Posted by
Rilaly on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 8:52:28 PM
Whenever I complain about the substance and messages of the movies I watch, I am told that it is just a movie. I am told that I have too many hang ups, that I need to relax, and that the messages I’ve derived from these movies are not there. They tell me that I’m imagining things.
When I hear such things, I think about the time when I purchased a brand new truck. It was a red Toyota Tacoma. Before purchasing the truck, I couldn't remember seeing a Tacoma in the same model and color before. After purchasing the truck, I saw them everywhere.
My perspective to my surroundings, over the many years of my life, has changed in a manner similar to that in that I see the effect of messages in the movies and other art forms in a manner I have not seen before.
Nazi propogandist Joseph Goebbels methodology was to repeat the same message over and over again, until the people accepted it as a truth. I think that the same could be said of the subtle messages placed in movies. But, you cannot beat the American over the mind in the same manner the propogandists did in Germany. The American impulse is to instantly rebel to someone pounding it into you. Therefore, the best method to indoctrinating one to one's beliefs is to feed them the vile pudding in a piecemeal manner that is couched in the medium of an entertainment vehicle.
The most prominent message movies sell to us, to my mind, is cheating. How many movies have we seen in the last twenty some odd years that involve a main character figuring out a method through which they can best cheat the system? The message, on it’s face, is a good one. The message is one that says: figure out the system and learn to succeed within it. Yet, the movie makers and screen writers seemingly find it boring to have a main character figure out the system and manipulate it from the confines of the rules within that system.
Movies are an exaggeration. Movie makers are in a constant quest to outdo those who went before them, so a simple story about a simple man succeeding within the confines of rules is insufficient to them for a plot line of their magnificent movie. The movie must go over the top. The main character must be so intelligent that he succeeds beyond the norm. He must make the system of rules and laws appear foolish in lieu of his acumen.
The result of the twenty some odd years of inundation of this notion has resulted in young kids believing that to cheat is to succeed and to cheat is to defeat the system. I can say without hesitation that it has always been the case that human beings have had a desire to cheat the system to succeed, but rarely in the history of man has cheating been diminished as much as it has today.
It’s in the movies, the tv shows, and the literature of our day the message has gone out that cheating isn’t so bad. Cheaters have qualifiers. Cheaters have defenders. The language has changed from has Johnny earned a trip to Harvard to does Johnny deserve to go to Harvard. The differences are as subtle as they are blatant. How will Johnny Doe gain entrance to the school versus all the other John and Jane’s? How does Johnny Doe compete with all the others? This is where the true cynicism of the day weighs in. For it is here that the parent’s mentality sets in, it is here that the message of our culture sets in, and it is here that the repeated messages of movies begins to set in.
The first message set forth by the culture, the movies and even some of the parents is Johnny deserves to go to Harvard. Little by little, the word earn is leaving our vocabulary and deserve is taking it’s place. Little by little the younger generation is finding less value in attaining the prestigious value of earning an accomplishment, and it’s being overshadowed by the idea of simply accomplishing it. The end justifies the means.