I will be exploring digital futurities by using “The Giver” made in 2014, which is based on Louis Lowry’s Novel. This story presents a chilling vision of the future where all emotion has been taken out of society for the sake of keeping sameness and order. The film follows a young boy named Jonas who tests his societal roles and searches to find a meaning beyond the superficial sense of harmony that the technology-controlled society has created.  

In many ways our world is on this movie plot’s same path, we live in a technology reliant society, and we’ve seen throughout the course of a decade that it has already shaped and changed our lives immensely thus far. The utopian world has erased all the rich history and complexity of emotions that the world before offered, the citizens are void of emotion and live without color, music, and feelings because they are seen as dangerous. The “giver” is a man who takes Jonas under his wing and lets him view memories of the past before the digitally controlled society took over. Jonas is exposed to the beauty and pain of human experience; he is immediately transformed and free from the lies he was raised by.  

I feel as though the younger generation and generations to come will never have the sense of life without technological “advantages” just like Jonas did. Hopefully our society will regress instead of continuing to implement technology more and more into our lives each day. Films like “The Giver” give us a plain example of what NOT to do. The technology in this world is not about enhancing human experience; rather, it serves to suppress it. The film serves as an exploration of the dangers of technological control and the loss of emotional depth in pursuit of a utopian ideal. It encourages viewers to consider the importance of embracing our feelings and memories, as they are what make us truly human. As we navigate our own digital futures, the giver stands as a reminder of the need to cherish our individuality and the complexity of the human experience in an increasingly automated world.