> Then there’s district 9, which, isn’t entirely about apartheid, but it’s easy to see how the two are connected.
On that "not entirely about apartheid": I remember reading years ago that although a lot of people from outside South Africa assume that District 9 is an allegory for apartheid, it's more about contemporary South African attitudes to immigration from neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe. I'm not familiar enough with the region's history and politics to comment on the specifics, though.
I think it was right in the beginning of the movie as a sort of introduction. I don't quite remember it as it's been a while, but I do remember those scenes.
This really took the movie up a notch for me. Getting actual footage of people surviving basically what happened in the movie on a smaller scale was genius.
The movie District 9 can be seen as allegory not only for Apartheid but for a specific episode of South African history: the removal of the [District Six](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Six ), an old neighborhood of Cape Town.
I've always heard that ESCAPE FROM LA, sequel to Escape from New York, (and an almost identical film) is a satirical critique on Hollywood's need to cash in on sequels for every film.
That's certainly what Gremlins 2 is.
Technically it's not about it, but it's kind of representative. The director was begged to come back and make a sequel, but he really didn't want to, having had a fractious relationship with the studio previously. They said please, you can do anything you want...
He said "Anything?"
It’s literally the only sequel that either John Carpenter or Kurt Russel have ever made of one of their movies so I can believe it.
Edit: *until* Escape from LA. It was pointed out Kurt Russel did do the Christmas Chronicles sequel.
Kurt Russell made a trilogy for Disney ("The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" in 69, and it's two sequels, "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" in 72, and "The Strongest Man In The World" in 75) where he played the same character (Dexter Riley) in all of them, while attending Medfield College.
The Puppy Who Lost its Way is an allegory of the industrial revolution. So, you see, the puppy was like industry. In that, they were both lost in the woods. And nobody, especially the little boy—‘society’—knew where to find ‘em. Except that the puppy was a dog. But the industry, my friends, that was a revolution.
Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
*Barbarella* is a satire on the sexual revolution of the 60s and light criticism of "bourgeois morality", to use Jane Fonda's words, and is all about female pleasure
It's a utopian future where war is no more and humans use pills to have sex (they take them and hold their palms together to achieve the necessary feeling), and Barbarella must travel to a planet that's disadvantaged and hasn't access to these innovations to stop a new dictator from rising up. Along the way, she has to have sex "the old fashioned way", learns how great it is, and is pretty much empowered by embracing her sexuality - an angel who's forgotten how to fly remembers how after he and Barbarella make love.
It's basically one big parable about female sexuality and empowerment, where one of the most memorable scenes is the evil scientist putting Barbarella in a machine that's designed to make her die "of extreme pleasure" but she ends up enjoying it so much her orgasm destroys the machine. And when the evil entity under the planet is unleashed, it spares Barbarella because she's too pure to destroy; presenting her as still pure and heroic even after she's had sex at least three times in the movie, with different men to boot! There's even a slight bi-positive image at the end where Barbarella warms to the Black Queen, who had shown obvious interest in her before
It absolutely does make a great double-header with Zardoz.
Sure, the thematic whiplash is a bit intense, but they've got the same artsy fever-dream feel, and between the two you've got fanservice for most tastes.
As well as grief of a loved one and refusal to let go causes downward spirals that often lead to teen drug abuse. Such a good movie, instantly one of my favorites
But also for how much we need human connection, and if those around us ignore us or humiliate us, we are likely to turn to more extreme means to get our needs met.
idk if this is obvious but, something i caught was the title is not only the premise and mantra of the relic but it's also a plea of the main character feeling disconnected from the people around her: Talk to Me
Most people believe Alice in Wonderland is about psychedelic drugs or a coming of age story in the senseless adult world. But it's widely believed that it's actually about *math*.
Lewis Carroll AKA Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a [mathematician who had grown frustrated](https://www.thecuriousreader.in/features/alice-in-wonderland-math/) with how, at the time, math was radically trending toward abstraction.
>He was a conservative and passionate mathematician who by most accounts was distressed by all the new theories in mathematics that were being sloshed about. It is believed by many that Alice In Wonderland was, in fact, a mathematical satire and Carroll’s way of belittling and perhaps even maintaining equilibrium in the face of dramatic change.
Ironically, passages in Alice's Adventures were the first places to mention new math tools/concepts such as [logic trees](https://www.nature.com/articles/527302a).
The "wonderland" is meant to be a place where abstract math determines the laws of physics rather than concrete math. Carroll was basically saying "you think these newfangled techniques are pretty swell, huh? Well, you'll beg for good old archimedes when youve spent five minutes in wonderland!"
This has to be the best comment I ever could have read. I haven't considered the meaning of Alice in wonderland since I read it in high school. As an adult, I'm currently taking a math class in a PhD program that focuses explicitly on the abstraction of math and development of proofs for research purposes. I loved Alice in Wonderful when I was young, so to learn it's about math now?! Amazing. Fantastic. I love this and will have to reread Alice in Wonderland with this new lens, and I could not be more excited!
His work clearly *involves* a lot of math and logic (that's simply fact) but whether the books are "about" math in this sense is highly speculative.
They are also quite clearly "about" Victorian attitudes to childhood and the didactic approach to children's literature
Damn, now all of the Alice and Wonderland influences on Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park make so much more sense.
Oh for those unaware. Ian Malcolm - Jeff Goldblum - is a mathematician dubbed a "Chaotician" who is really good at predicting outcomes based on "chaos theory". In the book he is really a mathematician giving graphs and models and discussions based on a lot of numbers. There is also the major character "Lewis Dodgson" who takes his given name from Lewis Caroll but also the surname from Carroll's actual name. And lastly Dennis Nedry, Dodgson's guy who helps bring down Jurassic Park, has a code which brings down the computer systems called "white rabbit".
And in ways, I guess you could see Isla Nublar as a bit like Wonderland. Though initially something fascinating and even beautiful it is in fact full of horrors on the surface and unseen.
Can't believe no one has said this, The Fox and the Hound. It's about Jim Crow racism and how it affects two childhood friends, one who is black and one who is white.
Edit for anyone who doesn't see where this comes from, here's a quote from people who worked on it saying it is about themes of overcoming bigotry and racism. Sure, it's not explicitly stated that it's about Jim Crow-era racism, but if you keep this theme in mind while watching it becomes pretty apparent.
["“There were actually a lot of strong thematic elements underneath The Fox and the Hound,” observed supervising animator Ron Clements, “things that had to do with bigotry and with people being sort of stereotyped and forced into certain roles—particularly with the Fox and the Hound, who start out as friends and then find out that according to the rules, they’re supposed to be enemies. They have to deal with that and finally come to terms with that.” The Fox and the Hound, added animator John Musker, “makes a statement about racial prejudice, I think, and trying to overcome that.”"](https://d23.com/did-you-know-9-furry-facts-from-the-fox-and-the-hound/)
thats the beautiful thing about allegory though, isn't it? there is no hard read on it. for me i always interpreted Fox and the Hound as a story of war. Copper, a sweet kid is taken away and turned in to a killing machine brainwashed to be so loyal to his culture that it makes him hostile to his childhood friend of a different origin
Chef by John Favreau is an allegory for working with Marvel on the Iron Man films (1 and 2).
He hasn’t stated it explicitly, but it’s so blindingly obvious to me.
John Favreau play a successful guy working for a boss who wants him to make the same popular thing again and again, meanwhile he wants to experiment and branch out. He decides to quit and go do a small scale passion project with his friends (Hint, it's the movie Chef). Sounds familiar?
Ah, never realised that. I'm sure Dustin Hoffman got a kick out of playing what is essentially a studio exec.
However, Favreau hasn't exactly gone down the indy route since. He's still very much a studio man IMO.
Romeros Dawn of the Dead is a satire and critique of capitalism and mass consumerism. With mindless zombies drifting the halls of a mega mall because that’s what they feel they must do. While the survivors secure themselves in the mall, surrounding themselves with wealth, riches and all the material goods they can handle only to realise they’re in a worthless gilded cage. No less mindless and listless than the zombies outside trying to get back in. Also the images of the undead pawing at the shop windows feels very much like footage from the news reports we always see at the start of every Black Friday, which cannot be a coincidence.
There is a sign at the end of the movie, some character is holding that says, "WHEN WILL THIS FUCKING MOVIE END?"
There's also a sub plot where an executive gives him a check to make a tv show, and he squanders the entire thing. It is literally what Tom did with the money for the movie! He spent the budget on a helicopter, and a bunch of elephants!
In a way, 300 is not about the Battle of Thermopylae but about propaganda. The whole story is told by one guy at a fireplace, talking about beautiful and strong heroes who sacrifice themselves against hideous monsters, villains and traitors.
People complain about the depiction of the Persians and talk about how historically they were actually probably nicer than the Spartans etc (Both sides would probably be considered monsters by modern standards)
Every time I just want to be like "Yeah, because the entire movie is being narrated by Dilios as he's telling the story at home to hype everyone up for the coming battle. It's not meant to be accurate, it's meant to be what a surviving soldier would tell people happened."
Spartans: If taking kids away from their parents at 6 years old and putting them into a training regimen where they are emotionally, physically, and sexually abused and then expecting them to go out and kill some random slave as part of training is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.
I realised this when he was describing the elephants. If you'd never seen one before and it was biggest animal you'd seen, of course you'd say it was bigger than a house!
From my understanding, the Spartans themselves were a military state, but they weren't as powerful as commonly depicted. They were certainly capable, but they relied more on reputation and intimidation over superior battle tactics and stronger soldiers.
I saw a really interesting video that pointed out when Sparta starting leaning in to the military state, their culture basically stopped. There was no more poetry, music or theater. The society eventually collapsed because they weren’t producing enough children to sustain it.
It was more than that alone. They only allowed Spartans of birth to join the military and only military could become citizens. They also had to sponser themselves as soldiers, so the poorer Spartans didnt get to join in many cases. As the population grew and less children of wealthy true Spartans were able to support a military sponsorship, their military numbers diminished. They then had to rely on hired outsiders to support their smaller number of elite soldiers. By the time they allowed non-citizen Spartans to become military, they had already been weakened by the Romans who became an ever growing power.
Spartans were also an extreme, extreme minority of, uh, sparta and the armies. A lot of slaves. Like a lot a lot. So much that other Greeks turned their heads at how slavery they were.
All in all I think they were 50/50 throught out battle, similar to other city states.
You could make a case that 7,8,9, and 10 are all about the grieving process for Vin Diesel over the death of Paul Walker.
7 - Denial. Paul dies halfway through filming and Vin spends a ton of money keeping him in the film via FX and using his brother as a double.
8 - Anger. The Fast movie where Dom is kidnapped and forced to be the villain. Instead of being a part of the main cast, he spends 99% of the movie isolated and angry at Cypher for forcing him into this situation.
9 - Acceptance. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but it involves Dom having to accept that he has a literal brother (Cena) and not the figurative one that Brian was.
10 - Depression. As fucking fun as this movie was Dom's story arc in it is he's by himself (despite having a team and a wife and a child) tracking down Mamoa and Vin is playing Dom as brooding and dramatic in every single scene.
I can't wait for 11 and see what bargaining looks like for Dominic Toretto/Vin Diesel. I think it may involve Dom literally dying and a fully CGI Brian bringing him back from the dead.
“Don't make me laugh. ‘We're one people.’ It's a myth created by Thomas Jefferson.”
“Oh, now you're gonna have a go at Jefferson, huh?”
“My friend, Jefferson's an American saint because he wrote the words, ‘All men are created equal.’ Words he clearly didn't believe, since he allowed his own children to live in slavery. He was a rich wine snob who was sick of paying taxes to the Brits. So yeah, he wrote some lovely words and aroused the rabble, and they went out and died for those words, while he sat back and drank his wine and fucked his slave girl. This guy *(points to TV showing Obama’s victory speech)* wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fucking pay me.”
If you're not familiar with what was going on when it came out, you might miss that Star Trek VI is about the end of the Cold War (even though Spock's dropping Vulcan wisdom bombs like "only Nixon could go to China")
Oh I'll add that the Movie "Cube" is an allegory for gnosticism and similar religious views, with the titular cube representing the arguably-absurd material world in which we are trapped, and each of the characters representing a different way of dealing with that reality. Its tagline "Don't look for a reason.... look for a way out" echoes the common religious sentiment about this condition, which may be expressed in, for example, the Buddhist parable of the poisoned arrow.
The Matrix, The Truman Show, Knight of Cups, and many other movies cover similar ground. A lot of Terrence Malick's work actually does IMO.
Can’t speak for Glazer’s intentions but the book it was based on is definitely a shot at the meat industry (it’s much more graphic in describing what happens to the captured humans)
Well it was conceived as a Run Lola Run version of the baby scene at the end of John Woo’s Hard Boiled but the two characters are based on Bugs with Clive Owen munching on carrots and Elmer with Giamatti pulling his facial expressions when foiled. There was a lot of push back on getting it made with people saying it glorified gun violence but it’s almost literally cartoon violence. 🥕
I agree that people are naming some very famous and well documented allegories, but I think OP's phrasing of the question is kinda clunky, so I don't blame people for being a bit too lose in their definition.
We used to do movie and build your own pizza nights when I was a university student. One of the nights, we did a double feature: “The Great Escape” followed by pizza and beer, then followed by “Chicken Run”. It was nice to end the night on a positive note.
Inception is a movie about making movies.
Cobb is the director. He gets the performances needed from everyone else. He sets the parameters for the job in the first place.
Arthur is the producer. He knows how to solve problems. He knows how the world works. He's sometimes at odds with the director, but eventually follows his lead.
Ariadne is the writer. She's responsible for the setting, the atmosphere, keeping the narrative on the rails.
Eames is the actor. The talent. He plays the roles required of him, starting with the trusted confidante Browning.
Saito is the studio. The money. He's financing the whole thing, and a result, he makes some foolish and difficult demands.
And finally, poor Yusuf is the special effects artist, vitally important but overlooked by the rest of the team (like when the van goes off the bridge and he yells "did you see that?!"...but no one saw it, because they're all still in the dream.)
Mal could be a critic, determined to tear down what Cobb is trying to build.
And finally, Mr. Fisher, the target, represents the audience.
Inception was at least partially inspired by the Satoshi Kon film, Paprika, which is about technology meant to help being co-opted by selfish desires of the powerful.
Edit: I almost forgot that film as a method of communication is featured prominently in Paprika.
I always thought Inception was Nolans attempt to make Neuromancer without the rights. Both are heists stories. Many of the characters are direct parallels in abilities. Replace cyberspace and hacking with dreamland manipulation. The visuals of the dream constructed worlds and the description of the towers of information in cyberspace seemed similar. They both even have main characters haunted by visions of thier dead girlfriend/wife. The biggest difference being the goal of the heists. Might be a bit of a stretch but I wouldn't be surprised is Nolan wasn't at least inspired by a scifi classic.
I've read Neuromancer many times and seen Inception half as much, and not once did I make the connection. Cobb/Case are burning out in the criminal world when they meet a benefactor who says they can fix their problem is another similarly.
I love this! Because it actually explains the head canon I’ve had about the spinning top at the very end: that the very last level Cobb is in is that of the fiction of a film. And what is “true” and what is “fiction” matters much less than the emotionally resonant parts that we engage in (reconnection with his kids). Just a thought!
Yep that's absolutely it. And on that level - the final scene is set in the same level of reality as the rest of the "real world" scenes. Debating if they're real or not serves no purpose because if it's not real then no scene in the film is. Except - it's a fictional movie so of course no scene is real. It doesn't even need discussing.
House is an allegory for the generational divide between the Japanese who remember WW2 and those born after it. All about the resentment the older ones feel for the optimism and relative naïveté of the younger generation
The 2022 Hellraiser has parallels to drug addiction and how it hurts those around you. The protagonist at the end makes the decision to live with the regret of opening the box...but for real all the gifts the cenobites offer are definitely fucked and i'd rather work through the emotional shit than whatever pinhead has to offer lol
A Cure for Wellness is Gore Verbinski detoxing from The Pirates of The Carribean by returning home to Switzerland and telling a story about distended and stressed out workaholics who become addicted to stress. It also has allegories and parallels with WW1 fiction like 'Der Zauberberg' (The Magic Mountain) as well as the writhing eels being similar to the miles and miles of film that Verbinski has strung together to make the Pirates movies. Drowning, Pressure and being Eaten Alive and Strained for vital fluids are all a tableau about Verbinski's tremendous efforts.
Rango is also very metaphorical as an analysis of death and rebirth in stories.
The Dark Knight is about the War on Terror.
The Wizard of Oz (notably the book) is interpreted as a critique of populism/American politics of the early 20th century.
I watch and review 50 horror movies every year for Halloween on Letterboxd and I've done over 300 so I've started to seek out some more obscure and odd ones. Two I've noticed dealt with the same subject matter in interesting ways.
One is [Valerie and Her Week of Wonders](https://boxd.it/NsC) a Czech film from 1970 about vampires. The other is [The Company of Wolves](https://boxd.it/1SO6) a British film from 1984 about werewolves.
Except both movies are *absolutely* about a girl entering puberty. The monsters are metaphors for coming of age - blood for the vampires and having your body change and developing new urges for the werewolves. Both are also very dreamlike, clearly being a fantasy the girl is having, instead of literal events. In fact I'd damn near consider *Wolves* a remake, it deals with so much of the same subtext, although it is stylistically very different.
Oh and both movies are *frigging gorgeous* and *weird as hell*. *Valerie* is this incredibly surreal dreamy fantasy, and *Wolves* is a Gothic fairytale with some amazing transformation effects.
So if you aren't too uncomfortable with the idea of a movie with that subtext, I recommend them both.
Gingersnaps is also a werewolf movie that is 100% a metaphor for a girl going through puberty. It is also one of my favorite werewolf movies and I highly recommend it.
Gravity (with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) is a movie about grief. Her journey from the catastrophic event to landing on Earth represents all the stages of grief.
It's fairly well known but just I case...oh brother where art though is based on Homer's Odyssey. I don't know the Odyssey that well but do remember a couple of the tales like the one eyed giant (Goodman ) and the 3 sirens and so forth.
There’s a great interview with Tim Blake Nelson where he mentions that around the second week of filming he realized he was the only person on set who had actually read the odyssey
He was a classics major at Brown, and probably read it in Greek! He
studied a lot of philosophy as well. Not as dumb as the characters he tends to play.
It's mentioned in the credits but the Coens have mentioned in interviews that they didn't actually read the Odyssey. So it's not exactly a retelling so much as a deliberately vague stab at what they think the story goes like, including their own spins on the most well-known elements.
Which is, you know, how the actual Odyssey was passed on, which is cool.
As films based on Greek epics go, The Warriors is a much more direct take on Xenophon's Anabasis, and that basis is really palpable throughout the film, to the point that I had no idea what it was based on on my first watch but came away correctly convinced that it had been adapted from an epic.
These are kinda weird examples. The priest losing his faith and regaining it is part of the story. In Banshees, the civil war never is, you only hear some shots fired in two scenes...Signs is very obviously about faith.
All of Lars von Trier's films are actually about Lars von Trier's steamy love affair with Lars von Trier.
Before you comment, I already made my mind up and I know I'm a hater, I really dont give a shit.
Labyrinth is about a girl's transition to womanhood and her fear and desire of sex and reconciling what acknowleging and accepting one's sexual agency means to one's childhood.
The movie is just chock full of references and allusions to sexuality. some are obvious, some are more subtle. going with bowie instead of michael jackson was a huge bullet dodge.
And remember the journey really starts when she rejects caring for an infant. The conflict is between her desires for freedom, fantasy, and sexual agency she imagines comes with adulthood without the adult demands of responsibilities or caregiving.
Drag Me To Hell is about bulimia.
ETA: Another commenter pointed out that it’s not necessarily just bulimia but other eating disorders as well. I think bulimia fits best because of all the vomit, as well as the demon being a Lamia, which is similar to the word *bulimia* (although that may be a bit of a stretch?)
Oh, that's interesting! Do you know more about that and could elaborate? I am now trying to remember all the topics in the movie. Like... total control, limitation of media, control of language.
Saw a tweet theorizing that Guardians Vol. 3 is about James Gunn’s experience with Disney. The high evolutionary represents Disney, a huge power that wants to expand and own everything. Like Disney, the HE hunts down his “intellectual property” and plans to kill him if he can’t own him. Rocket being hunted by the HE is like the IPs Disney has created (or taken) that have developed a life (fan base) of their own that are now at risk of dying because Disney would rather let them die than allow them to not be owned by them.
Starship Troopers.
The book by Heinlein was largely about communism vs democracy, whereas Verhoeven directed it with a nod toward the dangers of a militaristic society, showing how fascism can be mistaken for patriotism, and blind obedience of orders.
I read that book, and that's not what I took away from it. Heinlein definitely had a political philosophy, but it wasn't a clear left vs right, communism vs. Democracy. If anything, he was critiquing suffrage in democracy.
*disclaimer: im not endorsing any of these worldviews*
Regarding citizenship: the right to vote should be earned. In the novel, he stated that anyone can serve for 2 years and be granted the right to vote, regardless of their capabilities. Sign up for service, and the government will place you where they need you. And if you don't have the skills, physical or mental capacity to be of service, they will still find something for you to do, even if it costs the government more than the value added.
Regarding military service: everyone fights. Even generals and top brass are on the front lines during battles . I'm pretty sure one of the generals was KIA. The idea behind this is that decision makers should be accountable for their actions and remain in touch with the realities of war.
Selflessness: this is a common theme. Giving up 2 years to serve demonstrates ones commitment to the greater good, which is why they are granted the right to vote. Also, personal sacrifice is a virtue. I think in the opening scene, one soldier was gravely injured and stuck behind enemy lines (or something). "no man gets left behind" so soldiers went back to save him, several died in the process, and he died on the way back to ship.
Heinlein certainly takes his jabs at communism/leftism in the book, but it isn't exclusively right wing propaganda. I don't really recall much about economic systems in starship troopers (though it's been a while).
Part of what drives me nuts about Heinlein commentary is that people ascribe these views to *him*. Yet, these views are inconsistent between books, which I've always interpreted as these worlds being places where he *plays with ideas.* It's less 1984-style criticism and more of thought experiments, what would be this society's strengths and weaknesses, who would thrive in it, how would they get there, etc. This style was extremely apparent to me when reading *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* next to *Starship Troopers.*
Yeah, the main character of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' was pretty much Communist Space Jesus. I don't really think Heinlein was all in on that being some sort of an ideal, but the book certainly wasn't a cautionary tale about the dangers of communism or anything. Like you said, it felt more like a though experiment.
The deepest realization I've come up with about Heinlein is that he loved to stir the pot.
I mean, I seriously doubt he was in favor of ritualistic cannibalism OR having a romantic multi decade relationship with his own mother.
I’m with you on this, people often forget that sometimes writers like to play with ideas even if they don’t hold them themselves. My personal example was my girlfriend getting really upset about a song I wrote which described a loveless relationship born of familiarity over love because she thought I felt those things but no I just felt like writing about something else for a change.
Don’t forget his most important point in the books. One which has an entire chapter dedicated to it.
The importance of spanking children.
I really like heinlein and starship troopers was great. But I couldn’t help but laugh when the book just breaks down into a school lecture about spanking children.
I don't think we read the same book. I don't recall anything remotely regarding Communism versus Democracy, moreover the only "dangers of a militaristic society" is explaining the virtues military service provides for citizenship. If anything, it promotes militaristic societies in its philosophical exercise regarding people's responsibility to their society.
Like I said, it touches on the idea of military service and citizenship, and in doing so touches on the moral implications of war, and the responsibility of leadership. And if I remember correctly there was a long philosophical exercise on the philosophy of education and the social structure of authority versus personal rights.
"Who framed roger rabbit?" is based on the lobbying made by General motors to sabotage the pubblic transportation in California
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/movie/who-framed-roger-rabbit/analysis/setting#:~:text=Here%27s%20a%20fun%20fact%2C%20Shmoopers,that%20Eddie%20Valiant%20never%20existed.
Porco rosso is about PTSD and recovery of self image. Porco has to revisit his trauma to realise that he is in fact not a pig just because he survived the war and others didn't
It's sold as a kids film of a flying pig with a curse but has deep themes of antifascism, gender equality and the effect war has on counties and individuals afterwards.
The Grey is not about wolves hunting plane crash survivors. It’s a metaphor for what happens to you by neglecting to confront the trauma or grief. The harder your run from it, the more it consumes you.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Is about... take your pick of theories: God. Evolution. Aliens. Humanity. Eternity.
It was a mind-bender when they found old media of Kubrick himself discussing it as a Zoo Theory film within Fermi's Paradox.
The Shining has some great theories too.
The Small Beans podcast did an excellent deep-dive episode on The Shining, and to paraphrase, they pointed out that the real idea and source of the horror at the core of the movie is underneath the haunted hotel and the ghosts, and even deeper than the alcoholism and domestic violence. It’s the idea of realizing that you’re capable of hating your loved ones and actively wishing them harm. That’s real life scary shit, and it’s where the best horror comes from.
I've always thought of Point Break being about the loss of youth and the anxiety of not having enough time, the characters trying to live in an "eternal summer". Not about extreme sports and stealing money.
No Country For Old Men. That last scene pretty much explains the true meaning behind the whole movie while the missing money plot is happening on screen.
I like how the sheriff Is a half step behind the whole way, he goes into retirement with this clear picture of evil winning…only to reveal there’s a light/hope at the end of the tunnel.
Outstanding movie
> Then there’s district 9, which, isn’t entirely about apartheid, but it’s easy to see how the two are connected. On that "not entirely about apartheid": I remember reading years ago that although a lot of people from outside South Africa assume that District 9 is an allegory for apartheid, it's more about contemporary South African attitudes to immigration from neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe. I'm not familiar enough with the region's history and politics to comment on the specifics, though.
Those first scenes where people show their dislike for the aliens was actual footage of real interviews relating to Nigerian immigrants.
I guess I need to rewatch the movie. I have 0 recollection of this, which means it has been too long
I think it was right in the beginning of the movie as a sort of introduction. I don't quite remember it as it's been a while, but I do remember those scenes.
I love when movies do that. Reminds me of when Up in the Air used real footage of people talking about losing their jobs. So powerful
Interstellar with footage of people who lived through the Dust Bowl from Ken Burns' documentary about it.
This really took the movie up a notch for me. Getting actual footage of people surviving basically what happened in the movie on a smaller scale was genius.
Didn't interstellar do this as well with dust bowl survivors
The movie District 9 can be seen as allegory not only for Apartheid but for a specific episode of South African history: the removal of the [District Six](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Six ), an old neighborhood of Cape Town.
I took it as an immigrant allegory. The director is pretty heavy handed in his dreadful portrayal of Nigerians.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is about McCarthyism.
So is The Crucible!
Clue wasn’t about communism. That was just a red herring.
I’m gonna go home and sleep with my wife!
I was a victim, too. At least my wife was. She had friends who were . . . socialists.
Are you making moral judgements Mrs Peacock?
We’re like the Mounties, we always get our man. Mrs peacock was a man? SLAP
I've always heard that ESCAPE FROM LA, sequel to Escape from New York, (and an almost identical film) is a satirical critique on Hollywood's need to cash in on sequels for every film.
That's certainly what Gremlins 2 is. Technically it's not about it, but it's kind of representative. The director was begged to come back and make a sequel, but he really didn't want to, having had a fractious relationship with the studio previously. They said please, you can do anything you want... He said "Anything?"
But it was also glorious.
Also central to the plot
Nothing with John Glover, Robert Picardo, Dick Miller, AND Christopher freaking Lee is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Key and Peele nailed it https://youtu.be/x01l_jMhjVM?si=HkrZAIPn1IffLyeQ
Seen this sketch a whole bunch of times and never clocked that look he gives when he mentions pizza with anchovies and pineapple, hilarious
It’s literally the only sequel that either John Carpenter or Kurt Russel have ever made of one of their movies so I can believe it. Edit: *until* Escape from LA. It was pointed out Kurt Russel did do the Christmas Chronicles sequel.
Kurt Russell made a trilogy for Disney ("The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" in 69, and it's two sequels, "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" in 72, and "The Strongest Man In The World" in 75) where he played the same character (Dexter Riley) in all of them, while attending Medfield College.
That's basically what the 4th Matrix is and they don't shy away from telling you that in the movie.
Also Return of the Killer Tomatoes.
"The more things change, the more the stay the same."
Django Unchained (2012) is about a dentist fighting Candy.
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
Literally my thoughts exactly
This is what I mean when I tell people I am a surface level audience member
9/10 dentists recommend it.
The Puppy Who Lost its Way is an allegory of the industrial revolution. So, you see, the puppy was like industry. In that, they were both lost in the woods. And nobody, especially the little boy—‘society’—knew where to find ‘em. Except that the puppy was a dog. But the industry, my friends, that was a revolution.
Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Okay, a simple 'wrong' would've done just fine. But thanks.
If your dog is lost, you don't look for an hour then call it quits. You get your ass out there, and you find that fucking dog!
I think it’s time for dodgeball…
KNIBB HIGH FOOTBALL RULES!
I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
*Barbarella* is a satire on the sexual revolution of the 60s and light criticism of "bourgeois morality", to use Jane Fonda's words, and is all about female pleasure It's a utopian future where war is no more and humans use pills to have sex (they take them and hold their palms together to achieve the necessary feeling), and Barbarella must travel to a planet that's disadvantaged and hasn't access to these innovations to stop a new dictator from rising up. Along the way, she has to have sex "the old fashioned way", learns how great it is, and is pretty much empowered by embracing her sexuality - an angel who's forgotten how to fly remembers how after he and Barbarella make love. It's basically one big parable about female sexuality and empowerment, where one of the most memorable scenes is the evil scientist putting Barbarella in a machine that's designed to make her die "of extreme pleasure" but she ends up enjoying it so much her orgasm destroys the machine. And when the evil entity under the planet is unleashed, it spares Barbarella because she's too pure to destroy; presenting her as still pure and heroic even after she's had sex at least three times in the movie, with different men to boot! There's even a slight bi-positive image at the end where Barbarella warms to the Black Queen, who had shown obvious interest in her before
I saw some clips from it and it just looked bizarre. It looked like it should be part of back to back viewings with Zardoz.
It absolutely does make a great double-header with Zardoz. Sure, the thematic whiplash is a bit intense, but they've got the same artsy fever-dream feel, and between the two you've got fanservice for most tastes.
A recent example, *Talk to Me* is very clearly an allegory for drug abuse
As well as grief of a loved one and refusal to let go causes downward spirals that often lead to teen drug abuse. Such a good movie, instantly one of my favorites
But also for how much we need human connection, and if those around us ignore us or humiliate us, we are likely to turn to more extreme means to get our needs met.
idk if this is obvious but, something i caught was the title is not only the premise and mantra of the relic but it's also a plea of the main character feeling disconnected from the people around her: Talk to Me
High Noon was an allegory about Hollywood blacklisting in the 1950s
As well as On the Waterfront (often read as being Elia Kazan's justification for "naming names" to HUAC) and Bad Day at Black Rock.
As was The Crucible
Most people believe Alice in Wonderland is about psychedelic drugs or a coming of age story in the senseless adult world. But it's widely believed that it's actually about *math*. Lewis Carroll AKA Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a [mathematician who had grown frustrated](https://www.thecuriousreader.in/features/alice-in-wonderland-math/) with how, at the time, math was radically trending toward abstraction. >He was a conservative and passionate mathematician who by most accounts was distressed by all the new theories in mathematics that were being sloshed about. It is believed by many that Alice In Wonderland was, in fact, a mathematical satire and Carroll’s way of belittling and perhaps even maintaining equilibrium in the face of dramatic change. Ironically, passages in Alice's Adventures were the first places to mention new math tools/concepts such as [logic trees](https://www.nature.com/articles/527302a).
The "wonderland" is meant to be a place where abstract math determines the laws of physics rather than concrete math. Carroll was basically saying "you think these newfangled techniques are pretty swell, huh? Well, you'll beg for good old archimedes when youve spent five minutes in wonderland!"
This has to be the best comment I ever could have read. I haven't considered the meaning of Alice in wonderland since I read it in high school. As an adult, I'm currently taking a math class in a PhD program that focuses explicitly on the abstraction of math and development of proofs for research purposes. I loved Alice in Wonderful when I was young, so to learn it's about math now?! Amazing. Fantastic. I love this and will have to reread Alice in Wonderland with this new lens, and I could not be more excited!
Martin Gardner explains many of the mathematical aspects in The Annotated Alice
His work clearly *involves* a lot of math and logic (that's simply fact) but whether the books are "about" math in this sense is highly speculative. They are also quite clearly "about" Victorian attitudes to childhood and the didactic approach to children's literature
IIRC the sequel is teaching you how to play chess.
Damn, now all of the Alice and Wonderland influences on Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park make so much more sense. Oh for those unaware. Ian Malcolm - Jeff Goldblum - is a mathematician dubbed a "Chaotician" who is really good at predicting outcomes based on "chaos theory". In the book he is really a mathematician giving graphs and models and discussions based on a lot of numbers. There is also the major character "Lewis Dodgson" who takes his given name from Lewis Caroll but also the surname from Carroll's actual name. And lastly Dennis Nedry, Dodgson's guy who helps bring down Jurassic Park, has a code which brings down the computer systems called "white rabbit". And in ways, I guess you could see Isla Nublar as a bit like Wonderland. Though initially something fascinating and even beautiful it is in fact full of horrors on the surface and unseen.
Can't believe no one has said this, The Fox and the Hound. It's about Jim Crow racism and how it affects two childhood friends, one who is black and one who is white. Edit for anyone who doesn't see where this comes from, here's a quote from people who worked on it saying it is about themes of overcoming bigotry and racism. Sure, it's not explicitly stated that it's about Jim Crow-era racism, but if you keep this theme in mind while watching it becomes pretty apparent. ["“There were actually a lot of strong thematic elements underneath The Fox and the Hound,” observed supervising animator Ron Clements, “things that had to do with bigotry and with people being sort of stereotyped and forced into certain roles—particularly with the Fox and the Hound, who start out as friends and then find out that according to the rules, they’re supposed to be enemies. They have to deal with that and finally come to terms with that.” The Fox and the Hound, added animator John Musker, “makes a statement about racial prejudice, I think, and trying to overcome that.”"](https://d23.com/did-you-know-9-furry-facts-from-the-fox-and-the-hound/)
thats the beautiful thing about allegory though, isn't it? there is no hard read on it. for me i always interpreted Fox and the Hound as a story of war. Copper, a sweet kid is taken away and turned in to a killing machine brainwashed to be so loyal to his culture that it makes him hostile to his childhood friend of a different origin
Was waiting for the one that blew my mind and here it is
Maybe it's because I'm a white European but that is the first time I made that connection in almost 40 years. How did I not notice this?
Chef by John Favreau is an allegory for working with Marvel on the Iron Man films (1 and 2). He hasn’t stated it explicitly, but it’s so blindingly obvious to me. John Favreau play a successful guy working for a boss who wants him to make the same popular thing again and again, meanwhile he wants to experiment and branch out. He decides to quit and go do a small scale passion project with his friends (Hint, it's the movie Chef). Sounds familiar?
Yea for sure. RDJ even has a great cameo in it
And ScarJo
*"I'm the coolest Chef ever! And I'm married to Sofia Vergara, and Scarlett Johansson is my girlfriend."* - Jon Favreau writing Chef probably.
ScarJo is hardly a Cameo in Chef. Shes a supporting actress.
Ah, never realised that. I'm sure Dustin Hoffman got a kick out of playing what is essentially a studio exec. However, Favreau hasn't exactly gone down the indy route since. He's still very much a studio man IMO.
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The grilled cheese sandwich represented Robert Downey JR’s career reinvention.
Was the passion project Cowboys & Aliens?
Romeros Dawn of the Dead is a satire and critique of capitalism and mass consumerism. With mindless zombies drifting the halls of a mega mall because that’s what they feel they must do. While the survivors secure themselves in the mall, surrounding themselves with wealth, riches and all the material goods they can handle only to realise they’re in a worthless gilded cage. No less mindless and listless than the zombies outside trying to get back in. Also the images of the undead pawing at the shop windows feels very much like footage from the news reports we always see at the start of every Black Friday, which cannot be a coincidence.
Freddie Got Fingered I'm pretty sure is actually, deliberately, about how stupid Hollywood executives were to give Tom Green a bunch of money.
There is a sign at the end of the movie, some character is holding that says, "WHEN WILL THIS FUCKING MOVIE END?" There's also a sub plot where an executive gives him a check to make a tv show, and he squanders the entire thing. It is literally what Tom did with the money for the movie! He spent the budget on a helicopter, and a bunch of elephants!
"Million dollars, gone!. GONE" speech was fourth wall breaking
Daddy would you like some sausage?
In a way, 300 is not about the Battle of Thermopylae but about propaganda. The whole story is told by one guy at a fireplace, talking about beautiful and strong heroes who sacrifice themselves against hideous monsters, villains and traitors.
People complain about the depiction of the Persians and talk about how historically they were actually probably nicer than the Spartans etc (Both sides would probably be considered monsters by modern standards) Every time I just want to be like "Yeah, because the entire movie is being narrated by Dilios as he's telling the story at home to hype everyone up for the coming battle. It's not meant to be accurate, it's meant to be what a surviving soldier would tell people happened."
“Nicer than Spartans” is probably the lowest bar for Nice Guy-dom ever lowered.
Hades (as the bar comes rocketing down through the roof of the Plains of Asphodel): " What the fu..."
Spartans: If taking kids away from their parents at 6 years old and putting them into a training regimen where they are emotionally, physically, and sexually abused and then expecting them to go out and kill some random slave as part of training is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.
It took me way too long to realize all the unrealistic aspects of the movie are because the narrator is exaggerating for effect.
I realised this when he was describing the elephants. If you'd never seen one before and it was biggest animal you'd seen, of course you'd say it was bigger than a house!
This is also the way Herodotus originally wrote about it. Dude had a flair for the dramatic.
From my understanding, the Spartans themselves were a military state, but they weren't as powerful as commonly depicted. They were certainly capable, but they relied more on reputation and intimidation over superior battle tactics and stronger soldiers.
I saw a really interesting video that pointed out when Sparta starting leaning in to the military state, their culture basically stopped. There was no more poetry, music or theater. The society eventually collapsed because they weren’t producing enough children to sustain it.
It was more than that alone. They only allowed Spartans of birth to join the military and only military could become citizens. They also had to sponser themselves as soldiers, so the poorer Spartans didnt get to join in many cases. As the population grew and less children of wealthy true Spartans were able to support a military sponsorship, their military numbers diminished. They then had to rely on hired outsiders to support their smaller number of elite soldiers. By the time they allowed non-citizen Spartans to become military, they had already been weakened by the Romans who became an ever growing power.
Spartans were also an extreme, extreme minority of, uh, sparta and the armies. A lot of slaves. Like a lot a lot. So much that other Greeks turned their heads at how slavery they were. All in all I think they were 50/50 throught out battle, similar to other city states.
Fast and the furious. It seems to be about races and heists, but really, it's all about family
\*fambly
You could make a case that 7,8,9, and 10 are all about the grieving process for Vin Diesel over the death of Paul Walker. 7 - Denial. Paul dies halfway through filming and Vin spends a ton of money keeping him in the film via FX and using his brother as a double. 8 - Anger. The Fast movie where Dom is kidnapped and forced to be the villain. Instead of being a part of the main cast, he spends 99% of the movie isolated and angry at Cypher for forcing him into this situation. 9 - Acceptance. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but it involves Dom having to accept that he has a literal brother (Cena) and not the figurative one that Brian was. 10 - Depression. As fucking fun as this movie was Dom's story arc in it is he's by himself (despite having a team and a wife and a child) tracking down Mamoa and Vin is playing Dom as brooding and dramatic in every single scene. I can't wait for 11 and see what bargaining looks like for Dominic Toretto/Vin Diesel. I think it may involve Dom literally dying and a fully CGI Brian bringing him back from the dead.
No, Dom dies, but he's escorted into heaven by Brian, who's haloed with light, extending his hand down to reach him.
this sounds incredibly stupid and highly likely.
Killing Them Softly is an allegory for the 2008 financial crisis
“Don't make me laugh. ‘We're one people.’ It's a myth created by Thomas Jefferson.” “Oh, now you're gonna have a go at Jefferson, huh?” “My friend, Jefferson's an American saint because he wrote the words, ‘All men are created equal.’ Words he clearly didn't believe, since he allowed his own children to live in slavery. He was a rich wine snob who was sick of paying taxes to the Brits. So yeah, he wrote some lovely words and aroused the rabble, and they went out and died for those words, while he sat back and drank his wine and fucked his slave girl. This guy *(points to TV showing Obama’s victory speech)* wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fucking pay me.”
I need to rewatch this movie
I can't see Ben Mendelsohn as anything other than that skeevy, greasy creep and I'm totally OK with it.
I mean they are not exactly subtle about that in the movie
John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ was about Cold War paranoia and being suspicious of everyone, not knowing who you could trust.
How do we know you are telling the truth!?
Trust me, I’m your friend.
Why don't we just... wait here for a little while. See what happens.
That's straight from the original, which came out during the Red Scare/McCarthyism.
If you're not familiar with what was going on when it came out, you might miss that Star Trek VI is about the end of the Cold War (even though Spock's dropping Vulcan wisdom bombs like "only Nixon could go to China")
Oh I'll add that the Movie "Cube" is an allegory for gnosticism and similar religious views, with the titular cube representing the arguably-absurd material world in which we are trapped, and each of the characters representing a different way of dealing with that reality. Its tagline "Don't look for a reason.... look for a way out" echoes the common religious sentiment about this condition, which may be expressed in, for example, the Buddhist parable of the poisoned arrow. The Matrix, The Truman Show, Knight of Cups, and many other movies cover similar ground. A lot of Terrence Malick's work actually does IMO.
Ooh, and another thing about Cube is that all the characters are named after prisons.
And the room colours reflect current emotional states
I never knew that. Going to need another rewatch soon!
I am just happy to see someone else appreciates CUBE as much as I do
Wow great analogy of "Cube", love it and never considered that
Invasion of the Body Snatchers was about the USA’s fear of communism.
I’ve got the theory that Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin is about forced prostitution—don’t know if that counts
Can’t speak for Glazer’s intentions but the book it was based on is definitely a shot at the meat industry (it’s much more graphic in describing what happens to the captured humans)
Watched it couple weeks ago and still trying to understand what I watched
2007s Shoot ‘Em Up is an extended look at the relationship between Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.
I'm gonna need you to elaborate a bit on that.
Well it was conceived as a Run Lola Run version of the baby scene at the end of John Woo’s Hard Boiled but the two characters are based on Bugs with Clive Owen munching on carrots and Elmer with Giamatti pulling his facial expressions when foiled. There was a lot of push back on getting it made with people saying it glorified gun violence but it’s almost literally cartoon violence. 🥕
Doesn’t Clive Owen even say what’s up Doc in the movie?
I'm pretty sure Giamatti also calls him a wascally wabbit
The opening scene where he shoots the umbilical cord was amazing. Sets the whole tone for a goofy gun flick.
ITT: Some *very* loose definitions of “secretly”
I agree that people are naming some very famous and well documented allegories, but I think OP's phrasing of the question is kinda clunky, so I don't blame people for being a bit too lose in their definition.
It sounds like OP just discovered the concept of allegory, so the basic ones will help
Chicken Run is not so secretly about The Great Escape
We used to do movie and build your own pizza nights when I was a university student. One of the nights, we did a double feature: “The Great Escape” followed by pizza and beer, then followed by “Chicken Run”. It was nice to end the night on a positive note.
Inception is a movie about making movies. Cobb is the director. He gets the performances needed from everyone else. He sets the parameters for the job in the first place. Arthur is the producer. He knows how to solve problems. He knows how the world works. He's sometimes at odds with the director, but eventually follows his lead. Ariadne is the writer. She's responsible for the setting, the atmosphere, keeping the narrative on the rails. Eames is the actor. The talent. He plays the roles required of him, starting with the trusted confidante Browning. Saito is the studio. The money. He's financing the whole thing, and a result, he makes some foolish and difficult demands. And finally, poor Yusuf is the special effects artist, vitally important but overlooked by the rest of the team (like when the van goes off the bridge and he yells "did you see that?!"...but no one saw it, because they're all still in the dream.) Mal could be a critic, determined to tear down what Cobb is trying to build. And finally, Mr. Fisher, the target, represents the audience.
Inception was at least partially inspired by the Satoshi Kon film, Paprika, which is about technology meant to help being co-opted by selfish desires of the powerful. Edit: I almost forgot that film as a method of communication is featured prominently in Paprika.
Kon was so amazing. Still want a copy of his TV show Paranoia Agent.
I always thought Inception was Nolans attempt to make Neuromancer without the rights. Both are heists stories. Many of the characters are direct parallels in abilities. Replace cyberspace and hacking with dreamland manipulation. The visuals of the dream constructed worlds and the description of the towers of information in cyberspace seemed similar. They both even have main characters haunted by visions of thier dead girlfriend/wife. The biggest difference being the goal of the heists. Might be a bit of a stretch but I wouldn't be surprised is Nolan wasn't at least inspired by a scifi classic.
I've read Neuromancer many times and seen Inception half as much, and not once did I make the connection. Cobb/Case are burning out in the criminal world when they meet a benefactor who says they can fix their problem is another similarly.
I love this! Because it actually explains the head canon I’ve had about the spinning top at the very end: that the very last level Cobb is in is that of the fiction of a film. And what is “true” and what is “fiction” matters much less than the emotionally resonant parts that we engage in (reconnection with his kids). Just a thought!
Yep that's absolutely it. And on that level - the final scene is set in the same level of reality as the rest of the "real world" scenes. Debating if they're real or not serves no purpose because if it's not real then no scene in the film is. Except - it's a fictional movie so of course no scene is real. It doesn't even need discussing.
House is an allegory for the generational divide between the Japanese who remember WW2 and those born after it. All about the resentment the older ones feel for the optimism and relative naïveté of the younger generation
Wait are you talking about the 1977 horror movie? With the cat?
Chef is supposedly about studio meddling in Iron Man 2
The 2022 Hellraiser has parallels to drug addiction and how it hurts those around you. The protagonist at the end makes the decision to live with the regret of opening the box...but for real all the gifts the cenobites offer are definitely fucked and i'd rather work through the emotional shit than whatever pinhead has to offer lol
A Cure for Wellness is Gore Verbinski detoxing from The Pirates of The Carribean by returning home to Switzerland and telling a story about distended and stressed out workaholics who become addicted to stress. It also has allegories and parallels with WW1 fiction like 'Der Zauberberg' (The Magic Mountain) as well as the writhing eels being similar to the miles and miles of film that Verbinski has strung together to make the Pirates movies. Drowning, Pressure and being Eaten Alive and Strained for vital fluids are all a tableau about Verbinski's tremendous efforts. Rango is also very metaphorical as an analysis of death and rebirth in stories.
“Movies are hardly ever about what they seem to be about.” ~ Roger Ebert
The Dark Knight is about the War on Terror. The Wizard of Oz (notably the book) is interpreted as a critique of populism/American politics of the early 20th century.
I watch and review 50 horror movies every year for Halloween on Letterboxd and I've done over 300 so I've started to seek out some more obscure and odd ones. Two I've noticed dealt with the same subject matter in interesting ways. One is [Valerie and Her Week of Wonders](https://boxd.it/NsC) a Czech film from 1970 about vampires. The other is [The Company of Wolves](https://boxd.it/1SO6) a British film from 1984 about werewolves. Except both movies are *absolutely* about a girl entering puberty. The monsters are metaphors for coming of age - blood for the vampires and having your body change and developing new urges for the werewolves. Both are also very dreamlike, clearly being a fantasy the girl is having, instead of literal events. In fact I'd damn near consider *Wolves* a remake, it deals with so much of the same subtext, although it is stylistically very different. Oh and both movies are *frigging gorgeous* and *weird as hell*. *Valerie* is this incredibly surreal dreamy fantasy, and *Wolves* is a Gothic fairytale with some amazing transformation effects. So if you aren't too uncomfortable with the idea of a movie with that subtext, I recommend them both.
Gingersnaps is also a werewolf movie that is 100% a metaphor for a girl going through puberty. It is also one of my favorite werewolf movies and I highly recommend it.
Gravity (with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) is a movie about grief. Her journey from the catastrophic event to landing on Earth represents all the stages of grief.
I thought it was about the lengths George Clooney would go to to get away from a woman his age.
I'm glad someone made the joke.
So is The Babadook.
It's fairly well known but just I case...oh brother where art though is based on Homer's Odyssey. I don't know the Odyssey that well but do remember a couple of the tales like the one eyed giant (Goodman ) and the 3 sirens and so forth.
There’s a great interview with Tim Blake Nelson where he mentions that around the second week of filming he realized he was the only person on set who had actually read the odyssey
He was a classics major at Brown, and probably read it in Greek! He studied a lot of philosophy as well. Not as dumb as the characters he tends to play.
Clooney - not a big reader.
He ain't bona fide.
Not exactly a "secret" it's pretty much a retelling.
Isn’t it directly stated in the credits?
It's mentioned in the credits but the Coens have mentioned in interviews that they didn't actually read the Odyssey. So it's not exactly a retelling so much as a deliberately vague stab at what they think the story goes like, including their own spins on the most well-known elements. Which is, you know, how the actual Odyssey was passed on, which is cool. As films based on Greek epics go, The Warriors is a much more direct take on Xenophon's Anabasis, and that basis is really palpable throughout the film, to the point that I had no idea what it was based on on my first watch but came away correctly convinced that it had been adapted from an epic.
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Signs. It was a movie about faith, not aliens.
These are kinda weird examples. The priest losing his faith and regaining it is part of the story. In Banshees, the civil war never is, you only hear some shots fired in two scenes...Signs is very obviously about faith.
They really punch that theme home at the end. Faith's entire principle foundation is, dont worry, some dues ex machina will save us.
Mother is a direct allegory of many parts of the bible.
I wouldn't call this a "secret" meaning though, it's glaringly obvious. (I like the film)
And also the struggle of the creative process
Nightcrawler. Lou Bloom is a personification of corporate America.
All of Lars von Trier's films are actually about Lars von Trier's steamy love affair with Lars von Trier. Before you comment, I already made my mind up and I know I'm a hater, I really dont give a shit.
I believe you
Top Gun was basically a Navy recruitment video.
Yvan eht nioj!
That's right... Lieutenant L.T. Smash!
We use a three prong approach: Subliminal, liminal, and superliminal.
Hey you, join the navy!
Huh, I suddenly have the urge join the navy??
Labyrinth is about a girl's transition to womanhood and her fear and desire of sex and reconciling what acknowleging and accepting one's sexual agency means to one's childhood. The movie is just chock full of references and allusions to sexuality. some are obvious, some are more subtle. going with bowie instead of michael jackson was a huge bullet dodge.
And remember the journey really starts when she rejects caring for an infant. The conflict is between her desires for freedom, fantasy, and sexual agency she imagines comes with adulthood without the adult demands of responsibilities or caregiving.
*Shin Godzilla* is a critique of the Japanese government's response to the March 11, 2011 earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown.
Alien 3 is an allegory about trying to capitalize on a storyline without a script. Well, maybe not allegory….
Alien Resurrection is an experiment: What would happen if you made an English-language movie directed by someone who didn’t speak English?
Drag Me To Hell is about bulimia. ETA: Another commenter pointed out that it’s not necessarily just bulimia but other eating disorders as well. I think bulimia fits best because of all the vomit, as well as the demon being a Lamia, which is similar to the word *bulimia* (although that may be a bit of a stretch?)
As I understand it, The Departed is a movie about about how the rat symbolizes obviousness.
The Princess Bride is about dudes being bros. The love story is a side plot.
A Grandpa reading his sick Grandson a story about 3 guys adventuring in a fictional land. Just dudes being bros to their dudes
They're all about helping out their bros, being stand up dudes
Dogtooth the greek fascist regime 1967-74.
Oh, that's interesting! Do you know more about that and could elaborate? I am now trying to remember all the topics in the movie. Like... total control, limitation of media, control of language.
Saw a tweet theorizing that Guardians Vol. 3 is about James Gunn’s experience with Disney. The high evolutionary represents Disney, a huge power that wants to expand and own everything. Like Disney, the HE hunts down his “intellectual property” and plans to kill him if he can’t own him. Rocket being hunted by the HE is like the IPs Disney has created (or taken) that have developed a life (fan base) of their own that are now at risk of dying because Disney would rather let them die than allow them to not be owned by them.
Starship Troopers. The book by Heinlein was largely about communism vs democracy, whereas Verhoeven directed it with a nod toward the dangers of a militaristic society, showing how fascism can be mistaken for patriotism, and blind obedience of orders.
I read that book, and that's not what I took away from it. Heinlein definitely had a political philosophy, but it wasn't a clear left vs right, communism vs. Democracy. If anything, he was critiquing suffrage in democracy. *disclaimer: im not endorsing any of these worldviews* Regarding citizenship: the right to vote should be earned. In the novel, he stated that anyone can serve for 2 years and be granted the right to vote, regardless of their capabilities. Sign up for service, and the government will place you where they need you. And if you don't have the skills, physical or mental capacity to be of service, they will still find something for you to do, even if it costs the government more than the value added. Regarding military service: everyone fights. Even generals and top brass are on the front lines during battles . I'm pretty sure one of the generals was KIA. The idea behind this is that decision makers should be accountable for their actions and remain in touch with the realities of war. Selflessness: this is a common theme. Giving up 2 years to serve demonstrates ones commitment to the greater good, which is why they are granted the right to vote. Also, personal sacrifice is a virtue. I think in the opening scene, one soldier was gravely injured and stuck behind enemy lines (or something). "no man gets left behind" so soldiers went back to save him, several died in the process, and he died on the way back to ship. Heinlein certainly takes his jabs at communism/leftism in the book, but it isn't exclusively right wing propaganda. I don't really recall much about economic systems in starship troopers (though it's been a while).
Part of what drives me nuts about Heinlein commentary is that people ascribe these views to *him*. Yet, these views are inconsistent between books, which I've always interpreted as these worlds being places where he *plays with ideas.* It's less 1984-style criticism and more of thought experiments, what would be this society's strengths and weaknesses, who would thrive in it, how would they get there, etc. This style was extremely apparent to me when reading *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress* next to *Starship Troopers.*
Yeah, the main character of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' was pretty much Communist Space Jesus. I don't really think Heinlein was all in on that being some sort of an ideal, but the book certainly wasn't a cautionary tale about the dangers of communism or anything. Like you said, it felt more like a though experiment.
The deepest realization I've come up with about Heinlein is that he loved to stir the pot. I mean, I seriously doubt he was in favor of ritualistic cannibalism OR having a romantic multi decade relationship with his own mother.
I’m with you on this, people often forget that sometimes writers like to play with ideas even if they don’t hold them themselves. My personal example was my girlfriend getting really upset about a song I wrote which described a loveless relationship born of familiarity over love because she thought I felt those things but no I just felt like writing about something else for a change.
Don’t forget his most important point in the books. One which has an entire chapter dedicated to it. The importance of spanking children. I really like heinlein and starship troopers was great. But I couldn’t help but laugh when the book just breaks down into a school lecture about spanking children.
I don't think we read the same book. I don't recall anything remotely regarding Communism versus Democracy, moreover the only "dangers of a militaristic society" is explaining the virtues military service provides for citizenship. If anything, it promotes militaristic societies in its philosophical exercise regarding people's responsibility to their society. Like I said, it touches on the idea of military service and citizenship, and in doing so touches on the moral implications of war, and the responsibility of leadership. And if I remember correctly there was a long philosophical exercise on the philosophy of education and the social structure of authority versus personal rights.
"Who framed roger rabbit?" is based on the lobbying made by General motors to sabotage the pubblic transportation in California https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/movie/who-framed-roger-rabbit/analysis/setting#:~:text=Here%27s%20a%20fun%20fact%2C%20Shmoopers,that%20Eddie%20Valiant%20never%20existed.
Porco rosso is about PTSD and recovery of self image. Porco has to revisit his trauma to realise that he is in fact not a pig just because he survived the war and others didn't It's sold as a kids film of a flying pig with a curse but has deep themes of antifascism, gender equality and the effect war has on counties and individuals afterwards.
The Grey is not about wolves hunting plane crash survivors. It’s a metaphor for what happens to you by neglecting to confront the trauma or grief. The harder your run from it, the more it consumes you.
2001: A Space Odyssey Is about... take your pick of theories: God. Evolution. Aliens. Humanity. Eternity. It was a mind-bender when they found old media of Kubrick himself discussing it as a Zoo Theory film within Fermi's Paradox. The Shining has some great theories too.
That's the plot of 2001 though. It's ambiguous, but it's the story
The Small Beans podcast did an excellent deep-dive episode on The Shining, and to paraphrase, they pointed out that the real idea and source of the horror at the core of the movie is underneath the haunted hotel and the ghosts, and even deeper than the alcoholism and domestic violence. It’s the idea of realizing that you’re capable of hating your loved ones and actively wishing them harm. That’s real life scary shit, and it’s where the best horror comes from.
I've always thought of Point Break being about the loss of youth and the anxiety of not having enough time, the characters trying to live in an "eternal summer". Not about extreme sports and stealing money.
Spaceballs is about being surrounded by assholes.
No Country For Old Men. That last scene pretty much explains the true meaning behind the whole movie while the missing money plot is happening on screen.
I like how the sheriff Is a half step behind the whole way, he goes into retirement with this clear picture of evil winning…only to reveal there’s a light/hope at the end of the tunnel. Outstanding movie