On March 21, dystopian movie Divergent turned 10 years old. Crossing the threshold of a decade, the movie still hits on societal topics that are increasingly becoming a fear as technology continues to advance.
Divergent’s plot starts by meeting the main character, Beatrice Prior, in her home. Beatrice is a 16 year old girl, and she is getting ready to take an aptitude test that will determine her place in society.
The city of Chicago, set 100 years into the future, is divided into five factions, or groups that separate the citizens based on their personality traits. Beatrice, after taking her test, receives an inconclusive result: she fits into more than one faction, which classifies her as Divergent. Unsure of what faction to choose to live in, Beatrice ultimately decides on Dauntless, the protector faction, as she had been fascinated by them since she was a kid.
Antagonist and power hungry leader of the scientific faction Erudite, Jeanine Matthews, is on a hunt to eliminate all Divergents, placing Beatrice Prior in direct harm. After entering Dauntless, Beatrice changes her name to Tris, and meets her mentor and future lover, Four. Four and Tris find out, through time, that Erudite is actively hunting Divergents, and it falls into their hands to save the lives of both Divergents and the selfless faction, Abnegation.
Under a serum developed by Erudite, Dauntless soldiers are forced into the streets of Abnegation, eliminating any who try to escape. Because they are under control, they are killing the innocents of Abnegation without realizing, and it is up to Tris and Four to stop the simulation. Tris and Four are Divergent, as the film reveals, and they are some of the only ones unaffected by the serum implanted by Erudite.
Infiltrating the base set up at Dauntless by Erudite, Tris and Four are able to overtake Jeanine and stop the Dauntless soldiers from being forced to kill any and all Abnegation citizens. In the process of getting to the base camp, Tris loses her mother and father, severely damaging her psyche and creating a guilt conflict throughout the rest of the Divergent series.
Many of the topics touched on in Divergent are still very real threats in today’s society. While it is a fiction movie, it still holds some truth on what could happen should the world divide into factions strictly based on personality. Without any melting pot, or any diversity within society, it could turn into a fight over control. Each faction could feel superiority over the others, and it could lead to a civil war.
In addition to the scare of separation, Divergent reaches subjects such as the advancement of technology. While the city buildings are run down and borderline destroyed, the rest of the city relies on holograms, projection technology, and advanced weapons. These advancements in technology could actually be in the near future for today’s society, as with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and film production, the basics are already coming together.
After 10 years, and still with significant connections to the military, technology, and separation, Divergent remains one of the best dystopian movie series produced.