Political Allegories in Film

[Hobgoblin]

I just got done watching They Live, which heavily uses the theme of control of the common person by the wealthy and elite. The fight between mutants and General Stryker in X2 can be seen as the fight between gays and those opposed to gay rights.

Which other films have political undertones? JAWS maybe? The mayor was willing to let the shark eat swimmers as long as the businesses stayed open and the business owners stayed happy.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Planet of the Apes - The so-called primitive cultures and underclass ruling the world.

The Matrix - THe system drains the workforce of energy while creating an illusion of normalcy. A possible Ron Paul or Rastafari message.

Iron Man - Military contractors who profit from war sometimes embolden and empower our enemies to keep war profitable.

 

[Lighthouse]

Surprisingly, Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. I don't even like the movie, but the whole democracy dies with thunderous applause part is right one the nose.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Can't say I really saw X2 as being all that full of gay allegories (I only really remember one). But that's probably because the first and third movie had so many. Didn't see it with Stryker. Ironic, since in the comics he could be mistaken for Fred Phelps.

The second Star Wars trilogy had its moments... Though history tends to repeat itself. So, no wonder people though it was commentary on the current political situation.

 

[Pagan]

If you look hard enough you could probably find them everywhere. Actually the entire Marvel mutant theme could allegorically apply to almost any form of prejudice. Whether it's race or sexual orientation. People fear what they don't understand and try to get their govt to protect them from it.

"In Time" is a recent movie with heavy political and social themes. The very premise that "time is money" is fully realized and exaggerated but rings very true.

 

[BlackSymbiote]

"In Time" is a recent movie with heavy political and social themes. The very premise that "time is money" is fully realized and exaggerated but rings very true.

You mean the movie where the rich guy hands all of his wealth to a single poor person and that person then proceeds to destroy the entire system via his desire to spread the wealth and ends up wrecking it for everyone?

 

[Victarion]

The Dark Knight served in part as a vehicle to demonstrate why a moderated use of Bush's wiretapping is not a bad idea.

 

[8wid]

The entire Star Wars Trilogy was a warning of a military-industrial complex taking over a democracy or republic. The Clone Wars are an allegory of the Vietnam War and the handling of it by Presidents like Nixon and Johnson. "Clones" may be a reference to 60s lingo used to demonize the brainwashed youth that ignorantly signed up for the draft hoping to cleanse Asia of communism and believed the hype of the time that the entire continent was going to fall. It's also why its referred to by Uncle Owen as a "damned fool, idealistic crusade." The huge Star Destoyers are a criticism of the arms build up during the Cold War with the Soviets. The Death Star is a symbol of nuclear weaponry and the fear of it getting huge and out of control so much that man now has the ability to destroy entire planets with its fire power. The reactions of Ben Kenobi and Han Solo to be shocked that a space station the size of a small moon has been invented. New giant weapons of destruction being manufactured had a similar effect on the US population as did the shock of how big and bloody the Vietnam War was. The conservative elements of traditional storytelling was public cry for times when morality was black and white, the political tensions were simpler to understand, and Americans could be proud of their country again because so much of the drama was reflected of the US liberation of Europe in World War II. The old space ships reflect a demoralized army after Vietnam and the abandonment of the exploration of space that had been such a culturally lifting event and the need to go further into space. All of these feelings and more ran their course through the 1980s when the Reagan years made Americans feel better about their image in the world and it could be argued that Star Wars even inspired the President to challenge the Soviet Union more because of it. These movies were a product of their times, and it's probably why the prequels were not as well received. Yet the same moral about the fall of the Republic changed when the War on Terror started.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Most political allegories in blockbuster films like TDK, Revenge of the Sith and V for Vendetta are very clumsy and heavy-handed. There are exceptions, but none are really coming to mind right now. Starship Troopers is great; subversive and eerily prescient.

 

[8wid]

I'm curious as to why there are so many movies made about attacks on Pearl Harbor and the September 11 attacks... is it because these are the only two times in the history of the United States that the country was ever attacked on its own soil aggressively by a nation or terror group?

 

[Hobgoblin]

More like its still fairly recent history. A film about the War of 1812 and the burning of Washington DC is too much of a period piece to be interesting to many audiences.

 

[Matt]

Most political allegories in blockbuster films like TDK, Revenge of the Sith and V for Vendetta are very clumsy and heavy-handed. There are exceptions, but none are really coming to mind right now. Starship Troopers is great; subversive and eerily prescient.

Starship Troopers basically predicted the war on terror. It is downright creepy.

 

[Matt]

The Dark Knight served in part as a vehicle to demonstrate why a moderated use of Bush's wiretapping is not a bad idea.

I think if anything you're understating how important The Dark Knight is. Everyone knows that The Dark Knight was the Woodstock of this generation and is the reason that Obama took the White House.

 

[Dr.]

The Dark Knight served in part as a vehicle to demonstrate why a moderated use of Bush's wiretapping is not a bad idea.

There was a Wall Street Journal article which took this view (Google: What Bush and Batman Have in Common). But in this interesting Jump Cut analysis, the author says that this is a superficial reading of TDK. He contends, in fact, that its “conservative themes” are actually being questioned and critiqued - and that there’s a liberal subtext (to the extent that’s possible for a vigilante hero ) in the film.

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc51.2009/darkKnightKant/index.html

 

[Tanin]

Most of the invasion science fiction films written during the cold war was about the cold war. Substitute the Aliens invading for Russia.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I think if anything you're understating how important The Dark Knight is. Everyone knows that The Dark Knight was the Woodstock of this generation and is the reason that Obama took the White House.

Whaaaaaaaaaa?

Surely, he can't be serious?

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Robocop: Corporate America vs blue collar America
Avatar: Corporate industry vs blue indegenous
Time Machine: Upper class vs Lower Class

 

[Hobgoblin]

Robocop: Corporate America vs blue collar America
Avatar: Corporate industry vs blue indegenous
Time Machine: Upper class vs Lower Class

Movies like these have been around since 1927s Metropolis. Some things never change.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Speaking of Metropolis, Metropolis is awesome too.

 

[DACrowe]

All the King's Men: Thinly-veiled story of Huey Long.

V For Vendetta: Though based on an anti-Thatcher graphic novel, the film is seeped in Bush-era paranoia and is an indictment on the jingoistic propaganda, fear mongering, religiosity, pro-wire-tapping, pro-torture, gay discriminating, and Muslim discriminating stances of the Bush Administration and right-wingers of that time.

Primary Colors: Thinly-veiled story of the rise of Bill Clinton.

Serenity: A strangely enticing pro-libertarian story about a group of people who want to live free and are crushed under the good intentions of a too-big-to-manage government who only wants to make everyone's life better...just at the expense of personal freedom and free-thinking.

The Dark Knight: A strangely political film that manages to remain even-handed in examining the process a state/society/community will go to maintain order. If the government loses the exclusivity on violence through either incompetence or discrediting corruption, how far can it go to protect its community and social order while stepping on its ideals and liberties? In this film Batman both can use wiretapping successfully....before destroying the process to do it again and having used torture multiple times earlier in the film to pointless and ineffective results.

Kingdom of Heaven: Though set during the fall of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem in the late 12th century, it's just as much, if not more, about relations between Westerners (Christians then, more Christian/secular-backed Jewish people today) and the Muslim east in the Holy Lands.

Nothing But the Truth: A film about the rights of journalists and their ability to seek the truth in the face of an ever-increasingly muscular government. Thinly-veiled warning of current laws and the outreach of the Bush Administration.

I may post more later.

 

[Smashlilman]

All the King's Men: Thinly-veiled story of Huey Long.

Serenity: A strangely enticing pro-libertarian story about a group of people who want to live free and are crushed under the good intentions of a too-big-to-manage government who only wants to make everyone's life better...just at the expense of personal freedom and free-thinking.


I may post more later.

That description could apply to Demolition Man. All you would have to do is change a few words.

 

[DACrowe]

True. Except Serenity's a good movie.

Just saying.

 

[The Morningstar]

Alien/Aliens- Powerful conglomerate treats the little people as expendable assets to gain more power. Subtly done in both movies, especially in Alien.

 

[Alex_Spider]

Planet of the Apes - The so-called primitive cultures and underclass ruling the world.

The Matrix - THe system drains the workforce of energy while creating an illusion of normalcy. A possible Ron Paul or Rastafari message.

Iron Man - Military contractors who profit from war sometimes embolden and empower our enemies to keep war profitable.

Also Brazil (1985) with the totalitarian society, with every aspect of freedom suppressed and taken away, and Cloud Atlas, especially with the futuristic scenes regarding the clones slavery.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

T2: Judgment Day - Society heading toward a police state and how potentially much of a difference a single rebellious person could make.

The Godfather and Scarface - Honest interpretations abut the the true nature of American capitalism (I've been told the recent film Killing Them Softly does this too)

Dawn of the Dead (1978) - Attack on American consumerism

Fantastic Planet - The nature of class systems and imperialism.

Running Man and Hunger Games - Media and education/work in a plutocratic police state.

Equilibrium - the role of psychotropic and pharmaceutical drugs in our social system.

THX 1138 - ???? (been a while since I watched it)

Westworld - how entertainment is really a danger to us.

Forrest Gump - How the public view idealizes democratic values and how the elite and cynical laugh at it.

Just my interpretations. Some of these are a very personalized view of what these movies mean.