The Serie 1899 has become the great success of the end of the year of Netflix. Especially, for its elaborate and well-constructed mixture of suspense, terror and even philosophical touches. Everything related with 1899 it is a mixture of different points of view about reality, time and the conception of identity. And as if all of the above were not enough, it is also a well-constructed symbolic structure.
In fact, his use of symbols has been one of the most celebrated points of 1899. In particular, when the interpretation of the reality that the characters live depends on them. From the pyramids that are shown over and over again, to the keys and scarabs. The series takes place through a semi-dream landscape that links to reinterpretations of the present and the future in a strangely inexplicable way. Which, in turn, links to a conception of pain, mourning and the search for answers about existence, which is surprising for its subtlety.
So even the title of the show has been part of the speculation regarding the way time is interpreted. Much more as the conception of the temporal and reality as a single whole is linked and reconstructed. At what point in history does it actually take place? 1899? What is the real point in the middle of the multiple simulations superimposed on each other? Both questions can be more complicated than they seem.
The look over time 1899
The first season of 1899 made it clear that Kerberos does not really exist, but is part of a simulated reality. That also means that nothing we have seen so far is real or, much less, connected to something physical. Kerberos is just the stage for a more elaborate, weird and complicated system that is tied together in a complicated idea about the tangible.
Which includes, of course, the supposed year in which it takes place. Why is it about the year 1899 and not another? Why is this a time that is in the middle of a social and cultural gap? Why did Maura — or whoever actually is behind the creation of the simulation — decide it was the end of the 19th century?
Actually, there is no clear answer to the decision. We only know that this is a breakthrough year in terms of migratory movements in Europe and industrialization. 1899 It does not offer clear or obvious answers related to the topic, but the central idea is evident. If the simulation project is part of every passenger’s conception of reality, wouldn’t it be easier to create something recognizable? Unlike raising the possibility of showing the future or the present, the simulation replicates a time of which a good part of the passengers have knowledge. At least one basic idea on which to deepen.
A mysterious date that should be answered for the second season
However, the date of 1899 seems to be one of the big questions of the series. In particular, of which They must be answered in their second season, still unconfirmed. Could it be that the projection of 200 years into the past has any real significance for the Prometheus project? It only remains to wait for the answer.
