Posted for Sean Phetsarath

When has our reliance on high technology and our interest in its potential become the priority over the ones that we care for the most? Technological advancements have become the mediary of social interactions. In Roujin Z, the generational divide that exists in our society is amplified by technological advancements to show at the core what drives us to seek human connection.

            The generational divide can be seen from the very beginning of the film when the elderly are referred as “the wrinklies”. The hospital proposes “Project Z” in order to devise a way to marginalize and disregard the elderly to be cared for in their home, out of sight and out of mind. The revolutionized care of the old has become nothing more than a “plug and play”, a “set it and forget it” rotisserie for caring for the elderly. The automated bed is an avoidance of civil responsibilities and a evasion of dealing with inevitable mortality. This avoidance can be seen in the medical students’ conversation about their careers taking priority over caring for the elderly. The younger students seek immediacy in life and can’t be bothered by the needs of others. The younger students only seem to care when Takezawa sends a cry for help. When the students break into the hospital and get caught by the designers of the machine, the designers decide to call an engineer as opposed to seeking medical help for Mr. Takezawa. This reinforces their view of the elderly as something non-human that does not need specific care. The young students become inadvertently aware of the generational issues when seeking to help Mr. Takazawa.

When the young students look to help Mr. Takezawa, they look to use technology to face the technological problem. This ironically leads them to a group that unexpectedly would be the most helpful, the elderly. The students turn to a group of elderly that are very adept at computer hacking. This is ironic because it is normally the younger generation that faces reality with technology. But this process is driven by a more selfish purpose. The elderly in the film use technology to address the grand scale of living, such as exposing corporations for evading taxes. It’s interesting to see how the different generations approach technology and how they are used. The plot almost becomes a coming of age story when the young students realize what they need to do to help those who do not represent their generation. 

Technology becomes the catalyst that exposes the intentions of different generations in Roujin Z. What is seen as a generational divide is approached by the use of technology to solve a problem.