The powers that be

There seems to be a running theme of the movies so far... The Corporation, If, Rollerball, Goodnight and Good luck.

This is really lucky for me as it fits quite nicely in with my essay, so getting lots of inspiration from them so far. I always think there are just so many great movies out there that I want to see and don't even know about and this is a great opportunity to actually spend the time sitting down to watch them.

I enjoyed rollerball a lot, and although I got the overall message from the plot and the sport itself- the themes of violence and control, there was loads of bits that I didn't understand. One of my favourite visual bits was the when the men and women from the party went out across the fields and started shooting the trees. I couldn't take my eyes off the strange women and all their billowing dresses. What was that about? Was it me or did all the women seem kind of different from the men? Like the stepford wives. Was that deliberate?

I was pleasantly surprised with George Clooney's film. I watched with my mum too, and she thought it was made in the 50's/60's so the visuals had her fooled. I'm not sure how she figured George Clooney was in it but still! I think it's interesting he chose to direct something so niche rather than something more commercial, which i'm sure he could have done if he wanted to. Granted, I got a little bored when watching it, but I admired the style, the authenticity of the smoking and the black and white and thought it was a quite brave and surprising film from Clooney.

My favourite parts about If... were the flips from black and white to colour. Obviously the film was flitting between reality and imagination, but I liked how it wasn't one or the other, but mixed. Of course, the Tiger scene was breathtaking, really nicely directed and quite a contrast from the rest of the film. I think it captured the sexual tension perfectly. I also liked the scenes when they were getting drunk in their room. The bit where they were laughing 'I don't see what difference the speed makes... the speed of the nail', was strangely mesmerising and more real, like a real moment.
I was rivited by the information I got from the Corporaion... Corporations operate within the law as individual humans... you can patent Life... Its often cheaper to be illegal and risk getting caught than operate in the law... Corporations are legally bound to put their bottom line ahead of everything... Humans potentially own everything from the air we breath to life itself and this could all be made privatised... The song Happy Birthday is owned and every time it is used it costs thousands of pounds...

The mind boggles!