Deconstruction is a strategy of
reading starts from “a philosophical hierarchy in which two opposed terms are
presented as the ‘superior’ general case and the ‘inferior’ special case (Robert
Can Davis and Roland Scheifer, 1989). It means
deconstruction work through the identification of binary opposition. In this
paper I would like to analyze the Limitless
Film using deconstruction theory. The
Limitless film release in 2011 directed by Neil Burger. The film is an
action thriller about the writer who takes an experimental drug which is the
drug can make him use 100 percent of his brain. I found two binary opposition
from watching this movie. First, the limit
and the limitless and second cleverness and money. First, I will analyze this movie by explaining the
construction meaning of the binary opposition through the story of film. Second,
I will explain the deconstruction meaning of the binary opposition.
The
film begin when the writer, Eddie Morra is in the middle of effort to make a book,
but suddenly his girlfriend, Linda wants to break up with him. That event makes
him belief that he has no future anymore. Then he meets Vernon, his ex-brother
in law gives him the experimental drug called NZT pil that makes him can use
one hundred percent of his brain. Here is the quotation:
00:09:35,324 --> 00:09:36,366
Eddie: What's
in it?
00:09:37,076 --> 00:09:39,286
Vernon: They've
identified these
receptors in
the brain
00:09:39,370 --> 00:09:42,163
Vernon: that activate specific circuits.
00:09:42,248 --> 00:09:45,917
Vernon: And
you how they say that
we
can only access 20 percent
of our brain?
00:09:46,585 --> 00:09:51,089
Vernon: Well,
what this does... it
lets
you access all of it.
In
the beginning, he doesn’t believe the pil until he drinks it and feels the
effect of the pil. When he meets his fussy landlord’s wife, Valerie who always
ask him the rent money and grumble at him, in the same time Eddie feels the
effect of the pil. The pil increasing his brain capability. His mind suddenly
recognise that she has no intentions to grumble at him. He knows it from the law
book that she bring. He knows what the book it is from his youth memory. His
unconcious memory show it to him. When he ask is she has any problem in her
life, she says that she is in the middle of doing task from his college, then
the new Eddie finally help her. After
that, Eddie try to start write the book for his boss and miraculously he capable
to make some the content of the book in one night. His boss likes the story
that he makes and wants him to finish it.
The
effect of the pil only endure one day. Because of it, Eddie comes into Vernon’s
apartement to get some of the pil. Unfortunately, when Eddie buy some breakfast
for him and walking toward the Vernon’s apartement, Vernon has murdered. Then Eddie
calls the Police to come. Before the police coming into Vernon’s apartement,
Eddie search the pil and found one bags of the pil with a large amount of money
then he hide it from the police.
Eddie
use the pil everyday. Only a few weeks, he can learn many languages,
piano, earn some money from gambling,
and gets new friends from high class. Furthermore the money that he gets from
Vernon is usefull for him to finish the book in four days and he involves
stocks market. Eddie isn’t satisfied enough with the amount of money that he
gets, so he lends US$ 100,000 to dangerous criminal, Gennady to increase his
own fortune in stock firm. He success and makes attention to the world. Then
Van Loon, powerful investor, takes Eddie to work with his company. Eddie’s life
is better than before its all because the pill, he gets a job and his
girlfriends, Linda comes back to him. However one day when he takes too much pil,
he becomes sick. Melissa, his ex-wife tells him to decrease drinks the pil
otherwise he will die.
When Eddie, wants to drink the pil,
suddenly, Gennady comes to ask Eddie’s debt. Gennady see the pil in the Eddie’s
hand and drinks the pil. Eddie can not do anything and give him the money.
Eddie unable to walk home to get pil, so he comes to Linda’s office. Eddie
tells everything about the pil and asks Linda to get his pil. When Linda gets
the pil and goes back to her office, she is being follow by the stranger man.
She by force takes the pil to runaway from the stranger. Finally, she escapes
from the man and gives the pil to Eddie. That is Edie’s life now, Eddie is
chased by stranger, threatened by Gennady who wants the pil more and being a
murder suspect of woman that he meets in the club. However, this film end
happily. Eddie becomes a senator, and because of consumption of the pil he has
ability to predict what happens in the next few minutes and the future. Besides
with his cleverness, Ediie find the ways to engineer the pil and live happily
with Linda.
After knowing the story of the film,
first we see that the film shows the
limit and the limitless of
something. According this film the limit
is about the cleverness and the way to reach the limitless in the cleverness the people needs a pil. If people have
a limitless in cleverness, people can gets everything that people want. Here is
the quotation:
00:27:33,485 --> 00:27:34,943
Eddie: A
tablet a day
00:27:35,028 --> 00:27:37,446
Eddie:
and what I could do with
my day
was limitless.
00:27:38,615 --> 00:27:40,908
Eddie: I
learned to play the
piano
in three days.
00:27:52,754 --> 00:27:55,714
Eddie:
Even half-listening to any
language, I became fluent.
We see
from the quotation above that Eddie can lean something faster using his
cleverness from the effect of the pil. Moreover in deconstruction, the
opposition divided into two superior and inferior. So we can conclude that the limitless is ‘superior’ and the limit is ‘inferior’, because the limitless dominate the limit.
Second, we see that the film also show the other binary
opposition about cleverness and money. We know the cleverness as the powerful needed described in the film through the
NZT pil. Meanwhile money described as
the secondary needed or as the minor in the film. We know, the pil can increase
the cleverness of someone who drinks
it, and with the cleverness that someone has, there is no limitation,
everything imposible to reach. We see the major character’s life has been
changed because of the pil. He can be a better and successful person.
Everything he wants, easily he gets using his cleverness. He gets money, job,
and women.
However, if we take a look of this
binary opposition carefully, there is unstable meaning in here. This is how
deconstruction theory work, to seek the problem in a meaning which means that
it is possible that there is unstable meaning in the binary opposition. In
deconstruction, ‘inferior’ as the supplement can occur if there is a lack in
‘superior’. It means the ‘inferior’ exist with the purpose to fill a lack in ‘superior’.
Deconstruction not means to make ‘inferior’ take a place the ‘superior’. Deconstruction
just wants to show that there is unstable meaning in ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’.
In this film, The limitless as the ‘superior’ can be
unstable meaning because the limitless can
occur if there is a limit or restrictiveness. If in this world,
there is no such a limit, so the limitless isn’t exist. Then the second binary
opoosition the cleverness as the ‘superior’
is not a stable meaning too. In order to get
the cleverness through the NZT pil,
every people who wants it must buy with a high cost. Here is the quotation:
00:10:24,248 --> 00:10:25,665
Eddie: I
don't want it.
00:10:26,250 --> 00:10:28,960
Vernon:
Don't be ungrateful. You
know
how much that costs?
00:10:29,045 --> 00:10:31,671
Vernon: Eight hundred bucks. A pop.
The
quotation shows when Vernon tells Eddie the price of one NZT pil. We know that money as ‘inferior’ also has an
important role in order to get the pil to create the amazing cleverness. Without a large amount of
money, people can not get the pil.
In conclusion, the two binary
opposition that I find are first between the limitless and the limit, second
between cleverness and money. After applying the
deconstruction theory in the two binary opposition can be seen that there is
unstable meaning in the two of them. The ‘inferior’ have a great role too but
it doesn’t mean to take a place the ‘superior’.
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