Plenty of fun, optimistic, and uplifting films this week! >>Sorry just the opposite<<
There is a long tradition of contemplating speculative societies that are dehumanizing, frightening, and invasive in print and film. This week we will examine one of my favorites - Eric Blair, otherwise known as George Orwell. A man who wrote about anti-fascism, anti-Stalinism and actually fought in the Spanish Civil War against Franco's fascists.
The main focus for Film History this week will be media manipulation, surveillance and the lost of freedom in modern America. We will examine the juxtaposition of Orwell's 'Doublespeak' and modern news terminology, the rise of the NSA surveillance state (thanks to Edward Snowden's release of classified information) vs freedom, and also examine films that portray these frightening societies. The first film we just viewed Metropolis - depicts a hierarchical state which attempts to add a compassionate mediating element in order to moderate the opposing social classes.
Later in the week we will view the film Blade Runner (1982), which depicts a very rainy LA around the year 2019 - only six years from now!
Your assignment for Film History will be to analyze Blade Runner. Due next Friday 11/22.
Address the following:
- Compare modern America to Blade Runner's LA
- Analyze the technology in relation to our own
- What aspects of modern life seems to be moving toward those in the film?
- What is the film's main message?
- What is the message about technology? How does it relate to Metropolis?
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