🎬 #173 Media Madness.
This week I'm going to explore two very different films, each with a satirical bent on the media and its relationship with viewers. One through propaganda, brand and law enforcement, and one via television news.
Happy choosing, happy viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: ROBOCOP
1987 Dir Paul Verhoeven
1 hr 42 mins
RoboCop is one of those films that sums up the idea of a film evolving as you grow up and evolve, and how the meanings behind certain scenes change and the story changes. You appreciate one thing at one age and you appreciate another thing at another age. I was a kid and I loved the fact that it was a robot and it was super violent and filled with robots fighting bigger robots. I was also really intrigued by the fact that he only ate baby food and yeah just this blend of man and machine and taking on crime - those are all the things that appealed to me when I first saw it.
And those things still appeal to me. But when you see it again and again as you get older, you realise just how sharp of a satire it is. Specifically on corporations' obsession with law and order and going to any lengths to maintain control, to maintain power, and to gain power and benefit from that. It's brilliant on all those levels. It's also a very poignant story about someone losing their identity and gradually taking it back. Finding themselves again in the midst of a literal corporate takeover, of the person's mind and body. Again its satire here is positioned directly on the exploitation of people by corporations.
I also really love the production design of the film; it's a very plausible looking future, it's dark and purplish-blue and steely and rusted - almost like a metallic brutalist feeling. The patina is perfect for the cruel world of crime it’s depicting. The cinematography too highlights this hellish crime-ridden landscape Verhoeven has established. I remember, even when I was younger, really enjoying that aesthetic; it has a very stripped back and lean quality - that again pairs perfectly with the lean, efficient storytelling. This is a film that just keeps getting more relevant as time goes on.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and the UK.
Fact: The scene where Robocop catches the car keys took up to 50 takes to get right because the hands of the suit were made from foam rubber and the keys would bounce off them repeatedly.
Bonus: Rob Bottin did the practical make-up effects.
FILM TWO: NETWORK
1976 Dir Sidney Lumet
2 hr 1 mins
Sidney Lumet is one of my favourite directors. His smart, simple, and no-nonsense approach to filmmaking is very inspirational, and his book ‘Making Movies’ is still one of the best books about filmmaking I've ever read. Here with Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay, he makes a classic that, again like the film above, keeps getting better with age because it's becoming more prescient in terms of News and its merger with entertainment and the need for shock value to engage audiences to the maximum effect.
Again, in a similar way to RoboCop [didn’t think I’d write that sentence] this is a satire about a Network, a corporation's ability to take advantage of an individual. Someone who's down on their luck and vulnerable and pushing them to lengths to get profits - to get views. The more I think about it, the more it’s like a weird version of "The Social Network" that focuses on the negative effects - even before social media was a thing. This is an engrossing watch that becomes even more relevant with time.
*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and UK.
Fact: Peter Finch died before the Oscars that year, when he was nominated for Best Actor - which means he was the first posthumously awarded actor.