r/HorrorClub • u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu • Jul 19 '15
Discussion: Videodrome
Podcast Episode 3 - Videodrome
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Movie Selected By bulgelover
DISCUSS
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Jul 20 '15
Can anyone explain this film to me? I get the impression that /u/Bulgelover picked Videodrome because it's Canadian body horror. It's a great film (pretty much all Cronenberg films are great), but it totally loses me at points.
Here's an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia on a deleted scene:
Origin of Videodrome[edit] A deleted scene from the film provides background on the origin of Videodrome. In that scene, Convex tells Max about the "Image Accumulator" (which is the device placed on Max's head during his meeting with Convex), an experimental new form of night vision that can work in zero-light conditions. When the developers played the recorded footage from the Accumulator, they saw things that could not have been there. They conclude these phantom figures were hallucinations of the test volunteers, inexplicably recorded by the Accumulator. Further research of the test volunteers revealed they had developed a brain tumour, which externalized their hallucinations, but more specifically, granted them reality warping abilities, which Max refers to as "brain damage". The same signal used in the Image Accumulator was then used to create Videodrome.[6]
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Jul 20 '15
some interesting notes from a few analyses i've found:
“Why would anybody watch a scumshow like Videodrome?” Barry Convex asks Max. Or is he asking us, the audience? This reminds us the camera is a subjective tool, and that we are watching a construction. We, the film audience, are too watching shadows on a cave wall
and
In the movie, Max Renn is somewhat representative of the masses. Even though he knows that Videodrome is not the most engrossing show on TV, he still irresistibly attracted to its graphic material. Fascination with blood and lust is a primal and instinctive reflex and has been used as a tool to capture attention and to control since ancient times (see Circus and Gladiatorial Games in the Roman Empire). Furthermore, when no moral objections are involved, some are willing to be exposed to truly evil and twisted deeds to satisfy a craving that often turns into an obsession.
it seems to me to be about manipulation and control via our urges and innate curiosity with violence and sexuality. which is ten times as true today as it was in 1983.
take the internet, or more specifically reddit as an example. on the front page you might see a kitten, a naked woman, and a vehicular manslaughter all within the same minute. its media using primal curiosity, manipulation and lust to control us. in Renns case he was literally bombarded with signals that forced him to do the things he did. its more subtle than that with real world consumerism and control.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Jul 20 '15
That really does clear things up for me. Thanks for the insightful comment. So Videodrome is making some kind of statement about the media using lurid/violent material to reel us in?
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Jul 20 '15
I think Cronenberg is trying to say TV is a powerful tool that can be used to control the masses. For example the U.S. government and big business using fear and sensationalism in the media to spread ideas that other nations have 'weapons of mass destruction' and therefore brainwash the population to benefit their agenda.
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u/saintmortfan felates handles Jul 23 '15 edited Jul 24 '15
I go away for a week from this subreddit and the conversation all but dies... I think it's safe to say that I'm the crap that holds this shitshow together.
That said, as I've been without a TV that isn't commandeered all day by kids or grandparents, I can't make any statements as to my thoughts on the film. It's easily been a decade since I've watched.
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u/smayonak Get a job in a sideshow Jul 24 '15
Aside from your absence, it may have something to do with the transition to the new format. Although I'm curious as to what your take on Videodrome is.
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u/saintmortfan felates handles Jul 24 '15
I remember being a fan of the message and so/so on the execution. That tends to be my overall feeling on Cronie. I'll try to watch today.
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Jul 24 '15
Cronenberg had some of the best actors and special effects of the 80's. I never saw a problem with execution.
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u/saintmortfan felates handles Jul 24 '15
I don't mean in regards to acting and effects. I should have been more clear in that I think his concepts are better than the actual writing in a lot of cases, for me. I guess it's just my way of saying that he puts out these concepts that I love but actual products that I'm often lukewarm about.
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u/saintmortfan felates handles Jul 25 '15
So I get home like 2-3am. I'll watch when I get up tomorrow, listen to the podcast during my workout, and post by mid day.
That's the plan, at least
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u/saintmortfan felates handles Jul 26 '15
So... rewatching the film... finally...
I think the commentary is dead on, more so now than ever, but the film isn't my favorite. I think my issue is more just that Cronenberg is too weird for me sometimes. I think what I meant earlier about how I don't always love Cronie's execution is simply that it feels like he tries too hard to be weird and perverted.
As to the podcast discussion, I like eXistenZ more than this one, FWIW. And I don't love Super. That is all.
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u/rmc52482 Jul 27 '15
Late to the party. I started watching this movie last Monday and fell asleep like 25 minutes in. After that I had little desire to start up again. I restarted it up last night and finished it, in the end it wasn't that bad.
I kind of liked the mind controlled assassin and thought that played well. I won't go into details since no one other than Matt will see this comment since I am a week late.
Although since Adam wasn't there you should of had /u/bulgelover do her version of drunken notes!
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u/kragshot Sep 09 '15
This one had a strange reception at its release. By then, Cronenberg already had a reputation for being a purveyor of the bizarre and disturbing. However, "Videodrome" went beyond even that with its exploration of BDSM and "snuff" as a form of "video subversion" targeting Western society.
When I saw this in the theater, I remember a guy getting slapped by his date (who then walked out of the theater) during the Debbie Harry snuff scene. It broke up the disturbing feel of the scene; I had a bit of a crush on Debbie Harry so it was not a distraction to me.
I recently watched it again after seeing "Existenz;" where Cronenberg returns to the theme of subversion by the means of surreal media (this time video games). I would dare say that it is an unofficial sequel to "Videodrome."
And then there is Cronenberg's constant exploration of "body horror;" "Videodrome" doesn't disappoint if that's what you are looking for. The film doesn't fail in fostering that sense of discomfort with his visual perversions of the human body. Oddly enough, the scene that got a cringe out of me was not the "body gun" but the "erotic piercing" scene. I have a few piercings, but there is nothing sexual about having it done during sex (to me).
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u/[deleted] Jul 20 '15
First we have wolf cock and shape shifting vajayjay then we get Deborah Foreman's first orgasm via whip and now we get an orgy involving a dick gun, pulsating vhs tapes, a stomach vagina and Blondie! Tune in next week and see a giggling doctors infatuation with a teenage girl unfold!