Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It is based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it. It was distributed by Universal Pictures.
The film release was accompanied by a tie-in novel and video game, and also two popular themed attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan based on the film, called Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular , which are both still running as of 2009.
Factions within the film
After the doomsday event of flooding caused by global warming melting the ice caps and end of civilization, the ramshackle remnants of the human race who survived the deluge now live in large floating constructs made up of various rusty junk and grimy debris found floating on the ocean; these watery settlements are called atolls after the similar type of island which no longer exist. The dwellers of atolls are a nautical society, albeit a gritty, primitive and superstitious one, with a patriarchal structure.
The atollers refer to anybody outside their atoll as "outwaters," and are very suspicious of them. On occasion, however, drifters are permitted entry in to the atolls, but only temporarily, and only if they can show the guards and/or enforcers they have something of value to trade with, such as food, plants, seeds, cigarettes, paper, dirt, and "hydro" (fresh water).
Due to the extreme limitation of living space in the settlements, and also the sparse resources, the atoll elders limit the number of citizens to a steady and constant number, thus avoiding the issue of overpopulation. Since there is no ground to bury the dead in, the dead are placed in a yellow brine pool, whereupon they are "recycled". Occasionally, drifters are asked to mate with the women of the atolls to expand on the shallow gene pool of the inhabitants, in an attempt to avoid inbreeding and also a population bottleneck situation, meaning they are an exogamous society. However, the only time women are permitted to try for a child is when a citizen of the atoll dies, thus keeping the population number steady.
Drifters
Drifters ply the water in boats, yachts, catamarans, and trimarans. They have a rule whereby whenever two drifters come across each other, something "must be traded" between them, although as seen in the film many are driven by desperation to try and steal from each other. Drifters are almost always loners. As seen in the film, some drifters are driven insane by their long and seemingly endless solitude on the waves.
As well as speaking English as a common tongue, Drifters also speak in Hindi. Another language used on Waterworld is "Portu-Greek," which is an apparent amalgamation of Portuguese and Greek used at some outlying trading posts.
Aquatic human mutants
Some humans have spent so long in aquatic environments that they developed or were genetically engineered to have genetic mutations to their environment; they have webbed feet, which enable them to swim at inhumanly high speeds, and gills located behind the ears, which enable them to breathe underwater, allowing them to explore the previous drowned civilization.
Mutants are able to keep ordinary humans from drowning underwater by transferring the oxygen to them via kiss of life. In the film, Old Gregor (Michael Jeter) refers to these gills as "isotropic gills," and functional as opposed to vestigial. They also have excellent vision underwater, and in addition to their speed and stealth, they are also very strong. They also have the sense of electroreception either above or below the water, being able to tell when it is about to rain, or when a storm is approaching.
Old Gregor refers to these genetic mutants as Ichthyus sapiens (Latin for "wise fish"), although it is unclear as to whether this is an established term for the mutants or one that Gregor simply made up. The other less educated atollers refer to them as "mute-o."
The protagonist and antihero of the film, the nameless Mariner (portrayed by Kevin Costner), is such a mutant, although no more mutants are seen in the film. However, from certain lines of dialogue in the film, it is clear there are more of his kind. The leader of the smokers, the Deacon (portrayed by Dennis Hopper), refers to the protagonist as a "guppy freak," and, in line with his quasi-religious nature, believes that no such "abominations" could exist in nature. It is stated that Ichthyus sapiens do not need to eat for days on end.
Smokers
Pirates are known commonly as "smokers" because of the smoke from oil-power machines, such as personal water craft and aeroplanes, which they make use of. They also apply great cultural significance to the smoking of cigarettes, even to the point of giving their children cigarettes, and trade in a brand of cigarettes referred to as "Black Death."
The smokers obtain many of their wares as marauders and by raiding the settlements of the featureless surface of Waterworld. Many smokers appear to be quite sadistic and revel in murder and carnage; often their reputation precedes them.
The base of the smokers is the rusted old carcass of an oil tanker, referred to as the Deez , which is revealed to be the Exxon Valdez in a brief shot. Although the tanker no longer has any functional engines, the smokers still have a large supply of crude oil aboard the tanker, and apparently a small oil refinery, as they are able to refine the crude oil into gasoline to power the jet skis and planes they make use of. The Deacon also mentions refining but states that they are running out of "the black stuff" and the "go-juice" rapidly, and that they only have "two lunars" (or months) left of it. The smokers have also hoarded large quantities of firearms, heavy artillery, ammunition, spam, paper, tobacco, cigarettes and whiskey aboard the tanker. The smokers move the tanker by use of dozens of oars that stick out of the foam-encrusted hull.
The captain of the tanker and also the leader of the smokers is looked up to as a messianic figure, as he has promised to lead the smokers to the mythical "dry land", and in line with this quasi-religious nature, he is referred to as "Deacon". The Deacon, or "Deac", has an intense hatred for anything of the old world, especially sails, instead preferring the mechanical machines, and believes that his aim to raid atolls is a "crusade". He teaches his men a philosophy of "take and ye shall receive." The smokers also worship a former historical captain of the tanker, Joseph Hazelwood, as "Saint Joe".
The Deacon's inner circle is well organized and includes a man with medical knowledge, and a man who follows the Deacon around with a ledger and a top hat who records for posterity everything that happens and who also informs the Deacon of various statistics he needs to know. The Deacon's lieutenant or second-in-command is a large and imposing man of Scandinavian descent, referred to as "the Nord", who is reminiscent of a viking. The Nord likes to be in the thick of the action and delights in murder, leading the raids on atolls and also posing as a spy for reconnaissance. Smokers refer to each other as "cousins".
The primary goal of the smokers in the film is to find an orphan girl named Enola (Tina Majorino), who as myth states came from the legendary "dry land", and has directions to it on a tattoo placed on her back. What the Deacon plans to do with "dry land" is unclear though. In the extended cut, the Deacon claims he wishes to create a "church of eternal growth" for the smokers.
Slavers
Although not seen in the film, slave traders are talked about and mentioned throughout. This would suggest that there is an active slave trade in Waterworld, although in the theatrical cut of the film this slave trade is little elaborated on, nor do we see what form this slave trade takes. In the extended cut of the film, it makes clear that the ruthless Mariner's initial intentions are to sell Helen and Enola to slave traders, but relents as he grows to know them.
Border outposts
Although there is no longer any land, certain areas of Waterworld are set out as clear territories for the various factions and groups who dwell on the water's surface. The borders of these territories are defined by the outposts on the outskirts of the territories. It appears they also act as trading outposts, repair shops and lighthouses. The outpost keepers speak in "Portu-Greek." Only one such outpost is seen in the film, in which the outpost keepers have been killed by the smokers who attempt to lay a trap for the Mariner at the outpost.
Plot summary
The setting of the film is the distant future, although no exact date is given. (Suggested as 2500.) The polar ice caps have completely melted, and the sea level has risen many thousands of feet, covering all the land. An antihero known only as "the Mariner" (Kevin Costner), is a drifter who sails the Earth in his trimaran. He comes into an atoll seeking to trade his dirt, which is now a precious commodity. There, it is revealed that he is a mutant with webbed feet and gills, a new step in evolution to accommodate the changes in climate. The atollers, fearful of him, vote to "recycle" him by drowning him in a yellow sludge-like brine pool. At this moment, pirates known as "smokers" arrive in a raid on the atoll, as they have been tipped off by a smoker spy posing as a trader (Gerard Murphy), known as "the Nord."
The smokers are searching for an orphan
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