The Village in Regards to Marcuse

The Village in Regards to Marcuse

Marcuse believes that reality is only pacifying us from revealing the Truth. The Village is a perfect example of portraying Marcuse’s theory in some ways and apprehending another theory of its own. The Village is a perfect and yet exaggerated example of our social reality. We, as a society, have been pacified most of all of our existence, and if the Truth was ever recovered and presented to our present day world, how would we react? When I think of the word pacify, I think of when we were younger and when we would get upset our parents would give us something to comfort us, a pacifier. Some points with Marcuse I agree with, that we should be set free from reality and we can accomplish this through art. Although, on other points I almost agree with what the elders were thinking when they created this alternate reality, Covington Woods.

In the film the people of the town are only told what is beyond Covington Woods, which involves all the vicious truth that the elders once knew of and experienced. Everyone just listens, no one asks questions. Each one of the elders had something dreadful happen to them personally, and through their lives they were all interrelated. Hence, they created this alternate reality to save the ones they loved from heartache. Yes, people still died, but the town’s people knew not to mourn at such length because they knew their loved one was now in a better place. There was no downfall to The Village, exemplifying that this alternate reality could work.

In its own way, The Village was art at arts best. There was no such thing as money, which one could intercede as communism, but it works perfectly for those chosen individuals. In some ways I agree with the theory presented in The Village. This surreal life that we are all living at this moment is only temporary. One doesn’t need to spend their entire life in search of this Truth that we all wish to seek. Why search for something that one will only find after the breach of death; eternal life.

Art can be perceived as anything that we perceive it to be. In The Village I don’t think they were living in deprivation of art, the village as a whole I could envision as art. A place where there is no conception of money or value, there is no gangs, and everyone is generally happy. “Money can turn good men’s hearts black…good men!” Life is simple in The Village, and personally simplicity is the best form of art. As Henry D. Thoreau would say, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your