Today is a gift, that is why it's called the present, or so they say. Often times life is underrated and unappreciated, it is undervalued and misused. In a sick and sadistic way The old man in the movie Saw manages to reignite the desire to live in others. He practices a form of "justice" but not in the way we would expect; not to bring justice to a person or group of people or etc. but to justify life, as if it were a being of its' own who's suffered from the people's ungrateful ideology of it. In every event, the plot is set to where the victim(s) has to make decisions to either live or die, at all cost.
Determinism, in a way, was present in that the options they had were chosen by an external person in control. Yet the victims still had free will to choose between killing or living for themselves or for the survival of their family. The old man brilliantly planned out every angle of it, and although a criminal, couldn't be imprisoned for murder since he actually didn't kill them. He has a mission to "right" those who are wrong, to convey how precious life is, but the methods he uses are demonic and portrays a sadist. The way in which he artistically finds a way to drive them crazy either through emotion or fear is, although rather impressive, cruel and torturous.
From the beginning choices are made, to find an alternative to that which was originally planned for the victims, and the end results are even worse. In the attempt to not kill Adam, Dr. Gordon tries many alternatives, including trying to out-think the sadist old man whom they have no idea is the real mastermind behind it all; but when his family becomes endangered he believes his only choice is to saw through his leg and kill Adam as had been originally commanded.
Both free will and determinism co-exist and become so intertwined that they almost seem as one. They hardly really seem to juxtapose in the movie, but yet they don't quite merge as one either. They have the free will to choose whether or not they will kill one another; but have a limited amount of time and choices to make as their lives (And in the doctor's case, his family's lives) depend on those factors, thus determinism emerges out of the scene. The actions they choose to take will be in their control, but only because the options they had were far out of their control and the outcome would come as a result of both.
"...not to bring justice to a person or group of people or etc. but to justify life, as if it were a being of its own who's suffered from the people's ungrateful ideology of it."
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting concept. When I watched it, it seemed spiteful because of his condition; but it's worth considering that he was simply defending life as a gift and our many blessings. Like you said, this does not justify the insane cruel torture, but it causes us to think about life and our free will as deserving of respect.
My thoughts are close to yours, though they are not entirely the same. I do not think that he free will and determinism become intertwined in this movie. If anything, I view Jigsaw's games as a form of hyperbolic determinism. The stark contrast between a deterministic environment and the choices and opportunities that come with free will and privilege lifestyles, encourages Jigsaw's victims to value their lives of free will. Although their lives may not be entirely free of manipulation other people's influences, there is at least some sense of choice and free will in their lives. Jigsaw gets his victims to value life, not for the sake of life, but rather to value life that harbors free will.
ReplyDeleteThe nature of learning exhibited in Saw reminds me of the poem, "Success is Counted Sweetest," by Emily dickinson. In this poem, Dickinson writes, "To comprehend an nectar / Requires sorest need." Basically, to fully understand and appreciate a privilege, you must experience an environment lacking that privilege. Ultimately, Jigsaw creates a deterministic environment void of free will in order to instill in his victims a sense of appreciation for life with free will.