This Trilogy is About Morality.
The Fiction Addiction
8,006 views
Maze Runner is the trolley problem on steroids. This video breaks down the moral dilemma presented in the film and the schools of thought that can guide a person to make a "moral" choice. What theory do you prefer, utilitarianism or deontology?
Music attribution below...
Air Prelude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Whiskey on the Rocks by Stevia Sphere
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com
Promoted by @RoyaltyFreePlanet - https://royaltyfreeplanet.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
http://bit.ly/RFP_CClicense
Thanks!
This video is intended for a general audience and is not made for or directed at children under 13. Any characters or footage from films and television — including content originally made for younger audiences — appears solely for the purposes of commentary and criticism. All third-party material is used for commentary, criticism, and analysis, and is intended to fall within the guidelines of fair use.
18 Comments
@margaret299 1 year ago
In the maze runner books there was never a cure thomas' blood wasnt a cure and most if the gladers were immune except a few control subjects (like Newt)
@sharny67 2 years ago
Read the books when I was younger and never had a doubt that Thomas and his crew were the good guys. Now after watching a bunch of your videos, im left continously questioning every piece of entertainment I consumed as a kid hahaha. Great video and keep up the awesome content.
@ZanderMurphy-ol7ub 1 year ago (edited)
The thing that solidifies Thomas as correct and WICKED as wrong imo is the fact that there’s no guarantee that by sacrificing a few you’ll be able save everyone else. If it was a guarantee sure maybe it would be worth it. But wicked was only killing for a CHANCE at a cure, and if you read the books you find out that’s because wicked were the ones who actually released the virus. Their guilt is what blinds them to the fallbacks, and that’s why wicked isn’t good. They can never own their mistakes and just continue to fill more graves while digging themselves a deeper one.
The books also have a really interesting suggestion that perhaps some people at wicked are actually jealous of the immunes. And deep deep down gain some enjoyment and pleasure from watching them suffer in the name of “the greater good”. I seriously recommend the novels they’re a lot deeper and morally ambiguous.
The books also have a really interesting suggestion that perhaps some people at wicked are actually jealous of the immunes. And deep deep down gain some enjoyment and pleasure from watching them suffer in the name of “the greater good”. I seriously recommend the novels they’re a lot deeper and morally ambiguous.
@sildarmillion 10 months ago
I'm pretty sure all the kids being held in the facility in the last city were immune, but their blood wasn't "good enough" -- like Minho's blood helped the little girl at first, she got better temporarily, but then it came back. And of course, Thomas is the extra special one whose blood does have an actual cure.
@wilhelm-z4t 2 years ago (edited)
First of all, props for doing all this work helping to enlighten the TMR masses! This generally agrees with my analysis of TMR trilogy, and I'm impressed. Most viewers of TMR have only a superficial understanding of the trilogy, but there's a lot more to TMR than a simple action-adventure story. You are correct in saying the main theme, which runs through the entire trilogy, asks: Is it "right" to sacrifice the few to save the many? I formulated the question a little differently; namely, do the ends justify the means? Either way, it characterizes WCKD's actions vis-a-vis the immunes and non-immunes.
"The ends justify the means" is a principle often associated with totalitarianism, and the phrase has its origin with Machiavelli, although the idea is much older. The principle is part and parcel of consequentialism, a teleological theory that says whether an action is morally good or bad depends on its outcomes. The more good outcomes outnumber the bad, the better/more moral the action. Under this rubric if WCKD finds a cure, then WCKD is very good, indeed. It's clearly rooted in Utilitarianism.
Teresa/WCKD adhere to this end-means principle rigidly. This principle is, unfortunately, a too common belief today. It allows people to believe their actions are justified regardless of how they go about achieving their desired end result, opening the door to all sorts of aberrant behaviors. Since they are dealing with an end of very great significance, Teresa/WCKD feel anything goes when it comes to "how" the end is achieved. Teresa/WCKD are totally ruthless in their pursuit of a cure.
Thomas, on the other hand, believes that the means are just as important, or, maybe, even more important than the end. His viewpoint is if the means are morally objectionable in themselves, then this outweighs any potential benefit from the end. In other words, the "how" is just as important as the "why" in his calculus. Thomas, just like WCKD, wants to find a cure to the Flare, he's only opposed to how WCKD does it. Thomas is more than willing to sacrifice himself to obtain a cure and save humanity. He's not willing, however, to sacrifice the unwilling.
Theresa's/WCKD's morality is relativistic and man-centric, whereas Thomas' morality is based on absolute principles and God-centric. Even so, the trilogy challenges both WCKD's and Thomas' perspective, and makes us wonder which interpretation is "right." I'm reminded of Pilate when he said: "What is truth?" We have man's truth, and we have God's Truth. This is the crux of the conflict between Teresa/WCKD and Thomas over how best to find a cure.
In addition to the main theme, there are various subthemes in TMR. These include growing-up, chaos v. order, memory and identity, friendship/love of others, selfishness v. selflessness, loyalty v. disloyalty, self-sacrifice v. self-preservation, man v. nature, how different people react to the unknown, mazes as an allegory for life's many twists and turns, same-sex love, curiosity v. apathy, groupthink v. individual initiative etc.
You asked the question: Would you sacrifice yourself to save others? Well, that's one of the subthemes of TMR, and a lot of people do it in the films. Thomas shows a willingness to do it constantly, e.g., when he goes into the Maze after Minho and Alby, when he offers himself to WCKD in lieu of the immunes near the end of "Scorch," when he does it again after Newt dies in "Death Cure" and when he decides to leave Safe Haven at the end of "Death Cure." Newt does it when he kills himself to save Thomas. Winston, arguably, when he shoots himself. Jeff when he attacks the griever to save Minho. And, of course, Chuck does it to save Thomas. Maybe we can even include Teresa in this legion of honor. She, arguably, dies saving Thomas. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
You also asked: Why did the mob rampage and destroy the city? Admittedly, the mob behaves totally irrationally. However, we have to remember that's "mob mentality." Mobs act like bees swarming. Being part of a mob subordinates the individual and leads to heightened group emotional states to include excitement, irrationality, anger, rage, hostility etc. When a peaceful protest turns into a mob, that's bad!
In the first film, Thomas and Ava Paige tell us the Maze is an experiment to stress and test brain function in order to find a cure for the Flare. In any experiment, you need a treatment group and a control group. The control group is the benchmark against which you compare the treatment group. Some of the post-Flare generation have evolved an immunity to Flare like Thomas has. They can't catch it. However, not every member of this generation is immune. Clearly Winston and Newt were not immune. The control group must be non-immunes, the treatment group immunes. In other words, some of the Gladers are immune, others are not. A Griever sting cannot be Flare because we know it affected Thomas, and he's immune to Flare. It has to be something besides Flare because all the Gladers have to be at risk of death for the sake of the experiment. Griever sting is similar in effect to Flare, but it's clearly 100% curable by WCKD. Also, it can't be communicable since WCKD would not want all the test subjects to die if one were stung.
The Flare virus is the "Maze Runner" saga's MacGuffin. It drives the narrative. As is the case with any MacGuffin, you shouldn't try to make too much out of it per se. However, speaking broadly, as adults, we can understand the movie logic behind it. According to the films, by stressing the immune with scenarios which they must solve in order to survive, WCKD has ascertained a generally appropriate species of engram/neural pathway is created in their brains. These engrams alter brain chemistry resulting in the production of an enzyme. (I.e., the blue liquid.) This enzyme evidently is able to cross the brain-blood barrier into the blood. Once isolated, either directly from the brain or indirectly via the blood, this immune-derived enzyme can be used to temporarily treat the Flare virus with varying effectiveness. It can either temporarily arrest the progression of Flare and/or temporarily reverse the symptoms. The proper combination of engrams that could completely cure the Flare was not discovered by WCKD until near the end of "Death Cure." This explains the need for Trials. By iteratively varying the scenarios to which the immunes are subjected, WCKD's Trials hope to eventually produce the curative enzyme, isolate it, develop a mechanism to replicate it in quantity and subsequently save humanity. WCKD monitors the subject's brain activity/function to ascertain what sort of engrams are being produced at any given time by a specific scenario. If a scenario results in engrams/pathways that have previously led to a dead-end as far as a potential cure is concerned, the scenario is altered. The process is generally one of trial-and-error which is hoped to eventually converge upon a solution, i.e., cure. Both the immunes and non-immunes, who act as controls, are regarded by WCKD as expendable. In short, WCKD treats them like lab rats. A complication is time-pressure, the Flare is rapidly speading through the non-immune population.
When Thomas and the Gladers arrive at Jansen's facility, NONE of the immunes is a cure, that includes Thomas. You saw they took samples of his blood. If he were a cure at that point, they'd have known it. At Jansen's facility, Phase Two begins. Phase Two consists of virtual Trials which explains some of the headgear on the immunes. Simultaneously, the enzyme is extracted directly from their brains. Presumably this is for efficacy testing as well as use in treatment. By the time Thomas reaches the Right Arm camp, he is now the cure. This is a consequence of Thomas's unique trials and tribulations he endured prior to Jansen's facility and after escaping from Jansen's up-to-and-including his arrival at the Right Arm camp.
Minho's serum didn't make the treated girl worse, it only provided very temporary relief, but then the Flare virus "caught up."
Ever since Newt's death, Thomas intended to sacrifice himself as the "cure." This is driven home to us with Newt's love letter to Thomas, Thomas looking at the vial of serum and the ship. He's going back to find WCKD (they were evacuating). Hopefully, a mechanism to synthesize the enzyme would be developed and mankind saved. Perhaps Thomas with his memory restored might do it. He is a genius and a medical doctor/researcher like Teresa pre-Glade. However, because Thomas is a tragic hero, it's also true he will die sooner than later.
One possibility for the cure is this: Suppose Thomas's blood not only cured Brenda and made her immune but also made her a cure like Thomas? So, now, we have two cure sources. They could cure two more people and so on. In other words, at any given time n, you'd have something like 2^n cure sources. Actually, you'd probably have a number greater than that at any given time. Regardless, it's a snowball like effect, and you get the idea. No need to try to find a mechanism to artificially synthesize a cure. The more people you cure, the faster you cure everyone! Naturally, you wouldn't want Thomas or Brenda to die too soon.
In that case, you could argue WCKD had the right idea, and WCKD was good! If only Dr. Paige had taken Thomas's offer at the end of "Scorch!" Think about all the death and destruction that could have been avoided, including Newt's death!! In retrospect, that was THE tragedy of TMR. You know, Thomas still comes out as the good guy.
"The ends justify the means" is a principle often associated with totalitarianism, and the phrase has its origin with Machiavelli, although the idea is much older. The principle is part and parcel of consequentialism, a teleological theory that says whether an action is morally good or bad depends on its outcomes. The more good outcomes outnumber the bad, the better/more moral the action. Under this rubric if WCKD finds a cure, then WCKD is very good, indeed. It's clearly rooted in Utilitarianism.
Teresa/WCKD adhere to this end-means principle rigidly. This principle is, unfortunately, a too common belief today. It allows people to believe their actions are justified regardless of how they go about achieving their desired end result, opening the door to all sorts of aberrant behaviors. Since they are dealing with an end of very great significance, Teresa/WCKD feel anything goes when it comes to "how" the end is achieved. Teresa/WCKD are totally ruthless in their pursuit of a cure.
Thomas, on the other hand, believes that the means are just as important, or, maybe, even more important than the end. His viewpoint is if the means are morally objectionable in themselves, then this outweighs any potential benefit from the end. In other words, the "how" is just as important as the "why" in his calculus. Thomas, just like WCKD, wants to find a cure to the Flare, he's only opposed to how WCKD does it. Thomas is more than willing to sacrifice himself to obtain a cure and save humanity. He's not willing, however, to sacrifice the unwilling.
Theresa's/WCKD's morality is relativistic and man-centric, whereas Thomas' morality is based on absolute principles and God-centric. Even so, the trilogy challenges both WCKD's and Thomas' perspective, and makes us wonder which interpretation is "right." I'm reminded of Pilate when he said: "What is truth?" We have man's truth, and we have God's Truth. This is the crux of the conflict between Teresa/WCKD and Thomas over how best to find a cure.
In addition to the main theme, there are various subthemes in TMR. These include growing-up, chaos v. order, memory and identity, friendship/love of others, selfishness v. selflessness, loyalty v. disloyalty, self-sacrifice v. self-preservation, man v. nature, how different people react to the unknown, mazes as an allegory for life's many twists and turns, same-sex love, curiosity v. apathy, groupthink v. individual initiative etc.
You asked the question: Would you sacrifice yourself to save others? Well, that's one of the subthemes of TMR, and a lot of people do it in the films. Thomas shows a willingness to do it constantly, e.g., when he goes into the Maze after Minho and Alby, when he offers himself to WCKD in lieu of the immunes near the end of "Scorch," when he does it again after Newt dies in "Death Cure" and when he decides to leave Safe Haven at the end of "Death Cure." Newt does it when he kills himself to save Thomas. Winston, arguably, when he shoots himself. Jeff when he attacks the griever to save Minho. And, of course, Chuck does it to save Thomas. Maybe we can even include Teresa in this legion of honor. She, arguably, dies saving Thomas. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
You also asked: Why did the mob rampage and destroy the city? Admittedly, the mob behaves totally irrationally. However, we have to remember that's "mob mentality." Mobs act like bees swarming. Being part of a mob subordinates the individual and leads to heightened group emotional states to include excitement, irrationality, anger, rage, hostility etc. When a peaceful protest turns into a mob, that's bad!
In the first film, Thomas and Ava Paige tell us the Maze is an experiment to stress and test brain function in order to find a cure for the Flare. In any experiment, you need a treatment group and a control group. The control group is the benchmark against which you compare the treatment group. Some of the post-Flare generation have evolved an immunity to Flare like Thomas has. They can't catch it. However, not every member of this generation is immune. Clearly Winston and Newt were not immune. The control group must be non-immunes, the treatment group immunes. In other words, some of the Gladers are immune, others are not. A Griever sting cannot be Flare because we know it affected Thomas, and he's immune to Flare. It has to be something besides Flare because all the Gladers have to be at risk of death for the sake of the experiment. Griever sting is similar in effect to Flare, but it's clearly 100% curable by WCKD. Also, it can't be communicable since WCKD would not want all the test subjects to die if one were stung.
The Flare virus is the "Maze Runner" saga's MacGuffin. It drives the narrative. As is the case with any MacGuffin, you shouldn't try to make too much out of it per se. However, speaking broadly, as adults, we can understand the movie logic behind it. According to the films, by stressing the immune with scenarios which they must solve in order to survive, WCKD has ascertained a generally appropriate species of engram/neural pathway is created in their brains. These engrams alter brain chemistry resulting in the production of an enzyme. (I.e., the blue liquid.) This enzyme evidently is able to cross the brain-blood barrier into the blood. Once isolated, either directly from the brain or indirectly via the blood, this immune-derived enzyme can be used to temporarily treat the Flare virus with varying effectiveness. It can either temporarily arrest the progression of Flare and/or temporarily reverse the symptoms. The proper combination of engrams that could completely cure the Flare was not discovered by WCKD until near the end of "Death Cure." This explains the need for Trials. By iteratively varying the scenarios to which the immunes are subjected, WCKD's Trials hope to eventually produce the curative enzyme, isolate it, develop a mechanism to replicate it in quantity and subsequently save humanity. WCKD monitors the subject's brain activity/function to ascertain what sort of engrams are being produced at any given time by a specific scenario. If a scenario results in engrams/pathways that have previously led to a dead-end as far as a potential cure is concerned, the scenario is altered. The process is generally one of trial-and-error which is hoped to eventually converge upon a solution, i.e., cure. Both the immunes and non-immunes, who act as controls, are regarded by WCKD as expendable. In short, WCKD treats them like lab rats. A complication is time-pressure, the Flare is rapidly speading through the non-immune population.
When Thomas and the Gladers arrive at Jansen's facility, NONE of the immunes is a cure, that includes Thomas. You saw they took samples of his blood. If he were a cure at that point, they'd have known it. At Jansen's facility, Phase Two begins. Phase Two consists of virtual Trials which explains some of the headgear on the immunes. Simultaneously, the enzyme is extracted directly from their brains. Presumably this is for efficacy testing as well as use in treatment. By the time Thomas reaches the Right Arm camp, he is now the cure. This is a consequence of Thomas's unique trials and tribulations he endured prior to Jansen's facility and after escaping from Jansen's up-to-and-including his arrival at the Right Arm camp.
Minho's serum didn't make the treated girl worse, it only provided very temporary relief, but then the Flare virus "caught up."
Ever since Newt's death, Thomas intended to sacrifice himself as the "cure." This is driven home to us with Newt's love letter to Thomas, Thomas looking at the vial of serum and the ship. He's going back to find WCKD (they were evacuating). Hopefully, a mechanism to synthesize the enzyme would be developed and mankind saved. Perhaps Thomas with his memory restored might do it. He is a genius and a medical doctor/researcher like Teresa pre-Glade. However, because Thomas is a tragic hero, it's also true he will die sooner than later.
One possibility for the cure is this: Suppose Thomas's blood not only cured Brenda and made her immune but also made her a cure like Thomas? So, now, we have two cure sources. They could cure two more people and so on. In other words, at any given time n, you'd have something like 2^n cure sources. Actually, you'd probably have a number greater than that at any given time. Regardless, it's a snowball like effect, and you get the idea. No need to try to find a mechanism to artificially synthesize a cure. The more people you cure, the faster you cure everyone! Naturally, you wouldn't want Thomas or Brenda to die too soon.
In that case, you could argue WCKD had the right idea, and WCKD was good! If only Dr. Paige had taken Thomas's offer at the end of "Scorch!" Think about all the death and destruction that could have been avoided, including Newt's death!! In retrospect, that was THE tragedy of TMR. You know, Thomas still comes out as the good guy.
@P0intnem0_notknown 2 years ago
You’re totally right about this, at the end of the third movie even I was feeling conflicted. I think, since they have found someone who is truly immune, they should ask him to give himself up willingly to save others. Harvesting innocent and uninfected children is definitely immoral. The other thing is, if Thomas did give himself up for the greater good, wouldn’t he always have to be harvested? Like theres no way he would have the capacity to save even a city of people. And even if it kills the flare virus, what if someone gets bitten again? Will they need the shot again or since they had his blood are they always immune?
There’s so much uncertainty with it all that I do think it is largely immoral on the part of WCKD. As horrible as it sounds perhaps this is just natural selection, those who survive will carry humanity forward. But then again losing a character like Newt was absolutely horrible, and one would hope that there was a way to save him. It’s very very well done with how grey the issue is, not black and white at all
There’s so much uncertainty with it all that I do think it is largely immoral on the part of WCKD. As horrible as it sounds perhaps this is just natural selection, those who survive will carry humanity forward. But then again losing a character like Newt was absolutely horrible, and one would hope that there was a way to save him. It’s very very well done with how grey the issue is, not black and white at all
@fernyancat 2 years ago
Honestky, I didn't watch any of the movies. But the titled caught my attention. Gotta give it a try.
@aleiabdelmguid5952 1 year ago
Bro you are truly amazing this is the first time in a super long time ive truly watched a YouTube because they are truly producing amazing content you will go far i belive in you you really have a unique way of explaining moral and philosophical ideas and dilemas i just wanted to drop in and encourage you a bit for this amazing content and comgradulate you ❤
@AtzHooligan_Offical 7 months ago
i think that they were tryna test and see if the maze could awaken immunity of the people who werent immune. Like they said, they put kids through blood soaking hard conditions to find the immunity, atleast i think so they said that in the end of the first movie
@caraplayzgames3996 2 years ago
In the books wicked put people who weren’t immune with people who were immune because they were tracking reactions the the flare in the immune’s mind. Hanson then told all the gladers and group B together who was immune and who wasn’t getting as much of a reaction as they could.
@JamieMaxwell-bu2sd 6 months ago
The books go a lot deeper into the lore and a lot of the story in the movies are completely different from the books
@psychopomp4135 8 months ago
The reason that the freedom fighters ended up destroying the Last City instead of taking it over was because they had been neglected for so long that they were moreso fixated on vengeance.
Yes, it would have been more pragmatic to commandeer the city covertly from within so that they would all be able to benefit. But to these people WCKD is inherently evil, and everything they touch is tainted. In their eyes, it all had to go.
Yes, it would have been more pragmatic to commandeer the city covertly from within so that they would all be able to benefit. But to these people WCKD is inherently evil, and everything they touch is tainted. In their eyes, it all had to go.
@JimmyAkinsPetTurtle 2 years ago
To culpably sacrifice innocent children is NOT ethical.
It is not comparable to the trolly problem because culpability is removed from the trolly problem.
You are wrong when you say "there is no good guy and bad guy". WCKD is clearly the bad guy. They are culpable for sacrificing innocent children.
It is not comparable to the trolly problem because culpability is removed from the trolly problem.
You are wrong when you say "there is no good guy and bad guy". WCKD is clearly the bad guy. They are culpable for sacrificing innocent children.
@chaddygames 2 years ago
I love maze runner it is the BEST game ever made oh wait game no I meant to say show ahahaha that's my bad I'm a mess right now cause it's not even a show it's a movie BAJAJAJAA
This Trilogy is About Morality.
The Fiction Addiction
8,006 views
Maze Runner is the trolley problem on steroids. This video breaks down the moral dilemma presented in the film and the schools of thought that can guide a person to make a "moral" choice. What theory do you prefer, utilitarianism or deontology?
Music attribution below...
Air Prelude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Whiskey on the Rocks by Stevia Sphere
https://steviasphere.bandcamp.com
Promoted by @RoyaltyFreePlanet - https://royaltyfreeplanet.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
http://bit.ly/RFP_CClicense
Thanks!
This video is intended for a general audience and is not made for or directed at children under 13. Any characters or footage from films and television — including content originally made for younger audiences — appears solely for the purposes of commentary and criticism. All third-party material is used for commentary, criticism, and analysis, and is intended to fall within the guidelines of fair use.