Is the art of brainwashing a vice that could actually occur? Is it truly possible to train a human being to execute a plan and take lives in a very precise manner as to not get caught or even remember the act of doing from only viewing the queen of diamonds in a deck of 52 playing cards? A question that is both believable and quite interesting to me. I believe that if started young enough a person can be trained to do or live any way the puppeteer chooses for them. While watching this film I couldn't help but notice the similaritaries between it and Angelina Jolie's film Salt. Salt was a film compossed with the idea that the Russian government from birth would give children american identities and sculpt them into perfectly trained sleeper assains. These children would live, eat and play this lifestyle until they were old enough to be transfered to American to start fulling their jobs. They were even taught english at birth so that they would have perfect american accents.
I feel Mrs. Iselin was the perfect person to train Shaw. She was a very strong and cold character that would fill Shaw's head with the material necessary to carry out the goals of the Russian government. She fills the momism role to a tee and is perfect example of a corrupt and controlling. And Shaw having the sense to protect his mother this monster is a great example of the demonology term we read throughout the reading. Having made this film at around the time when JFK was assassinated I believe played out the idea of McCarthyism and Communism. Shaw and his stepfather we both puppets of Mrs. Iselin and the Russian government much like McCarthy and Lee Harvey Oswald were to the vices of their own government in the sense that was we see and hear makes us do.
I personal found this movie to be very interesting. I liked the fact that in the end Iselin and Shaw were killed and Manchurian Global was forced out of the shaddows and all was well. I believe that this bringing an end to Manchurian and the film gave the viewer the sense that out country is strong and we always find out the truth and we will never let the threat of communism bring us down.
I agree with your interpretation of the movie. I too noticed the connection between this and Salt and I wondered if the producers of that movie hadn't borrowed some ideas from this.
ReplyDeleteI totally bought into the suspense at the ending too. I had a feeling of how it would turn out, but part of me really thought he was going to follow through with his task. I found the issue of momism in the movie to be almost glaringly obvious after discussing it in class.
The ideal of protecting the mother of the family comes across very strong in the movie, which is part of the reason that I was surprised that Shaw killed his mother alongside Islen. I didn't expect that at all. Perhaps it was a play by the director (or author) to show that America must not only stop communism, but also stop momism.
Salt is a good comparison alright--basic genre of paranoid political suspense thrillers, of which MC was the first.
ReplyDeleteSome connection to the larger ideas we've been discussing would be good here, and some stronger definition of the terms from the reading.