the head and gives the people more freedom in choices, while in modern society people’s actions are limited by authorities to maintain peace while preventing chaos and disorder. In the two groups of people, technology is seen in different ways. For the Invisible People, their simple technology such as the use of uncomplicated living quarters and bow-and-arrows for hunting food keeps them alive on a daily basis, while at the same time prevents destruction and extinction of plants and animals. This essentially helps them maintain the condition of their environment. On the other hand, Termite People use technology as a means to destroy anything that gets in their way of doing what they want, whether or not it is good for the environment or not (“Emerald Forest”). This makes the Termite People a hazard to the environment, and eventually could cause nature’s destruction. Spirituality is revealed in the Invisible People’s culture through their beliefs in spirit animal guardians, in reading nature through the noises in the forest, and attaining a higher level of spirituality through snorting psychedelic substances from a narrow pipe (“Emerald Forest”). This may not seem much but in reality, it is through these trances that these people were able to view the world from above, and helping them gain perspective in choosing what actions to take, including actions that do not impact future generations greatly or actions that venerate the people that lived before them. In my view, the Invisible People have a happier culture that gives a greater amount of satisfaction than the Termite People or Modern People culture. Because the Invisible People work in harmony with nature, they do not cause problems in nature such as rising water levels during rains, high levels of destruction during storms, and even overhunting of animals. This is in large contrast to the Termite People that destroy large areas of forests that not only ruin the habitats of plants and animals, but also drive away the tribes that were originally living in these areas (“Emerald Forest”). In addition, the Invisible People also have higher levels of spirituality and community connections as compared to the Termite People, which makes the former to create decisions that not only impact their present but also their future, while the latter only caters to the need for monetary gain, essentially becoming slaves to money and forgetting about their own selves and the well-being of others from different communities. Lastly, because the Invisible People have simpler needs, this makes it easier for them to be happy and share this happiness with other members of their community, inasmuch as sharing them their grief or the need to protect the whole tribe. In contrast, the Termite People’s need are more complicated, which makes it harder to fulfill their own higher personal needs such as acceptance of others and self-contentment (Fraser 146). Thus the simplicity of living in the Invisible People’s tribe makes them much more happy and content over the life of Termite People. In using Karl Marx’s perspective on the satisfaction of basic human needs, he might choose the tribe of the Invisible People over the Termite people in selecting which of the two groups actually attain satisfaction and happiness. This is because while the former uses lesser technological advancements, these people are able to satisfy higher levels of needs, such that instead of fulfilling personal or selfish needs, the people try to fulfill the needs of others, whether human or not (Fraser 143). In addition, the Invisible People try to live within their means, through conscious life activities that not only rely on their own skills but also move within the changes that happen in the environment (144). On the other hand, the Termite people choose to destroy the forests in order to create structures which do not exactly go along harmoniously with nature. The dam that was being built was implied to have been solely made to create more money through revenues, which shows that the builders and engineers were building the structure for monetary gain, thus making them subordinates to money, and Marxist ideas see money not as a tool but as an alien driving force, an “estranged essence of man’s work and existence” (145). Thus, in my opinion, through a Marxist perspective, the Invisible People have happier lives and satisfaction since not only to they live simply, but they are not slaves of egoistic needs to be fulfilled. If given an opportunity to live amongst the Invisible People I would like to take that chance, even if that means that I have to sacrifice the technological conveniences that I had grown accustomed to. This is because based on what I have seen in the movie, these people live simpler lives because they only need to satisfy a few needs, along with living in a deeply-spiritual manner. Also, the fact that the community is able to provide them acceptance and warmth in whatever a person’s rank is and whatever this person is able to do shows a large leap from the fast-paced, output-based, superficial lifestyle that predominates modern society. The Invisible People are also self-conscious of doing things to harm not just people within their time, but also their succeeding generations, and thus they have not learned to live with greed for the benefit of their children and their children’s children (“Emerald Forest”). Such views are very different from how modern society treats nature and other resources, as most decisions are only made in order for greater monetary gain, without much thinking about sustainability and renewability. Our modern culture can learn a great deal from the Invisible People, by not draining our natural resources, in finding happiness from the simplest things, by being less egocentric and more on contributing to the needs of society, and in choosing to do things that would benefit not just the people living at the present, but also the succeeding generations. Works Cited Coleman, James S. Foundations of Social Theory. Harvard University Press, 1994. Print. Fraser, Ian. Hegel and Marx : The Concept of Need. East Sussex: Edinburgh University Press, 1998. Print. The Emerald Forest. Dir. John Boorman. Perf. Charley Boorman, et al. 1985. Motion Picture. Read More