You know what I left the cinema wondering about? The economics of the Axiom.
The movie strongly implies (and the supplemental material I've seen makes it explicit) that Buy+Large is a capitalistic corporation that has a monopoly on literally everything, to the extent that they're the de facto world government. Admittedly, a lot of things an change in 700 years, but the presence of ubiquitous (and very effective) advertising combined with the explicit mention of a free cupcake-in-a-cup as being something out of the ordinary lead me to believe that this isn't supposed to be the case. So, my question is this:
How do the passengers of the Axiom earn sufficient money to be able to afford the life to which they've become accustomed? Are they simply granted an allowance? If so B+L's constant attempts to separate people from their money seems pointless.
On the other hand, are we only seeing the descendants of the ultra-rich, eating their way through the accounts that their ancestors set up? The Axiom is the flagship of the fleet, intended to be the epitome of luxury, so that doesn't seem unreasonable. Is the economic situation on other ships vastly different? Are there even second-class cabins belowdecks on the Axiom, populated by people who can't afford to have their walking done for them, and who have to do the work considered too dangerous to risk expensive robots on? (while I can't disprove this latter idea from the text, I'm pretty sure it's not the case)
So, how do the privileged passengers of the Axiom produce enough wealth to be able to live as they do? For that matter, how does the Axiom produce enough wealth that it can afford to vent valuable garbage into space, a tonne at a time?
« Last Edit: August 04, 2008, 05:31:36 PM by wintermute »
Science means that not all dreams can come true