Based on the short story "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
Wikipedia summary -
A family lives in a house with the latest technology. It is called the “Happylife Home” and its installation cost $30,000. The house is filled with machines that do everything for them from cooking meals, to clothing them, to rocking them to sleep. The two children, Peter and Wendy, become fascinated with the "nursery," a virtual reality room that is able to connect with the children telepathically to reproduce any place they imagine.
The parents, George and Lydia, soon realize that there is something wrong with their way of life. George and Lydia are also perplexed that the nursery is stuck on an African setting, with lions in the distance, eating the dead carcass of what they assume to be an animal. There they also find recreations of their personal belongings. Wondering why their children are so concerned with this scene of death, they decide to call a psychologist.
The psychologist, David McClean, suggests they turn off the house and leave. The children, completely addicted to the nursery, beg their parents to let them have one last visit. The parents relent, and agree to let them spend a few more minutes there. When they come to the nursery to fetch the children, the children lock them in from the outside. George and Lydia look on as the lions begin to advance towards them. At that point, they realize that what the lions were eating in the distance was not an animal, but their own simulated remains.
The kids realized that the only way they could stay in their nursery is to get rid of their parents by locking George and Lydia in the nursery with the lions.
@kinkylemons Disturbing?... yes and no. A literal interpretation would be that the parents are dead and their children murdered them. But please remember that the nursery is not real but a virtual reality room. Even though the book hints that the lions are real... they are not. It's just an "artistic license" by Ray to instill fear into us (I believe).
@kinkylemons Disturbing?... yes and no. A literal interpretation would be that the parents are dead and their children murdered them. But please remember that the nursery is not real but a virtual reality room. Even though the book hints that the lions are real... they are not. It's just an "artistic license" by Ray to instill fear into us (I believe).
To me, the true moral of the story is that the children chose the nursery over their parents, i.e. technology can be dangerous if left alone. "Rise of the machines", if you will.
To me, the true moral of the story is that the children chose the nursery over their parents, i.e. technology can be dangerous if left alone. "Rise of the machines", if you will.
However... I will admit that the sole fact of "hinting" that the children are murderers crossed my mind, and it IS truly disturbing indeed.
Based on the short story "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury Wikipedia summary - A family lives in a house with the latest technology. It is called the “Happylife Home” and its installation cost $30,000. The house is filled with machines that do everything for them from cooking meals, to clothing them, to rocking them to sleep. The two children, Peter and Wendy, become fascinated with the "nursery," a virtual reality room that is able to connect with the children telepathically to reproduce any place they imagine.
The parents, George and Lydia, soon realize that there is something wrong with their way of life. George and Lydia are also perplexed that the nursery is stuck on an African setting, with lions in the distance, eating the dead carcass of what they assume to be an animal. There they also find recreations of their personal belongings. Wondering why their children are so concerned with this scene of death, they decide to call a psychologist.
The psychologist, David McClean, suggests they turn off the house and leave. The children, completely addicted to the nursery, beg their parents to let them have one last visit. The parents relent, and agree to let them spend a few more minutes there. When they come to the nursery to fetch the children, the children lock them in from the outside. George and Lydia look on as the lions begin to advance towards them. At that point, they realize that what the lions were eating in the distance was not an animal, but their own simulated remains.
The kids realized that the only way they could stay in their nursery is to get rid of their parents by locking George and Lydia in the nursery with the lions.
It's disturbing really.
@kinkylemons Disturbing?... yes and no. A literal interpretation would be that the parents are dead and their children murdered them. But please remember that the nursery is not real but a virtual reality room. Even though the book hints that the lions are real... they are not. It's just an "artistic license" by Ray to instill fear into us (I believe).
@kinkylemons Disturbing?... yes and no. A literal interpretation would be that the parents are dead and their children murdered them. But please remember that the nursery is not real but a virtual reality room. Even though the book hints that the lions are real... they are not. It's just an "artistic license" by Ray to instill fear into us (I believe).
To me, the true moral of the story is that the children chose the nursery over their parents, i.e. technology can be dangerous if left alone. "Rise of the machines", if you will.
To me, the true moral of the story is that the children chose the nursery over their parents, i.e. technology can be dangerous if left alone. "Rise of the machines", if you will.
However... I will admit that the sole fact of "hinting" that the children are murderers crossed my mind, and it IS truly disturbing indeed.