Once you see the line-up of films, you might see where this is going. I have seen much speculation about people being a bit off, or different after recent events. And it made me think of a number of films that fit the bill.
Invasion of the body snatchers (1955 and 1978) – I haven’t seen either but the plot sounds great and I wished I had. It’s as it sounds, but how they snatch you is the interesting part. The human is put to sleep, and a replica of them grows in a pod nearby. Once the pod is fully formed, the human turns to dust and the replica is now in its place. Human looking, but void of emotions.
V (original series 1983) – only seen a few episodes of this, but it was enough. They look like us, round up our doctors and scientists who speak like us, then take us over.
Dark City (1998) – this one pops up a lot because it’s got it all. But for this theme it’s the reveal to the confused main character about what they are. The picture and quote are from this film. “We use your dead as vessels”.
They Live (1988) – A classic and of course would be in this list. Human looking beings infiltrating society and hiding a nefarious plan.
Village of the Damned (1960) – Same theme, but with children, so extra creepy.
Alien (1978) – Only because there is a time period after exposure with the characters act like normal humans. Making the difference undetected to their fellow normal humans. That seems to be the important bit in all these films, that we just can’t tell. Or if we can, we don’t know why.
The Thing (1982) – This one a shape-shifter and appearing just like the person you know. This film I suspect terrified more people than I care to imagine.
Again, there are countless others that will be about possession, infection, abduction, being altered in some way by some alternative species. So that you look like you, but you aren’t you. And infiltrating, conquering/massacring and controlling humanity seems to be running theme in all of them. Is it because it’s just an idea? A natural fear we collectively have? Or is it because deep down we know something isn’t quite right?
No, not the film. I have very little to say about that other than it is a few hours I won’t ever get back. This post is about a film though, and one of my wild speculations, where no doubt I fall into the conspiracy trap of seeing what they want me to see, or linking together what they want me to.
So be it.
I was not familiar with the Greek Alphabet, but upon seeing it the other day with someone referencing how we skipped a certain letter in it when naming our new scarient, I saw the end letter and jumped to a conclusion. Obviously. The final letter is Omega.
Now, I have watched a great number of virus-related movies and given them countless hours of thought, both from the point of the pathogen and storyline. I write fiction and before this happened wrote and published a book about a new virus being discovered and changing the world. It was from my fears of those films happening I tried to learn all I could about them and ideas behind them. So I have been watching closely throughout all of this.
The point of this post it to highlight one of those films. Omega Man. You may know it by it’s remake name of I Am Legend. About a virus raging out of control, and the cure causes unforeseen mutations and causes more devastation than the original illness. Hmmm, sounds a bit familiar perhaps. Well, its predecessor (of which there are actually two), seemed to focus more on a split in society, lots of losses, and then are left with a bitter group called ‘The Family’ who blame the uninfected. Again, sounds familiar. They called this film Omega Man, renaming from the first one ‘Last Man on Earth’, makes sense why they have used the last letter of an alphabet if that is the overall image they want to convey. The end of something.
It’s hard to know where they are really going with it, all we can do I guess is try and cover all bases and follow each thought to see if it might be needed or relevant. We have a very convoluted shifting reality upon us, and it is being steered towards what seems like an ever-growing madness. We need to bring back reason and logic, before they too are just whispers of what once was…
It hasn’t escaped many people that what is happening today in society parallels many a story line or movie that has come out in the last four or five decades. When is it that art stops imitating life and life takes over the imitation? And when in that does it then become reality and stop being imitation at all?
You may or may not be familiar with these films, but they have popped back into memory into the last year and a half as relevant. I’m not sure how well this blog piece will turn out, as it’s not a review of these films, but rather an observation of them and what I took from them.
V for Vendetta – (2005) It seemed obvious to me that this was a pretext to a possible shift in society, personally though I had no idea it would be so very close to the truth. Apart from someone coming to save the day, those parts in films I worked out long ago were to make you sit back and wait for a hero, a saviour. So it didn’t have to be you. That’s where it is just fiction I am afraid. But you have to admit if you have watched it, there are starkly obvious warning signs that once at the whim of madness and personal agendas, sense and reason are dismissed and it takes a dark turn.
They Live – (1988) Oddly this film passed me by for many a decade until a few years ago. I thought it was great (not just for the rather long fight scene which was awesome), but by how revealing and again, obvious it was. I grew up knowing there was manipulation everywhere, marketing tactics and brainwashing techniques, but I learnt this from reading and seeing. And slightly of having the feeling that some ‘people’ really weren’t like me, at all. So that movie was a instant win for me, and seems many others noticed it too.
Enemy of The State – (1998) A look at how easy it is through means of monitoring and surveillance, to control, destroy or eliminate someone. And we are 20 years on from that film now, and we know they must have had various tech capabilities like that for a while before we ever get to see the mock version.
The Island – (2005) This is not a comfortable watch really. It’s one of my favourites, but the premise had me realising what we were really viewed as, and my fears of underground cities being populated by people who didn’t know they were captive, became visually represented in that movie. There will be a follow up blog to this one which will reference this movie again, and another on the list, and it is a true horror. And one talked about not in a movie, but in real life, by people in charge decades ago now.
Logans Run – (1976) Another one that passed by but was watched a few years ago. A controlled society where each person is given an expiry date of 30 years old, no questions, no good reasoning, but lots of effort put into maintaining the charade. Need I say more, I got the point of it very quickly.
X-Files Movie – (1998) The virus one. Strange discovery, a black liquid that is actually a virus and can manipulate its host. Sounds rather like graphene oxide now we know more about that, and the idea of an alien race either already being amongst us, or trying to assimilate us keeps popping up as a theme over and over. Make your own mind up on that, the jury is still out for me.
Book of Eli – (2010) A stark and bleak look at where we could easily be in only a generation. But the interesting things about that film, and a few others, is the non-explanation of what actually happened to cause everything to just stop or change. An event, a bright light, a catastrophe, and then the forthcoming collapse of society, but all very vague about what led to it, or a very quick montage, to make you think it happens overnight.
The Matrix – (1999) We all knew this would on the list, surely. And will be on the other post too, but for this one it’s going to be the concept which many related to. Of being trapped in the construct of society which is dictated by rules and systems. Some can and easily do navigate those systems being aware of them and not, and some people don’t or can’t. But it also tried to generalise reality and the human experience as something you can quantify and replicate. My experience has been that everyone appears to be living in their own version of reality first, and then we are all taking part in a second shared version of reality. Could be the second one is the matrix, but the first one is down to each person, dual reality.
Dark City – (1998) Quite out there for an idea, but a good one. Having your mind controlled and changed depending on what they want to study, having your environment constantly altered and sleep controlled. There is much more to it behind that though, which goes with the idea that we are not from where we have ended up. That we are searching for ourselves, well some of us are. The start of the film has him ‘waking up’, from the illusion, and for the longest time, despite all being part of it, others cannot see it.
Tank Girl – (1995) A simple yet effective film. It’s the future (set in only 2033) – and there is no water and what there is, is being controlled, by one corporation. Therefore, they control the people. It’s really that simple.
The Truman Show – (1998) Someone’s life moulded and controlled from birth. Made out to be a happy entertaining affair, that it’s ok to do that as long as millions are entertained and distracted from living their lives too. So many lives wasted. It’s a sad film to me. And I am part of that sadness for the number of times I watched it and wasted my own while doing it. I learnt of a study they did decades ago – where they separated triplets and had them adopted into different families so they could study nature versus nurture. They kept visiting each of them throughout their lives, keeping it a secret they had siblings. We know they do these things, but that doesn’t mean we have to agree with them or accept them as right. Here is a bit more info on that if interested – Three Identical Strangers.
Soylent Green (1973) – I haven’t actually seen this film, and only heard of it last year. Look it up, I get the feeling it should be on this list.
There are many others with a virus storyline, or of societal control and we know these are not new concepts at all. But what is new is to see them roll out into reality, in real time. Not condensed into an hour and a half, with no pause button, no off switch or end in sight. When I watched films and thought of the idea, I had not considered they would all happen at once, overlayed, so that elements of each would appear. Now I feel foolish to have not considered it, it seems so obvious. It’s a long-drawn-out odd state of affairs, and it’s anyone’s guess which road it will go down from here.
MKW Publishing 