This blog post examines how the film In Time reinterprets Qin Shi Huang’s desire for immortality from a modern perspective.
Qin Shi Huangdi achieved the feat of unifying China for the first time and was an absolute ruler wielding powerful imperial authority during his reign, yet even he could not help but fear his own death. His vast empire and limitless power proved powerless against death. Thus, Emperor Qin Shi Huang desperately sought to evade death, and this yearning led him to the mythical concept of immortality. To make the world of immortals, as depicted in legends, a reality, he issued the following command to his minister, Xu Shi:
“I shall give you three thousand young boys and girls and many treasures. Go to the island in the East Sea where the immortals dwell and bring back the herbs and medicines of immortality that grant eternal life.”
The immortality Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who possessed the entire world, so desperately craved. The world of the film ‘In Time’ is one where the technology of immortality has become reality. In this world, people use their lifespan—their time—as currency. Through genetic manipulation, aging stops at age 25. People live as long as they have time, but when their time runs out, they die of a heart attack. Thus, the rich live forever, enjoying life without aging, while the poor live day-to-day lives, earning only enough time to survive each day they work. The wealthy live separately in exclusive areas called Time Zones, accessible only by paying a fee, while the poor struggle even to afford the entrance fee to these spaces. It is an absurd world where many people live constantly chased by time to sustain the eternal lives of a few wealthy individuals within the Time Zones, dying of heart attacks on the streets.
In the film, the protagonist rebels against this world, stealing the time monopolized by the rich and distributing it to the poor, thereby dismantling this inhumane system. While the plot—robbing the haves and giving to the have-nots, like Robin Hood—felt clichéd and failed to resonate, this unique worldview sparked my deep interest. This society, having developed seemingly impossible science like immortality, appears far more advanced than our own. Yet, looking deeper, it’s rife with dehumanizing elements and a degenerated social system. The wealthy live for generations without aging, squandering time recklessly while using their vast time reserves to earn even more. This wealth is inherited, guaranteeing their children long lives too. Their long lives cause them to forget the preciousness of existence, leaving them merely existing without purpose.
In contrast, the poor struggle to survive day by day, where even a minor mishap can lead to death from a heart attack on the streets. The poor live without hope, merely existing to survive, and are unilaterally sacrificed for the eternal life of the wealthy. Their scarcity of time drives them to steal and take each other’s time. Money has merely transformed into time, yet could the world change this drastically? This question evokes the transformations since the Industrial Revolution. After the Industrial Revolution, the world underwent rapid change. Wealth, food, scientific knowledge, lifespan—many things increased, and we live lives our ancestors could never have imagined. Even the middle class in our society now enjoys better services and lives more lavishly than medieval nobles.
Yet not everything has improved. As the saying goes, ‘If you have money, you’re innocent; if you don’t, you’re guilty.’ Materialism has crept deep into our lives. We often witness situations where material possessions and money take precedence over human rights and dignity. Crimes motivated by money are now commonplace news. Yet time remains the ultimate value everyone craves, much like how Emperor Qin Shi Huang sacrificed everything in pursuit of immortality. In a world where this ‘time’ becomes currency, wouldn’t materialism deepen even further?
Since the French Revolution of 1789, class-based societies gradually faded, giving way to civil societies. It continued to evolve, striving to grant equal opportunities to all, becoming a meritocratic society where those with ability could attain high status. Now, one’s rank was determined not by who their father was or what clothes they wore, but by what problems they could solve and what value they possessed. Yet, the society in ‘In Time’ seems to have regressed in time. In this society, people’s entire lives are largely determined by whose child they are born. Those born into poverty struggle just to survive day-to-day, earning barely enough for each day, and are denied even the chance to climb to a higher status. This seems to create rigid class divisions reminiscent of medieval aristocratic society.
Furthermore, the film’s time zones felt like class boundaries separating nobles from slaves. In this society, the protagonist, Neil Capri, hails from the lowest class of the poor. He rebelled against and destroyed the system within the film. Just as the current capitalist society emerged only after numerous revolutions and much bloodshed, Neil Capri’s revolution in the film is likely another step in progress. It is hoped that the dehumanizing ‘In Time’ system can also evolve into something more admirable in the future.
Even if the great technological advancements we desire are developed, their use or outcomes may not always be positive. Nevertheless, I believe humans possess the power to correct them. Just as the system in the film was destroyed, we in reality also have the ability to improve irrational and inhumane systems. The question of how technological progress and human morality should harmonize remains an important challenge that must be continually addressed.
