The Veldt Vs. Click
The story the Veldt by Ray Bradbury and the movie Click directed by Frank Coraci both demonstrate how technology has potential to undermine traditional authority/morality.
Both the Veldt and Click demonstrate how technology can control how you act toward certain situations. In the Veldt the parents George and Lydia use the nursery to keep their children Peter and Wendy occupied so they do not have to watch them. The nursery allows the children to imagine anything in their minds and it comes to life in the room. Having such enhanced technology for these children changes their attitudes. They begin to take advantage of their parents by trying to convince them to let them play in the nursery more. The result of this technology overpowering Peter and Wendy causes them to resent their parents. In Click when the main character Michael Newman finds a universal remote he begins using it to skip over the boring parts in his life by fast forwarding. He could also rewind his life to look back on his past. He later on gets carried away with this universal remote and overuses it for his personal reasons. Having too much power in the universal remote effects Michael Newman’s outlook on the world and isn’t interested in his life. Therefore there is no sense of owning the responsibility of technology because it is in control of the actions being made.
The Veldt and Click also demonstrate how technology can take away the connections between their families. In the Veldt when the parents continuously let their children play in the nursery it affects how the children behave and start to get addicted to it. When George and Lydia tell Peter and Wendy to not go back in the nursery, they begin to misbehave and throw a tantrum. They do not agree with their parent’s decision and start to wish unpleasant thoughts about their parents in the nursery about them being killed by the lions. So once the parents re enter the nursery they are killed by the lions. Allowing the children to have too much possession with this technology causes separation between the parents and children. In Click Michael Newman becomes obsessed with the universal remote and does not recognize how his life is changing. He starts to miss out on all the important events that happened in his life like, business opportunities, his wedding anniversary and his children’s birthdays. Over using the universal remote by fast forwarding into his future starts to cause a loss of relationship between Michael and his family. Losing out on time together with his family affects his relationships with them and they start to grow apart. As a result, technology has become a big issue for these families to overcome and is tearing them apart.
In conclusion the story the Veldt and the movie Click both demonstrate how technology can cause issues and complications to those in possession of it. Such power in one’s hand can do so much damage to one’s life. Seeing how technology can negatively affect lives of those who own it there should be a minimal use of it for everyone. It could improve people’s bad behaviour’s and from ripping families apart.
By: Christina Samonas
