There are many themes that heavily influence the characters in the movie, The Defiant Ones. However, there are two important forces that are fighting against each other to try and control the ultimate outcome of the main character’s future. These two forces are “Justice” and “Second Law of Thermodynamics.”
I define “Justice” here as the idea that, in the battle of good versus evil, good always triumphs evil; the “Second Law of Thermodynamics” refers to the law discovered by Robert Clausius. It states that the state of entropy (disorder or randomness) of the entire universe, as an isolated system, will always increase over time (Bailey). This simply means that, as time passes on, physical systems get more chaotic or disorganized. A common example of this would be a student’s bedroom. Typically, the room would exist in a very disordered state, so it would have high entropy. In order to put the room back into a state of cleanliness, energy must be put into the system. This would be in the form of the student cleaning up and organizing their room. A clean room would be organized and have low entropy. However, this state in unfavorable and difficult to maintain since it requires a lot of energy. As time goes on, we would see the entropy of the room gradually increase and revert to its highly disordered state.
When applied to the body, low entropy describes when the body organs are functioning correctly and high entropy is when organs and cells start failing. Thus, in order to maintain a state of low entropy and a functioning body, humans must be constantly using energy to remove waste and carry out chemical reactions needed to stay alive (Learning).
Upon reflection, The Defiant Ones followed the second law of thermodynamics. The movie begins with the main characters, Noah and John, in a truck about to be taken to a jail. In this scene, there is low entropy, since the convicts are confined and physically restricted from creating chaos. However, this quickly changes when the truck crashes and the two convicts escape. This transition leads to the system exhibiting high entropy. From that point in the movie onwards, the two characters maintain a steady increase in disorder. Noah and John exert and use a lot of energy through their journey to escape; both convicts are seen running throughout most of the movie and expelling a lot of sweat. John also receives a nasty infection due to a wound caused by the shackles, and the body must use an abundant amount of energy in order to neutralize this infection and ensure that the body lives. All these actions contribute greatly to increasing disorder in the world. However, the movie takes a turn in the end. John and Noah, after missing the train, give up in trying to escape and just wait for their pursuers. This action decreases the relative entropy back to a low state which is considered uncommon in nature; entropy doesn’t typically decrease in nature because it requires a lot of energy to maintain this low entropy, organized state.
A possible explanation for this oddity could be the traditional theme of good versus evil. Generally, in a fight between good and evil, good would always triumph in the end. That is what it seems like in the movie. The two convicts, who are considered “evil”, are caught by the lawful good police officers. This signifies a traditional fairytale good ending. The fact that there is a decrease in entropy, despite it being rather uncommon in nature, shows that dominant force working within the movie is not the second law of thermodynamics, but rather the idea of Justice and good conquering over evil.
However, this is a conclusion drawn from the movie’s initial ending. I wonder what would happen if the movie continued past this ending. Would the situation of these men revert into a state of chaos or would the belief that good always wins somehow overcome this natural law?
Citation:
Bailey, Regina. “These Are the Laws of Thermodynamics in Biological Systems.” Thoughtco., Dotdash, www.thoughtco.com/laws-of-thermodynamics-373307.
Learning, Lumen. “Biology for Majors I.” Lumen Learning, Lumen Learning, courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology1/chapter/reading-the-second-law-of-thermodynamics/.