The quest for the human soul

Ben and I watched the movie Dark City the other night. For those of you who haven't seen it, it tells the story of John Murdoch, a man who wakes up with no memory but a lot of evidence of a past that doesn't seem to fit with the man he knows himself to be. It's taken a lot of criticism over the years and has more of a cult following than any sort of mainstream appeal. I find it pretty to look at (both for the set design and cinematography as well as for the casting -- Rufus Sewell and Jennifer Connelly) and I absolutely love the ideas at the heart of the film. (**spoiler alert**)

John Murdoch discovers that he is a pawn in a game created by an alien species--the Strangers--designed to better understand the origins of the human soul. Every night, the Strangers put the city to sleep, then mix and match the humans' lives in every way: the houses they live in, the clothes they wear--even the memories implanted in their brains. Poor become rich, happy become unhappy, innocent become guilty. Then, the Strangers observe the humans to see how the changes in their memories and their circumstances affect who they are and how they act. If an innocent man is made to believe he is a vicious killer... will he continue to live the life he made? Or the one given to him?

I could think about these questions all day without tiring of it. I can get pretty cynical about human behavior sometimes, but our absolutely pure capacity for individuality is one of the things I love the most about our species. It's fascinating.

We've both seen the movie several times, though not since I've been writing. I found myself thinking about the ways the Strangers' game resonated with what we do, as writers. Not to imply that we're a creepy, alien species. ;) But at the heart of it, what drives us to imagine the stories we do? What is it that compels us to create people in our minds and hearts and then test them, again and again, to see how they come through? I'm not sure I can say we're all on a quest to divine the origins of the human soul. But I think, at least for me, the motivation is similar. I want to know what keeps us in the game. What fuels that inner strength all the very best characters have? And, I'll confess, I want to know what happens when that inner core is compromised. How do we pick up the pieces and move on?

Maybe we're not so far off from the Strangers, after all. Only a lot less creepy. And without that annoying teeth-clacking thing. And, yanno, with ethics. Okay, yeah. Never mind.