Cloud Atlas
I finished the book a few days ago. The five stories are
bookended in chronological order, and there’s plenty in there attacking modern
lifestyles and philosophies. The first and eleventh deal with the slave trade,
human lives bought and sold, and a rogue physician applying pharmaceuticals not
for benefit but for profit.
The second and tenth, and the fourth and eighth have musical
and publishing settings. A young musician loves and lusts, uses and manipulates
to achieve his aims, and produces a masterpiece. A vanity publisher gets lucky,
fails to manage his fortunate gains and falls on hard times. Older people are
marginalised, mistreated and abused in a home staffed by Nurse Ratched clones.
The third and ninth are an investigative journalist murder
mystery story, super-powerful energy companies riding roughshod over anyone who
stands in their way.
A true story. A few years ago diesel was going to save the
world. Governments bought into this. Fuel companies bought into it too. To the
point where an about turn would be extremely embarrassing and hideously
expensive. An epidemiologist found that the exhaust from diesel vehicles
included PM10s, particulate matter with diameters less than ten microns. These
get past all the body’s filters and defences and land on the lungs, where lung
tissue thinks they’re attacking and form scar tissue around them. Similar to
the effects of asbestos fibres. There’s no safe dose. No lower threshold below
which exposure does not matter. In simple terms, the more of these things you
breathe in, the worse for you. The epidemiologist had threats on his life, there
were campaigns to smear his reputation, to call into question his motivations,
his paymasters, his lifestyle, his research and the findings. PM10s are now
recognised for what they are and big pro-diesel subsidies are no more, all done
on the quiet.
The fifth and seventh are set in a dystopian future. One
that requires only a little imagination to foresee. In fact, only those
unfortunate to be saddled with lumbering, moribund imaginations would be unable
to see a corporate, consumer-dominated future, with vat-produced fabricated
beings providing the labour. There are African mines producing scraps of rare
metals to make iPhones work. Huge drug and energy companies dominate the
political landscape, lobby for decisions that suit their ends.
The sixth, central chapter is set in a post-apocalyptic
future (the fall). Equally foreseeable. For every 500 cc car on the road with
one person in it, there’s a massive 4x4 guzzling fuel and discharging several
times the emissions really necessary to transport the one person in that
cavernous space. The visual intrusion morons launch campaigns against wind
turbines. There’ll be more visual intrusion when what you’re looking out on is
scorched desert or under water.
Cloud Atlas
I watched the film with DLL. It jumps between the lines of
narrative rather than following the book’s structure. The cast all take on
various roles, and it moves relentlessly on. There’s many lines taken straight
from the book, but it’s still a brave project taking on filming such a long and
complex novel, and selling it to an industry that seems currently focused on
sequels, prequels, and comic book spin offs.
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