Man Cannot Replace What God has Created Perfectly
If a picture is worth a thousand words, It is hard to imagine how much the film Koyaanisqatsi (1983), directed by Godfrey Reggio, is worth. Although the film is void of words, it makes a statement. The film argues that despite the beauty and greatness that can be found in technology, it cannot surpass the beauty of the natural world or replace it.
The film shows the infinite detail and constant change in earth, water, fire, and air. The plants are continuously growing, the water is always moving, fire is flickering faster than our eyes can comprehend, and the land is constantly being changed by all of the other elements. To contrast the constant changes and movement in nature the film switches abruptly from a scene of rolling white clouds, to the dark coalmines with smoke filled air and a bulldozer approaching the camera. This contrast emphasizes the beauty of nature and the darkness and danger of technology. The juxtaposition of nature and industry scenes, shows the inferiority of technology’s detail in comparison to nature’s.
The point of making these distinctions is not to depict technology as the ultimate evil of the world, but rather to show that even though man has made great accomplishments, nature is supremely powerful and intricate. The film shows many scenes where technology is imitating nature. For example, the film shows a skyscraper towering high above, reflecting the blue sky and clouds to show how the building imitates the sky. However, the film includes footage of great buildings collapsing in a matter of seconds, which argues that even though man’s accomplishments may be great, they are still not as powerful and timeless as nature.
The film does an excellent job of portraying technology’s impact on society and how man made structures have diminished much of natures beauty. The accretion of scenes serves to build this story. Scenes, starting with the scenes of enormous awe inspiring canyons and dessert landscapes, then followed by a scene showing people laying on the beach then panning out to show that the beach is right by a nuclear power plant, followed by a scene in which a bird’s eye view shows the straight lines creating basic shapes of water and flat land that have been created around the plant by man, collectively show the story of how man has altered the beauty of randomness with the straight lines and simplified shapes. Later, the scene of a nuclear bomb being tested adds to the same story by showing how terribly wrong the technology implemented by man can go. This scene shows how the bomb poisons the landscape and tree, and represents technology’s poisoning and destruction of nature in general.
The skillful selection of the order of scenes is crucial in relaying the film’s arguments to its viewers. Also, the way that different scenes are shown in succession to one another gives the film the ability to show changes being made, in order for the viewer to note the change to the natural world that is caused by technology. By using all film, Koyaanisqatsi offers nothing but evidence, which has helped me agree with the film’s argument. This film was both intelligently, and beautifully put together to show that humans should not allow technology to attempt to replace nature.
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