Day to day life has changed a great deal since the beginning of civilization. However, I can only think of a few truly significant changes even there have been countless supposed “revolutions” that have been meant to make life better for us all. Even with all of the conveniences that have been added to our lives, it seems like we still haven’t been able to address the truly meaningful issues. One of the biggest issues that has been with mankind since the beginning of civilization is the disparity between the rich and the poor. I have always hoped that I could do something to improve this situation someday. Then one day, I watched the movie “In Time” which dealt with my concerns.
In this movie, people are genetically engineered to stop aging at 25 years old. However, there is a catch. People are also genetically engineered to die one year after their 25th birthday. In this system, people don’t work for money anymore, they work for more time. All people have a time counter on their arm that indicates how much time they have left. Under this system, rich people can live forever because they literally own thousands of years and they have bodies that never age. The main character in this movie is named Will Salas, and is portrayed by Justin Timberlake. Will is just a regular working person who is literally living day to day, and most people only have a day or two to live if they don’t earn more time. Will is given over 100 years by a man who doesn’t want to live anymore, and is introduced to the world of the privileged. As the movie goes on, Will realizes how unfair the system truly is and struggles to balance the equation between the rich and the poor.
As I watched this movie, I realized that I wanted to be like Will because I also want to make a real difference in the world. Like Robin Hood, Will steals from the rich and gives to the poor in an attempt to fix a broken system. I hope that someday I can also be part of redistributing the wealth of the world so we can all live equally. Time is indeed money in this movie, and it shows us all how extreme the gap between the rich and the poor can become if we don’t start to deal with the issue.