Marx, Alan, and the Memories of a Cutter

I decided to watch The Final Cut (2004) and I am not entirely certain how to come about this in a philosophical way. There are so many aspects I can talk about, my take on the film’s deeper meanings.

To compare a philosophical idea to this film, I want to bring up Marx and “Alienated Labor”. Marx came up with 4 ideas of labor, capitalism, and alienation. I deemed this the most formidable to this film because Alan’s job was his life. Throughout the film, we take note that Alan is pretty solitary, and not many people know much about him. Marx says that alienation is “established due to nature of product”. This means that one loses a part of themselves from being integrated with the product. The product in this case is Alan’s job as a Cutter. Alan became alienated because of his occupation. There were visual representations of this in the film, such as when he was looking through Bannister’s memories, and the film showed Alan at his desk surrounded by videos of Bannister’s life.

I want to talk about the concept of Cutters and the idea of Rememories. Cutters are not allowed to falsify memories, or alter them; they just take snippets that the families want to remember about the deceased. There was the underlying issue in the film that parts of society did not agree with this technology. They did not agree with the ability to remove the bad memories from someone’s being, and use the good to show the family. I believe that Alan, troubled by his past, wanted to right his wrongs by being a part of this technology. He chose to take the disturbed people and out of respect of the living, try to help the Rememory be filled with positive memories.

 The idea of controlling a memory is practically controlling someone’s life. In a way, their lives could be altered. The anti-cutting group found a way to “solve” the issues that they deemed bad, by accessing one of the deceased’s memories. In the end, Alan had to die.  His former colleague, Fletcher, looked into Alan’s eyes, as he was glancing into the mirror, Fletcher watching had promised Alan that “it’s for the greater good…your life will mean something”. Did his life not mean anything in the first place? I think that it was important because he was considered a great Cutter, but that was all he was. So to say that his life will mean something for having to die for his memories, places emphasis that Alan and his memories, that he remembers the deceased’s life, will have a greater impact on society, than Alan being a Cutter.

 (couldn't find a .gif of anything from the film so here's Dead Poet's Society)