Tomorrowland tries to present optimistic view
“Would you stop being so amazed?” an exasperated George Clooney barks at co-star Britt Robertson in the middle of Tomorrowland. You can’t say he doesn’t have a point. Even the actress admits that her character travels through the movie’s fantastical future-world in a state of “constant awe.” But who wouldn’t? When the much-anticipated film, directed by Brad Bird ( The Incredibles), opened, it introduced audiences to a civilization that seems half-inspired by H.G. Wells, half by The Jetsons, a slippery mix of the visionary and the nostalgic — and the technological and the philosophical.
Like the movie, the original Tomorrowland was created by Disney, a plug for its live attractions. In the 1950s Mickey Mouse Club, for instance, there were segments set in Tomorrowland (and Frontierland, Adventureland and Fantasyland) that corresponded to the “lands” of Disneyland and its theme-park offspring to come. And there’s a strong longing for the past running through Tomorrowland, from times and places to the pronounced 1950s-1960s sentiment that the future held nothing but promise.
Fittingly, the story starts at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, an event that loudly touted the world-to-be as a nonstop technological marvel. In 1964, young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) shows up from somewhere in the Midwest with a jet-propulsion pack he hasn’t quite perfected, but that he hopes will win him a prize at a junior inventors competition. The mysterious man in charge (Hugh Laurie) wants to send him on his way, but the young and equally mysterious Athena (Raffey Cassidy) sees something she likes. Frank is subsequently given a vision of a world that haunts him to adulthood, and turns him into what Clooney calls a “disenchanted grump.”
“Frank goes to a place he thinks is the greatest in the universe and he believes the world is going to be a much better place because of it,” Clooney said. “He finds out that those things were untrue and becomes probably the most cynical person one could be.”
Frank isolates himself on his family farm, the actor said, but “is forced to deal with his past because of situations that happen in the film.”
The past arrives on his doorstep courtesy of Casey Newton (Robertson), who’s also seen Tomorrowland and wants to go back (or is it forth?). There are forces that want to stop her, and forces — like Athena — that want to help. The principal conflict is the one that exists in the minds of earthlings: Is there any future to hope for? Or is the world in as dire shape as it’s made out to be?
“I think the message of the film is a lot of things,” Robertson said. “But what it boils down to is that, as individuals, we can only take responsibility for ourselves and not be overly influenced by the outside world — movies and books are presenting a pretty grim picture, that the future is not something to look forward to.
“Tomorrowland is making a point you don’t have to accept the future that’s being presented. We can make our own choices and dream of a better tomorrow, come up with new ideas.”
“The future,” according to 13year-old Raffey, “is not a place we should be afraid of.”
To create their utopian vision, Bird and company used a lot of digital effects, but based the imagery on some real locations — the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain, for instance, and the launchpad at NASA, where Casey’s father (Tim McGraw) has been laid off, because the spirit of national exploration has been throttled. It was a theme that was discussed during filming.
“We’d do a scene and talk about the different things he [Bird] wanted to accomplish, his general idea of the movie,” Robertson said. “He’s trying to present optimism and positivity and send the message that people should be proactive and not accept the idea that the planet is doomed, and that we don’t have a chance.”
Tomorrowland, with its specially gifted and talented characters thwarted by an unjust world, seems unlikely to squash the connections that have been drawn between Bird and an Ayn Randian philosophy (most notably in Rata
touille and The Incredibles). Bird has denied any such influences and probably will again, but the underlying viewpoint in Tomor
rowland is that most people are all too willing to embrace a fatalistic view of the future — one which, in the movie, is the product of a rather grandiose media campaign.