A review of the 2014 movie Lucy
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I've been out for some time now; I had some work-related issues to attend to and was unable to post anything for at least a month. But even before that, I had in mind making this post. I usually try not to write negative reviews because I believe that if you don't have anything nice to say, then it's better to say nothing at all. But, in this case, I will break my own rule because I think saying nothing in this particular case will actually be worse. But let's start from the beginning.
The Film
"Lucy" is a science fiction movie written and directed by Luc Besson and released to the public in 2014. The story focuses on Lucy (Scarlett Johansson), a not very bright young Western woman who lives in Hong Kong, and how she is forced into surgery by a local cartel to move drugs inside her body. In the process, the drug package inside her breaks and starts leaking this new drug into her bloodstream, causing her very sudden and drastic physiological changes. In parallel, the movie shows a "science professor" (Morgan Freeman) giving a "lecture" questioning the human capacity to use our own brain. Somehow, the exposure to the new drugs starts in Lucy's body a chain of events that ends up confirming the professor's theory.
Mistakes
Before I start with this section, I'd like to say that although I know I'm talking about a science fiction film and therefore there is some room for fiction and creative licenses, however, this is not a Space Opera or High Fantasy. This story can be described, I think, as an extraordinary thing that happens to an ordinary person in an ordinary world. So, since the movie has no intention of creating a new world with its own set of rules, I think they should, at least, try to respect the scientific rules of the reality we live in. I even agree that some rule-bending could be acceptable. But I think it's completely out of the question to just make up some things and say it's a scientific fact. This seems very dangerous to me because considering the communicative capacity that these audiovisual products have, they can reach many people without biological training who take these ideas as true, generating misinformation on a large scale.
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The Human Brain
The idea that the human species has access only to a small fraction of its own brain is not just inaccurate, it's completely wrong. There are several physiological studies that refute this idea. Not only can a regular healthy person use its entire brain, but also we already know pretty well the functions of the different parts of the brain. There is even a map of it as you can see in the previous image. There are, of course, several functions that are unconscious, but that doesn't mean in any way that there are some idle parts in the brain. Those parts are in constant use; we just aren't aware of it. Why? Because it's better that way; just imagine if we had to consciously think every time we take a breath or make our heart beat! So no, there are no idle parts in our brain; every piece of our brain has functions and is in use. This is very important because this is the very theoretical foundation of the entire movie. If we remove this idea, simply there is no movie left. But also because some misinformed people might even believe this story, which is plain and simply a lie.
Image taken by me in the National Museum of Anthropology of México city
Evolution
Another important scientific issue in the movie is that the evolutionary concept used is the ladder evolution perception. This is even more worrying because there are several people who actually think that this is the way evolution happens, which is a completely inaccurate way to conceptualize evolution. If you are wondering what the ladder evolution concept is, I will briefly explain it next. I'm pretty sure that many of you have seen this image 👇, or something similar, referring to evolution or an evolutionary process.
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This image summarizes the ladder evolution concept, which is the idea that evolution is linear and has some kind of purpose or specific goal, that is a wrong idea of evolution. Evolution is neither linear nor directional and has no purpose. It is a natural and spontaneous process, very complex; so far, the best way we have to understand and explain evolution is a cladogram 👇.
- Original text in english, proof reading done with chatGTP.
- Images sources in image.
I agree. If that opinion did not help the mankind why would you share it? I only watch the thriller of the movie since I have no free access of that. But, I knew the movie is interesting. 😊
I imagine that with the first part of your comment you are refering to my statement that its better not say nothing than say awfull things!
In this case I think, its necesary to explain the misconception included in the film to help people not get wrong ideas and get confused about important scientific facts!
Thanks for you comment!
Interesante... solo había visto la película como lo que es: ciencia-ficción...
pero son muy significativas tus explicaciones para aclarar los conceptos alli manejados.
Gracias por compartirlos...
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Gracias por tu comentario @alicia2022
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Sin embargo, para que algo sea considerado realmente de Ciencia Ficción, tiene que tener ciencia. La parte de ficción es la obra en sí, los personajes, pero se supone que la ciencia tiene que funcionar. Si no sería solo ficción, quizá fantasía.
¡A mí me encanta la peli, la verdad!
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@alicia2022, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of cpol
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Ja, ja, ja. ¡Me encanta esta película! Cuando salió fui a verla al cine. Pero como bien lo indicas, por los conceptos que usan de la forma tan artística y libre, más que Ciencia Ficción es como de Fantasía. También tiene buena Acción. ¡De aquí salieron muy buenos memes también!
¡Excelente post como siempre!
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Gracias @cpol, pues si, el problema es que es fantasía sin decir que es fantasía!
This movie got mixed reviews I think partially because the director had so much to live up to. I disagreed with a lot of the critic because I thought this film was done quite well and really enjoyed it.
I understand, the enjoyable nature of the movie its not been questinoed, the problem is when you achieve that by violating the elemental thruth of life and picture it as a scientific fact! However I also enjoyed the movie as it is, a fantasy movie without any other intention ather than entertain!
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