Death Race and Dystopian Government

    The movie Death Race was set in the year 2012 during the worst depression that The United States of America has ever had.  Money and jobs was a hard thing to come by at this time.  The main character Jensen Ames has just lost his job because they have gone out of business, he had been working there for 15 years.  When he goes to collect his final pay he is disgusted that he is only given 300 dollars for working 120 hours during the last two weeks.  Also crime is at the highest it has ever been.  At the factory that is run out of business that Ames works at there is a riot, which the S.W.A.T. team is called in to take control of the situation by force.  The American government and jail system is also flawed in many ways.  A jail warden frames Ames in that he murdered his wife, so that he can be sent to jail in Terminal Island Prison, and participate in the “Death Race”.  The imprisoned population becomes so vast that private companies are hired.  In Terminal Island Prison, “Death Race”, a gladiator like fight to be the first one across the finish line is held to entertain Americans and to raise funds.

    The form of government is a totalitarianism form of government in which business and jail control a lot that is masked by a democracy.  The reason the government is totalitarianism the warden of the Terminal Island Prison had the power to frame Jensen Ames in that he murdered his wife.  The warden did this so Jensen could go to her jail to replace Frankenstein, a famous racer that was recently killed.  She doesn’t want the American people to know that because Frankenstein is the reason they watch the Death Races.  The Death Races for the warden is like a business, the more people that subscribe to watch the more money she makes.  This shows that the government is totalitarianism and jails and business have a lot of power in it.

    A Death Race is not like a normal race.  In a Death Race there are no rules, its basically part of the game and more that likely you will die.  One of Jensen’s pit crew said there was a 67.8% chance of death.  The cars that you race with are not like ordinary cars either.  They are wielded with steel armor and weaponry such as guns or RPGs.  During the race you have a navigator, the navigator helps you out by using your weapons and telling you where to go, they are basically like another set of eyes.  The navigator is also always a women from a different jail.  Death Races have three different stages, and a race to the death.  The first two is to eliminate as much possible competition as possible.  The third soul purpose of the third stage of the race is to be the first one to cross the finish line.  The deal is if you win five Death Races you are let go from the prison.  The deal is also a good example of how businesses and jail run the government because under no circumstances should a murderer be allowed to be let out of jail because they won five races, while killing their competition.
    The reason the government is still considered a democracy is because people still had their basic freedoms like the freedom of speech and obviously the freedom of press because of the Death Races.  Another reason why the government is still considered a democracy is because we were never told anything different in the movie.

    Since the main part of the movie is centered around the jail and its conditions we know a lot more about the social caste system that has taken place inside of the jail.  The head of the jail is Hennessey the prison warden.  She controls all of the activities that go on in the jail and on the race track, she profits off of the Death Races.  She also set up the framing of Ames.  The second in line is the prison guards.  The guards keep things under control in the jail, and also make sure nobody escapes.  Hennessey’s right hand man Ulrich acts as her personal body guard.  The pit crew followed them, they are the people that worked on the cars after races.  They also customized and designed the cars in which the drivers raced.  The pit crew was treated good by the jail and never was beaten or ran into any problems with the guards or the warden.  After the pit  crew was the racers.  They are one step up from the prisoners just because they race.  They are still occasionally beaten for things such as foul language.  The racers are also fed the same food as the inmates, they are treated the same.  However they do have the opportunity to get out of jail, however chances are very minimal.  At the bottom of the social class there is the inmates.  They have no privileges and will be in jail for life.

    The government controls rebellion by using fear.  One way the government uses fear is by using force against people that disobey the law.  An example of this is at the beginning of the movie when Ames lost his job due to the factory shutting down.  When people were about to riot the S.W.A.T. team showed up and used force to suppress the crowd.  Another way the government installs fear into society is by sending people to jail and using them as an example.  With so many people in jail the government is obviously being strict on their laws, which mean that they are not letting people take advantage of them.  They are showing people that they will not put up with anything by sending so many people to jail.

    The government also tries to control people by distracting them from the problem that they don’t have any money.  The Death Races is the primary way of doing this.  It’s almost like football on Sundays.  On Sundays everyone gets together to watch their favorite football team and while you are with your friends and watching the game you forget about your problems because you are having fun. 

    A revolution happened in the Terminal Island Prison.  Ames, his navigator Elizabeth and his rival Machine Gun Joe planned an escape from the prison.  During the third stage of the death race Machine Gun Joe fired an RPG through the wall of the race track.  A hole was made that was big enough for the drivers to go through and they drove down the 10 mile long bridge (the only way to get into the Terminal Island Prison).  The government immediately tries to use force to stop them.  Police cars, helicopters, and turret guns stationed on the bridge were all used to try to stop the fleeing Ames, and Machine Gun Joe.  However these weapons are not enough because of the way the cars have been customize to resist this kind of fire.  Eventually Ames and Machine Gun Joe evade the police for a moment during witch they get out of their cars, Jensen Ames gives up the wheel to Elizabeth, his navigator.  The government was  unsuccessful in capturing any of them and six months later we see Ames, Joe and Elizabeth in Miami all living a clean life free of crime. 

    Modern technology is used to control society.  When the government uses force to control society they equipped their units with modern technology such as guns.  Modern technology is also used during the Death Races to control the races.  The warden has the power to give the racers the ability to use their weapons.  The warden can control the races and make them more interesting for the viewers by controlling who has the ability to use weapons and when.  Another power way the warden uses technology to make the race how she thinks is best fit for the viewers is by making a machine that destroys competition.  The machine she makes is a semi-truck which has had the trailer hollowed out and filled with turret guns, and missiles.  It is run by about 10 guards and during the race she kills three drivers with it until she gets the result she wants.  The two rivals racing each other in the final stage, Jensen Ames and Machine Gun Joe.