The Depiction of American Public Libraries in Film - Libraries in Science Fiction Films

8. Libraries in Science Fiction Films

An oddity in the depiction of libraries in film is the case of the science fiction genre, and particularly the dystopian future sub-genre. It is rare that the institutions featured in such films strictly adhere to the definition of public libraries, often because such places no longer exist in the postulated future, but it is nevertheless important to consider them for a number of reasons. Primary among these is the sheer frequency of library appearances in the genre, far higher than any other type of film. Secondly, the science fiction genre is both a speculative and an allegorical mode, hence the worlds they create can be extremely revealing of the era in which they were created. The depiction of libraries, or their imagined successors, may therefore reveal the underlying assumptions of the film-makers about contemporary library services. The final reason is the striking uniformity of the portrayal of libraries in science fiction. If the reason behind these factors are determined, the underlying assumptions about libraries can be revealed. In those cases where national boundaries do not apply in the futuristic setting, the study only applies to films produced in the United States.

There is a common thread in all of the science fiction films that are discussed here. Each features a hero placed at odds with the authorities in the dystopian world he inhabits. In every case, following a visit to the library or its equivalent, the hero comes to discover an earth-shaking secret that has been concealed by the ruling class and is thus propelled towards the conclusion of the story. This applies to (in chronological order) ¬The Time Machine, Zardoz, Soylent Green, Rollerball, Logan’s Run and Battlefield Earth. They can be divided equally into those that feature the ruins of a current public library that has long since fallen into disuse (Zardoz, Logan's Run and Battlefield Earth) and those that feature an example of what a future library may be like (The Time Machine, Soylent Green and Rollerball).

It is striking that four of these films were made between 1973 and 1976, and that they share a number of common themes, allowing them to be considered as a cycle. These are Soylent Green (1973), Zardoz (1974), Rollerball (1975) and Logan's Run (1976). Each of these posits a future where the world is run by recognisable extrapolations of the political or corporate bodies of their time, which the hero discovers to be concealing a terrible secret of some sort from the mass of the population. It is natural to read these films as a direct allegory of America in the mid to late Seventies, a nation facing up to both the failure in Vietnam and, in particular, the ongoing Watergate revelations. This was a watershed period in recent American history, in which the populace displayed an unprecedented level of mistrust in the government and virtually all of its agencies. Right wing commentators stepped up their rhetoric suggesting an implicit wariness of 'big government', consciously evoking the Declaration of Independence in doing so.

The significant point from the perspective of the information professional is the remarkable exemption of libraries from these negative connotations. Zardoz and Logan's Run feature the ruins of former libraries that are untainted by association with the imagined regimes. This suggests the huge importance of recorded information and implies that data in written form, and discovered via the institution of the library, is somehow inherently trustworthy and can be considered as neutral. In Zardoz, Zed (Sean Connery) finds a copy of L. Frank Baum's novel 'The Wizard of Oz' and is inspired to discover the power behind the throne of his own society. In the case of Logan's Run, Logan (Michael York) and Jessica (Jenny Agutter) discover the ruins of Washington D.C. and come across the crumbling Library of Congress, thereby understanding some of the culture that preceded them, i.e. twentieth century America. The film is not subtle in conveying its agenda, featuring a discussion of who the individual portrayed in a portrait might be (it is Abraham Lincoln) and the eventual impalement of the main villain on a flagpole bearing the U.S. flag, both of which take place in the main reading room.

Rollerball offers a more cynical outlook, wherein the central computer, known as Zed, is the last remaining repository of information. Zed refuses to answer the questions of Jonathon E (James Caan) concerning how and why important decisions are taken, but the apparent breakdown of Zed and its librarian (Ralph Richardson) implies that refusing to dispense answers is antithetical to its programming and purpose. This could be interpreted as a metaphor for the reaction of libraries when censorship is imposed, the suggestion being that a restriction on freedom of information is antithetical to the very nature of the 'library'.

It is Soylent Green that gives the most intriguing interpretation of the library of the future. It is explained to the viewer that paper is scarce, but a secretive 'Supreme Exchange' is revealed to exist, accessible only via a dark and dismal corridor and a coded knock on the door. A sign indicates 'Authorised Books Only'. The exchange is inhabited only by elderly people, including a female librarian with shaking hands, yet these unlikely figures are revealed to be custodians of the secret of Soylent Green, which is that food is being made from human remains. It is not made clear why the information has not been disseminated by the library, although the implication is that it is too shocking to be believed if no proof can be supplied as corroboration. The final scene shows Detective Thorn (Charlton Heston), having witnessed the reprocessing plant, being dragged off by sinister policemen whilst yelling 'You've got to tell them! Soylent Green is people! Tell the exchange!' The film suggests that the library wields a certain amount of power, but it is so ossified that it needs a powerful figure, embodied in the heroic form of Charlton Heston.

There are a number of common threads here. The first is of the libraries' key function as a repository of recorded information, available for future generations to study. This is particularly the case in those films in which a twentieth century library is discovered in a future age but also applies to The Time Machine and Rollerball.

The Time Machine features a future library that is discovered by a time traveller in an even more futuristic age, and also the discovery by George (Rod Taylor) of some neglected books which fall apart at his touch. One of the residents of the future disingenuously asks him whether he has learnt anything useful, to which George replies 'Yes, they have told me about you'.

In Rollerball, the librarian is preoccupied by the loss of all the data concerning the thirteenth century, albeit that it involves only 'Dante and a few corrupt popes'. The loss of historical context is assumed to be a loss to the present time, and the library is shown as a major factor in the preservation of both cultural heritage and specific factual information.

Battlefield Earth demonstrates both of these traits, with the hero, Jonnie 'Goodboy' Tyler (Barry Pepper) gaining inspiration from a crumbling copy of the Declaration of Independence and the means to defeat the alien invaders from a book about radiation in the Library of Congress.

It is intriguing that several of these examples attempt to bolster the historical authenticity of the libraries with a European element, either in the form of a European setting (the Geneva central repository in Rollerball) or using European actors to play the librarians (Ralph Richardson in Rollerball, Peter Ustinov in Logan's Run and Celia Lovsky in Soylent Green). Americans maintain an association between Europe and the concept of history, and by implication the notion of the United States as a young country, and these connotations are absorbed into the depiction of libraries in these films.

A pertinent point is that science fiction of this dystopian kind suggests an innate distrust of technology. In their depiction of libraries, these films share a faith in the straightforward book rather than the idea of computerised data. Zed in Rollerball is an obvious successor to the murderous HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, in that he conceals information from his human inquisitors and malfunctions as a result. Zed is last seen in a hallucinatory sequence, falling apart and spouting nonsensical yet pointed phrases such as 'Power is knowledge. Genius is energy.' The crumbling books in The Time Machine symbolise the utter dissociation between Eloi society and its past. By contrast, the conventionally dusty tomes in Soylent Green, Battlefield Earth and Zardoz contain supposedly 'neutral' wisdom and knowledge, untainted by changes that have occurred in the world at large. It is ironic that this speculative genre repeatedly returns to simple books, the longest surviving form of recorded information, especially when the films are viewed from the present perspective of ever-increasing digitisation of resources.

The astonishing trust displayed in libraries by science fiction film-makers reveals a faith in the public library ethos apparently unaffected by the disillusion with other government agencies, and indeed human nature, so evident in this form of cinema. Somehow, the form which places imagination above all else finds it impossible to imagine a deliberately biased or devious library. It is an indication of the respect with which the public library movement is held by the population as a whole .