An Analysis of the Movie: THX-1138

THX-1138: An Analysis

George Lucas’ movie THX-1138 (2004 director’s cut) is a dystopian film about a highly controlled underground city, and one man’s (THX-1138) desire to disassociate from the domination.

The symbolism of THX-1138 helps drive the narrative—everything is white. This symbol repeats throughout the film, and creates the mood of the film. Lucas portrays the underground city as pristine, white, sterile, and Taylorized. All of the characters dress in white and have shaven heads. The premise of this movie portrayal is a future devoid of nature—the mechanistic is a replacement of the natural in this film; therefore, freedom is dimished by the driven order and whiteness.

People are mechanized in THX-1138; they are required to take drugs to control any natural emotions. In fact, drug evasion is a crime. The only inference to sharing one’s feelings is when they are allowed to go in the confession booth; here they have a screen image of a god to confess their sins, but ironically, it is an insect (behind the screen) that is the mouthpiece of the god. What’s more, OMM (the god) is more interested in Taylorizing the people of the underground city than in forgiving their sins, “Let us be thankful we have an occupation to fill. Work hard, increase production, prevent accidents, and be happy” (minute 25). In addition, there are intercom announcements throughout the film, such as, “Consumption is being standardized” (minute 5), and, “Thrifty thinkers are always under budget” (minute 60). By displaying the characters as flat and mechanical, Lucas is emphasizing his intended tone of the movie.

THX-1138 demonstrates his increasing connection to the natural throughout the film. The first threshold he crosses is his sexual encounter with his partner LUH-3417 (minute 35). This encounter irreversibly motivates him to seek out the organic, despite being sent to trial for the crime of having sex and illegal drug evasion. Furthermore, he uses his natural abilities to escape prison; he then goes searching for LUH-3417 in order to continue their plan to escape the underground city together. This drive to obtain the natural is equaled with his increasing ability to think on his feet, although he tends to think up about half the plan and then stop (such as his idea to escape the prison-holding cell, but his failure to plan a suitable escape route). Nevertheless, he overcomes this weakness, and by the end of the movie demonstrates that he has learned to trust nature above the sterilized collective.

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Lucas, G. (director). THX-1138, (2004, director’s cut). USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.