The Search for Truth (a The Fly (1958) Reaction Paper)

                I found The Fly interesting and a film nothing short of entertainment. It had a sense of mystery that I liked.  The film’s subtle foreshadows encouraged the audience to piece the plot together, only to be shocked at the plot twist. The scientific grounds were also interesting. The logic of teleportation, disintegration and re-integration, seemed to be sound. However, I found the human-fly mutation a bit sketchy. Questions like, “Why was a big part of his body a fly if a fly was contains relatively little “fly” molecules?”, came to mind.

                A scientist was regarded as “an explorer in a wild country where no one had ever been before”. The film regarded science as a “search for the truth” which is the most important work in the world but also the most dangerous. The film also presents 2 messages, that the boundaries of science should be pushed in the quest for knowledge and secondly, that in spite of this, science also has a limit and that there are some things that should not be tampered with.

                In a deeper sense, the film is a play on morality. It depicts conducts of science, especially the achievement of something near impossible, as “playing God”. It also gives the message that the sacredness of life should always be respected and that life is not something one should take for granted. Although we have the capabilities and intelligence to explore the world and the laws of nature, we should keep in mind the limits of what we can manipulate.

                In the 1950s, science and technology was viewed as a field with infinite possibilities for new discoveries and inventions that will benefit mankind. However, it was also regarded with fear, a fear that one day we may misuse it and end up with disastrous consequences.

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