The Invasion (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427392/



A virulent virus from outer space is threatening our very existence. Infected humans transform into callous and vicious robotic beings seemingly having the sole intention of working to infect the remaining uninfected humans. Quite the original movie theme, huh? Not....

Predictive programming elements:

1. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) is crucial in the attempt to alleviate the alien viral epidemic and is in no time engaged in trying to find an anti-viral cure in the form of inoculations, the no-questions-asked remedy in the movie. Therefore, it's quite the unabashed white-wash advertisement campaign for vaccines, which is meant to help making the public feel more comfortable towards taking vaccines should the 'occasion' arise to do so.
   
   At the end of the movie, vaccines are widely administered to, of course, successfully counteract and squelch the vicious and pernicious alien viral epidemic. Quite cannily the word vaccines is verbally pronounced while the word solutions appears written on the screen. Therefore by wedding the two concepts in the eye of the viewer, the public is once again lured into believing the benign and life-saving qualities vaccines bring with them if applied.
   
2. In the movie it is quite soon discovered that the infected can be tricked into refraining assaulting those who remain uninfected if the latter abstain from showing emotion (towards the infected). By shutting themselves off from emotions, including all positive ones - such as compassion, towards the infected this will help widen the gap between the diseased and the healthy in the public's eye.
   
3. All the work in trying to find a cure to the viral infection is being carried out at Fort Dietrich. This shameless act of propaganda may help to offset the effect of any bad allegations that this military laboratory has received in the mind of the public in that it is actually involved in creating viruses - such as the AIDS virus. Another PR attempt to white-wash the extent of a bad reputation in the public's eye.
   
4. In the movie the police turn out to be just as receptive for infection as the other normal civilian groups. The military however, the movie likes us to believe, seems to be quite impervious to infection. Therefore, should a viral crisis be imposed on society the police should be trusted much less so than the military. This scenario may help to familiarize the public with a martial law situation in which the military has usurped the role of the police and entice them to accept this as being desirable.
   
5. The movie ends with the main character - Nicole Kidman, recalling the thought-provoking words somebody else spoke to her earlier in the movie:
   "In the right situation we're all capable of the most terrible crimes. Imagine a world where this was not so, where every crisis did not result in a new atrocity, where every newspaper is not full of war and violence. This is to imagine a world where human beings cease to be human."
   This deliberate act of recollection is remarkable and is therefore likely to serve a purpose. I conjecture that it may serve to subtly acquaint the public with the idea that ordinary humans are to blame for all the bloodshed in the world and that the only way to put an end to it is to stop us being human, i.e. to force us to accept modifications that indeed take away those qualities which make us human (brain-chip).
   

28 Weeks Later (2007)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/



Gory context of the movie:
Society has plunged into a horrendous crisis where a part of the population has been transformed into raving mad creatures upon having been infected by some horrible transmuting virus (read: biological weapon). The hostile creatures ravage across the land trying to infect, by means of biting or vomiting, all the uninfected humans who come in their way.

Because of the severity of the national emergency situation, the country (UK) has transformed itself into a full blown police state, in which the military has totally usurped the task of the police and the rights of the people seem to have been totally neutralized.


Thematic PP elements:

1. Surveillance cameras everywhere (at least in downtown areas), with military snipers doing the extra bit of surveillance through their rifle scopes. This programs the public to accept and get used to all the cameras snooping all over the place as well as the presence of military walking about everywhere and interfering with everyone. The sniper surveillance part seems to serve to instill some extra fear into the public.
   
2. There's a mention of a presence of refugee camps and so-called "containment areas" (quarantine areas). This programs the public to get used to being herded as cattle and to accept living in camps or confined emergency spaces overseen by the military.
   
3. Streets are deserted, shops abandoned, there's lots of garbage, and a blatant lack of hygiene and thus the city is depicted as being in a general dystopian mess. Images of chaos and discord such as these, seem to instill fear into the public in case a viral epidemic should break out. More programming of futuristic dormant terror on the plates of the public.
   

Suggested PP elements:

1. Because of their utter indiscriminate, remorseless and extreme hostility, people sick by viral infection should not only be shunned literally like the plague but also be destroyed where ever and whenever possible. This programs the public, on the basis of fear, to prepare to part from family and loved ones once they get infected and sick. In addition, the communicated severity of the situation helps to generate acute antipathy of the uninfected towards the infected and sick.
   
2. Those people infected but who haven't actually become sick should be shunned as well, since they may make one sick through biting or spewing blood-vomit or even simply by kissing. This programs the viewer to prepare to part from friends and loved ones who are infected but who haven't manifested the accompanying disease (yet).
   
3. Because the military has difficulty in distinguishing between 'friendlies' (uninfected) and 'targets' (infected), just to be on the 'safe side', the military command decides to open fire on both parties. The public will thus be programmed to keep a distance from the infected even more so lest being confused for a 'target' by trigger happy military marksmen.
   
4. I'm less sure about the next one, but here we go - for completeness' sake. The life in the inner city gets totally obliterated by incendiary bombs. This may instill fear into the part of the public living in crowded cities (at least, downtown) during times of crises and emergencies.
   

Needless to say, the conclusion is that this is a particularly antipathetic movie towards those of us who may get infected by viral agents in the future.