Raised By Wolves
October 29, 2020 by admin_name
Raised By Wolves
released 2020
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“Raised By Wolves” is an American, scifi, survivalist drama, produced by Heather Bellson, Chris Cheramie, Jon Kuyper, Jordan Sheehan, David W. Zucker, Karen Campbell, Mark Huffam, Aaron Guzikowski and Ridley Scott. It was directed by Luke Scott, Alex Gabassi, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, James Hawes and Ridley Scott. It was written by Aaron Guzikowski, Heather Bellson, Karen Campbell, Sinead Daly and Donald Joh and stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Travis Fimmel, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong, Clayton Evertson, Loulou Taylor, Matias Varela, Garth Breytenbach and many others.
“Raised By Wolves” is the story of two androids Mother, played by Amanda Collin, and Father, played by Abubakar Salim who are tasked with raising and caring for a group of children who are the last, or one of the last, group of surviving humans from a destroyed Earth. They raise the children on a mysterious planet called Kepler 22b. Its a desolate world with little life, at least the region they live in. Maybe the region they plan to move to will have more life with plants they can eat and animals they can hunt and even domesticate. Life is hard for the children colonists and the two robots raising them. Food is scarce and even toxic at one point. They are even forced to hunt and kill a primitive humanoid species for food which is basically cannibalism. And to this cocktail mix the rebelliousness of some of the children who are reaching their teenage years, children deaths and the arrival of a group of religious fanatics and survival is not at all certain, even with the vast powers of Mother. Through it all the focus of the story changes, back and forth, from Mother to the young boy Campion, played by Winta McGrath, who is the sole survivor of the first set of children.
“Raised By Wolves” is within a scifi genre that always catches my attention and someone like Ridley Scott explores this topic well in so many of his movies. It´s a topic relevant today more than ever in the past. When the topic of days past was whether slavery was an acceptable practice, today we ask if robots, A.I. or technology in general can coexist with human civilization once it has reached a certain level of sophistication. I saw an interview a few years back with Ridley Scott where he basically said that once robots have emotions humanity is finished and this TV series explores that possible future. I wonder if Mother would have done such a good job caring for the children if she did not have emotions, if she did not care for them beyond her programing? In this role that Mother fulfills she clearly needed her emotions and that nurturing instinct. Needless to say, by the end of the first season I got the strong impression that humanity´s days were numbered. That is what many believe when it comes to what we call today A.I. or intelligent, self aware technological creations.
Watching series like this one I have to wonder if our views on technology and A.I. aren´t a bit myopic. I have to wonder if there aren´t possibilities we have not thought of? By the end of the series you realize that Mother is the main focus of the story and you see why. (I won´t give away any spoilers.). It would have been interesting to see Father play a bigger role in the story instead of just a weak, mostly ineffective member of that family because, yes, they are a family. Personally, if it were me, I would have explored the possibility of having more than two genders in the robot population but I guess we´re not there yet as a society.
The story progresses with humanity, or more precisely the group of religious zealots who landed on Kepler 22b, fumbling their way to some goal that would probably take them further away from any chance at survival. Basically, humanity is heading toward extinction and behaving like fools. They are living proof that knowing how to kill or wage war does not assure a group or species survival. Some anthropologists, sociologists and linguists even believe that intelligence is not a good skill to have for long term survival of a group or species. War making and understanding the problems a species or group faces are two entirely different things that are often confused.
“Raised By Wolves” has flaws in its story, like the way all the male characters are ineffective, deluded or just a problem to the group. This is similar to films in say the 50s where women were portrayed in the same way. Maybe one day we can stop that kind of social conditioning on all genders and the like. What I really liked about “Raised by Wolves” was its exploration of relationship between sentient technological creations and humanity. It asks the question how they will live together and thrive in a universe that might demand they not only coexist but also cooperate?
Otherwise, “Raised By Wolves” is a good watch with a good first season. I´m waiting for season 2.
John
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