“Videodrome” is an 80′s science fiction horror film that contains some gore, James Woods and Betamax videotapes. Above all, the movie communicates a strong message on the perversity of mass media, its dangers to the human psyche and how it is used to manipulate the masses. This article will look at the meaning of the movie “Videodrome” and how it reveals the shadier aspects of mass media.
Warning: This article contains spoilers and disturbing subject matters.
Videodrome is a dark Canadian movie about a sleazy CEO of a small cable TV station and his discovery of a broadcast signal featuring live torture and murder. As fascination turns into obsession, then into physical illness, the movie symbolically describes, in a very extreme and graphic way, the impact of mass media perversity on the human psyche, as well as the dark forces behind it.
The movie’s odd mix of gore, taboo subject matters and social commentary make it an original, but disturbing film to watch. I am glad I did not watch the movie as a child because I’d probably have gotten nightmares for days. Thirty years later, though Videodrome‘s horror special effects appear quite corny and laughable, one thing is for sure: Its message hasn’t aged a bit. In fact, the metaphorical meaning behind the twisted scenes in the movie is as real, relevant and shocking as it ever was, which probably explains why it became somewhat of a cult classic.
Videodrome was produced in 1983 but one can argue that it was decades ahead of its time. It successfully predicted the growing control of mass media by shady forces, the coming of reality television and the propagation, through various mediums such as the Internet, of all kinds of extreme underground films.
While many perceive the movie as a criticism of the effect of mass media, some claim that it is nothing less than a manifesto from the elite to reveal the way it functions.
“This writer submits that part of the ongoing “Revelation of the Method”, the cryptocracy recently issued a kind of Rosicrucian manifesto, revealing precisely what television is doing to us and what the future of the video imperium they are planning for us will be like. The name of this manifesto is Videodrome, directed by the Canadian David Cronberg whose other works include two films about psychic assassins, Scanners which features the Kennedy-sigil exploding head and the Dead Zone”.
- Michael A. Hoffman, Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare
Let’s look at the movie’s plot and how it relates in the context of today.
Discovering the Videodrome
Max Renn is the president of CIVIC-TV, one of those sleazy television stations that specialize in low-grade programming such as soft “adult” shows and low grade violent movies. He is convinced that the public is hungry for more extreme TV experiences and that his network must bring this to its viewers.
During a TV interview, Max Renn argues that TV acts as a catharsis, meaning that it is a healthy outlet for our violent and sexual needs. He soon discovers first hand that his theory is completely false.
Renn is actively looking for something new and exciting to propose to his viewers. To do so, he has a secret contact: A TV pirate named Harlan who can intercept satellite signals from across the world. The pirate shows him a television show that will change his life.
Harlan shows Renn a television signal broadcasting nothing but ultra-realistic torture, abuse and murder performed by masked individuals. Renn believes that it is all staged and that it is exactly the kind of programming his network needs.
Renn discovers later in the movie that nothing in Videodrome is staged and that it is, in fact, snuff TV, which is real live footage of violent acts.
In the “real world”, the concept of snuff videos is taboo and controversial. However, some researchers have exposed the existence of underground networks distributing snuff videos in elite organizations. Everything from blood rituals to abuse involving mind-controlled slaves and minors is distributed and consumed by high-placed circles operating above the law. Also, high-profile crimes that bear a ritualistic aspect are sometimes recorded and sold at high price.
“Some of the Son of Sam murders were videotaped by cult-members and copies command high prices in cash, drugs and other commodities on the underground snuff-film circuit.”
- Michael A. Hoffman, Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare
The masses are introduced and desensitized to the occult elite’s taste for the violent and perverse through mass media.
“None of this ought to be too shocking to any American TV watcher since a version of this process can be seen in those glimpses of actual murders and other horrors we are shown on broadcast TV, on the “news” and in “specials”, right in the “Videodrome”. Simulated snuff-videos are already available at many of our cheery neighbourhood video-rental stores. Cable and network television broadcast the highest grade of brutalizing voyeurism.”
- Ibid.
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.
In the movie, Nicki, the woman Max is dating, gets sexually aroused by the violence in Videodrome. Completely submitting to the call of their lowest impulses, the couple gets “busy” while watching some guy getting tortured. While blood and lust are primal instincts that are meant to insure survival, we see here that they’ve been twisted and distorted by mass media to manipulate weaker minds.
Watching Videodrome quickly produces negative effects on Renn. His interest for the show quickly turns into an obsession. The tape he uses for entertainment soon begins to consume him.
Max’s obsession for Videodrome causes a blurring between reality and fiction. Here, TV takes life and literally calls him.
Max begins to experience intense hallucinations. He doesn’t see a difference between television and reality. He soon realizes that Videodrome is not just “entertainment”.
http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-movie-videodrome-and-the-horror-of-mass-media/