Logan's Run Dystopian

952 Words4 Pages

Logan’s Run depicts a classically utopian society with hidden darkness, from which the main protagonist must escape. Ecological disaster has resulted in humanity fleeing to a dome in which they live entirely peacefully and free from worry-until the age of thirty, when they are ritually murdered. The plot of Logan’s Run follows the classic narrative arc of a utopian story, with a philosopher-king main character, a society that represses dissent through ritualized murder, and utopian ideals towards family, sex, and work. Logan is the philosopher-king, who becomes aware of the outside world, escapes, and brings others into the light. He is the main character, and Logan’s Run is about his journey towards freedom for himself, Jessica, and the …show more content…

Death occurs at age thirty, through the ritual of carrousel. It is implied throughout the movie that this society has very limited resources, and for its citizens to live a plentiful and idyllic life, that life must end early. The citizens of Logan’s Run has a limited concept of death, and believe they can earn “renewal” by participating in carrousel. They live peacefully in the dome, where they have never experienced violence or died naturally of old age, so they believe what they are told about renewal. This ritual serves to essentially silence the population from questioning the rules of society. If they believe they have a chance at rebirth, they never wonder if it is wrong to kill people at the age of thirty. They do not even really understand what death means. Carrousel also acts as entertainment for the population, the circus of “bread and circuses”. People clap and cheer as the lasers of carrousel incinerate people. Sandman, who do kill the “runners” who try to escape carousel, consider it terminating, not killing. Logan appears regretful after killing a runner, and wonders why the runner didn’t just “try like hell for renewal.You have the same chance as everybody else”. The dome society effectively uses death as just another form of entertainment to placate its citizens, as well as a method of population control essential to society’s