I'm not even sure where to begin with this movie, however I guess I can start with the fact that I honestly really liked this movie. The first thing I thought when the movie was over however was, well if he didn't shoot his mom I would have. Mrs. Iselin is one of those charcters that I honestly wanted to punch through the screen. From the first scene with her I could tell that she was going to be a problem character and that I wasn't going to like her. Anyways, besides me disliking the main character I never saw this ending coming and thought it was a great movie that kept me guessing till the end. I didn't like the fact that he shot himself because over the course of the movie I grew to like his character and pretty much felt bad for him and everything that he went through.
The whole idea of brainwashing people is interesting to me. Theoretically I feel like it would be very hard almost near impossible to actually brainwash someone. There was a story on the news the other day about kids being brainwashed which I could see happening. They were young and didn't know any better. Kids will believe almost anything. What I don't understand is how adults can be brainwashed and especially be made to do things along the lines of killing people. Furthermore, to be influnced by a queen of diamonds is just crazy to me. This is however, one of the parts of the movie that I thought was really cool. Not that I approve of brainwashing people to kill others, but the idea of it for good rather then evil is interesting. I thought about what I would do if I could brainwash someone - some funny joke or prank like everytime you hear or see the number 3, you have to cluck like a chicken. I don't know, but that sounds fun to me.
Anyways, there was so many things that I could point out in this movie that were completely ironic. One major one being that the husband John is a republican running for vice president and his wife is a communist. Do I really need to say much more about this? However, I feel like she is a confused communist because she's on their side but then again at the end explains how she is going after all of them when she's in power. She's crazy. I thought it was also ironic how after this movie comes out that Kennedy is assassinated. I can see how someone would get the idea from this movie.
The reading was interesting also. I skimmed some of it, but the ideas of Momism and demonology were actually interesting to read about. Mrs Iselin is a complete fit for the idea of Momism. She is very controling (not only literally with his actions but who he can/can't marry etc.) and she is 100% corrupting America by being in the communist party and trying to take over. She also controls her husband who in the beginning I didn't care for but realized he is just another prop in her game. In this movie she is portrayed as the demon. The deomonology aspect is interesting too how there are different parts to it and the idea of having to protect the mother and how the white family again was in danger.
Overall I really liked this movie, I could have gone into a lot about politics but I try to stay out of that as much as I can. This movie was interesting though in the way it was presented and how not many people saw that ending coming.
I have to honestly disagree with you. I thought the movie was terrible and predictable. The concept was good but the way it was executed was very unbelievable and inflicted no terror in my eyes. The concept of the movie was to expose the idea of brainwashing in a society already controlled by a higher power; government. I just don’t think that there was enough development in the movie, though it was very long, to substantially make any ideas portrayed believable. I also knew that he had to kill himself because of the romantic aspect and freedom the girl presented. With her being gone he really had nothing to live for and I knew the second he shot his mom that he was going next. I do have to agree with you though that the mom was really annoying and someone I wanted to “hit through the screen too.”
ReplyDeleteThe idea of brainwashing is very intriguing though. I have questioned the societal influences people used during this time era to justify their bomb shelters and duck and cover mentality. It has been presented by our class that perhaps the people were ignorant, but now taking a step back, maybe it was the media and government using some brainwashing techniques to make their society believe that they were safe. I don’t mean that someone went on television between programs and “hypnotized” its watchers, but maybe the repetitive ideas and repetitive motifs of safety and war were brainwashing in themselves. Perhaps when an idea is rapidity projected into a peoples mind, it becomes absorbed and engrained enough to believe anything.
On a final note, which I don’t have too much to say about, the idea of momism is ridiculous. I can see where the theory comes from but I can’t believe it. I am though, glad we talked about it in class and applied it to the turmoil that existed at the time, but I myself would chalk the idea up to simple paranoia, something that everyone was experiencing.
Over all i liked the movie. I personally loved the plot of the film and i think is really a precursor to the array of spy and espionage films to come. I personally loved Frank Sanatra's character. And who knew Jessica Fletcher "Murder, She Wrote" could be such a great evil roll. But i will say that her being the American contact was a little far fetched but i loved how this whole movie was a little over the to in true old school Hollywood fashion. The whole idea of brain washing people to work as unknowing slaves is a great plot especially during the 60's when fear of soviet spy's was a common idea among many U.S. people. I feel that the concept and execution where so well that clearly people took it to hart. Just look John F. Kennedy was shot a year later and there have always been conspiracy theorists that think Oswald was connected to the communist plots.
ReplyDeleteHonestly the idea of brainwashing scares the living crap out of me. As was stated in the previous comment i agree that "the repetitive ideas and repetitive motifs of safety and war were brainwashing in themselves. Perhaps when an idea is rapidity projected into a peoples mind, it becomes absorbed and engrained enough to believe anything". I feel like weather we are talking about what brands we watch down to hidden repetitive concept are placed in films and commercial to the point that these ideas become the viewers concept of whats normal. And weather we like it or not I feel our decisions are constantly being shaped but the things we see. The more the ideas of soviet spy's and emanate war were blanketed across the media and film the more scared people got. The idea of demonology was kind of funny to me because there all ways has to be a bad guy. In any situation governments need enemy's and people need someone to blame and point there fear and anger at.
This movie was definitely an interesting one. I had never seen the original before class, but had seen the remake. I liked the remake a lot but I would now say that I may like the original a bit better. I loved the old black and white feel mixed with a lot of the camera angles; it made for a lot of intensity.
ReplyDeleteBrainwashing is an interesting subject; I agree with you on that. I do not think that it is entirely possible to brainwash a grown person either, but it is interesting to think of the possibilities. I do think that if anyone could be brainwashed it would be a child. Who knows what impact hypnotism could have on a growing mind. In the end- who knows. I could see how people would fear something like hypnotism especially in that day and age. No one would how far “those crazy communists” may go to infiltrate America. If i had been around in that time, this movie probably would have terrified me. As for the mom, she was a great example of momism. She was intensely controlling and I do agree that this character was kind of ironic. Her marriage to the republic definitely made me giggle during the film. The reading, while very long was an interesting read. I thought that you did a pretty good job of identifying the examples of momism and demonology. She was definitely the villain of the film.
Overall I enjoyed this movie a lot. This movie connected with me as a student in this class, while thinking of all of the focused themes within class. While I did connect with this film as a student, I also connected as just a simple movie fan. The queen of diamonds serving as the trigger for the hypnotism was a fantastic twist. I had assumed that this would come into play within the film, but didn’t expect it to serve as the turning point for the film.
I did enjoy the basis of this movie. The idea of being able to have complete and udder control over any subject at any time is certainly a good point for a plot. As far as technicalities in the film, I thought the queen of diamonds was a very weak trigger that anyone could use (as proven by the ending), but it did provide a great symbolic link in the movie.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the technical aspects in shooting the film, I was not a fan. As I voiced in class, there were some shots that just annoyed my very very much- certain things not being in focus/general shots that were just framed poorly being some examples. This is certainly able to be overlooked as the plot was enjoyable.
The idea of brainwashing is something that we should all be quite familiar with, though, as it happens (at least to some degree) every day. If you really boil it down, every single advertisement that we see and are exposed to is attempting to manipulate our thought process in some way; very similar to brainwashing, no? There are certainly some major differences, advertisements aren't going to make me kill anyone, obviously, but to a much lesser extent, they are very similar.
I do agree with everyone's opinions on the casting. I very much enjoyed the typecasting that was fought when Angela Lansbury was cast as a villain, and I really wish that more producers wouldn't be afraid to combat the typecasting that exists in Hollywood movies today.
I like the enthusiasm of this discussion! The polarized responses also fascinate me--this movie has gotten divided responses ever since it was first released.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd have liked to see from this discussion though, is maybe a bit less review and discussion of whether or not you liked it, and a bit more discussion of what it _does_, specifically how it reflects and possibly satirizes mid-century paranoia. Frank and Ben, considering the movie as a satire, and a very, very carefully-crafted one, might help with the issues you have and give you a way to see more deeply into it.