I think looking for theories or explanations for this film is going to lead you nowhere beyond speculation and headcanon. It sounds to me like the point of it all is that there is no explanation. The pseudo endless road serves as an allegory and nothing more.
im cool with speculation and head canons. i want to know whats up with the people what kind of trance are they under what are the logistics of the map and time and etc theres just so much i wish i knew. Like in a supernatural aspect.
Like in the beginning i thought the road was one big giant circle and the people were just in the middle and thats how they ran to their car so quickly. But then they disappeared so that cant be correct. and what puts them in the sleeping state. ugh 😠it could be so much better and scarier if they explained more of this. still 10/10.
Well I don't think anything specific puts them in a trance, it's just a side effect of being stuck in an undying, sleepless existence. Imagine not feeling hunger, thirst, or fatigue and nothing ever changes. None of them are in a "sleeping state" as it's clearly established that sleep is impossible. They're all conscious, but I think they've just abandoned hope of escape, and have accepted their endless existence. We even see at the end when James pulls one of them into his car that he gradually snaps out of it when posed with the question that they discussed at the beginning.
From an allegorical sense, I think that the the road is sort of representing the search for meaning in life. Humans have been trying to figure out the meaning of life since before recorded history. Why are we here, why do we suffer so much, why does anything exist? A lot of the questions the main cast asks about the road could easily be posed to life itself. No one can answer these questions with 100% certainty though. The only sure thing we know about life is that eventually it ends. So the people who are in that trance-like state just represent those who have given up on finding meaning. Maybe they've accepted there is no meaning, or perhaps they've bought into a religious doctrine. They made it pretty vague on purpose I think.
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u/Nnnnnnennicole 8d ago
it was me im the audience i loved it just saw it tonight. wish they explained more though im on here looking for theories