Visions of the future often serve as reflections and explorations of the present day. This is seen particularly strongly in Children of Men, where much of the background context and imagery is based upon contemporary issues from the early 21st century.
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, researcher, psychoanalyst and social critic. He offers the following interpretation of Children of Men and the importance of the information that is portrayed in the background, the imagery and the themes explored:
The film was released in 2006, and it is from this time that most of the images are draw. However, many of these issues are still highly relevant in the world of today.
In groups, you have been provided with a series of images from the film. Using the list below and your own research, you will need to:
(1) Group together the images under the relevant issue that they are linked to;
(2) Research what this issue is, and provide an explanation of it;
(3) Explain its significance in the film and what the author is trying to convey through including it in this manner. Different ideas and issues will be used for different purposes: some will be more literal and obvious, while others may be more subtle warnings about the parallels that can be drawn between the issues face in the film and the world of today.
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Key Issues:
- Fear or Terrorism and Islamic Extremism
- The 2003 Iraq War
- State sanctioned torture and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal
- Racism, including Islamophobia
- Immigration, refugees and border control
- Mad cow disease
- Environmental degradation (including global warming)
You can access copies of the images in this document: Children of Men Themes Images
The Possibility of Hope:
The ‘Possibility of Hope’ is a documentary produced by Alfonso Cuaron (the director of Children of Men) that is included with the DVD as a means of exploring some of the key ideas and themes that he feels the film explores. It draws many parallels with issues facing the world today. If you were unable to watch it in class, or if you would like to revise some of the ideas, you can watch ‘The Possibility of Hope’ below:
