Mark is a prophet. His "lies" about God and the afterlife are true and a genuine religious revelation. His ability to lie is a power granted him by God to help spread his message, while at the same time testing his character.
- That actually makes a lot of sense. Especially since (regardless of if it were intended or not), the movie portrays religion mostly positively and it actually fits with the idea of G-d as a subtle behind the scenes puppet master.
- This would explain why history hasn't radically changed from ours..."Hitler, are you going to cause another World War and kill millions of Jews, disabled people, and other "undesireables"?"
"Uh. Nope."- Granted, this theory is feasible, but how does the Hitler example work?
1. Just because there is no lying doesn't mean there isn't killing (after all, the masses still understand what he's on about when he's saying don't kill people).2. Whilst Hitler did rise through the ranks before becoming a dictator, take note that being wrong isn't the same as lying. Bigots like Hitler just had to be very persuasive, because if you believe a stereotype enough, it can become the truth to you.- So Godwin's Law is more universal than first thought?
- It fits very easily, considering hitler promised not to invade Czechoslovakia
- Yes, Hitler lied plenty. The Nazis even thought up the concept of the Big Lie-you should always lie the most fantastically possible, for most won't believe that you'd make something up that's so grandious.
- That’s a bit of a Voodoo Shark since if there were never any concept of religion before Mark Bellison came along then there (probably) wasn’t any Judaism. And even the idea of Jews as a race rises from the idea of the Hebrews sharing Abrahamic ancestry but given it’s a world without religion it seems unlikely anyone would be familiar with any of that.
- Even back then, they had already invented holographic image inducers. Those darn documentary transmissions were still an underground phenomenon, but cosplaying as humans had gone mainstream.
There must be other worlds or timelines where someone fell under this madness far earlier, perhaps at the dawn of language, perhaps inspired by the edible butterflies that resemble poisonous butterflies and get eaten less often than the ones that don't.
- IIRC, they were humans, they just came from a group of people that didn't have enough imagination to lie, except for a select few. So, yeah, sounds just like them.
All fiction has been destroyed and only things like Lecture Films are left, which started as a propaganda machine to produce state-approved "history". It's been several generations by now, to the point where absolutely no one alive remembers how life used to be, including the people running everything.
However the side effect of this is that there is no creativity or invention, leading to absolute cultural and technological stagnation, there are no new ideas for anything at all, so even though it's been decades, everything still appears to be late 20th century.
Mark was formerly on the "necessary" medication that everyone takes to suppress imagination, but began forgetting to take it when he became too depressed over his life.
- Or the regime thing was a long time ago and lying became a recessive gene, everybody less or more accepts everything now, and Mark's the first to learn to lie again.
This would ultimately apply to even using your imagination, because it's talking about people and things that are not explicitly existent in the here and now. Making up stories, even realistic ones, would become the verbal equivalent of masturbation, and all such tendencies would be firmly culled. Honesty would be considered paramount in all things, even if it's put rudely; somehow the blunt nature of many statements makes them more "true" and therefore more desirable. Being tactful for the sake of someone's feelings would increasingly be seen as a weakness: "Why don't you just say what you really mean?" Within a few generations no one would have known the world to be any other way, and all evidence of the past would be destroyed, first from shame, and then fear. The "truth-telling" virus would be passed down to children and grandchildren.
This would explain why churches and the like would still exist, but have all relics such as crosses removed; people still used them as a place to reflect on things, but have no recollection why. It might also enhance the emphasis of genetics in choosing a mate; in a world where everything on the surface is the only perceived reality, people gravitate toward what they know isn't going to change much, such as DNA. Mark was maybe the first person in living memory whose body began to reject the ingrained "truth vaccine".
Once Mark starts reviving the art of telling stories, people naturally flock to him without remembering why. It would be moreso when he speaks of the Man In The Sky, again, they find it appeals to long-suppressed desires of hope and revering something higher than mere human nature.If Bradbury's Book People were still around, no doubt they'd have long been in hiding, maybe looking for a resurgence of so-called "lying".
- This might be the far-off Real Life result of doping up every kid with Ritalin, anti-psychotics and Comatonin... you know, for... daydreaming? ...thinking outside the box? ...acting like humans? I'd definitely put this under Poison Oak Epileptic Trees.
- Peasant: Do you want to hire me as a maidservant?Countess: No, I want to drain you of your blood and bathe in it to make me beautiful.Peasant: .... I'll pass, thanks.
- Mary Ann: 'Ow much dosh ya got, dearie?Jack: Actually, I think I'd like to slit your throat a couple of times, mutilate your abdomen and brutally stab you a few more times in the sides before tossing your corpse out on Buck's Row. I don't plan to pay for the experience of course.Mary Ann: .... I'll pass, ta.
- Boy: That man wants to kill me and eat me!Officer: Sir, we can't allow you to kill and eat this boy.Dahmer: But he looks so delicious! Can't I just nibble on him a little?Officer: I'm going to arrest you now. Not only are you breaking the law, but you creep me out.