Talk:Code 46

References to use

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.

• Stacey, Jackie (2010). "The Uncanny Architectures of Intimacy in Code 46". The Cinematic Life of the Gene. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822345072.

"corrupt government bureaucracy"

there is no factual basis for this assertion. for one, there is no evidence of corruption in the movie - indeed, it seems like everyone who is denied cover was denied cover for a legitimate reason - to protect their health. also, there's no indication that the grant or denial of cover has anything to do with the government or a beureau thereof. it appears that these decisions are made by a private insurance company, the Sphinx. Streamless 14:04, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

You are correct. The need for "cover" (aka, coverage?) appears to be an insurance mandate. Chally 01:10, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

"Cover" is the British term for insurance coverage. --Coosbane (talk) 22:42, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

End of story

I don't think Maria's exiled to a wastedland outside of Shanghai. I saw writing in Arabic in the end so it might be Jebel Ali.

User:Bruguiea 04:18, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

i think you're right Streamless 20:43, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

You are most certainly correct. I watched the movie twice today. I second your assertion, and will perform the edit. Chally 01:11, 26 June 2006 (UTCI

68.188.203.251 (talk) 21:50, 1 March 2013 (UTC) If she is 'punished' by remembering a love that is now unattainable, then isn't the power bureaucracy corrupt? The man committed many acts of violation, even returning and reconstruction their love, yet he is not punished, just erased. So isn't this abuse of power? So the establishment isn't just interested in order as it appears.

All phrases in non-english languages

anyone know where i can find an english translation for every non-english phrase in the movie? Streamless 20:44, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

3/4 of the polyglot appeared to be Spanish. Heavily in use were lo siento (I'm sorry, or literally, I regret it), papel (paper), and palabra (word, or password.) Also notable was ni hao, Mandarin for "hello" or literally "you good." I know these because I studied spanish and my wife is Taiwanese. I didn't catch any other Mandarin, but there were other Spanish words I did not recall, and apparently some Arabic and French (and possibly Italian or Portuguese, as they were similar to Spanish, and I "understood" them.) If you know of any, I could try (I watched the english captioning, which included the western polyglot, though, apparently not the middle eastern or Mandarin.) If you caught any of the polyglot on captioning or subtitles, you may want to try searching for them online. Chally 01:18, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Re-reading the review has reminded me of another term "al fuera," which is Spanish for "to the outside." This is the term the city dwellers have for the area which is not urban, and apparently, not authoritarian. Just a tiny comment about that from me--I didn't read "poor" into it, though there were certainly drawbacks to "the outside." It reminded me of the concept that "freedom has a price." I.E. they may have been poor in some ways, but rich in others. Obviously, some may agree, and others may disagree. Chally 01:56, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I only heard ni hao used in the scenes in China, so I think there is no reason to include Mandarim in the languages listed as contributing to the "pidgin" spoken (which might also simply be called English with a few phrases and words from the languages mentioned). In Arabia, instead of hi hao, shalam allechem /allechem shalam was used as a greeting.

Is Esperanto used at all? I think someone has misused the name Esperanto and is using it to call the pidgin language in the film. In the film the language is a mix of a number of languages whereas Esperanto is a fully formed language in its own right and is not a "pick'n'mix" pidgin. Ekstazo 18:11, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm changing spelling so it's "papelle" instead of "papele", matching the synopsis on the official site. bigelectric - 09 July 2009 —Preceding undated comment added 22:38, 9 July 2009 (UTC).

Various possible inaccuracies

Allow me to complement the main author of the review. It is excellent, if not slightly long-winded.

Maria's "friend" Damian. If Damian is referred to as a "friend," I suggest it as merely a colloquial usage. Damian was a customer. Later, the scrapbook contains "friends," and distinguishes the others as correctly ambiguous.

William takes a forged papel before leaving Shanghai the first time, in order to give it to one of the vendors he'd met at the entry point on the way in, which he does do. This seems to me the only reason it is worth noting that he takes the forged papel, but the article does not mention it. I have not made this change. Were it my preference, I'd probably remove the mention of it. I don't think it's important to the story, unless--and it's very unclear about this--the person he gave the cover to also encountered trouble (as there were others mentioned.)

As noted before, there is no reason to believe that government is restricting travel except in response to insurance coverage. I've made the assertion ambiguous as the movie is, at best, ambiguous about it.

Later comes the claim "William knows that this means Maria is somehow genetically related to him, but he has no idea how this is possible." which I do not believe is true. I believe he finds this out later in the movie, as told in a later paragraph. I have not edited this as I am waiting for corroboration. First, however, there was "but no action has been taken against William because she did not reveal who he was." I believe this was an assumption of the reviewer. I don't believe any reason was implied. Later, in fact, the virus responds correctly to their contact, so perhaps the action against him was not considered necessary.

I have, in fact, altered the wording, slightly, where that virus is mentioned, to clarify the fact that it produced a physical, not psychological, response to physical contact, which is clear only by context (that she requested him to tie her up to do the deed.)

I made some other minor diction edits.

Incidentally, the very last line of the plot, about the final subway scene, was *not* in the version of the DVD I have. On my DVD, we never see that scene, and the last scene is apparently the Jabel Ali desert.

Hope it was all good. Chally 01:52, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

The Sphinx -- a company?

My impression was that "The Sphinx" was more a kind of computer-augmented socialist government macroeconomic planning system. ("The Sphinx knows best.") Thus, the central theme for Code 46 is a subtler version of Brave New World, where people on the inside are well-regulated to maintain health, safety, and domestic (arguably superficial) happiness, at the expense of individual self-determination. "Everything is controlled scientifically," Maria says. 71.162.255.58 01:49, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. The Sphinx sounds like some kind of computer program, that essentially through models, can predict the future. One of Maria's monologues talks about if you knew everything, then you could plan everything. Although never clearly answers it suggests that the computer program can predict if someone will die or be injured if they undertake certain activities. E.g. you wont get insurance cover (which is purely permission) if The Sphinx thinks you will die if you go on a skiing holiday. However, once that came about it seems that the idea has entered into everyday life, where cover is actually needed to do any kind of travel. When William's boss mentions that someone has died, her tone implies that people don't really die much in their world. It's a bit more like Minority Report than Gattica in that respect, in fact I think the Gattica comparison is largely a lazy one and incorrect. It's hard to say for sure, but if someone else has watched the film a bit more, I think the page could be re-written to explain the whole cover sitation a bit more. At the moment it's largely incorrect I believe.

I've removed any reference to the film Gattaca in the Code 46 article. --Loremaster 16:31, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Sort-of related: I removed the link to Sphinx from the plot description, since the link goes to the article about the mythological creature and doesn't add to a reader's understanding (unlike the link, which I left untouched, in the "Development" section on the Oedipal theme). - bigelectric —Preceding undated comment added 22:58, 9 July 2009 (UTC).

A couple of additions

I've added a couple of sentances to the article, which I think are highly relevant.

Regardless of what type of regime exists in the film, I think it's trying to make a point about cold, heartless bureaucracy. The system of government might well have been well-intentioned, and the papella system and code 46 may be about safeguarding public health, but the have been administered in an inhumane way i.e arbitarily aborting pregnancies, removing memories, restricting population movement.

William and Maria are bureaucrats who have come to sympathise with the disadvantged people they encounter, to the point of breaking the law. William's situation is complicated by the empathy virus, which although necessary for his job, causes him to empathise too much with the people he encounters. He is chastised a number of times for this, including on the initial drive to Shanghai, where his driver tell him not to sympathise with the street vendors at the checkpoint, and that the system is there for a reason. He essentially can't help it, as he can see into their minds. It is in the light that he later gives the forged papella to the street vendor when he first leaves Shanghai (an act which I think is significant enough in that context to be included in the article). I think the virus also helps initiate the relationship between William and Maria, as he sees her as a human being and not just a suspect.

At the end of the film it is stated that the authorities brought William before a tribunal, and decided that the empathy virus had affected his judgement. The authorities therefore decide to remove his memories of Maria, and probably the virus (the reason he can't read his son's thought at the end of the film, as he could earlier). With this done, he can function again in this society as he is meant to. --Indisciplined 21:16, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

i wanted to point out that there's no indication that pregnancies are aborted arbitrarily -- quite the contrary, the film suggests that pregnancies are terminated in accordance with a specific rule. the desireability of such a rule, of course, is a different issue. Streamless 19:04, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

"Spanish is also made reference to many times" is trivia?

As I pointed out before, several languages were used several times in the film. I wouldn't want to just remove it with no comment; I think it should be discussed. It could be corrected to say that there are several languages used, but that doesn't sound like very interesting trivia to me. Maybe it should be mentioned where appropriate, and more completely and correctly, in the body of the article. Your comments? Chally 21:17, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

I've removed this sentence. I think someone wrote this because the article used to mention that the constructed international language Esperanto was used in the movie. --Loremaster 21:35, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Is Esperanto used at all? I think someone has misused the name Esperanto and is using it to call the pidgin language in the film. In the film the language is a mix of a number of languages whereas Esperanto is a fully formed language in its own right and is not a "pick'n'mix" pidgin. Ekstazo 18:11, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Bioconservative?

It seems to me that the social environment is NOT bioconservative. Viruses are common "inside," there are finger grafts, and finger-print scans are common. The only restriction of a biological nature that I noticed was that of the code itself - and I think this could be argued as either Bc or contra Bc. Kdammers 09:35, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

You are correct. I've removed the mention of that label. --Loremaster 13:23, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

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