Blog 10: Videodrome

Blog 10

Videodrome

So this was certainly one of the more abstract movies I have seen in my day, though here is my best shot at some analysis:

In the movie Videodrome society is affixed to their televisions. They are glued to the screen as pirate stations such as Max Renn’s CIVIC-TV broadcast more and more smut each day to get an additional viewership. The use of CIVIC-TV as a form of electronic media is like an ever-increasing tumor in one’s brain. You continuously get more absorbed by the hollow programming they air. Unfortunately when Renn started to hallucinate after viewing Videodrome, the movie lost me. Perhaps it was because I never got to see the end of it though I simply could no longer follow along. The Mr. Oblivion character was too much of a concept for me to accept. How many thousands of video he must have prerecorded to answer all of Max’s questions seemed like too absurd of a number. Why Max was even hallucinating in the first place I never understood. How can a video control your mind in such a way?

Key concepts of McLuhan could be found in parts of the movie though they still seem like a little of a stretch. For example “the global village” can be seen as the fact that TV is taking over all of society. Whether it is Max Renn’s CIVIC-TV in Canada or Mr. Oblivions homeless shelter where homeless people come to get fed and watch TV in order to fit more into society, TV is everywhere and in Renn’s case it is making people insane.