In the movie, the society it takes place in, when you hit 25-years-old, a biological clock kicks in and you have exactly one year to live. The time is shown on your arm. Time is the commodity in this society. Things cost time and you can make time by working. This is how folks stay alive.
But some have asked how the bloody heck do you read the arm clock in the movie?
After viewing the movie a few times on Blu-ray, (BTW, it looks awesome on Blu-ray), I figured out that the arm clocks in In Time actually read as
years-weeks-days-hours-minutes-seconds.
Through various scenes, here’s what I saw:
At one point, Olivia Wilde‘s arm clock read “000-00-2-23-54-36″ or 2 days, 23 hours, 54 minutes and 36 seconds.
And at first, I thought the first two numbers (from L to R) were years and months, but in the scene when the millionaire gives Timberlake his time, what I thought were months kept rolling over beyond 12… but never over 51. (I replayed that scene over and over, checking on that one.)
There was a scene where a baby had one year, and his arm read “0001-00-0-00-00-00.”
And the clincher was when we saw Amanda Seyfried’s arm clock turn on and we saw her one year start, her arm clock read “0000-51-6-23-59-5.”
So the arm clock in In Time reads years-weeks-days-hours-minutes-seconds.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
You're right, in the scene where Will Salas is playing in the casino he wins a poker hand he collects the pot and the arm clock reads 1100-00-0-00-00-01, after chatting for a little more than 1 minute with Weis and Sylvia the clock reads 1099-51-6-23-58-45 and confirms the second number is weeks.
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I agree, the way you describe how to read it makes the most sense. However, when Will Salas' opponent raises the pot in the casino scene, they show how the time is added to the pot. When you pause this, you're able to see the clock display 67 weeks in one still, and 8 days in another. To me it would've made more sense if these numbers would only go as high as their highest possible option.
ReplyDeleteAnd Wat do the do with the one day extra once in four years in February.
ReplyDeleteWow, now that's some crafty good thinking outside the box. I HAVE NO IDEA! LOL.
DeleteI was thinking thesame thing😂 and months have 30 or 31 daya, how about that?
DeleteI was thinking thesame thing😂 and months have 30 or 31 daya, how about that?
DeleteIt's actually a countdown/stop watch instead of a calendar/clock synced with the real date. Let's supose your In Time's watch stars 00:00 January 1st of a leap year, so your life/time will end up in December 30th, if not recharged. Yes, I'm 4 year late, maybe I am a time traveler or I escaped from In Time's universe and came here to explain this to you guys.
DeleteThe way it counts, one year becomes 52 weeks exactly, so in essence you actually lose one day each year (2 in a leap year). The number of days in a month are inconsequential, as the clock doesn't count months.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Unknown. For purposes of the 'arm-clock', a year is 52 weeks of 7 days each. Or 364 days.
ReplyDeleteThis clock doesn't track time as in "precision point in history", but rather countdown / stopwatch. So, you can possible have 200 weeks (~3 years 10 months). It doesn't matter. Only if you would want to know exact date, when certain timer will expire, you would have to take into account leap years, or a fact that one year is actually ~52.2 weeks and so on.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point Bartek..
DeleteI know I'm WAY late to contribute to this convo, but I figure I's throw in my 10¢ (inflation...lol). Better late than never.
ReplyDeleteI always took into account that in that world, maybe they DON'T HAVE leap days. It's possible that their years are ALWAYS 364 days. I figure with it being a different dimension and/or a sci-fi world it's wholly possible. But who knows? Only the people that live in that world and the writers who wrote the movie....lol. It all depends on how much disbelief you're willing to put forth since it IS a sci-fi movie.
This is one of my favorite movies so, I'm always interested in information I can learn about it!
It's never too late to add your inflation-impacted 2 cents! LOL. You do make a good and realistically-based point too! So well worth the contribution!
DeleteI’m gonna come in EXTRA late and say thank you so much for this. One of my FAVORITE movies. The BEST allegory for capitalism. I almost want the timer at 24 hours tattoo’d on me but it’s also sooo long lol
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