Hollywood is about to desensitize you (again)... The Road.

The Trick:
Show it to you before it happens.

The Movie / The Book
The Road

www.imdb.com...


Release date in the USA:

2009.... BUT WHAT DAY???


The Plot

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other.

hmmm... This is exactly what America needs to be watching.

BTW... when you here things like "it's going to be worse than the great depression" ..... in this movie, from what I've heard, people resort to cannibalism in order to survive. The movie Doomsday showed the same thing...


(Mods please leave this thread in ATS, and not BTS).

It was a book before a movie... from wiki...

Cormac McCarthy, born Charles McCarthy[1] (born July 20, 1933 in Providence, Rhode Island), is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels in the Southern Gothic, western, and post-apocalyptic genres, and has also written plays and screenplays. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road, and his 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He received a National Book Award in 1992 for All the Pretty Horses.
His earlier Blood Meridian (1985) was among Time Magazine's poll of 100 best English-language books published between 1925 and 2005[2] and he placed joint runner-up for a similar title in a poll taken in 2006 by The New York Times of the best American fiction published in the last 25 years.[3] Literary critic Harold Bloom named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time, along with Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and Philip Roth. He is frequently compared by modern reviewers to William Faulkner.

reply to post by NateNute



There are millions of books.

Do Americans still read books for entertainment?

Do they give out Golden Globe Awards for books?



Americans watch movies... I said it was a book in the OP. I know this.

The book is absolutely brilliant and one of the best-written works that I've ever come across. I have read it five times in the past 2 years or so and know many passages almost by heart.

I cannot see how it would make a good movie, however. Movies are by their nature plot-driven. The brilliance of The Road does not lie in its plot -- the plot is simple, almost non-existent in a sense. The excellence of the book is in its peculiar, verging-on-genius-level use of language and its evocation of a ruined, desolate world. The book also feastures the inner life and ruminations of the father as he travels along the road: his memories, his impressions, fears, concerns about the boy and the future, and so on. All of this takes place silently and I cannot see how it would translate well to the silver screen at all.

Thus, despite my great and abiding respect for McCarthy's book, I very much fear the movie will be terrible: a dull, plodding sepia-toned piece of visually oriented gartbage that over-emphasizes the few scenes of actual action in the story and downplays the subtlties that make the book such a masterpiece (well-deserving of the Pulitzer prize that it received).

Hollywood plays to what people are already intersted in more than it does show the future IMO.

This board, in part, demonstrates how interested people have become in survivalism, with the economy turning down people are more inclinted to that and hollywood is just milking the situation.

There were a billlion a-bomb movies in the 50s and 60s playing with nuclear holocaust. None of them actually predicted the futere, but they were popular at the time because that was what peopl ewere thinking about.

You know, there are still people that make movies solely for profit/entertainment.

Even if we do get to the point where america is burnt up and "Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark... They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other," I don't think any level of desensitization is going to help anybody.

You don't have to go around looking for a conspiracy in everything. It'd be better if you used that energy to enlighten people (outside of this website/the internet) on subjects that can and have been proven, but aren't readily accepted...

reply to post by silent thunder


Well I'll be reading the book... soon.

I just love Father-Son stories (hence my new Avatar), and I'll be anticipating this movie as well.

I stand firm in my OP statemnet... This movie is going to show you a future that we will inherit, and when it happens, you will feel like you've seen it somewhere.



[edit on 26-2-2009 by Doomsday 2029]

reply to post by alaskan


Let me enlighten you on the subject of Population Reduction another time.

And as far as Hollywood goes... look at my profile and see if you can find any threads where I have discussed what Hollywood is capable of doing.

Is the book/movie about a world where depopulation is in progress, or where it has already taken place? Already taken place, right?

How does it happen?

How is that going to desensitize anyone to anything that would be in any way beneficial to the people that survive?

reply to post by alaskan


FEAR is what's being used as a tool on this one.

The whole Population Reduction subject is another debate...

But if you show the public images of the world that you will see in this Motion Picture... the more people will begin to fear the world they are living in, and once again, will ask for Big Brothers help.

Think of it in Henry kissengers terms...

“"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government."


Maybe this is the kind of world that we will experience so we end up begging... begging..... begging... begging... for someone to come and save us.

instead of praying to God for help, we will be asking the U.N. troops to save us?

IDK, but I do believe we will see a Global Meltdown that will be much greater than the 1930's.... By a landslide.

So would you consider The postman to be the same prediction or desensitization scheme?

This type of thing has been done many, many time and our current times are just going to boost sales for this type of movie.

IMO

Also, I read plenty for pleasure. Much more than I watch TV. My girlfriend has been reading Tolkien since 5th grade. People still read, just not as many as there needs to be.

[edit on 26-2-2009 by Mr Headshot]

Originally posted by Mr Headshot

Also, I read plenty for pleasure. Much more than I watch TV. My girlfriend has been reading Tolkien since 5th grade. People still read, just not as many as there needs to be.

[edit on 26-2-2009 by Mr Headshot]

You read for pleasure... good for you. Does that mean I need to automatically assume that the rest of the American population reads for pleasure too?

Good God people. When I say Americans don't read, don't think that I'm attacking anyone on ATS, because this might be the only internet forum where the majority of posters actually read 2 or 3 books every month.

Not as many as there needs to be? I'm sure my estimatation is a little different that yours.

reply to post by alaskan


You don't quite know, it seems to be either a asteroid or nuclear war. There are other things you don't know, like the father and the son's name.

It's actually about how having just one person who cares about us can get us through the most difficult times.

In the story, the man has a gun with only two bullets, the mother has killed herself early on. So there is one bullet left for each of them, and the story is about whether or not they can keep from using it on themselves as they attempt to find a warmer climate with food.

Originally posted by Mr Headshot
So would you consider The postman to be the same prediction or desensitization scheme?

This type of thing has been done many, many time and our current times are just going to boost sales for this type of movie.

The Postman has some propaganda, / desesitizing to it.... but wasn't very effective.

You have to understand.... The Movie companies decide what screenplays turn into movies, they decide how we will feel emotionally if we decide to buy their product.

They decide when it's time to make a movie about India, Gay revolutions, and Nazi Germany.

Like the psyco Joker said in the Dark Knight: "It isn't about money."..... and then he burned the big pyramid of cash.

[edit on 26-2-2009 by Doomsday 2029]

reply to post by Doomsday 2029



I guess I should of added that they took a really good book and turned it into a movie. That's how most great movies occur. You shouldn't look so deep into some things. Most movies are a source of entertainment and not a source for preparation of the end of the world. Couldn't tell you how many Armageddon movies I've seen.

Originally posted by asmeone2
Hollywood plays to what people are already intersted in more than it does show the future IMO.

This board, in part, demonstrates how interested people have become in survivalism, with the economy turning down people are more inclinted to that and hollywood is just milking the situation.

There were a billlion a-bomb movies in the 50s and 60s playing with nuclear holocaust. None of them actually predicted the futere, but they were popular at the time because that was what peopl ewere thinking about.

the phenomenology of the topics portrayed in the motion picture industry is a bit more complex and broad than what you've just summed up.

snappy answers for stupid questions works.. sometimes.. when said snappy answer supplicates the thirst of the ask-ee.

then there's those with an insatiable thirst combined with evidence of much broader influence and agenda...... for which such summaries are inadequate.

-

1. Hollywood tries to make movies that people want to see and which will thus make money. There are many people, myself included, who earnestly enjoy post apocalyptic movies. If them producing movies like that constitutes "conditioning" then ATS itself is a giant source of conditioning the masses for all manner of catastrophies.

2. Loved No Country for Old Men, but hopefully unlike NCfOM, The Road will actually have an ending as strong as the rest of the film rather than just petering out at the end.

Originally posted by alaskan
Is the book/movie about a world where depopulation is in progress, or where it has already taken place? Already taken place, right?

How does it happen?

How is that going to desensitize anyone to anything that would be in any way beneficial to the people that survive?

The book takes place ten years after some kind of "event" that is never fully explained. Its intentionally left ambiguous because the focus is not on the event but on the survival in the aftermath. The desolation is incredible. The skies are darkened so no crops grow. People can only subsist on human flesh, canned food found in the rubble, and a few forest mushrooms. All the trees, plants, and animals are dead. Ashes are everywhere and its always dark. Most of the cities have been burnt and there are few people around. Those that are left mostly hide from each other or try to eat each other.

Its a level of destruction and devastation far beyond the world of "the postman" or even Mad Max. There is no viable social structure left, although there are bands of cannibals roving together and vague references are made to so-called "blood cults" and "communes," with the implications that even these rudimentary forms of order have since disintegrated. There is almost no technology left: stuff like losing a their last lighter is a major issue because then they have to make fire with flint. The most advanced technology in the entire book is a single scene where one broken-down, wheezing old truck is making its way down the road.

The only thing that could produce that level of destruction would be a massive global nuclear winter, a comet/asteroid strike like the one that killed the dinosaurs, or perhaps the explosion of a large volcano or caldera like the one simmering under Yellowstone. There is evidence of a great deal of heat release: melted glass, scorched cities, etc. However, no reference is made to radiation, for example, so its hard to say it was a nuclear war. Like I said, I'm pretty sure the author intentionally makes it ambiguous.

I don't think Hollywood is trying to "prepare" us for anything by making this. First of all, the book came out a few years ago and movie production started when the economy was still in boom times, so its hard to argue that its a reaction to current conditions. Secondly, the world it presents is so fragmented and devastated that it could not possibly serve any "agenda" to create this kind of world. Even elites in bunkers would be in truly dire straits in this scenario.

[edit on 26-2-2009 by silent thunder]

Thanks very much for the semi-summary.

To the OP, I never denied that 'hollywood' has insider info or that they could/would show us things before they happen, but that doesn't mean that every single thing they put out (even if it fits certain current trends) is a sign of what's to come.

I agree that plenty of movies from the past few decades have shaped our brains to accept and allow what's happening, but something like this that doesn't touch on (as far as I know) the government/elite's involvement isn't "preparing" us for anything any more than The Land Before Time was preparing us for life with dinosaurs searching for the lost valley.

reply to post by Doomsday 2029


What about the movie The Day After. Made in 1983. Guess what? It never happened. Hollywood is here purely for entertainment. They are not making movies to desensitize America. Could these things in the movies happen? Sure. Do the people who are making the movies know something we dont? No. Armageddon. Has an astroid hit earth yet? Nope. Could it happen in the future? Yes.

McCarthy said the inspiration for The Road came during a 2003 visit to El Paso, Texas, with his young son. Imagining what the city might look like in the future, he pictured "fires on the hill" and thought about his son. He took some initial notes but did not return to the idea until a few years later, while in Ireland. Then, the novel came to him quickly, and he dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy.[1]

I know everyone here wants to believe that hollywood knows something we dont, but the dont.