Prophetic: Videodrome, "Soon all of us will have special names"

[Babel_17]

O'Blivion was not the name I was born with. That's my television name. Soon all of us will have special names, names designed to cause the cathode ray tube to resonate.

And here we all are, visible to others on the LCD successor to the CRT, and mostly posting behind "special names", Babel-17 for example.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Videodrome

[blogslut]

1. ~shudder~

I can't with that movie. 32 years later and it still fucks with my head. So very, very grim. Prophetic, yes, but so grim.

[Babel_17]

2. "All hail the new flesh" eek :)

Yeah, some scenes from it were like the grim parts of a Philip K. Dick novel.

Cronenberg was dealing with older technology but he was mining the right vein. People being programmed with hallucinations*, it really foreshadows the current brainwashing of America and it's a warning for the future.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome

*Link to a possibly disturbing Videodrome clip: http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ccManager/clips/videodromemanginavhs.mp4/view

[blogslut]

3. Thanks, but no thanks.

I saw it, in a theater. Once was enough. The gory special effects didn't bother me as much as "real" violence-as-entertainment that ran, in the background, throughout the film. That's one baser aspect of the human condition I simply do not get.

[Babel_17]

4. I took it as Cronenberg making his point in no uncertain terms

The violence was meant to be repulsive yet movies are entertainment so therein lies the quandary for the audience. And I think Cronenberg took all of that into account.

Not that my opinion is relevant but I see your aversion to the movie as a healthy response.

[blogslut]

5. I thought it was a good film with a profound message.

There are just some films that, for me, once is enough.

[Babel_17]

6. lol, I hear you

lol, I hear you, though I do like revisiting some of the great dialogue. Have a good evening!