Symbolism in Hollywood cinema related to real-life?

Let's try to compile a list of movies having real-life symbolism/pertinence to events that *may* occur in the future etc.

Notes, spoilers are included! (I highly recommend you watch some of these movies though)

Children of Men
"And then there was the flu pandemic"
Jasper says this statement when talking to Miriam and Theo in his house. It seems more and more likely that we could run into a situation of a worldwide "super-flu" or "widespread disease" that could wipe out part of the population.
"Terrorist leader Julian was killed today"
A news report during a small clip of the movie which calls leader of the "Fishes" Julian, a "terrorist". What about terror watch lists? The Patriot Act? Domestic Terrorism? People who dislike their government as terrorists? This is all going on in the world today, but in this movie 5 years ago, a dissenter, Julian, was called a terrorist by her homeland. (Keep in mind the movie IS set in the future).
"Don 2012"
Theo's shirt during the war-zone scene near the end of the movie bears this message. The shirt which is seemingly referencing the 2012 Olympics in London, for some reason is missing the "Lon". The word "Don" usually means in or during - in terms of time-frame. So what is the reason the director decided to put the main character in a shirt that says "Don 2012"? Could something be happening next year? Is this purely coincidence?


Network (197X - I forget the exact year)
This movie describes how the network - television - has this profound controlling effect on us. It IS the manipulator. It tells us what we like. It tells us current events. It comforts us. And it tells us whatever we want to hear. It is because of this, that the dependence we have on it will never cease. We've become to reliant. I HIGHLY recommend this movie. It also goes into even more detail and says how the world we live in is not run by governments/presidents/kings, but by corporations. There are no countries; only companies.


The Matrix
Here's the real kicker movie. There is so much symbolism to real life in this movie that it's not even funny. Religious, ,alien, some other conspiratorial condition... you name it. You can really pick this movie apart. I'm going to include some basic stuff I've picked up on for now, or at least I think I've interpreted correctly.
"The Matrix"
The Matrix is the system which all the sentient robo-beings in the movie are connected to. It is the computer system that keeps all people in the delusion that keeps everyone calm. Morpheus and Trinity are some of those who know the "truth" that the world created around them is a false world. The real world is removing yourself from the system, stepping back, and seeing that everything around you has been so carefully created to keep us under total control. Everything we do, everything we like, everything we dislike, all forms of interaction - everything - has been manipulated into a form of control one way or another. It's when you "wake up" from this, that you see that you discover the "truth". When Neo first realizes that the truth is upon him, he vomits and refuses to believe it. Denial... really is, the most predictable of all human emotions. When will you admit that something is going on? Does it have to hit you in the face? Or can you put down ignorance and denial and accept the possibility that the life you live may be a lie.
"Those connected to the system"
The people still "plugged in" are still the "enemy". It is until you free them, that they are completely unable to see what's going on. These are the people who still obey what those in control say - to like what they say to like, to dislike whomever they say to dislike. As long as people are still plugged into this idea, people can be manipulated - and therefore, can still be the enemy.
"Those freed from the system"
If you're free from the system, you have to work to destroy the "source". The source are those in charge; those who are responsible for causing disorder and chaos. The only way to free everyone from the unending control of leaders is to disassemble the source.
"Oracle"
Do you know what oracles actually were back in the day? They weren't some "future seers" or "predictive persons". They were simply people who knew what was going on in the world. What was REALLY going on. They were "unplugged" so to speak, they understood the control, they understood the manipulation, and it helped them explain to others how events would unfold based on what they've already observed. The oracle in the matrix has hindsight and foresight because she IS part of the system. She understands how things work, how the control works, and she is a "double-agent" of sorts because she can facilitate the events that are going to unfold because of this *prior* knowledge.
"Exp: 9/11/2001"
Possibly my favorite conspiratorial aspect of the entire film is when Agent Smith drops down Mr. Anderson's file on the desk and his drivers license reveals the expiration date "9/11/2001". Interesting... isn't it? The movie came out in 1999, but the expiration date is 9/11/2001... the day that "terrorists" flew airplanes into the trade center buildings. What are the odds of randomly choosing this date? Why is it this date? Was there prior knowledge? For a movie with so much symbolism, it's hard to believe that there is NO relevance between the expiration date on his license and 9/11. After all - there is now sufficient evidence out today that admits there WAS some prior knowledge of 9/11 known before the actual day. Hell, a crew from CNN even got a report on it before it happened.


Star Wars
Personally, I'm a fan of the Star Wars series (particularly the original three; Hayden Christiansen's acting is just so poor in episodes 2 and 3 that it kinda turns me off a bit) and I also believe that George Lucas has hidden many secrets of how we function as a society within his movies.
Dictatorship
Senator Palpatine goes from Senator... to Chancellor, to Supreme Chancellor, to Monarch with absolute power who will *give up* his power after the "crisis has abated". I don't know how familiar you folk are with current events, but the president can now call a "National crisis" for anything. Weather problem? Stock market crash? Global/domestic terrorism? Crisis. What happens during a national crisis? The president gets all the power. He can issue executive orders that are truly unconstitutional (i.e. the closure of all forms of public communication, transport, etc) he can command the police force at whim (Think about how clone troopers went from friendly allies into the enemy - can't that happen today? We have neighborly police officers now, but during a time of crisis when martial law ensues, will they be so neighborly?
Sith
The bad people are afraid to lose their power. Isn't that how corporations work? All they are is greedy and power hungry. They won't give up until they own everything that they can.
Fear Mongering
The Emperor explains how the jedi have become the "Enemy" and sets all his people against them. We know that the jedi are good people who have peace and compassion in mind. Isn't this happening today? Doesn't the president make it seem like every "towel head" is a "terrorist". I want you to really step back and think about it. Does the difference in someone's religion honestly make them a bad person? No. It does not. We are all human beings. We are all equal. We all have needs. And we all deserve a chance at life. Fear mongering is very successful in making us afraid of those that we dislike. It's those in power who have the control/ability to manipulate.
The Force
There is a collective consciousness that governs us. If you have not felt this yet, it is out there for you to find. In terms of relation to real-life, the force guides us and tells us what we should and shouldn't do. Should a sith lord come to power (Palpatine) he has manipulated the force and moved the collective consciousness towards a path of evil with his fear mongering. The jedi have lost the ability to read the force so to speak. They were no match for the evil that ensued. The sooner we all awaken to this consciousness, the better chance we may have of survival in the next world.


If there's one thing I'd like you all to take away from this it's that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. Nothing happens by chance. Coincidence does not exist. For every "random" action, there is always something orchestrating it, even if it's in the shadows.

Please contribute further if you have anything!

You would be suprized on how movies effect us!

If there's one thing I'd like you all to take away from this it's that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. Nothing happens by chance. Coincidence does not exist. For every "random" action, there is always something orchestrating it, even if it's in the shadows.

But yea..You can't change dimensions by just raising your arm...or can you? Cause and effect. That would be buterfly effect majic..



Now if I could just see the future effects from my cause... Like dominoes falling...

I put the Mental Universes (GOD) in charge of my cause and effect majic. (Still working on the outcome. hehe.)

reply to post by Justme888


Not surprised. It's something I've come to realize for a while now! Please add any further contributions if you have any

Bump for the Star Wars addition.

Also - great movies! looking forward to checking them out

Lord of the Rings
"And the world will burn in the fires of industry"
Our industrialized society cannot currently support the population. The way we do things we can only support 1-2 billion people... but we're at 7. We have run out of conventional oil.
The power of the Ring
It's tempting to give up, to give in, to get out... to leave all this thought behind you. But then where does that get you? Always keep fighting (metaphorically! no violence) and never give up. Although the promise of power and riches sounds lovely, it's corruptible and dangerous.
"They will unite or they will fall"
We must all put aside our differences and unite in solidarity against those in power. If we constantly bicker and mess with each other, how can we ever unite?

personally -

I think you should pay more attention to the Zombie movies out there....

as well as the superhero movies....

not many understand that the symbolic 'second coming' of christ.. is actually the rebiulding of the 'temple' BODY of christ.. which humans metamorphose into via ACTIVATED evolution.... and don superhuman abilities... releasing them of the bondage to the material world. meaning.. no more need for the infrastructure that they used to depend on.. therefor .. the destruction of said infrastructure is very well underfoot...

also alien invasion movies.... ie- flase flag fake alien invasion .. which . in large may be a very good thing to unite our world and give the superheores something to fight against and act as ... saviors...

reply to post by prevenge



Wouldn't a world united be a bad thing? Especially the way things are supposed to go with globalization.

Here's a good one!!

Originally posted by Deflagration
reply to post by prevenge

 

Wouldn't a world united be a bad thing? Especially the way things are supposed to go with globalization.

after tens of thousands of years into the future... millions.. you still expect our world to be divided? seriously? have some imagination man

reply to post by Deflagration

All of these movies were made in response to events in the past or in their present. Star Wars culls a lot from how the Nazis rose in Germany as to how the Chancellor (Hitler was Chancellor of Germany...) rises to power. He even cribbed the red, white and black coloring, jackbooted officers and some graphic elements in all of the aesthetics of the Empire from the Nazis. If you go back and read the original Star Wars novel (on which Lucas is listed as the author, but it was really ghost written by Alan Dean Foster), there's a brief description at the beginning of how the Emperor rose to power, which later plays out in Eps. 1, 2 and 3 in the movies. Lucas was also making very conscious allusions in Ep. 2 and 3 to what was going on in the U.S. in that time with all the post-9/11 madness. He even nearly quotes GWB's "if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists" line at one point coming from the mouth of Annakin Skywalker/nascent Darth Vader.

"Network" was very much about the media madness that was already extant in that time, but only has become more relevant in the intervening years. The kinds of reality TV which in that movie seemed extreme and like some absurd foreshadowing of what it COULD become has actually come to pass. Even by the 1980's we saw the beginning of it with TV hosts like Morton Downey Jr. doing shows that were nothing but his own ranting and ravings at people he didn't like, and Jerry Springer who came along not much later. Network is a helluva movie, and only makes more sense to us now in modern times. Sometimes great artists/filmmakers/writers can see these things for what they are long before the rest of us really understand it.

"Children of Men" is probably one of the three great movies of the 2000's, IMO (along with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Master & Commander"). Powerful film, incredibly well made (it's technical feats and cinematic bravado set some new standards that may never again be equaled). Like all great sci-fi stories, it's a warning of what could yet happen. When might it happen? Hard to say. I wouldn't look to much at the dates in the movie as predictive, and look more to the whole thing, it's totality of ideas, as a warning for a possible future we could find ourselves in under any number of bad circumstances. Seeds for a lot of the problems in the film already existed in the time it was made (we're really still in that time). The disease, or whatever it was, that caused mass sterility in humanity is just a catalyst to cause society to go over the precipice it's already perilously close to falling off it sometimes seems. Now, not so many years later, we see potential financial catastrophes looming on the horizon that could push society over an edge where some of these situations really could happen, and seem to even be happening. The movie has a lot to say and needs to be paid attention to.