Shoot em Up (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465602/



Another shameless example of a high octane action movie that absolutely glorifies the gun. Guns blazing and bullet whizzing by everywhere and all the time...


Predictive programming elements:

1. The main character, sarcastically referred to as "Mr Hero" (Clive Owen) by his nemesis, succeeds to magically evade all the many bullets shot at him by the hordes of 'bad guys', while successfully 'decommissioning' most of them by his routinely immaculate returning fire. The obvious mantra being: the bad guys lose and get whacked while the good guys survive and win. The image of the tormented but sympathetic good guy fused with an image of invincibility is once again brutishly forced on the probably young and gullible viewing public, thus serving as potential recruitment material for the armed "good guy" forces.
   
2. All throughout the movie, Mr Hero sturdily maintains a cool and emotionless head (and face). It's too bad though that the viewing public may one day get a chance to mimic what they've seen in this, and so many other, brainless action movies and adopt this borderline psychopathic behavior not only in the line of fire - where given the circumstances it's more or less useful, but also in everyday life - where it's not so useful.
   
3. At more occasions than one, images of violence and sex are happily wedded together. By doing so the perception of violence gets an extra dimension of excitement and it literally simply stands to become sexy. Thus the attractiveness of violence is boosted by having it blend in with sexual imagery. This all too often applied media technique of psychological driving works wonders for army recruitment purposes but unfortunately doesn't exactly bode well for the integrity of a stable and serene society.
   
4. In the last batch of scenes, Mr Hero magically erects and commands several remote controlled shooting contraptions which enable him to take out his goon assailants with the minimum of effort and risk to own bodily harm. I'd venture to say that this scenario is to familiarize the target audience, being young potential military recruits, with remote controlled warfare, in which jeopardy to the safety of the shooters is significantly reduced while making the act of killing much easier and more anonymous to do. In other words, it no longer takes blatant psychopaths to do the killing. By the same token, I'm quite convinced that the video game industry serves the same purpose.
   

Children of Men (2006)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206634/



Thematic and obvious PP elements:

1. No children are able to be born through all pervasive human infertility.
   
2. Fugitives are all over the place, as are civilian arrestees.
   
3. A full fledged police state has been installed, with the 'posse commitatus' rule nullified (the military is now used as police force).
   
4. Flash mob activity and terrorism abounds. It is mentioned that terroristic attacks are perpetrated by the government, this will promote fear for the government.
   
5. Society has seriously degenerated: living standards have gone down the drain (poverty is commonplace), schools are empty and deserted (at least in the rural area), overpopulation and immigration abounds, presence of military overseen refugee camps, chaotic and discordant populations.
   
6. Militant Islam is openly professed in Britain. This theatrical given helps to incite fear for and hostility towards Islam by the public.
   

Subtle and less obvious PP elements:

1. Elderly people are mostly senile and robbed of dignity, autonomy and are quite unlike being custodians of wisdom; a status which should be more or less the norm at the end of a long life of accumulation of experience.
   
2. Subtle hints of medicine use being commonplace (imagery of pill strips are flashed by).
   
3. Hiding behind the unarmed civil population has zero effectiveness for 'terrorists' since both parties are shot to pieces by 'counter-terrorism' armed forces. This helps to stimulate the widening of the trust gap between hostile resistive civil groups and passive compliant civil groups.