Science fiction and horror both offer narrative closure and "the restoration of the social order," as does Repo Men, only in this case the social order being preserved is completely amoral and evil (Grant 21). It does not end with the monster or alien menace defeated, like Independence Day, Star Wars, Terminator or The War of the Worlds, but just a literal return to the 6

status quo and business as usual. Repo Men is definitely not an adolescent or 'infantilized' film, with heavy reliance on special effects and light and magic shows, nor do the good guys win in the end -- insofar as there are any good guys at all. It has no real hope or comport to offer, and n this absolutely dehumanized world of the future that lacks redeeming features of any kind, Remy's fantasy existence might actually be preferable to 'reality'. Thus the film is also reminiscent of the Matrix and Total Recall, in which the main character's identity is not real at all, but rather prosthetic or artificial. Postmodern theorists like Jean Baudrillard postulated the "death of the real" twenty years ago, and its replacement by electronic images and symbols (Landsberg 288). Technology is rapidly developing the capacity to alter reality and experience into any shape the user desires, although in this case they will also require a good credit rating for the fantasy to continue. Unlike the characters in Matrix, however, or Quade in Total Recall, Remy is never likely to be liberated from the machine, and the film is ultimately pessimistic about it being stopped or overthrown in some way.

In the end, Remy's rebellion was completely futile an illusory, and was probably implanted in his mind by The Union itself, to keep him content in his vegetative...

Its computer technology was sophisticated enough to decipher the innermost thoughts, hopes and desires of the human mind and sell them in a package to all those who can afford the experience. Remy's desire for rebellion and liberation has been neutered and rendered completely harmless by the corporation, which even manages to make a tidy profit from such fantasies. To add to the irony, Jake may very well be Remy's only real friend, and he has to increase his number of kills and collections to pay for the neural net. Repo Men therefore has combined both the horror and science fiction genres by making both the body and technology the enemies of humanity, especially when the machinery is controlled by a global corporation that cares only about extracting as much profit from the world as possible. Remy clearly would not have wanted this, but his desires were beside the point. In any event, The Union's 'services' do not come for free, even to its own underpaid employees, and it prefers to keep both the workers and consumers like slaves or rats on a treadmill.
WORKS CITED

Grant, Barry Keith. "Sensuous Elaboration': Reason and the Visible in Science Fiction Film" in Redmond, Sean (ed). Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader. Wallflower Press, 2004: 17-23.

Landsberg, Alison. "Prosthetic Memory: Total Recall and Blade Runner" in Ballard, David and Barbara M. Kennedy (eds). The Cybercultures Reader, Second Edition. Routledge, 2007: 286-96.

Milner, Andrew. "Dark City: Urban Dystopia and Science Fiction Cinema." International Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(3) 2004: 259-79.

Sobchak, Victoria. "Images of Wonder: The Look of Science Fiction" in Liquid Metal: 4-10.