Time Machine

I have both just listened to and watched H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. The book was written in 1895 - read by Derek Jacobi - and the movie version I watched was made in 1960. Whereas I was struck by the concept of the haves and the have-nots in the book, the movie was more about human kind and their predilection for war.

In the book, I was struck how in 1895, Wells drew the conclusion that the haves, having all their needs taken care of for them, without them having to think anything through, ultimately turned into the equivalent of cattle. The have-nots were pushed underground, but having been required to maintain the machinery which kept the human animal above ground fed, housed, and clothed, they still could think and reason. Though, perhaps because of the divergence, the underground humans, the Morlocks, no longer saw the Eloi, the above ground humans, as human, and there no longer existed the repugnance of anthropophagy, as they were no longer the same. It is worth noting that Darwin lived from 1809 to 1882 and also, from my 21st century lens, surrounded by discussions about the 99% and the 1%, it is interesting to think about, this weird celebration of those folks who continue to use their hands to create, build and maintain. (I suspect I may be the only person to think the cannibalistic Morlocks are a celebration of the common man....)

It was the movie, however, which prompted me to post here today. Though the book was written - and set, I believe - in 1895, the 1960 movie begins on New Years Eve 1899 while the English are fighting the Boers in South Africa. George, our time traveler, is clearly disgusted by his country's continuous state of war - and that is only looking backwards in time, not knowing what we know today. He first emerges during WW1 - in September 1917 - and later to WW2 and even in to a period of Nuclear War. He pushes on through time to get to the period of the Eloi and Morlocks. We, of course, have lived through more wars that Wells' did not know - WW1 & 2, Korea, and even the producers of the movie did not know, Vietnam and now the longest for the US - Afghanistan.

Back to Herb, though. We haven't yet gotten to September 1917 in our letters, we know that Herb is still in Allentown, PA, in August, talking about the weather and thinking about Karolyn while the time traveler is talking with Filby's son - George Filby, the father and fiend to the time traveler, having died during the 'Great War'- which Herb is now apart of. Silly thoughts, I know, but still fun to think of.

And also, as this blog celebrates Fiber Art - I loved how the director used women's fashions to illustrate the passage of time; that was brilliant.