Cathedral: a festering sore in the side of Greater Los Angeles, an area of rubble and dust and burned out buildings, a place of shadow and pollution, of stealth and sudden death. Cubscout territory. If Doyle cleared the bridge the cubs would take him. The kill would be theirs—and that was bad for the record. Logan was well aware of Cathedral's blood history. Of the runners who never came out. Of the muggings. Of the unchecked violence. Even the police avoided Cathedral. With good reason. They'd sent in a cleanup squad the previous summer to tame the cubs. Logan had known some of the men in that squad: Sanson and Bradley and Wilson 9, all good officers. They'd walked into the jaws of the crocodile and the jaws had closed. None of the squad survived.
Por que a Catedral era "uma área de entulho e poeira e incendiou edifícios" em primeiro lugar? Possivelmente porque foi devastada durante a “Pequena Guerra”, a rebelião de pessoas com menos de 21 anos - note que no filme, o limite de idade foi aumentado para 30 e menos - que derrubou a ordem estabelecida e determinou a eutanásia aos 21 anos. Possivelmente porque a civilização está começando a entrar em colapso porque não há mais ninguém com idade suficiente para saber como construir ou manter qualquer coisa, como Logan conclui quando ele finalmente chega ao Santuário:
There was so much to say to Francis. That the world was coming apart, that it was dying, this system, this culture. That the Thinker was no longer able to hold it together. A new world would be formed. Living is better than dying, Francis. Dying young is a waste and a shame and a perversion. The young don’t build. They use. The wonders of Man were achieved by the mature, the wise, who lived in this world before we did.
Narrativamente, isso sugere que os novos autores William F. Nolan e George Clayton Johnson escolheram "Catedral" como o nome da região infestada para simbolizar como a cultura obcecada por jovens do mundo de Logan abandonou os sistemas de crenças do passado, incluindo valores religiosos para a vida e uma crença na vida após a morte, e a auto-reflexão que vem com um nível de maturidade que as pessoas não alcançam mais.
Nolan elabora sobre este ponto em uma entrevista de 2000 com Annalee Newitz :
“I wrote Logan’s Run during the Watts riots, when youth were rioting. The book was an implicit criticism of a lifestyle that destroys you and society, a lifestyle where maturity is rejected. You can’t live a hedonistic lifestyle and survive--you either die young or it catches up with you…
“I think the original movie missed the book's subtext, which is the breakdown of society when youth rules.”
A catedral é ocupada por crianças com idade não superior a 13 anos, o que se torna aparente quando Logan é cercado por uma gangue e confronta seu líder, cujo cristal é azul:
“No cubs at fourteen, Billy. Ever heard of a cub with a red flower? You’ll leave Cathedral then, Billy, when you’re on red, because they won’t let an adult stay here. The young ones. They’ll gut-rip you if you stay, so you’ll cross the river. And then, almost before you know it, Billy, you’re twenty-one and your hand is blinking. And you’ll die like a sheep.”
Por que a catedral está cheia de crianças violentas? Os romances e o filme diferem sobre isso.
Em Mundo de Logan (1977), o segundo romance, Logan e Jessica encontro adulto Mary-Mary 2 - a garota que lhes deu a chave na Catedral - que diz que ela esteve lá porque tinha 5 anos e “escapou da creche”, o que significa que ela não teria sido criada por máquinas . Mas no roteiro do filme de 1976, Jessica sugere justamente o oposto, que a falta de maternidade natural tornou os filhotes violentos. p>
INT - MAZE-CAR - LOGAN AND JESSICA - MOVING SHOT
LOGAN Have you ever been through Cathedral?
Jessica shakes her head.
LOGAN They’re like beasts. Wild.
JESSICA Maybe they’re angry because they're grown in meccano-breeders.
LOGAN (interrupting, grimacing) Instead of what? Nine months inside a woman: (ugh) We're all raised the same but most of us don't become cubs in Cathedral.
JESSICA Some people say children need human mothering.
LOGAN Insane. Nurseries are better than any mother could be.
JESSICA I’m only telling you what I’ve heard…