What it teaches (briefly):
The film "Strangers Among Us" teaches a critical attitude to any information broadcast in the media (TV, cinema, press, etc.) The protagonist, with the help of "Glasses of Truth", learned to see the meanings and ideas that are suggested to society under the guise of ordinary advertising, TV series or TV show. At the same time, violence in the film is presented as one of the main and effective tools in the fight against manipulation, which is not true.
Your opinion (in detail):
Hollywood today churns out dozens of new films every week, but in this whole heap of new films there are practically no new interesting thoughts. The "best" world scriptwriters, directors and actors, who receive the largest budgets for the realization of their work, demonstrate their ideological poverty, over and over again playing the same plots. Apparently, the point is in a system that is tuned to release products only of a certain orientation - such that it entertains, while not providing food for truly meaningful thoughts and reflections.
But there are exceptions to any rule, and the film "Strangers Among Us" is just one of this series. The picture was released back in 1988, and over the past 30 years, its relevance, perhaps, has only increased.
At first glance, we see a typical sci-fi action movie in which there is a lot of shooting, fighting and battling aliens. But behind this familiar shell is hidden a very interesting filling - in the form of an idea of how the masses can be manipulated through control over the media, press and culture. This idea is revealed in the film very vividly, accurately and clearly.
The protagonist of the story is a simple hard worker John, who has become hostage to the next economic crisis. He is forced to come to Los Angeles in search of work. Here he sees with his own eyes the contrast between the lives of the poor and the rich. Some - vegetate in poverty, not even having their own home and the opportunity to find a job, and the second - enjoy all the benefits of civilization. But instead of thinking about the reasons for this stratification and seeing the man-made nature of "economic crises", the bulk of ordinary people constantly watch TV and deal with minor domestic issues.
Promotional video:
At the same time, specific programs are shown on TV - telling about the joys of a luxurious life, showing the endless wealth of stars, new fashion, the beauty industry, and so on. Information is presented in such a way as to infect people with a craving for wealth and fame, on the way to which they will be ready to give up their “I” and go against their fellows.
But the understanding of this process does not come to John immediately, but only after he gets his hands on the "Points of Truth" - a device developed by the local resistance to resist the aggressors trying to enslave humanity. These glasses show the essence of things. For example, all street advertising turns into posters with appeals like “Consume”, “Buy”, “Sleep”, “Don't think”, “Watch TV”, and the money says “This is your God”.
The shots of the hero's peculiar awakening from hibernation are especially apt. Putting on glasses, John at first does not believe his eyes, but then suddenly realizes that behind the husks from the words of TV presenters or behind the glossy images of advertising brands, in fact, are hidden simple messages that subconsciously program a person for a consumer and thoughtless lifestyle.
For modern people, whose advertising and media pressure has increased significantly, such glasses would be especially relevant. After all, if you think about what a typical TV advertisement promotes, for example?
- “You ate too much and your stomach ached - eat the pill and everything is fine!”: EAT MORE, DO NOT THINK ABOUT HEALTHY FOOD, ELIMINATE THE SYMPTOMS, NOT THE REASONS!
- "Problems in bed, take a pill and do it all the time!": THINK ABOUT SEX!
- “Hungry - Snickersney! Thirst is all, drink Sprite! Coca-Cola - it's more fun with us!”: EAT HAZARDOUS FOOD!
- "Who is following Klinsky?": BUKHAY, ALCOHOL IS YOUR FRIEND!
And so on, there are thousands of such examples, although such advertising is just a small detail. After all, television series or programs in a similar way always broadcast a certain message to the viewer, but who evaluates it? Who has the same truth points that fell into the hands of the protagonist?
In the film "Strangers Among Us" it is very clearly shown that most ordinary people not only "sleep", but also do not want to wake up at all. Because everyone has a family, children and a sofa on which it is so pleasant to relax, sitting with a bottle of beer and a cigarette in front of a flickering screen. Resistance detachments, trying to convey the truth to society, periodically wedge themselves into television broadcasting, but they only manage to voice separate theses:
The reaction of most viewers to such words is just irritation arising from the fact that someone distracted them from watching their favorite TV show. Someone prevented them from mindlessly diving into virtual worlds.
Another iconic scene in the film is John's fight with his partner Frank. It takes ten whole minutes, and all this time John asks Frank for only one thing: put on your glasses and find out the truth. But he refuses, saying that he does not want to get involved in it, because "he has a family, children and a stable job." Although just the day before, he himself witnessed the scene of how the whole settlement was ruthlessly destroyed, and he could understand that the "ostrich position" - to hide and not know anything - would not save either himself or his family.
In the future, the main character will have to learn one more terrible truth. The constant advertising of luxury and the lulling of conscience do not go unnoticed. Under their influence, a huge part of people voluntarily go to the service of those who came to enslave, seize and destroy. A subtle manipulative influence on people's thoughts through the media and mass media turns out to be a very effective mechanism for transforming society into a set of disparate and atomized individuals who are unable to unite and are forced to play by someone else's rules.
In the action movie Aliens Among Us, a happy ending awaits the viewer, but it is, rather, just a tribute to the genre. In fact, the method of struggle - to come and kill all the enemies - that the main character, or rather the scriptwriters of the work, chose, even in the logic of this film history looks frankly weak and unnatural. The destruction of one antenna, as shown in the film, cannot correct the situation, because where the war is waged with the help of information weapons, you need to master the information sword.
However, despite the naivety or fantastic nature of certain elements of the plot, the very metaphor of the fact that society must wake up and learn to recognize the influence of information - to put on the same GLASSES OF TRUTH in relation to the media, television, cinema, and so on, is more than relevant. Therefore, this film is worth telling your friends about. Perhaps one of them will think …
