Alphaville (1965)
In the opening scenes of Godard's film-noir/sci-fi
film Alphaville (1965)
Lemmy Caution, the film's private detective/spy hero arrives in
Alphaville, a futuristic vision of Paris. A sign on the highway
leading into the city announces "Welcome to Alphaville:
Science, Logic, Security, Prudence." Caution has been sent
from the Outlands to discover the fate of fellow agent Henry
Dickson, sabotage Alpha 60, the supercomputer that controls
Alphaville, and assassinate Alpha 60's creator, Professor Leonard
Vonbraun (aka, Leonard Nosferatu).
Alpha 60, "a big computer,
like they used to have in business," consists of "14
billion nerve centers" from which it engages in surveillance
of the city and its zombie-like population; interrogates and
condemns non-conformists; delivers obscure lectures on semantics,
metaphysics, economic theory; controls "train and airplane
departures, the movement of people and goods, electricity
distribution, crime suppression, and war operations"; and
develops its own cognitive capacities by conceiving and solving
problems far too complex for human intelligence and imagination
to grasp. The purpose of Alpha 60, in its own words and the words
of its creators and engineers, is to "minimize unknown
quantities...to calculate and project the results which
Alphaville will subsequently enjoy." Alpha 60 declares with
pride that its "decisions always have in view the ultimate
good."
Alphaville is, in other words, a
fascist technocracy in which trains run on time, goods and
services are produced and consumed in the most efficient manner,
and "Class 3 Seductresses" stand ready to provide
sexual gratification at any time of the night or day. It is also,
however, a city where people have become "the slaves of
probabilities" and are executed for behaving illogically
(weeping upon the death of a spouse, for example); a city where
poets are condemned for writing incomprehensible things; a city
where emotion is forbidden and conformity is required; a city
where words, such as "redbreast, weeping, autumn light, and
tenderness" disappear from the dictionary every day; a city
where no one knows the meaning of the words "why" and
"conscience." Alpha 60's utopia is humanity's dystopia.
The "ultimate good" Alpha
60 has always in view is thus defined by the techno-fascist
values of logic and efficiency--the minimization of "unknown
quantities"--values in direct conflict with the humanism
represented by Lemmy Caution and the Outlands. During his interrogation,
Lemmy's responses to Alpha 60 are deliberately obscure and
lyrical. Alpha 60 tells Lemmy that his words are "impossible
or difficult to codify," but that it's circuits will
continue to search for their meaning. Lemmy responds that if and
when it finds their meaning, if and when it comes to grips with
ambiguity, it will become "his brother." It will, in
other words, become human.