Andrew Niccol’s In Time (Summary)

The film, In Time, is all about a certain world in which people stop
aging at the age of 25. However, they do possess this certain clock which
is embedded in their arm, counting down the remaining time that they
have in order to live. Their time are also used for trading goods and
services. When this clock reaches zero, the person will die. The main
character in this film is Will Salas, a poor individual who lives in Ghetto, a
factory worker who lives with his mother. He saved Mr. Hamilton who has
a decade on his clock from being robbed and killed. Before committing a
suicide at the bridge, Mr. Hamilton transferred his years to him while he is
sleeping. He was given a very precious gift, and he goes to live in the
place of these rich people in the society, had a luxury that he never had.
He is having this certain mindset that he will make these people pay for
the sufferings that they’re having since then. However, he’s being chased
by the timekeeper. After winning a thousand years from the casino, he’s
been invited to a party by his opponent, Mr. Weis and his daughter, Sylvia,
at their residence. There, he kidnaps Slyvia Weis when he’s about to be
captured by the timekeeper. Will and Sylvia fall for each other while
escaping, while being together. They eventually rob rich people, banks
and other sources of time and give it to the poor. They help them to
extend their lives, to exist a longer time than before.

A Marxist Analysis on the Film, In Time

Marxism is not just simply a theory that is being used in interpreting

texts. Also, it is somewhat a set of social, economic, and political ideas
that would, according to some, would make a difference not just in a
society, but also in the world. They are the basis of a system of thought
that sees inequitable economic relationships as the source of class
conflict. This certain conflict the mechanism in which Western society
developed feudalism to capitalism, which will eventually give way to
socialism, the system that will characterize world economic relationships.
This film presents Marxist concepts. It depicts Marx’ labour theory of
value in a sensible way along with the class struggle. People need to work
hard in order for them to save time for living. Their time is the amount of
the labor they spent from working. You can trade time with others just by
locking arms however. With the importance and use of time, goods and
services can be bought and exchange. Just like for a cup of coffee, it will
cost 4 minutes of your life, a night at a hotel costs 2 months, a phone call
costs you a minute, a breakfast in a fancy restaurant costs eight and a half
weeks, and a new car costs 2 years. Their lives somewhat depend on the
amount of time that they have gathered. Class conflict (class struggle) has
been introduced as well in the film. It presented a conflict situation
between the proletariat and bourgeoisie class in the society which results
from different economic/social positions, and reflecting opposed interest.
Will is a proletariat who wants to do a revolution towards the higher or
bourgeoisie class. Though her loved one, Slyvia Weis is from the higher
class, still she helped Will and the others from the proletariat class in a
revolutionary. She helped the oppressed poor individuals based on her
own will. Both of them realized that it was not fair that the rich had all the
time or currency in the world, while the others only had hours and
minutes. Most of the upper class men are landlords or owners of large
factory owners, bankers and insurance brokers. Rich individuals in a
specific part of Greenwich live for centuries or millennia without aging.
The poor mostly live day-to-day, never having more than about 24 hours
on their clocks. These rich people don’t run or hurry because they’ve got
all the time in the world. They have plenty of time to spend on anything,
to experience everything. These poor ones run whenever they can, while
they still can. This certain concept shows the inequality with time. Majority
of the rich have geological time in their bank accounts. Will believed that
everyone should have the opportunity to have decades to live and are
equal. It stresses the financial capital instead of industrial capital.
Economic power and oppression was also showed, because of the people’s
need to have more time so that they can live longer, capitalism preys on
the insecurities of the consumers, they were urged to compete with others
in the number of time and quality of their possessions like a new car,
brand new clothes, and extravagant suite. And in result, it somewhat
pushed them not just to ask, work or beg for time, but also to steal and
gamble. The poor individuals literally did not have enough time to worry
about trying to find a better paying job to suffice their needs, to prolong
their lives. The different regions of wealth were blocked off by barriers,
and it will take you years to get to other region. This was set obviously by
the rich people so that the lower class were not able to do anything about
being poor. They were not able to be a threat to the power structure of the
society. False consciousness has been emphasized also in the film. Before
Mt. Hamilton entrusted his decade to Will, he said these lines, “the cost of
living keeps rising to make sure people keep dying” and “for you to be
immortal, many must die”. This false consciousness made the poor ones
believe that there is not enough time for them to exist in the world. They
doesn’t have the right or opportunity to live longer like the rich people.
Also it is better to have a few people in the world that can live forever than
for everyone to have equal time. There is sufficient time for everyone to
live for decades, but these immortals have took these years and stored in
their banks.
At the end, thanks to Will and Sylvia, the proletariats do overcome the
bourgeoisie class and receive all the currency or should I say years in the
world. They were able to move to other regions. He was like just Robin
Hood who takes money and give it to the poor. And just like what Mr.
Hamilton said to Will, “Don’t waste my time”, time is indeed significant in
every one’s existence and must be used wisely and effectively.