THX 1138

The film THX 1138 was created by George Lucas, the director of the famous Star Wars. In his world where sex and love are outlawed, Lucas’ use of visuals and sounds greatly enhances the plot. His use, or disuse of color demonstrates the truly mechanistic theme of the film. The characters and extras in the film are all dressed in identical white clothing, heads shaved completely bald whether man or woman, and are all named by a 3 letter prefix and a 4 number suffix instead of a real name. 

All of the rooms and hallways are completely white as well, except the surveillance rooms which are darkened for viewing purposes. This imagery gives off the impression of a sterile, identical environment where everything should be the same. In those darkened surveillance rooms, screens show everything and we can understand that everyone is constantly being observed. This further supports how this society is seemingly completely under control and mind-numbing the already robot-like population.

The mind-numbing is taken to a whole new level in this film, where taking drugs is mandatory. In fact, all THX-1138 has to do is go to his medicine cabinet, which we see in the first few seconds of the film, and tell it “what’s wrong”. The purposes of these drugs are to inhibit feelings at all.  When THX asks the medicine cabinet for “something stronger” to keep his feelings at bay, we see how truly controlling the society is.

 Even more astonishing is that ‘drug evasion’ is a crime. THX’s roommate LUH-3417, seems to have feelings for him, though she shouldn’t. While he watches disturbing but methodical TV, she switches his pills. The visuals on the TV include a police robot beating a man and pornography, which further shows conformity and how whoever is in charge in this society wants its citizens to not be able to think for themselves. 

THX-1138 falls for LUH-3417 as he gets off his previous pills and onto the new ones. They make love, the ultimate crime in this society, and are only caught when he is at work and slips up. THX is arrested and held in custody. The visuals and sounds here are interesting, as we see him in another large white empty room.

 LUH finds THX to tell him that she is pregnant, but we find out later on that the baby is survived while she is not. THX manages to escape alone through quite a long car chase through a maze of tunnels. 

          I believe the ending scene is one of the most powerful scenes of the film. THX climbs out of the city and emerges to the view of a sun setting, and a bird flying. Everything he had understood and been told was a lie. His entire society was built underground, and whoever was in charge of this society kept almost everything from its citizens.