Running head: A PARADOX IN TIME

A Paradox In Time
Hunter C. Somerville
Texas A&M University-Texarkana

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A Paradox In Time

For most people, they want to be young, wealthy, and have good-looks all their life.
Some people even want to live forever. It is afforded that the people who are more wealthy have
better access to healthcare, therefore living longer, and enjoying a life of leisure without
complications. If this statement were true, then it could also be said that the poor struggle for
money, food, and good health. From birth to death people struggle with identity and search to
find their place in society. There is a time in development that many individuals enter a
moratorium, postponing commitments and identity decisions (DeSpelder, 2011, p. 60).
Postponing death is what a majority of people would like to happen or eliminate death forever.
There are two phrases that are heard quite often; if I had all the time in the world, I would; and if
I had all the money in the world, I would.... The movie by Andrew Niccol, In Time, combines
the phrases of money and time to create a paradox; time is money. The people in this movie
struggle with societal values placed on the monetary value of time as related to class structure,
life challenges, and death.
Societal values change over time and emphasis on different beliefs change as well.
Beauty and staying young have been concepts that many cultures want to achieve. Prevention of
death is thought to be achieved by staying young. DeSpelder (2011) states that emerging adults
may think they are beyond death. In the society that Andrew Niccol created in the movie, In
Time, people stopped aging at the age of 25. Individuals are given one year to live once they
turned 25 and to continue living they had to purchase or earn more time. To obtain items such as
food or clothing the citizens had to trade the time that is on their clock for the items. Money is
time and time is money. The paradox challenged people to think about what was more closely
needed or desired. The poor struggled with small amounts of time and therefore short lives. The

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rich could live forever, at least theoretically. According to DeSpelder (2011), this theoretical
perspective, social structure exerts a constraining effect on human activity, limiting the arena of
action (p. 79). Limitations were set by the differences in the class structures and the separation
of these classes by concrete barriers and extreme costs of moving into a better zone.
Individuals who are faced with a limited amount of time to live often have values that are
different than those of people who are not faced with the struggles of daily life. These daily
activities of wondering how much time is left on their clock, how to pay bills, and how to put
food on the table, can be the mere existence of an impoverished person. When life looks bleak
some can turn to a life of crime or drugs. People who are disenfranchised or who live at the
fringes of society may have no reason to hold life-affirming values, because they do not
experience themselves as meaningfully related to the community (DeSpelder, 2011, p. 449).
Mr. Niccol portrayed a society with distinct separation of classes and the struggles of the lower
classes were characteristic of many poor societies and their struggles.
Death in societies with a high value on life tend to shut out the concept of death
altogether. Immortality is a state that many want to achieve. The movie, In Time, shows that the
rich can have immortality and the poor face an inevitable mortality. Death can have the
appearance of being kept at bay as long as you can obtain more time. DeSpelder (2011) states
death means a complete change in the status of a living entity characterized by the irreversible
loss of those characteristics that are essentially significant to it (p. 148). In the movie, the
wealthy thought that as long as they control of all the time that they can live forever while at the
same time the poor felt destined to keep fighting death from taking them. People are expected to
stay within their societies and cultures and accept their state as the norm. Those that think of
changing or fighting their circumstances are not looked upon highly causing individuals to

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question their motives. Individuals may wrestle with the dilemma of maintaining their cultural
distinctiveness while also taking steps to broaden the conventional terms of what it means to be a
member of their culture (DeSpelder, 2011, p. 129).
In life there are many paradoxes, some can consume people and others entire
civilizations. In the case of the people from the movie, In Time, the paradox of time is money
and money is time was a paramount concern. For the wealthy, more time meant more buying
power and the ability to live forever. For the poor, time is scarce and people fought to keep time
in order to stay alive. As with current societies, wealthier people tend to have better healthcare
and live longer lives while poorer people have limited access to good food and good healthcare.
Ultimately the poor struggle to understand why the rich cant share their wealth so that all can
live good lives. The wealthy cant fathom giving up their time to help a poor person and the
attitude of survival of the fittest is a mantra. The question begs to be asked, is it really survival
of the fittest just because you are the time keeper?

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References

Newman, E. (Producer), & Niccol, A. (Director). (2011). In Time (Motion Picture). United
States: 20th Century Fox Distribution
DeSpelder, L. A. & Strickland, L. A. (2011). The Last Dance. New York: McGraw Hill