Favorite, "Love, Death, and Robots", Film - POP SQUAD

    My favorite film from the Netflix series, "Love, Death, and Robots", was, "Pop Squad". I personally really enjoyed, "Pop Squad", because of the commentary it made on American Culture, our obsession with youth, as well as its reference to American Individualism.  

   Americans have long been known for our sense of individualism, both as a country and as single participants in society. I found that this notion was reflected back to us in, "Pop Squad", when the upper echelon made comments on the less fortunate being that way because of their own actions. The idea of every person being solely responsible for their standing in society goes back to the beginning of America, and is arguably one of our founding principles. Furthermore, the American obsession with youth was also touched upon. Again, the upper echelon can be seen rewinding their biological clock, referred to as a "boost", with the aid of modern science and technology. I found this both interesting and terrifying. As an American, I too like the idea of living forever, however, to see it play out in, "Pop Squad", immortality now seems far less appealing. Even more intriguing is that modern science is close to being able to, at the very least slow aging, and might soon be able to stop it altogether. As it turns out, "Pop Squad" is not predicting the future, but instead warning of it. 

    Besides the characters found within, "Pop Squad", I also found the setting fascinating. The big city where the upper echelon resides is portrayed in a very similar way as the city in, "Metropolis". From the architecture to the scale of the buildings, it is clear that a common theme is the sheer power and wealth portrayed through scale. Moreover, the presence of flying cars, also present in, "Pop Squad",  is an idea that has been ever-present in future-looking movies. "Pop Squad"s, take on flying cars is unique though, as they are a combination of an old car body style abstracted by a modern twist, absent of wheels. 

EDIT: 

    "Pop Squad", was directed by Franck Balson and Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The story itself was based on a short story written by Paolo Bacigalupi and adapted by Philip Gelatt. In researching the writer Paolo Bacigalupi, I found that much of his work focuses on Eastern Culture and the West's negative global impact. Specifically, Paolo focuses on the West's handling of human labor, food supply, genetic engineering, resource management, and Western dominance. This certainly came across in his work as the theme of American Individualism and consumerism can be seen throughout, as mentioned above. It would appear that this theme of Western criticism is an undertone throughout his work as seen in, "The Water Knife", where the West fights over their access to water.