Today I was watching the most recent @sgtreport video on YouTube. One of the ads came on and I usually skip these but... this time something caused me to pause.
It was a trailer for a movie called The Thinning. It engaged me because it triggered some ideas that I thought I would discuss here.
As such this is my review of the thinning trailer.
Now I have heard from many alternative sources that the powers that be attempt to communicate to us what their ultimate direction for society is... for better or for worse. I'm sure this is a contentious idea and I'm not suggesting that everyone should adopt it but given the often political nature of cinema itself, it is certainly something to consider.
For those who haven't seen the trailer or the movie, The Thinning appears to be a film revolving around the concept of population reduction. In this particular instance the reduction is based upon means testing, that is, life itself becomes a meritocracy .
We can see in the trailer a politician selling the benefits of a society that is only comprised of the smartest individuals, something that is no doubt determined by a test administered by the state. In other words the movie is about the state deciding who lives and who dies and this is enforced militarily.
The trailer appears to depict a Coming of Age style event imposed by the state where young adults are subjected to some form of assessment in a classroom environment. The grades are returned and are final. Those who do not make a minimum level are culled. There are scenes of students being pulled screaming from their chairs by masked soldiers. How horrid. You certainly wouldn't want to be having a bad day academically in such a society.
There's a trend here I think. Are we not moving away from movies that are more nationalistic towards ones that represent internal struggles? There seems to be parallels here in the real world. Look at the growing social unrest in the United States at the moment, particularly brought to a head during and after the Clinton Trump campaign. Look at the ongoing push towards globalism and the power of the OECD, European Union, and the like.
Take, I don't know, Independence Day as one of many possible examples. This is a typical nationalistic, patriotic movie where an external force of overwhelming superiority is defeated by people of a common cause. Now The Thinning appears to be about a society struggling with itself. Although it appears to be American, one could apply the situation to any geographical region and it just struck me as being a theme not yet prevalent in mainstream cinema.
Are we being slowly introduced or conditioned to the idea of state controlled existence? Now some of you reading may, if you've read this far, be thinking that I'm looking far too much into something that should be entertaining. I admit that I have only studied media, film and television to a high school level but I did achieve a manner of success there and won a filmmaking award at a state level during those years.
Part of those studies involved the recognition of themes which are sometimes very subtle. In fact cinema is an excellent way to express concepts that would otherwise be subject to dismissal or criticism if presented in another form.
Cinema provides the means by which controversial ideas can be presented under a veil of fiction. What movies do do however is introduced things that slowly start to influence cultural direction over time.
I'm tempted to watch the movie purely out of interest, after all this is just a review of the trailer and some meandering thoughts.
Of course I am viewing this from the standpoint of population reduction being introduced with positive connotations. It could actually be quite the other way around because the movie plot seems to revolve around corruption within the system that determines who lives and who dies based on merit.
Perhaps indeed this is introducing or attempting to introduce scepticism of state power, which I think would be a good thing. Unfortunately when viewed dispassionately and objectively I somehow don't think that that's the intended purpose here.
Anyway I am interested in your thoughts, as I do think there is a slow change in the types of themes being presented in cinema at the moment. I'm particularly interested in what the presentation of modern themes in cinema is actually intended to achieve and I'm sure there will be a diverse range of opinions out there. I look forward to your constructive and objective comments.