anonymous (street meat) was inspired by the news and here's a bit of dialogue from it which addresses some of these issues -- like a giant squid, wrapped around the face of humanity.
The train slows down. Lights flicker inside the cabin. She strokes his face.
MEGAN
We better get where we're going.
DEVLYN
Where are we going?
MEGAN
They've wiped out your memory, Ryan.
You're merely a sophisticated electronic hiccup.
Instead, he listens to a song playing somewhere in his memory --
BILLY HOLIDAY SONG
"Blood at the root. Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south. The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth"
REAL PARALLEL WORLD
INT TRAIN NIGHT
It's 4:30 A.M. Still dark outside.
The train has come to a stop and passengers are boarding.
There are officers checking every passenger. They carry some kind of electronic device where the passengers place their palms. It gives a GREEN beam and a hum.
The passengers are a diverse group of people. Students, businessmen and women. Janitors with their cleaning implements.
There is also a group of tourists which carry blue Pan-Am bags like the ones used in the 50's. They are being ushered in by a tour guide who carries a sign aloft, PARTICLE COLLIDERS TOUR.
The man and the woman take a small boy, Milke, by the hand. They all stare and Devlyn and Megan in recognition, but say nothing. They enter the train.
The last passenger board the train and an officer signals for the doors to close.
DEVLYN
Survival of the fittest. The hustle. The banks. It's all behind us now.
MEGAN
How I wish.
DEVLYN
Am I forgetting something?
MEGAN
Yes. You're forgetting they are the Dr. Frankensteins.
DEVLYN
Frankenstein monsters.
He SEES an image of a FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER with his monster bride in that famous scene where Elsa Lanchester hisses at the monster, but it's love at first sight.
And he laughs.
DEVLYN
Cool imagery.
MEGAN
They're the ones who created the mutant monstrous mortgages luring poor villagers away from their peace of mind, their scant sense of dignity and all the meager amenities offered by your slumlord buddies.
DEVLYN
Don't have slumlord buddies.
They head into a tunnel.
He reads from a indoor advertisement pasted on the side
DEVLYN
Avarice and overindulgence are two sides of the same coin. So I'm into this idea. It's a positive thing, Megan.
She remembers the billboard without even looking and drones along.
MEGAN
What's that?
DEVLYN
We've got to get a dream to build on.
MEGAN
I dreamt that everyone spoke a different language and hated each other.
DEVLYN
Oh, that's already true, isn't it?
MEGAN
The dream is to be born in the gutter and grow up and get all the money in the world.
DEVLYN
Guess I'm angry.
MEGAN
They tell us that wrath and sullenness are basically a single sin.
DEVLYN
Anger that is expressed and anger that is repressed.
MEGAN
Something like that. We gotta stop reading spin-meister slogans. Learned that in therapy. And now it's everywhere.
DEVLYN
Doc's got some things right.
MEGAN
Pray tell?
DEVLYN
If all time is eternally present then all time is redeemable. We've had the good choices we've made, toasting all the things that made it possible for us to be sitting right here.
Devlyn's expression is sad.
MEGAN
His words just tumble over each other. He isn't even listening because his mind is going too fast.
Megan suffers --
MEGAN
We had no idea. Each of us made choices long ago.
DEVLYN
Yes. We all made choices. Good ones. Bad ones. Including the banks. Banks are made up of people.
She looks at him hard.
MEGAN
You're all fucked up.
DEVLYN
Hell, yes. And maybe you don`t go to hell for the things you do. Maybe you go to hell for the things you don`t do.
MEGAN
And now they can say "never mind, it was a boo-boo," as they stroke their Christmas bonus and point their fickle finger at the poor for meddling with the natural order of the housing universe.
And he listens. The train is moving. She is still talking but he doesn't hear a word.
He humors her.
DEVLYN
These Frankensteins need to be girded bridled, gagged, and hauled away in a tumbrel.
MEGAN
You betcha. Try and remember why we're here. Try.
DEVLYN
Amazing how you can put this all together. But I can't. Not at this time of the morning.
The train slows down. Lights flicker inside the cabin. She strokes his face.
MEGAN
We better get where we're going.
DEVLYN
Where are we going?
MEGAN
They've wiped out your memory, Ryan. You're merely a sophisticated electronic hiccup.
Instead, he listens to a song playing somewhere in his memory --
BILLY HOLIDAY SONG
"Blood at the root. Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south. The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth"
DEVLYN
I get the feeling you're telling me I don't exist.
MEGAN
Someone else is at the controls now.
DEVLYN
I think. Therefore I am.
MEGAN
You've got it backward.
Devlyn doesn't move. He's listening to an inner voice.
MEGAN
The financial crisis and the oil spill are both man-made disasters brought on by hubris and avarice. Don't think, Ryan. We're better off not thinking too much.
Some time passes.
Train stops in front of the thicket.
Megan and Devlyn step out.
DEVLYN
Been walking forever.
BILLY HOLIDAY SONG
"Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck. For the rain to gather. For the wind to suck. For the sun to rot. For the tree to drop. Here is a strange and bitter crop."
MEGAN
We've arrived.
DEVLYN
Everyone willing to work hard ought to have a shot.
MEGAN
Hey, c'mon, let's get a move on.
He sees the train in the distance, as it disappears around a corner.
DEVLYN
In five minutes, we'll be in Oslo.
MEGAN
Say goodbye.
DEVLYN
Oh, shit. Too bad. I loved that place. People there work hard to overcome whatever unfairness is thrust their way. I really liked Copenhagen.
Megan walks without looking back.
DEVLYN
End of your life. It's quite difficult.
MEGAN
Say goodbye to it.
DEVLYN
Until next time.
He winks at her optimistically.
DEVLYN
Me man, you woman.
Megan kisses him softly on the lips. Devlyn her hands her the letter. She opens it. It's blank.
DEVLYN
Who is Ayah Asher?
MEGAN
We all are.
The middle of the empty tracks as the train pulls out. She looks both ways.
BLACKNESS
EXT COPENHAGEN NIGHT
The horizon is illuminated by a faint red, as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction, with yellow streaks diffused on a red background.
Colors change and merge from the original one. The sky appears made up of molten lava.
It's an aurora borealis.
The only sound is that of the RISING WIND.
Flurries of debris form whirlpools around a vast urban landscape.
The streets are crowded with slow-moving undetermined figures, as an expensive-looking black sedan speeds through. Megan is at the wheel and Devlyn is seated beside her.
Megan holds the wheels steady and turns to Devlyn. She points to the horizon. Something looms out of the maelstrom. It's a brown rectangular skyscraper.
DEVLYN
There's an ubbermassive black hole residing there.
MEGAN
Maybe.
Megan turns to Devlyn.
Her look is tender as she caresses Devlyn's face with the back of her hand, clearlystrugglingtocontrolher emotions. They kiss.
DEVLYN
We'll live here for the rest of our lives.
It takes some time for the tears to flow. They're both crying.
She shifts the car to high gear and slams a CD in the player.
BILLY HOLIDAY SONG
"Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck. For the rain to gather. For the wind to suck. For the sun to rot. For the tree to drop. Here is a strange and bitter crop."
A glint of metal.
MEGAN
"If anything should happen to me, you must go to Gort, you must say these words, "Klaatu barada nikto", please repeat that." Promise me.
DEVLYN
I promise.
Kukla, the snake, slides out from within his cargo and coils into his lap. She rattles a loving purr.
DEVLYN
It's a new day.
MEGAN
Yes. It is.
A security gated entrance reflects off the car's glossy exterior.
The sign reads FOR A HEALTHY ZIP!
Devlyn pulls out his pistol-shape cigarette lighter and flicks on a smoke. He takes a drag and exhales.
From within the cigarette smoke appears a --
COMPUTER SCREEN
A video game battle wins are tallied on the screen.
The Billy Holiday song is replaced by Mozart's opera "Mitridate,reidoPonto."
And the video game "Anonymous (Street Meat)" ends with an explosion of fire works.
EARTH, THE "REAL WORLD"
INT GAME ROOM DAY
Two GAMERS HEAR rap on their iPods, as they walk away from their play station. Kool G is HEARD.
KOOL G RAP
Blowin up, blowin up in the world Blowin up, blowin up in the world!
I'm blowin up the world, I gotta get mines, I gotta get mines I gotsta get mines, you kno what I'm sayin? I'm blowin up in the world.
DIGITAL PARALLEL WORLD
Megan and Devlyn, standing alone, remain behind.
MEGAN
And so we remain frozen in space -- trapped in time. But we're also "fully alive, having been granted, like Pygmalion’s statue, the breath of life."
BLACKNESS
FADE OUT
Time present and time past are both present in time future, and time future is contained in time past. What might have been an abstraction remains a perpetual possibility.
T. S. Eliot
THE END