History WMG / Equilibrium

[[WMG: [[FullCircleRevolution The revolution will fail.]]

As soon as Preston stops taking Prozium, he starts acting emotional, rearranging his desk, rescuing puppies, and groping handrails. It seems like this is exactly the kind of behavior the police should be watching for, and Preston is hardly discreet. The only way this makes sense is if [[spoiler:[=DuPont=] is quietly covering up his misbehavior. He's]] making sure [[spoiler:the other clerics didn't come after him]] and that [[spoiler:no one investigated]] that event where Preston killed a squad of officers over a puppy.
* Isn't this actually referenced in the movie? [[spoiler: [=DuPont=] ''tells'' Preston in the denouement that they deliberately let him run free once they noticed he started going 'sense offender', even allowing him to think he'd successfully framed his new partner (actually [=DuPont'=]s operative, put in place to watch Preston) for his crimes. This was ThePlan for [=DuPont's=] to make Preston his [[Main/UnwittingPawn unwitting Judas goat]] that would lead him to Main/LaResistance.]]
* It is. The only other way what was said makes any sense is if [[spoiler: [=DuPont=] had planned on Preston being the one earlier]], which would require a GambitRoulette of utterly unbelievable proportions, since Preston initially went off the drug entirely by accident.

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<<|WildMassGuessing|>>

* Another option: most clerics don't actually get into gunfights. They come across as mainly having senior administrative roles, and when they do go into the field they command entire squads of sweepers with machine guns and [=APCs=]. Their martial arts training means they can defend their reputation against sweepers and other challengers in the training room. Preston is just a CrazyAwesome exception to the norm, which would also explain why he's so overpowered at the end of the film.

[[WMG: Jurgen hasn't actually been watching Preston all that hard.]]

* Jurgen's been watching the clerics just about well enough to know all their names. When Preston walks into his secret hideout--having just thrown a guy through a wall and pulled out and cocked his gun--Jurgen figures that either Preston is a secret sense offender, or Preston is going to kill him, and decides to go with the one where he has a chance of getting out alive.
* Also, Preston didn't decide whether to join or take out the resistance until he talked to Jurgen, which is why he was still making threats and throwing people through walls while he was looking for him.

Jurgen's been watching the clerics just about well enough to know all their names. When Preston walks into his secret hideout--having just thrown a guy through a wall and pulled out and cocked his gun--Jurgen figures out that either Preston is a secret sense offender, or Preston is going to kill him, and decides to go with the one where he has a chance of getting out alive.

Prozium wasn't adequately tested on women, so a lot of women are overmedicated or undermedicated and end up slipping off the dose to deal with it. Also, a lot of undermedicated women get identified as Sense Offenders by mistake--they're trying not to feel, but they don't have the right drugs to do it. As a result, Libria has a serious gender imbalance, which is why TheSmurfettePrinciple is so strongly enforced.

Or at least actually far weaker than the average citizen is left to believe. That's why there are so many sense-offenders. It's just that hardly anyone noticed that because when you decide to fully embrace your emotions, you stop taking Prozium anyway. And when you always dutifully take your Prozium, you either act emotionless all day because you are convinced that's how it's ''supposed'' to work, or, which may be the case with Brandt, you act emotionally from time to time without even realizing it. And then there are Preston's kids. Where did they hide all their un-taken Prozium, so that even the Sweepers couldn't find it? Answer: They didn't! The best way to pretend to take the stuff is ''to actually take the stuff''. But they figured out that this is all a scam anyway (probably due to them, in spite of taking Prozium, having felt strong emotions after their mom's arrest and execution), and are thus the two smartest people in the whole movie.

Or at least actually far weaker than the average citizen is left to believe. That's why there are so many sense-offenders. It's just that hardly anyone noticed that because when you decide to fully embrace your emotions, you stop taking Prozium anyway. And when you always dutifully take your Prozium, you either act emotionless all day because you are convinced that's how it's ''supposed'' to work, or, which may be the case with Brandt, you act emotionally from time to time without even realizing it. And then there are Preston's kids. Where did they hide all their un-taken Prozium, so that even the Sweepers couldn't find it? Answer: They didn't! The best way to pretend to take the stuff is ''to actually take the stuff''. But they figured out that this is all a scam anyway (probably due to them, in spite of taking Prozium, feeling strong emotions because of their mom's arrest and execution), and are thus the two smartest people in the whole movie.

Or at least actually far weaker than the average citizen is left to believe. That's why there are so many sense-offenders. It's just that hardly anyone noticed that because when you decide to fully embrace your emotions, you stop taking Prozium anyway. And when you always dutifully take your Prozium, you either act emotionless all day because you are convinced that's how it's ''supposed'' to work, or, which may be the case with Brandt, you act emotionally from time to time without even realizing it. And then there are Preston's kids. Where did they hide all their un-taken Prozium, so that even the Sweepers couldn't find it? Answer: They didn't! The best way to pretend to take the stuff is ''to actually take the stuff''. But they figured out that this is all a scam anyway (probably due to them, in spite of Prozium, feeling strong emotions because of their mom's arrest and execution), and are thus the two smartest people in the whole movie.

Or at least actually far weaker than the average citizen is left to believe. That's why there are so many sense-offenders. It's just that hardly anyone noticed that because when you decide to fully embrace your emotions, you stop taking Prozium anyway. And when you always dutifully take your Prozium, you either act emotionless all day because you are convinced that's how it's ''supposed'' to work, or, which may be the case with Brandt, you act emotionally from time to time without even realizing it. And then there are Preston's kids. Where did they hide all their un-taken Prozium, so that even the Sweepers couldn't find it? Answer: They didn't! The best way to pretend to take the stuff is ''to actually take the stuff''. But they figured out that this is all a scam (probably due to them, in spite of Prozium, feeling strong emotions because of their mom's arrest and execution), and are thus the two smartest people in the whole movie.

<<|WildMassGuessing|>>

It's hard to imagine a drug that suppresses emotional responses not having other side effects. This made this troper think that one of the issues that Prozium has is not only an emotional suppressant, but a cognative suppressant as well. This could explain the effectiveness (And perhaps the need) for GunKata: It dulls the thinking process, so GunKata was created to give the Clerics a rote formula to compensate for the suppression of the imagination caused by Prozium. Conversely, it also makes people more vulnerable to GunKata, as the mind, dulled by chronic use of the drug, would have reduced reaction times and, due to the suppression of imagination, much fewer options considered, thus making the rote options provided by GunKata be a progression from the reduced options a Prozium-damaged mind could come up with.

''Equilibrium'' is set in the distant past of the Star Wars universe. The Clerics (quasi-religious order of warriors who believe in suppressing emotion in order to ensure peace) are an early, evil version of the Jedi Order. The Sith began as a rebellion against the Clerics: compared with the emotionally suppressed soceity of Equilibrium, the Sith creed ("Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me") actually seems quite reasonable.

*** That more falls under the heading of "Prozium takes out the highs and lows, not the whole thing." The Sweeper in a similier situation earlier managed a "Fuck!" before being shot. The strength of the I'm-gonna-die feeling is a tad too strong for Prozium to supress.

[[WMG: Prestion is a Time Lord.]]

* Isn't this actually referenced in the movie? [[spoiler: [=DuPont=] ''tells'' Preston in the denouement that they deliberately let him run free once they noticed he started going 'sense offender', even allowing him to think he'd successfully framed his new partner (actually [=DuPont'=]s operative, put in place to watch Preston) for his crimes. This was ThePlan for[=DuPont's=] to make Preston his [[Main/UnwittingPawn unwitting Judas goat]] that would lead him to Main/LaResistance.]]

They're not even ''subtle'' with this. Everybody else lives and work in sterile, functional 'environments' with purely utilitarian furnishing, all identical. One of the primary duties of Grammaton Clerics is to seek out and destroy relic ''artwork'', because it might tempt people to feel. And then we see that [=DuPont=] lives in a ''palace'' with statuary, paintings, priceless antiques, even ''silk wall hangings''. We also see Brandt (Taye Diggs' character), [=DuPont'=]s henchman, openly indulging in several emotional behaviors -- pride, ambition, anger, even gloating. Then again, one of the classic perks of being an EvilOverlord is that [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem rules are for other people,]] so it's not surprising that Libria turns out to be just another corrupt dictatorship where the leader and his chosen few hoard all the wealth and privilege to themselves - only this one also uses propaganda and drugs to make the masses not ''care'' about wealth or privilege. All [=DuPont=] and his cronies need to do is keep the masses ignorant of what their private lifestyle ''really'' looks like.