Gates The Comic by Hal Hefner, Presented by Heavy Metal

6 (Six) Great Negative Utopian Films & Books That Have Influenced Gates, Heavy Metal’s First Online Comic

In writing Gates, I turned to a lifelong long of movies and books in creating the setting for the world. I wanted to create a realistic, historical foundation of a dystopian world in which Gates was struggling to survive in. In creating the comic for Heavy Metal audience specifically, I really felt that the six films/books listed below were the most important  in my reference for creation. Below you will find a recap and some video footage of all six films/books. If you haven’t read these books or watched these movies, I encourage you greatly to do so as these are all important pieces of intellectual entertainment that get you to think about our future–which maybe not enough of us in America and the world at large, do enough of.

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1.  THX-1138:

THX 1138 is an amazing movie. It had a profound influence on me and I first saw it on HBO when I was a young teen, around thirteen. Created in 1971 THX 1138 was the first feature-length film directed by George Lucas. THX was produced in a joint venture between Warner Brothers and Francis Ford Coppola’s new production company, American Zoetrope. The movie was based on George Lucas’ student film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, which he made in 1967 while attending the (USC) University of Southern California film school.

If you plan on watching this film I highly suggest you get your hands on a DVD that has the student film as well because though it is much more raw and low budget, you can see a lot of the elements that became his trademarks in Star Wars such as the blue-holographic images that would later say, “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

However, THX-1138 is a very dark, mind trip of a movie that depicts a dystopian future in which a high level of control is exerted upon the populace through omnipresent, faceless, android police officers and mandatory, regulated use of special drugs to suppress emotion, including sexual desire.Everything, is white, sterile and pre-manufactured so that you can worship a strange combination of a Jesus Christ-like figure and Big Brother.  Starring Robert Duvall as THX-1138, it is a commentary on modern society, materialism and the ultimate take on an over-advertised world of “Buy more now.”

I loved everything about this movie when I saw it. It was disturbing and really crushes mind the whole way through. It launched me into a world of love of Negative Utopian movies.  And to me this is Lucas’ finest film besides the Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back.

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2. 1984:

“Beware the save door of 1984″ – David Bowie

1984 is considered by many as the ultimate dystopian commentary every written.  Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) was written in 1949 by George Orwell about an oligarchical, collectivist society–ruled by the monipresent figure BIG BROTHER. Life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. The government controls EVERYTHING and bends the records of history to suit its needs.

In 1984 we follow the main character Winston Smith, through a dilapidated life of gloried slavery. The individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the “Party” to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party’s propaganda by altering historical records to render the Party omniscient.  However, his meager existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother, leading to a brief moment of sexual and philosophical freedom but eventually his arrest, torture, and reconversion.

As literary political fiction goes, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel of the social science fiction subgenre and hailed by many as the best of its kind. Since its publication in 1949, many of its terms and concepts, such as Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, and Memory hole, have become contemporary vernacular. And the phrase “Orwellian” has been used to describe many other dystopian sci-fi pieces of entertainment, including Gates the comic. Orwellian also refers to lies, surveillance, or manipulation of the past in the service of a totalitarian agenda.

As far as conspiracy theorists go, this is what would come of the New Word Order that is said to be propagated by the “Illuminati” or the rich elitists who secretly rule the world and congregate often to discuss the fate of our world. Striving for a one world government, a one world police system and a one government based monetary system it is often referred to as the NWO or New World Order. The NWO is referred to as a philosophy as well as collective group of individuals. Orwell, used the figurehead of Big Brother to propagates their propaganda.

The movie is very well done, starring John Hurt, but it is much more profound when read as a novel. The novel is actually a tough one to translate completely into film format and I think loses some of the details Orwell intends for you the reader to experience. I first read the book as a teen and it crushed my brain. I then seemed to read the book once a year for a bout ten years after and always found something new. It has been a huge influence on my life, my art and of course, Gates the webcomic. And in homage to Orwell, I even named a character after him.

“War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength–Big Brother is Watching You”

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3. Brave New World:

Brave New World is a novel by Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Huxley was a brilliant man who saw the world outside of the norm and Brave New World is also considered by many the top negative Utopian novel ever written along with 1984. Huxley as a philosopher is a huge influence on my life and his book the Doors of Perception also blew my mind when I read it.

Set in London of AD 2540 or in the book 632 A.F. (in the book After Ford), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. Ruled less by an “oppressive” government like Big Brother, Brave New World is all about keeping the citizens dumbed up with happiness. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of futurism and the ultimate joke on mankind. The fact that we become so stupefied by drugs and material possessions and the desire for pleasure that we allow our lives to be written for us by those in power.

Although the novel is set in the future, it contains contemporary issues of the early 20th century that permeate incredibly strong in the 21st century. Huxley noticed while other did not as the Industrial Revolution had transformed the world. Mass production had made cars, telephones, and radios relatively cheap and widely available throughout the developed world and these items changed human interaction forever. The political, cultural, economic and sociological upheavals of the then-recent Russian Revolution of 1917 and the First World War (1914–1918) were resonating throughout the world as a whole and the individual lives of most people. So Huxley took a turn at projecting the future–and it was not kind to humanity.

Accordingly, many of the novel’s characters are named after widely-recognized influential people of the time, for example, Polly Trotsky (Leon Trotsky), Benito Hoover (Benito Mussolini; Herbert Hoover), Lenina Crowne (Vladimir Lenin; John Crowne), Fanny Crowne (Fanny Brawne; John Crowne), Mustapha Mond (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; Alfred Mond), Helmholtz Watson (Hermann von Helmholtz; John B. Watson), and Bernard Marx (George Bernard Shaw; Karl Marx) and of course everything starts and ends with Ford, named after Henry Ford. Years are measured, “After Ford”.

In Brave New World, Huxley was able to use the novel and its characters
to express the widely held opinion of the fear of losing individual identity in the fast-paced world of the future.Huxley was commenting on the times, the culture of youth, commercial cheeriness, sexual promiscuity and the inward-looking nature of many Americans. And today in America we live in a world of our own self centered focus with our smart phones. And it’s shaped by Reality TV like the Kardashians and the materialistic vapidness of MTV’s Jersey Shore.

In many cases if you compare 1984 and Brave New World it seems that many of the things that Huxley suggested, trump Orwell’s take on the future. Vicodin, Valium, Perkocet, and Ecstasy can all be considered modern forms of Soma, a drug in the novel that was used to keep society horny, preoccupied and uninterested in what was really going on in the world.

Brave New World also affected my creation of Gates the comic in many ways. John, the savage inspired many aspects of my development of the philosophical outlook of Gates. Gates and John are very similar in that they end up being trapped in a world that they don’t belong because they can see through the veil of stupidity and control that others cannot.

There has never been a great movie or Television adaptation of this book. The closest starred Leonard Nimoy. I highly suggest reading the book as it is a very easy read and it is fun and you can literally cruise through it in a very short period of time.

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4. Logan’s Run:

Logan’s Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson published in 1967. Like Brave New World, it depicts a dystopic ageist future society in which both population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by requiring the death of everyone reaching a particular age. Sex, drugs and materialism are prevalent in this film as well and it clearly takes much of its inspiration form Huxley’s Brave New World.

The story follows the actions of Logan, a Sandman ( a futuristic policeman) charged with enforcing the age based rules of society, as he tracks down and kills citizens who “run” from society’s death sentence, only to end up “running” himself. Set in the year 2116, a person’s maximum age is strictly legislated: twenty one years, to the day. When people reach this Lastday they report to a Sleepshop in which they are willingly executed. A person’s age is revealed by their palm flower crystal embedded in the palm of their right hand that changes color every seven years, then turns black on Lastday. Lastday as celebrated as a form of reincarnation and the ignorant populace has no clue really that they are basically being murdered.

Runners are those who refuse to report to a Sleepshop and attempt to avoid their fate by escaping to Sanctuary– a hidden location outside of the city. Logan 3 is a Deep Sleep Operative (also called Sandman) whose job is to terminate Runners. On his own Lastday, Logan becomes a Runner himself in an attempt to infiltrate an apparent underground railroad for runners seeking Sanctuary—a place where they can live freely in defiance of society’s dictates. And for most of the book Logan is an antihero; however, his character develops a sympathy towards Runners and in the end he himself becomes a Runner and falls in love with a woman named Jessica 6. In the book, Sanctuary turns out to be an abandoned space colony near Mars. Logan and Jessica escape to the colony on a rocket that departs from a former space program launch site in Florida.

In the movie, it is quite different. I won’t spoil too much of it for you if you haven’t seen it but the ending is actually quite uplifting and positive. I liked the novel as well but I have to say that I really do like the movie equally. Logan’s Run is fun and creepy as well and also stems from the same NWO like fears that many conspiracy theorists hold for our future. As far as the influence on my comic Gates, many little details including the aspect of “running” away from a society in which they don’t belong–are very apparent.

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5. Soylent Green:

“Soylent Green is people—IT’S PEEEEOPLE!”

One of the most famous lines in cinematic history, screamed aloud by Charleston Heston.  Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction film directed by Richard Fleischer and of course, starring Charlton Heston. As a social commentary, the film overlays the police procedural and science fiction genres.  It depicts the investigation into the brutal murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from the fears of a modern world; pollution, overpopulation, depleted natural resources, worldwide poverty & famine, dying oceans polluted by mankind and a hot climate due to the greenhouse effect and natural climate progressions. Much of the population survives on processed food rations, in particularly a product called “soylent green”.

The film, is loosely based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room!, by Harry Harrison. This book won the Nebula Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film in 1973.

In the movie, Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) is a New York City Police Department detective in the 14th Precinct who lives in a dilapidated, cramped one-room apartment with his aged friend and roommate, Solomon “Sol” Roth played by Edward G. Robinson, in his last film. Roth is a former college professor who searches through the now-disordered remnants of written records and books to help Thorn’s investigations.

His investigation leads Thorn into the basement of the assisted suicide facility, where he sees corpses being loaded onto waste disposal trucks. He secretly hitches a ride on one, which is driven to a heavily guarded waste disposal plant. It is here where the terror of a dystopian future is revealed. Once inside the plant, Thorn sees how the corpses are processed into Soylent Green wafers and learns how society has cannibalized itself in order to live.

The ending has parodied all over and is very famous; When police backup arrive, the seriously wounded and nearly hysterical Thorn is taken a way kicking and screaming the secret behind Soylent Green, finally urging him to spread the word: “Soylent Green is PEOPLE!! We’ve got to stop them—SOMEHOW!!!”

With a bizarre and very scary take on the future of society, this movie definitely has been an influence on Gates in many ways. In particular as a child growing when I watched this with my dad before my teens, I clearly felt that the state of the world left an impression. Over population and the product of man’s stupidity had destroyed our once beautiful planet and led humans to cannibalism. This was a crazy concept to grasp and it was very influential and the back story I needed to create the villain, Soloman–as you will see later on as you continue to read Gates, Heavy Metal’s first webcomic.

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6. Metropolis

Metropolis is the first dystopian sci-fi film ever created and to this day it still stands tall. Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film directed by Fritz Lang about a futuristic urban dystopia which explores the social crisis between workers and owners in capitalism. The film was produced in the Babelsberg Studios by Universum Film A.G. (UFA) and is the most expensive silent film ever made.

Metropolis was cut substantially after its German premiere, and much footage was lost over the passage of successive decades. There have been several efforts to restore it, as well as discoveries of previously lost footage.I have seen every incarnation and they all have their own valuable merits.  A 2001 reconstruction of Metropolis, shown at the Berlin Film Festival, was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in that same year.In 2008, a copy of the film 30 minutes longer than any other known surviving copy was located in Argentina. After a long period of restoration in Germany, the restored film was shown publicly for the first time simultaneously at Berlin and Frankfurt on February 12, 2010.(It is currently streaming on Netflix if you’re interetsed).

The film itself is set in the massive, sprawling futuristic mega-city Metropolis, which was beatufilly articulated in the film. In Metroplois,  society is divided into two classes: one of planners and management, who live high up in luxurious skyscrapers and one of workers, who live and toil underground. It is a clear case of the current pulling away of the elite from the poor working class and the destruction of the middle class. The city was founded, built, and is run by the autocratic Joh Fredersen. Like all the other sons of the managers of Metropolis, Fredersen’s son Freder lives a worry free life of luxury. One day, as he is cavorting in the Eternal Gardens, he notices that a beautiful girl has appeared with many children of the workers. She is quickly escorted away, but Freder becomes infatuated with her beauty and follows her down to the workers’ underworld.

It is here that he experiences first-hand the horrors of the workers’ life, and is scared and appalled when an enormous machine, known as the M-Machine, violently explodes and kills dozens of workers. In the smoke, Freder discovres that the M-Machine known as Moloch, is a monstrous deity to which the hapless workers are sacrificed.

One of the few people above ground who knows about the world below is Freder’s father, Joh Fredersen, who is the founder and master of Metropolis. Freder soon learns that the woman is named Maria, and he wants her love.

Following her in disguise, Freder reveals his true identity to Maria and tells her that he must be the Mediator she has been waiting for to help bridge the two worlds. Fredersen, who has turned away in thought, sees none of this; Rotwang, however, sees everything. Fredersen instructs Rotwang to give the machine-man the image of Maria in order to sow discord between her and the workers. Rotwang acquiesces but has ulterior motives, intending to use the machine-man to ruin Fredersen’s life. While Fredersen returns to his office, Rotwang chases Maria through a tunnel up into his house, capturing her. Freder, hearing her screams, attempts to rescue her, but he is imprisoned in the house.

Rotwang transforms the machine-man into a double of Maria (which is the female robot image associated with this movie). He then commands it to destroy Fredersen, his city, and his son. Downstairs, a door opens, allowing Freder to ascend a staircase. He encounters Rotwang, who tells him that Maria is not here; rather, she is with Fredersen. When Freder arrives at his father’s office, he sees the machine (which now resembles Maria) embracing his father. Freder suffers a mental breakdown and collapses. During his convalescence that night, he hallucinates vividly about passages from the Book of Revelations and death’s descent upon the city.

Rotwang demonstrates the machine-man’s abilities to Fredersen by dressing it up as an erotic dancer at the Yoshiwara, where it drives the sons of the owners into homicidal fits of sexual jealousy. The body count is enormous; meanwhile, the machine-man also visits the workers’ city and encourages the workers to rebel. Freder arrives and tells the workers that this Maria is a fraud. The workers instead recognize him as Fredersen’s son and attempt to kill him. In the fight, Georgy tries to defend Freder but is accidentally stabbed. The workers storm the M-Machine and destroy the Heart Machine, the city’s power generator. This results in a complete hydraulic breakdown. The city’s reservoirs overflow and inundate the workers’ city to the brim, threatening to drown the children of the workers. However, the children are saved by the real Maria, Freder, and Josaphat in a heroic rescue.

The workers, realizing what they have done, and believing that they have killed their children, blame Maria. Under Grot’s leadership, they dash to the upper city to pursue the real Maria. They run into Yoshiwara and meet the owners’ sons, led by the machine Maria. In the ensuing confusion, Maria escapes and the machine-man is tied to a stake and burned. The flames burn off the likeness of Maria and reveal the machine-man’s true form to the crowd—the evil robotic woman!

Meanwhile, Rotwang, who has broken down completely and believes her to be Hel, corners Maria in a cathedral. Freder climbs up to the roof and battles Rotwang as Fredersen watches in horror. Rotwang falls to his death, and Freder and Maria return to the street. Freder takes his first step as mediator and he and his father, Fredersen join hands, thus beginning a period of unity and reform.

Don’t worry if you haven’t seen Metroplois, as this will help you when watch it, not spoil it. Why I went into such plot detail is that it is a good way to grasp everything beforehand when watching this film in my opinion. It is heavy, black and white and silent so it can become a little hard to follow every detail when watching it for the first time in my opinion.

Metroplois is the mother of all negative Utopian films and as far as an influence on Gates, I really wanted the ConGenement led society to be a parallel one to the crappy life the workers in Metropolis led. I loved the dilapidated world they lived in and how their wretched life was all work and ruled by a machine. And of course, the robotic Maria is truly the first cinematic, “Heavy Metal” chick!