There was a movie that came out within the past few years titled
"The Invention of Lying." Ricky Gervais (the British Michael of The
Office) plays a character who invents the idea of lying in a world where it has
never previously existed. Yes, a goofy concept for a movie (I don't recommend
seeing it), but its curious to think of the good that lying imparted on the
characters in the film. Although lying is traditionally believed to bring bad,
maybe there are instances in which lying is for good. No, I'm not talking about
if a girl asks you if she "looks fat in this dress" and you say
no...lying. Maybe there is a unique balance between deception and the truth
that allows people to stay sane. This relationship between deception and truth
is extremely important in the film "Moon".
A centerpiece of the film is a computer. It’s the only form of human
“communication” that Sam has, although it is not in real time. Sam is told that
real time communication is not possible because a satellite is jammed. Deliberate
deception—we later see GERTY using the computer to communicate with Lunar
Industries down on Earth after Sam1 was in an accident. Why the lie? Perhaps
because Sam is merely a clone and the woman who he believes to be his wife is
not. Therefore, he would really have no one to communicate with as a clone. In
any case, the importance of the matter is the computer acts as a deceptive
piece in the film, constantly hiding information from Sam. Another instance of
computer fraud occurs towards the beginning of the movie when you see Sam
speaking with his “wife.” As he is listening to her, a weird glitch occurs in
the video. It is outwardly assumed that someone is trying to keep what she is
saying away from Sam. Another deceptive act on behalf of Lunar Industries
with reference to the computer.
Now, back to the importance of balance. With deception must be a glimmer
of hope that there is some truth in the world. Unfortunately for Sam, there
isn’t much of it on the moon. Actually, it seems that the only non-deceptive thing
in Sam’s life are the harvesters. Since Sam is, in essence, a robot, and lives
with a bunch of robots and machines, it is easy to compare the harvesters to
truthful “friends”. They don’t lie to him—they say when they have achieved
enough He3 for him to perform his duties. They are consistent in
their duties of scraping the moon of its clean energy sources. They bring the
good news to Sam, allowing him to have a job, providing life for the millions
of people on Earth. And in the end, they finally let the truth come out by
allowing a signal to reach the moon for Sam3 (and beyond) to communicate with
Earth. Although sad to think that they may be the only non-deceptive devices in
the movie, they allow for this graceful balancing act to occur.
Ultimately, it is this precious balance between bringing the truth
and bringing about deception that is important in the film “Moon”. Deception
from the computer is an important piece of the film because it allows the
clones to learn about themselves and their status as clones and fight back against
Lunar Industries. It also is good to have something in the film that is not so
illusive. The straightforward nature of the harvesters gives Sam the
opportunity to trust in something. This balancing act is what allows the Sam’s
to survive and ultimately release themselves from the bonds of the moon.
It's interesting that you've pointed out the concepts of deception and truth. In my blog, I argued that the actor's behavior and his setting act together to convey the film's meaning (whichever that may be). However, it's interesting to acknowledge how important the idea of deception is in Moon. Something that I deemed interesting was the possibility of Sam's reaction to the deception around him. And I think that his reactions toward the harvesters illustrates my point. Like you said, the only non-deceptive thing in Sam's life are the harvesters. The harvesters, part of the setting, interacts with the actors behavior yield a consistent meaning (at least, of some sort) in this film .
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