A Quiet Place…

My wife and I went and watched A Quiet Place when it was released in theatres. That night I started to write an article and breakdown of the symbolism in the movie. I didn’t ever finish it and for good reason. Here is a synopsis of the movie from Rotten Tomatoes. “In the modern horror thriller A QUIET PLACE, a family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you.”

It’s supposed to be a horror thriller type of movie and it was. I could’ve did a good breakdown of it but I think the symbolism of the movie is simple. It has everything to do with the days we live in in relation to technology. The monsters in the movie are AI, chatbots, 5G and the Internet of Things. I truly believe this. I caught myself writing something out to my wife today because I didn’t want to say it out loud in front of our phones or smart tv’s. That has nothing to do with being paranoid but has everything to do with knowing good and well “They” are always listening to us. I’m not worried about Billy Bob at the alphabet agencies, I’m more worried about the algorithms that have decided for themselves to think for themselves and listen to every word we say.

Not only that, they have the tech to literally “read your mind”. If you think I’m joking, just Google it and find out what the Facebook app has been up to in the last year. Everything I say (or think for that matter) ends up one way or another back on my phone in the form of ads or emails. This is something that can’t be poo pooed away or denied. So what do we do? Maybe we should take a lesson from the Abbot family and communicate by sign language. Seriously, think about it before you laugh it away. You could just walk around with a note pad and really look like a crazy person or do something that has been lost in time. Sign language.

And since I mentioned the name of the family in the movie, let me tell you what it means. Those who know Hebrew know of the word abba which means father. This is where Abbot comes from. Isn’t it interesting that this silent Abbot family is slow to speak and quick to listen? “Old English abbod “abbot,” from Latin abbatem (nominative abbas), from Greek abbas, from Aramaic (Semitic) abba, title of honor, literally “the father, my father,” emphatic state of abh “father.” Now go to the book of James and read about guarding your tounge. I understand what James is saying but in light of technology and this movie, these scriptures take it all to a whole new level.

I for one will now learn how to sign, along with my family. If this is how we gain our privacy back than so be it. You can’t ever get away from it no matter how hard you try. I’ll leave you with this review that says it all. “A Quiet Place is about characters trying to maintain human connections while diminishing their place in the world as much as possible, policing their every breath to avoid disaster. The film doesn’t spend much time on allegory or symbolism, but it’s not hard to find a larger metaphor about living under any oppressive force.” (https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/11/17106102/a-quiet-place-film-review-john-krasinski-emily-blunt-sxsw-2018) This oppressive force is our technology that we will never hide from. EVER.