Sun, Sand, and Paradise--Not on this Island.

Although the issue of cloning continues to be highly debated upon, clones define the “human” race and are vital specimens in the medical and business world in The Island. The Island captures the audience’s attention from its plot and futuristic setting. Although some viewers may argue that the ending of the film appear to be somewhat unrealistic, The Island still incorporates various themes such as, the ethics of the medical field in relation to the fast-paced business world. This film features the “survivors of the human race” who live in their own isolated community under the authority of a single character. The people of this created community are actually clones and believe that they are destined to live a lifestyle of luxury and paradise on the “island” if their name is chosen from the “lottery.” Yet, the audience is shown the clones’, medical, and business point-of-views that demonstrate the ethical dilemmas in cloning that allow the audience to understand the harsh reality behind the “Island”.

I linked to an article by Mike Adams who believes that the main theme presented in The Island is about how society has become so engrossed with living lavishly that they do so at the expense of depending on technology, medical procedures, and cloning as a means to start again with a “clean the slate”. In addition, Adams’s article discusses the themes of prison labor, the influence of the media on a population, and the continued debate over the ethics of cloning from a medical and corporate perspective. I thought that this article would be a helpful link because Adams also describes how the plot of The Island may apply to the U.S. society of today.