Regarding Cast Away, I tend to think the fire plough would be the easiest concept to conceive of if one had no exposure to friction or primitive fire making whatsoever.
It brings to mind the old saying; "You can make fire by rubbing two sticks together".
Nearly every child has heard that one I'm guessing, and still some people would probably think that two sticks, if rubbed together quickly enough, would burst into flames. Even so, if the saying were "You can make fire by using a bow, spindle/drill, base board, hand hold", the concept still might be a bit more complex in execution with so little information.
Even in the case of the hand drill, which is the fire bow at its base form, it still might seem like a harder concept to wrap one’s mind around, at least starting from the simple concept that "You can make fire by rubbing two sticks together".
I guess what makes me think that way is that it's a pretty safe bet that the first way man (Homo habilis or whichever LOL) made friction fire was probably with the fire plough.
And, not to get all deep and stuff, the movie was about a man moving from a world of time when every second counted (note the clock that he set up in the Russian FedEx warehouse), to a world of time measured in the long count of days months and years (as shown in the tick marks he used to count his days on the island). This also showed him moving from a world of “high” technology (digital clock) and the frustrations that came with living in that manner to a world where the most basic concepts such as survival and the tools to implement that endeavor became important (scratching tick marks into the rock).
Also, there was the concept of personal relationships in the modern world and how such things might have meant more in the past (Chuck’s connection to Kelly from his POV to Kelly moving on from her own POV).
And then there’s Wilson...
Chuck: “You wouldn’t have a match by any chance, would you?”
Wilson: ...
*smoke appears*
Chuck: “Look what I have created... I have made fire!”
Oops... Drifted there... LOL
Anyway, I think the plough was a very intentional choice.
In any case, the more complex the tool the more knowledge it takes to put it together from scratch and use it. And even though with the plough method and drill method you’re still only basically implementing two sticks and friction (not to mention tinder and such), the plough seems like the easiest idea to come by naturally.
Edited by Nicodemus (02/23/06 08:35 AM)
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