In this blog post, we explore why the protagonist in the movie Source Code became fixated on a moment in the past, and what that obsession signifies about human regret, desire, and how we live in the present.
How wonderful it would be if real life could be like saving a game and then loading it back up. How wonderful it would be to return to the past. It’s a thought anyone might entertain at least once. Human imagination finds diverse expression through film. The concept of time travel, impossible at least until now, remains an endlessly fascinating subject. It allows directors and writers to spread their wings of imagination, each with their own unique worldview. While such flights of fancy are impossible in reality, film serves as a medium for vicarious satisfaction.
Many time travel films involve returning to the past. An event triggered in the past creates a new present. In the film ‘The Butterfly Effect,’ the protagonist travels back to alter the present by making a very small change. That change then skips over intermediate steps beyond the protagonist’s control, creating a drastically altered present. However, the present, which they hoped would be just a little better, becomes even more chaotic. They struggle to fix reality through several additional trips back in time, but only reach an increasingly bleak present. Ultimately, through the most tragic ending, the director seems to convey the message: ‘Going back to the past is no good!’ Beyond this, many films famous for time travel, like ‘Back to the Future’ or ‘Terminator,’ depict characters struggling in the past to either change the present or let it unfold as it was meant to. Just as earlier films used time machines or diaries to return to the past, ‘Source Code’ also accesses the past through its own unique device.
While many sci-fi films have dealt with traveling to the past, strictly speaking, ‘Source Code’ doesn’t actually go back in time. First, it preserves a portion of the brain of ‘A’, who has already died in an accident, to retain the memories from just before death. Then, the consciousness of another brain-dead individual, ‘B’, is placed within these memories to find clues to solve the incident in the situation just before the accident. Even if someone is saved by returning to the past, it doesn’t reflect in the actual world. It’s like searching for the key to save our world within a separate, parallel universe. Unlike films that vaguely suggest time travel is possible because some incredible technology developed a time machine, ‘Source Code’ depicts traveling to the past through medical advances that connect to the human brain.
The film opens in a compartment of a Chicago-bound train, where a terrorist attack is imminent. The protagonist, Colter, suddenly awakens in the compartment to find himself in an utterly unfamiliar situation. Before he can make sense of his surroundings, about eight minutes pass, and the train explodes. Moments later, Colter wakes up again inside another unfamiliar capsule. On a screen attached to the wall, a woman urges him, saying he has no time, and orders him to carry out his mission. This mission is to access this Source Code. By connecting the brain of ‘Sean’, who was killed in the morning train terror attack on the day of the incident, with the consciousness of the protagonist ‘Colter’, ‘Colter’ is sent into the train during the accident as the victim ‘Sean’ to find the terrorist. The protagonist, deployed into this Source Code, vividly experiences the moment of the accident that the deceased could not convey.
While the plot involves accessing the past within memories to prevent future disasters, it also incorporates the concept of parallel universe theory. Once dismissed as purely science fiction, parallel universe theory is now claimed by many scientists to actually exist. Theories like the Big Bang theory or quantum mechanics form the basis for concepts such as parallel universes through the inflation theory or parallel universes through the multiverse theory. Imagination surrounding these theories, much like time travel, has established itself as an intriguing subject. The film ‘The One’ depicts a scenario where 125 versions of oneself exist on 125 different planets, each living distinct lives. It posits that if one were to eliminate all 124 other versions of themselves across these parallel universes, that single individual would become the absolute ruler of the universe. The film ‘The Thirteenth Floor’ depicts a parallel world using computer-generated virtual reality. It follows the process of returning to the past within a virtual reality, perfectly replicated from reality, to find clues needed to solve an event in the real world.
Source Code is a virtual space created from the memories of the deceased, yet it reproduced even minute details unknown to the deceased ‘Sean’, its scope surpassing imagination. Consequently, ‘Colter’ could perfectly locate even a secondary bomb for a terrorist attack, hidden in a parking lot beyond ‘Sean’s’ cognitive awareness. The information gained within Source Code thus proved crucial in apprehending the actual terrorist in the real world. Moreover, within Source Code, ‘Coulter’ could even read news articles about his own death via the internet and make phone calls to the agency operating Source Code. Through this, it was no exaggeration to say Source Code had created not merely fragments of memory, but an entirely new world.
In the film, Dr. Rutledge, the head of Source Code, emphasizes that it is confined solely to the memories of the past 8 minutes. However, for Colter, who entered Source Code one last time and had his life support system shut down, the world that seemed destined to vanish after the 8-minute limit remained intact even after preventing the terror attack. From this point on, the protagonist remained permanently in the ‘world where the train terror was prevented’ as ‘Sean’, not in the current world. This is akin to the Buddhist concept that ‘a universe exists within a speck of dust’ – the world within Sean’s consciousness was itself a distinct universe, equal to the actual external world.
‘Source Code’ skillfully utilized the themes of time travel and parallel universes, making it thrilling throughout. It concluded with what felt like the best possible happy ending—one that left you wondering if a better resolution even existed. Though a sci-fi film, it avoided implausible time travel, making it easier to immerse oneself. With brain research advancing today, recent news even reported the development of technology to output images conjured in the brain as video. Though currently only blurry and vague images are possible, the continuous advancement of medicine seems to make it entirely feasible to extract memories and create virtual spaces, just like in the film. While the idea that the world within memories perfectly replicates the real world is purely fictional, accessing memories could indeed lead to many practical and useful applications.
So how should we interpret the messages conveyed by these films? Rather than focusing solely on the intriguing themes of time travel and parallel universes, we need to deeply consider the human desires, regrets, and resulting lessons embedded within them. We often become so preoccupied with the desire to undo past mistakes that we neglect living in the present. However, these films remind us that the past cannot be changed, awakening us to how crucial our present choices truly are. Therefore, rather than dwelling on past regrets, it is vital to live faithfully in the present and proactively shape a positive future.
From this perspective, ‘Source Code’ is not merely a film about time travel and parallel universes; it is a work that contains profound reflection on how we should live in the present. Through its message that choices made ‘here and now’ determine the future, it offers viewers a direction for life.
Therefore, when watching films like ‘Source Code’, rather than simply getting caught up in its intriguing premise, it’s also a good approach to ponder the deeper meaning within and apply it to our own lives.
