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Rule By Deceit: Stories And Memories

Rule by Deceit: Stories and Memories

PoliSci 171 First Essay Assignment: Question 1
Professor Cruikshank
Due 10/7/08

Plato’s Republic and Ridely Scott’s Blade Runner are thought provoking critiques focused on how society can degenerate into a dystopia. They take different approaches to this however; The Republic is much more subtle in its methods than Blade Runner. In each of the texts politics has been reduced to absolute rule. In other words the philosopher kings have unquestionable power in The Republic and the Tyrell Corporation headed by Tyrell has rule of the futuristic Los Angeles. Memory is the key in both texts; memory is used as a way to control a person or an entire society. Memory is the most important function of a human, without it you wouldn’t even be able to remember how to do something as simple as get dressed or make breakfast. The easiest way to control memory is through stories or myths. Plato uses “the myth of the metals” to control the population of his kallipolis. This myth is nothing more than state run propaganda to help people fall into their place within the society. Anyone who refuses to be reordered into this system of rule is killed leaving a society of people totally adherent to the social ladder. Without this story the society would fail. Without stories any political order will fail.
What is a story then? Why are they important? These are the questions you would have ask if you really wanted to dig deeper. Wikipedia will tell you “a story is a construct created that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. It derives from the Latin verb narrare, which means ‘to recount’”. If this is the case then everything you learned in history class was a story. Could you imagine a nation that didn’t rely on its history for order? Political leaders use history and stories to manipulate the population to follow them. Leaders use these stories to shift blame or reinforce their stance. Plato is no different from...