thinking about the theme of knowledge and understanding and belief in iron lung.
covering the obvious first. the 'ignorant god', the light, sees the universe through a 'pinhole' and 'makes sense of what it sees'. when it comes to the light, knowledge, understanding and belief r one and the same. there is no need to differentiate these concepts. whatever it sees, it believes it knows and understands, everything will change into the beliefs of an omnipotent being even if it is so jarringly Wrong.
everyone believes that they r doing the right thing, simon with following ava's instructions and gathering information on the blood ocean, ava with sending unnamed convicts down into the ocean as 'calculated risks' to benefit humanity, elli with trying to stop simon from getting the black box out and protecting them from the danger of the light.
simon is constantly subject to external projections of belief. eden, the coi and even the light subject him to their beliefs. eden believes that it is humanity's fate to die out, believes that it is their duty to assist this fate, believes that they must murder, and present this belief as knowledge, to push simon to do their bidding. the coi believes that simon is an irredeemable monster, unworthy of a second chance, which is why they sent him down. they believe him to be a disposable tool, and by acting on this belief, they turn it into truth. it 'doesnt matter' what simon believes, what he understands or doesnt. he has no choice but to follow the beliefs of these two institutes. he never gets the opportunity to understand and know What exactly he is doing and why. he is kept in the dark, because ultimately, everyone and everything around him takes his autonomy away from him, and he doesnt have the choice to believe and understand for himself. however, simon manages to finally gain autonomy in the third act after fighting to get it the entire movie (see: my other post about choice) and actively oppose the belief of the light. he makes the choice to do what he believes is the right thing, to get the black box out no matter what, something elli doesnt want, and eventually giving up his life for this belief.
ava knows that sending people to their near-certain death is wrong, but she must hold on to her belief that this is for a worthy cause, that this is a calculated risk, that this will benefit everyone in the end. she cares so much about everyone, but she must distance herself from the people she doesnt want to believe she is murdering. she clings onto her hope, her belief that it is all worth it. her judgement, her belief and knowledge, determines the outcome of each trip, from simon's oxygen to whether he gets to leave.
elli believes that the data in the black box contains false hope for humanity, that whatever the scientists on sm-8 discovered about the ocean and the light is only going to lead to more doomed missions and death. they know what exactly the data is, which leads to their belief that the 'right thing' to do is destroying all of it.
we never find out whether elli was right about the danger of knowing about the light. it is up to the audience to decide which perspective they believe, simon's and ava's hope, or elli's despair.
