Battle Royale is an example of teachers’ desire for traditionally attained authority gone haywire. The government decides that sticking disobedient students (and a crazed volunteer) on an island to kill each other will force them to learn to respect the elders. At what point did the government look at this and say, "Yes, this will fix everything!”
Instead of asking questions such as "why are they lashing out" or "what can we do to change this" the movie demonstrates the typical societal scapegoat of the teenager. Everything and anything can be blamed on the teen and therefore they should be punished.
What I found very interesting was the absence of parental/authority figures that are not harnessing weaponry. The parents/authorities do not desire any sort of compromise with the children and instead create an inescapable domination/control of their lives. The youths' resistance at the beginning of the film clearly proves to be futile, and instead of negotiating, they are forced to conform to the dictators’ rules. This represents a fear of adulthood and of conformity...no choices (adulthood) or death.
1 comment:
I really like the approach you took on how society's downfall is blamed on the teenagers. "blame the teenagers" - I think that's one thing that happens in all cultures and societies no matter the differences.
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