The Rhetoric of Healthcare Inequality in Capitalist Classed Societies: Blomkamp’s and Romanek’s Dystopian Visions

• Authors: Gacka Joanna

Title variants

PL

Retoryka opieki zdrowotnej w klasowych społeczeństwach kapitalistycznych: dystopijne wizje Blomkampa i Romanka

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The future of democratic societies has been widely debated among futurologists, including the possible ways medicine could advance, changing the lives of individuals and communities. Yet, what seems a reasonable question to ask is – how the unequal access to healthcare might perpetuate social and economic divisions and turn democracy into tyranny. This paper advances a rhetorical analysis of the reciprocal relations between healthcare and the classed capitalist system as portrayed in two dystopian pictures: Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go (2010) and Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium (2013). The realities depicted in these movies, as well as their narratives, vary considerably; however, they both present medical advancements as means of and reasons for maintaining or perpetuating social inequality. The two dystopias also warn us of some possible dangers posed by the incompatibility of the capitalist mindset with morality and ethics, presenting corruption in healthcare systems as a result of the class conflict.

PL

Chociaż futurolodzy powszechnie dyskutują na temat kierunku rozwoju medycyny i jego potencjalnego wpływu na jednostki i społeczności, rzadziej pojawia się pytanie o dostępność medycyny w przyszłości. Niniejszy artykuł analizuje wzajemne relacje między opieką społeczną a systemem kapitalistycznym ukazane w dystopiach Nie opuszczaj mnie (2010) Marka Romanka i Elizjum (2013) Neilla Blomkampa. Oba filmy przedstawiają wynalazki medyczne jako sposób i powód utrzymywania i pogłębiania nierówności społecznych. Wspomniane dystopie ostrzegają przed potencjalnymi zagrożeniami płynącymi z niespójności kapitalistycznej mentalności z moralnością i etycznością i prezentują deformację systemów opieki zdrowotnej jako rezultat konfliktu klasowego.

Keywords

EN

capitalism; social stratification; healthcare; dystopias; futurology

PL

kapitalizm; rozwarstwienie społeczne; opieka zdrowotna; dystopie; futurologia

• Publisher: Polskie Towarzystwo Retoryczne
• Journal: Res Rhetorica
• Year: 2018
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 52-63

Dates

published

2018

Contributors

author

Gacka Joanna

• Uniwersytet Opolski

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Identifiers

DOI

10.29107/rr2018.1.4