Men, women & children

The Book

Chad Kultgen's novel focuses on the way the internet, social media and texting has altered relationships - familial, friends and partners. None of it in a good way. Fathers and mothers start extra-marital affairs with ease via dating and sex websites; friends are developed online but with no context or meaning; partners express their love and urges to each other via text but find it difficult to talk to each other when face to face. Because of this whole new world of communication, people have lost the art of telling people how they really feel except online where no-one can see them or interact in an emotional way. This is cleverly conveyed by all the real life conversations carried out with the word "said" - there is no adjective that conveys emotion and lets you or the other characters know how they are feeling. Its easier to text about sex than talk face to face about it - there is no embarrassment and talking dirty can be less restrained or awkward.




There is a lot of sex in the book but very little love. The characters are constantly thinking about sex or having sex - the only diversion being an ongoing side story about the American High School's football matches. The depressing thing seemed to be that even the sex made most of the characters unhappy - performance worries; incompatible urges; familiarity with partners. It seemed that people were happiest when they were doing it on their own or fantasising about someone other than their partner.
All in all a very sad state of affairs and I really don't know how they can turn it into a film for general release, as it is quite pornographic most of the time! I get uncomfortable watching sex scenes in movies and tend to fast forward, so reading it was the same - it certainly wasn't arousing. The scenes were perfunctory and sordid, but this is what is intended - its no Fifty Shades of Grey!


Official movie website


The Film

The film starts with the Voyager spacecraft passing by Jupiter and gliding serenely through space, carrying the human race's messages to who knows where. It seems oddly out-of-date now - the messages and methods that were used in the 70s to converse with another race.
As shown in the rest of the film, these days we are constantly sending messages via the internet - just meaningless ones to people we are either right next to or will see later that day. There is clever use of overlay where the viewer can observe all the text messages, scrabble moves, malware and computer clicks that are going on.
We are spared the explicit sex scenes that are described so clinically in the book and scenes are quite shy to show flesh, which means that the dehumanising aspect of internet sex is not really explored so much as the novel.
Emma Thompson narrates over the film like she is observing a natural habitat but talking about sex and porn websites. Her clipped English delivery adds to the detached, humorous voyeurism.
The final scenes return to the Voyager and Carl Sagan's ever poignant words about our pale blue dot of a planet. Overall, this was a very well realised, intelligent version of the novel.