“Limitless” and Our Cultural Values

I recently watched the film “Limitless” and I can’t stop thinking about it (and not because it was brilliant). In our culture there is this (at times oppressive) ideology that values an endless, personal sacrifice to achievement, improvement, productivity, power, wealth, fame, and this bizarre desire to experience everything. Why? Because you can! At least that’s what we were always told, and we’re probably a little bit bored. We will ignore the fact for this post that despite this overall cultural ideology, the American model of education is one that produces pliable, obedient employees. Moving on.

The protagonist in “Limitless” is a struggling, dishevelled writer who can’t focus, that is until he swallows a wonder drug which gives him extraordinary memory and analytical power (i.e. allows him to access his brain’s full potential.) The premise of the film is based on the prevalent myth that humans only use 20 percent of their brains. Neither a person, nor a drug, can turn on “unused” neural circuits (this is not the same thing as neuroplasticity).

But even if it were possible, the film is very revealing of our cultural values in terms of what the film’s protagonist chose to do with his new powers. Put it this way, he didn’t run off to the mountains to seek enlightenment. He didn’t turn into Albert Einstein either. What he turned in to was a millionaire playboy. His new genius didn’t isolate him from society, noooooo, he dressed better. The protagonist achieved a certain amount of fame and many material riches and luxurious experiences. So it left me wondering, is that really what we would do if we reached our “full potential,” go after cheap thrills and play intense corporate games? He did learn some interesting skills: mastered many languages, self-defence, music, but he didn’t do anything beneficial with those new skills.

There is a certain tension inherent in American values. Everyone tells their kids they can grow up to be President one day, but everyone is supposed to be equal. It’s one thing to want to be the President, but you better damn well be humble about it. And of course, as soon as you believe with confidence just how great and special you are, just as you have been brought up to believe, people are ready to tear you down. Perhaps that’ because it is also a society of moralists—people who know exactly how you need to change, but are in no need of transformation themselves. It is an ego boost to make others feel inferior, but can you blame them if they were always told they were special, “God has special plans for you,” even though they consistently wrote the worst poems in English class. There’s nothing wrong with parents wanting their kids to have better lives, but I wonder why “better” is so intimately connected with more material wealth. You never left your hometown so now you want your kids to travel to whole world! If you’re rich, you’re somebody; otherwise, you’re nobody. And you’re never happy or content with what you have or who you are because your whole life you heard that you could be and have more, better, greater. So when you find yourself sitting next to a person at a dinner party who has just finished regaling the guests with a story of their latest and greatest adventure and their professional exploits (they’re definitely not blue-collar) you feel invisible, especially when they ask you what you do *gulp*. “Limitless” exploits our insecurities to entertain us!

I’m quite content with my “boring” life, and yet, watching that film, part of me was envious, part of me wondered, “what if?”  Maybe the quest for self-improvement is not a cultural value, but rather something innate? I don’t know. But there are probably people who, despite witnessing the breakdown of the physical body on the screen, would willing swap a decade or two of life in trade for reaching their “full human potential.” Maybe that’s because we’re a culture that values youth over wisdom--we make icons out of those who have burned the brightest and died young.

Or you could just look at this film as another movie about drug addiction, in which case, my point has little meaning.

At least that is what I observe through my limited perception. Now if I took one of those little, clear pills . . .

(I admit that this is a rather pessimistic view, and I don’t really believe [and don’t want to] that most people would take such powers and waste them on the stock market and driving fast cars. I will admit that I was entertained. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go work on my “six pack.”)