This is probably the strangest but coolest films we’ve watched so far in class! The message behind this film is not one that is easily hidden and gives the audience a punch that television has the potential power to easily consume those without them even knowing it. I really enjoyed how David Cronenberg used special effects to highlight the abstract thought of television’s physical effects on the human body in addition to the effects of the mental state of mind. I think if this film just showed hallucinations without incorporating the gory elements, it’s message wouldn’t be as powerful since television is becoming the new flesh of society. Another successful aspect of the creation of Videodrome is the how the director decided to keep the audience in the state of limbo, leaving them confused whether or not Max was experiencing hallucinations or reality.
2 thoughts on “Videodrome”
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I agree with you with the special features to represent the TV as a human body, and in many sense of it it works for the movie, because it is the TV that you go to bed with, and because Videodrome gives you a new body, so it a transformation. But sexualizing the television was one of my least favorite parts of the movie. It was overly sexual, too in your face ( 😉 referring to when he actually puts his face in the screen). But I also understand, that just like Videodrome, the sex and violence in the film and on TV literally, just makes it easier for the audience to absorb the message.
As discussed in class, I found it really interesting that Cronenberg chose not to clue the audience in to whether any of this was real, fake, or in between. I found myself waiting for answers at the end, but obviously to no avail. I felt like the gore only added to the idea that media can not only stimulate but desensitize. By the end of the film I went from being shocked to just nodding my head in disbelief because it made sense in the films world by that point.