By the time I publish this, it is pretty much old news. According to Google Trends, it has even peaked and plummeted back to earth:
However, the ‘event’ ( ON the horizon) is so overwhelmingly surreal and wonderful it is hard not to still dwell on it. I am still so in awe of Shatner’s profound reaction, that I felt it needed to be acknowledged on this blog as a matter of principal; celebrating all things Sci-Fi and Culture.
There is absolutely nothing anyone could write that will top his own words so; here is the interview footage from Bill after returning to earth from ‘space’. Or at least the universally agreed aviation bookmark – The Karman Line.
Rest assured, what was likely intended to be a throwaway PR trick for Amazon Boss Bezos’ new company ‘ Blue Origin. It is now looking set to be a cultural ( maybe even sociological) PoMo milestone thanks to Shatner’s comments. A glorious moment now set in stone for immortality . . . (despite Bezos’ cheap attempts to spray champagne like a Grand Prix winner).
His unique poetic observations was reminiscent of ‘greater things dreamt of in Heaven and Earth, than your philosophy’ (Bezos), soaring past any of the Shakespearian influenced cinematic one liners from James Tiberius Kirk over the years.
A glorious moment that can tie humanity together as Shatner insisted that ‘everyone needs to try this’ . . you could almost see the look of pain in Bezos’ face as he imagined his profits margins plummeting to earth too.
Bless Bill’s efforts to put a humanitarian glaze on what is essentially a commercial venture to privatise space travel.
( I wouldn’t normally tag a company link like this but the idea that you can ‘book’ a flight into space is surreal enough to warrant it. I noticed there were no price tags though.)
So we are all locked down ready for the Coronavirus to pass us by and we have accepted it is going to be a fair few weeks. By now, you will have probably been through the usual Sci-Fi franchises; the Terminators, the Total Recalls, the Aliens and/or Predators, the Mad Max(uses) . . .maybe even the Zombielands but there is gonna be a few weeks left yet.
Personally, I enjoy setting the mood with dystopian apocalypse films that either reflect or exaggerate the ‘end of the world vibes’ that are floating around outside somewhere. So, here are my personal Top 10 recommendations . . .
One of the first dystopian sci-fi films I ever saw growing up in that morally bankrupt era we called the 80s. The film’s message has stood the test of time. A dark, violent and gritty tale of a future society eroding from poverty that is ruled by TV. A society where civil rights mean prisoners get court-appointed theatrical agents. The entire film is a life lesson in believing authoritarian media manipulation. There are scary prophecies in how far TV entertainment can corrupt our social moral fabric. In her 2017 book; ‘No is not enough‘ Naomi Klein wrote that televised US airstrikes in Syria were described as ‘after-dinner entertainment’ at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s luxury holiday resort in Florida. (P. 57). A toned-down performance from Arnie with minimal one-liners managed not to eclipse an intelligent and thought-provoking storyline. Extra star credit with wrestler Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura. To the 3 people out there that didn’t know this already, the film was based on a book written by Stephen King under the alter ego, Richard Bachman.
Kurt Russell’s second most significant film of the 1980s and easily his most adult. Eerie and chilling digital scored soundtrack from John Carpenter helped transfer essential euphoria from the Halloween films. The back story itself is inspired enough to carry the film but it also contains a zeitgeist that simply couldn’t be re-created in the sequel set in L.A. 20 years later. The front cover artwork pretty much screams apocalypse, too.
Ok, so not technically dystopian but just an amazingly clever PoMo sci-fi futurist film. Although, you could argue that the nihilism of killer androids questioning the fabric of their own reality is kinda dystopian. Worth watching just for the late Rutger Hauer’s epic closing monologue.
Not really an apocalypse film but is it awesome and more importantly, there is a vital message about the rapidly approaching consequences of gentrification in our society. Coronavirus has already reminded us to appreciate the human spirit over adversity. It has taught some to learn to value people over profit and so will Paul Verhoeven’s classic digital age morality tale. Watch Robocop 2 [1990] if you must but please not the 2014 reboot. It solves nothing.
A fairly grim and dark post-apocalyptic road movie starring Kate Bosworth. What makes this one different is the lack of larger than life hero personalities. A banal tale of ordinary people trying to survive in a desolate barren wasteland that is a mixture of Americana and American gothic. Suitably nihilistic with no overwhelming moral stance. There is no great good vs evil narrative just survival and ordinary hope. Available on Netflix.
A charming almost cartoony 80s style low-grade zombie movie attempt ..but without zombies. Starring Catherine Mary Stewart from The Last Starfighter (if you know, you know) it brings a perspective of ordinary understated realism to the end of the world. The opening scenes have this great atmospheric Purple glow over the sky with wide-open landscape camera shots of a huge abandoned city. Almost similar to the opening scenes of The Omega Man. Nothing special but not too bad either. Currently available on Netflix I believe.
The original dystopian narrative film starring vintage Horror legend Vincent Price. It still has the bleak atmospheric feeling of abandonment that carries the viewer effortlessly through so many scenes in the film. The storyline obvious to everyone who has already seen I Am Legend but is still worth watching to see how far cinematic technology has taken us. Upon further reflection, there are still some things they do better in the simple low-tech cinema of old. Available on YouTube.
The second reboot of the quintessential dystopian apocalypse formula we all know and love. Remade only 5 years after The Last Man on Earth but with a much larger budget and Charlton Heston at the helm. A similar ending but the 1960s ethos has infected the spirit of the apocalypse. A great watch still but there is a strange multi-culturally insensitive subtext that should really be extinct in a post-apocalyptic narrative. It dates the film hideously. The scale of the opening scenes is still pretty impressive and they have obviously upped the production form the former effort.
It is the year 2020 and everyone has seen and enjoyed I AM LEGEND but I wonder how many have seen the true beauty offered in the more positive alternative ending. It makes for a far superior film. It’s sadly predictable why the studio opted for the more traditional formula that we saw in theatres. The film was based on a book and is the third cinematic adaption made, the first two #7 and #8 respectively. In these opening scenes, you can see the influence taken from Omega Man but more epic and iconic architecture is used to send the message home: The world is abandoned,
This film is possibly the most realistic dystopian film available. The basic plot deals with an exaggerated continuation of our current society if current social and political trends continue. Matt Damon’s performance is somewhat eclipsed by the hectic chaos of Sharlto Coplay seemingly given artistic free reign. A great visually jaw-dropping film with a stark warning about where post-Trump/Republican humanity is headed if it isn’t stopped soon.
Finally, if you have Netflix check out the 2019 series Daybreak – a satirical PoMo take on the classic Lord of the Flies/Hunger Games formula but from the perspective of a millennial era American high school. An interesting take and also guest-starring the original Ferris Bueller – Matthew Broderick.
Whatever it takes to keep you away from the chaos outside
So at Star Was Celebration in Chicago the teaser trailer for episode IX was released.
Already the film has typically been deconstructed frame by frame and Abrams and Disney are not giving much away just yet. You get a bit of Jedi trained Rey. You get a bit of of Lando back in the Falcon driving seat. You even get a bit of Finn & Poe, ‘the gang’ back together. BUT the real revelation comes along with the audio at the end. ..
Here are some Captain Marvels comics from the year I was born:
I have been collecting comics since my teens, which were about the early 1990s. Ironic, considering the Captain Marvel film was set at that time.
The film itself, provides a great example of how brands and consumer iconography are used to depict an era or epoch of contemporary history (i.e. the placement of the Blockbuster video store in Cap Marvel) . Brand placement are sometimes the only way to signpost that point of time in western history.
Many places in many parts of America will probably STILL have the same types of buildings and structures existing over the last 30 or so year. Aside from the odd obscure landmark, the only change we might see are recognised brands; companies or shop names or even old models of cars. The very street you live on may contain the same buildings and structures with only different shop names or wind displays. The main thing is a popular company brand can signify the passing of time in a modern location where only consumerism drives purpose and existence. Yet, in a film like Back to the Future – everything had to be changed to convince the viewer of a time period pre 1980s because the aesthetic of the 1950s ( compared to the 1980s) was significantly different than the difference between the 1980s and the year 2015. Buildings remain relatively similar and Fashion trends have probably come full circle. However, a person dressed like someone from the 1950s probably blends into downtown Los Angeles as much as Captain Marvel would in a bright space suit. This is because although history apparently repeats itself or fashion travels in circles, consumerism doesn’t actually seem to go backwards.
This is likely because western consumer culture has changed very little in the last few decades with relatively little cultural evolution. Only the progression of brands and trends. The only technological sophistication in the film was the presence of dial-up internet as a joke, to signpost the pre-wifi broadband age of the internet.
However, seeing comics like the ones above (from the year I was born) creates an interesting way of visualising my own lifetime. Even though the comics are only ever an account of a fictional story set in space. I can date my own existence and monitor by comparison the trajectory of my own life experience ( and hence my mortality) upon that era of comic book history.
I remember as a teenager in 1996, excitedly finding a cheaply priced Daredevil #26 A silver age comic from 1966, from a time, long before I was born. The comic looked so dated and old fashioned, much like how the Captain Marvel comics seem now, in the light of the millennial age. The same amount of years has passed between 1966 and what was then 1996, as the time that Captain Marvel returned to earth in the 1990s, to indicate the passing of time in the film made in 2015. The aesthetic has changed so little, it required a globally know brand from the past to ( not convince) but signpost the epoch of that era. I guess society has changed little since, the most convincing theatrical device to instigate the passing of history was the lapse in modern technological advancement, the aesthetic had changed very little.
The point is this; comics from a certain decade have an aesthetic quality that projects the relevant epoch. The style of the artwork, sometimes a renown style acts in the way that fashion does within an era. To the initiated, it can signify an era within a hobby, entirely fictional that somehow connotates the structure or zeitgeist of an era comics that represent times gone by. When Marvel or DC comic books are made into films reaching a wide mainstream commercial audience, it can flatten and stretch the relevant timing of the original events in comic-book history. This nothing new for the Batmans or SPider-Mans who have years of numerous tv franchises. The presence of Superman on the silver screen is nearly reaching a century in itself and has thus lived through and already met considerable cultural changes in the 20th century like WW2. However, with a relatively unknown character like Captain Marvel, it is quite a new thing.
It may just social reflections or sociological observation with subtle critique, hidden within the narratives of the comic. Or even something far more blatant like the example of what is called Historiographic metafiction. The storyline of one particular Spider-Man comic breaks the fourth wall and depicts the struggle in the aftermath of 9/11. (Amazing Spiderman #477). This brings the reality of New York into the comic world and breaks the fourth wall. A bit like how WW2 was brought into the Captain America film, yet despite how the film merges reality and fiction, the actual comic was created as a reaction to the war in 1941. The captain Marvel film has had to create the illusion of being set in the past and can only do this by using the now-defunct Blockbusters video store as a signposting device, in a relatively recent era where little has changed since.
Essentially, it is now only a fictional aesthetic value . in the form of a shop brand or logo that signifies the passing of time because we know that Blockbuster videos no longer exist. Yet the stores probably live in with other businesses in them. For some parts of America this is perhaps, a way of measuring history. That is just how postmodern our current cultural climate is.
The Death of Superman in the 1990s made national and global news headlines and for the first time, a main comic book protagonist was killed. The reality of the superhero myth being infallible had been challenged. The impact of this could be perhaps credited to the connotations of Nietzsche’s views on the death of god and the comic characters long interviewed history with the Ubermensch etc. ( Or the Freudian interpretation of the concept).
However, the truth is that fictional comic book narratives can now be considered a means of measuring sociological observations and even document the passing of history in postmodernity.
So I am rewatching Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch on Netflix to explore the unexplored options. The first question about the cereal seems a meaningless choice but it does draw attention to the emphasis on branding and how brands logos are used to signpost within our contemporary collective consciousness. For instance, Coca-Cola and Pepsi were once accessories of the American dream of ‘freedom’ used as propaganda for their foreign policy. Now both brands are recognised as global icons within their own respective corporations.
The option of the choice to accept Tuckersoft’s offer is a valuable gift from Black Mirror, illustrating the need to stay true to artistic integrity and retain creative authority in projects. Sadly, any non-conformist ideology is ridiculed from here on in.
The second choice between listening to Thompsons Twins or ‘Now, that’s what I call music- 1980s’ compilation in the Walkman is equally inconsequential but probably emphasises the bland choice of musical diversity commercially available at the time. Incidentally, I have restarted several times with both options …. Colin is still not impressed by either choice.
“The concept of taste is outmoded” because “the subject who could verify such taste has become as questionable as has the right to a freedom of choice which empirically, in any case, no one any longer exercises.”
Adorno’s argument that repetitive music acts as a form of enforcement for collective consciousness, serving the socio-cultural-economic agenda of mainstream society is alive in Colin’s non-conformity. Basically, taste is irrelevant as conforming to generic music serves the capitalist purpose of the industry.
The 80s decades itself has been of fascination to recent TV programmes and sitcoms; anything from cheesy sitcoms The Goldbergs and camp films like American Pie to numerous rehashed sci-fi epics like the new Star Wars and Terminator sequels. All these things leave pop-cultural footprints and at the very least, establish consumer brands and franchises. Such action strengthens the power of cultural hegemony that serves the commodity fetish agenda.
I think what Black Mirror successfully identifies in Bandersnatch is the birth of computer coding and the parallel relationship between its effect on contemporary culture and making life choices based on the distribution of artificial reasons.
The reference to coded computer games like Pacman during Colin’s acid rant isn’t as far-fetched a metaphor as you might think. If you consider it calmly without drugs, even though Colin’s refusal of reality is entirely erratic and his confusion of complex spirituality misguided. The idea of rejecting mass consumption as a guiding moral compass still has merit. The idea of making life choices outside of consumption .. outside of brands and business guided narrative is inspiring and obtainable. Even now in 2018, the ‘grow your own’ trend has been adopted by neo-yuppies and hipsters as a rejection of mainstream commercialisation. In 2018 it is everywhere you look from craft fayres to micro-breweries.
1980s era entertainment also had something else as a major ingredient of its legacy: Patience and Potential.
I can remember having an Amstrad CPC computer and loading video games on cassette tape, waiting for ages for what would be the most minimalist graphics but the overall experience was so original and advanced at the time. The combination of anticipation and imagination probably held more artistic merit and reward than the final result of the gaming product. Such anticipation naturally stimulated imagination and thus creativity, a whole decade before instantaneous Sega/Nintendo 8 bit action and soon the extravagance of 16-bit graphics consoles smothered these qualities.
Was there a relationship between the passivity of consciousness created from beautiful and mesmerising graphics and a lack of patience for imagination? In that era, there was (arguably) also the popularity of dynamic comics and magazines over traditional literature. The use of Disneyfication in video gaming. Has this led into our contemporary lethargic dependence on consumer comfort over real progression of cultural change? All of this slowly unrolled before the arrival of global dominance of instantaneous internet connectivity.
The part in the film where they play the demo in the Tuckersoft office, they met the demon Pax in the Bandersnatch demo and Colin says ‘Worship him’.. Stefan replies; ‘No, don’t do that he’s the thief of destiny….”
Coded cognitive signposting in computer games
Is this actually a coded signpost? Storytelling narrative designed to prompt the viewer, hinting at them to make the appropriate choice? Implying that worshipping the thief of destiny, is the same as accepting the Tuckersoft business mogul, Tucker’ s offer: Worshipping a metaphorical demon in the form of corporate conformity against the freedom of creative integrity?
Too farfetched? Well, remember the entire film is a fictional narrative.
A lot of the new Star Wars films purposely used ‘seeding’ techniques as subconscious prompt for fans to speculate where the storyline is headed? Do we need such propaganda, long before actual final products are released. Is it no longer enough to wait and see, or enjoy the anticipation?
Well, anyone who has read the most basic reading on structuralism can see a somewhat minimal alignment with Guy Debord’s arguments in the Society of the Spectacle [1967].
Yet, how far from everyday cultural reality are the relative truths of the Bandersnatch storyline? Hint: Postmodernity. Marc Auge’s claim that in (post/super) modernity, as consumers we are likes passenger in our own lives failing to retain enough consciousness to make choices ( 1995: 103). The extreme escalation of Colin’s demise is erratic but probably known to most as the ultimate 80’s drugs fuelled urban myth. The result of ‘protagonist’ Stefan murdering his father is to be disregarded as a climax of a dramatic narrative (or even distraction). But this climax presented as a metaphor rings true with consequence of nihilism due partially from the ‘schizophrenia of postmodernity’ in capitalism. (This was well documented – See Frederic Jameson). There are numerous Baudrillardrian hyperreal/simulation references embedded throughout the entire concept also. There is some excellent fourth wall breaking later on keeping within the true spirit of postmodern tv comedy shows like Family Guy and Red Dwarf to name but a few.
However, the main postmodern feature of Bandersnatch, in a commercial, commodity-driven non-academic sense ..is the interactivity.
Anyways.
The point is that the 1980s was a time when imagination and vision proceed technology. It was decades before the internet and years before the arrival of instantaneous entertainment and escapism found in Nintendo/Sega games consoles. Even back then, boredom existed and society looked to enter the sanctity of virtual ethernet to be entertained.
The Star Wars trilogy and other likewise films took us into further into escapism and far away space battles for adventure but the boring and scientific reality is that Nasa’s Voyager 2 Probe launched in 1977 failed to reach ‘outer space’ until 2012. During its 35 yr voyage, no even remotely exciting discoveries were declared that could even scratch the exciting surface of sci-fi entertainment. Even well into the lifespan of web 2.0 internet. That era from 1977 up until the late 90s was a bland world of vision and imagination where cultural myths preceded the distraction of the internet. An era where we still had the mental capacity for social change. Gaps in our collective inevitably bridged and by Advertising.
Try not to think about what the western world would’ve been like without Advertising though.
One would hope Black Mirror have devised a way to claw some of the self-identity back for the individual, as a means for the passenger of supermodernity to regain the ground lost by Auge’s argument of passivity. Auge’s idea that lack of community meant a loss of facilities for civic interaction and then hence traditional, non-capitalist fuelled collective identity. Thus the postmodern world aided with heightened digital technology sponsored by a social infrastructure that follows the capitalist agenda has inevitably created non-places of civic interaction..” in transit sites where people are suspended between other activities but in a way certain of its own reality” (Delanty, 142). The uninspired consumer without imagination or vision becomes the ‘passenger’ of our own subconsciousness without individualised thought or consciousness would naturally follow this order. (Auge 1995: 103). According to Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida; with no opposition to the “centrality of subjectivity”.. “postmodern community being beyond unity” (Delanty, 142).
In a more scientific, less theological sense, research has in fact concluded that 95% of all cognition is adaptive unconsciousness. Is this the way society is heading? No thinking, no criticising, just spectating, without action or even objection. The ultimate passive Consumers.
“Fuck you I won’t do what you told me”.- Rage Against the Machine
The original Blade Runner film is a sci-fi cult classic telling the story of a bounty hunter turned detective tasked with hunting and terminating killer cyborgs (or replicants as the film labels them). Ridley Scott’s dystopian digital-age fable was famed for its futuristic vision and has been academically revered as a cinematic embodiment of postmodern culture. Within it is a critical narrative of human mortality and purpose. A sequel has now been released in worldwide cinemas titled Blade Runner 2049. However, whilst science-fiction is exactly that, the film conjured up images and concepts of a future digital fantasy world that is now part of our everyday lives over 30 years later.
5 Ways Blade Runner predicted Digital Culture
1) Videophones
The scene with Deckard calling Rachael from the bar and speaking to her face to face over a videophone may now seem standard in our current age: Where every iPhone has a camera and everyone communicates via skype or Facetime. However you have to remember, back in 1982 when the film was released, people were still using dial-up telephones. Mobile phones weren’t even a thing yet, way back then. To give you some context this film was released almost a year before the first ever commercial mobile phone was available on the market.
2) Retina scans
Used briefly in the replicants interrogation scenes, scanning someone’s eyes was deemed sci-fi hocus pocus but for some, it’s now the highest form of corporation building security access. Now you can even get software that scans your face to log into your laptop!
( Did anyone notice how the opening scenes panning into the huge pyramid shape Police station climaxed in a huge eye?)
3) Digital photo enhancement
The scene where Deckard scans the crime scene photo and enhances the image to capture the reflection in the background is achievable in this day and age with top-notch hi-def graphics. Heck, people can even scan images and enlarge via Photoshop. Admittedly the tech in the film seems very advanced for free built-in Microsoft or apple software but the techniques are probably standard for high-end crime investigation. Again, remember this film was made over 36 years ago. Interestingly the actual device perched on top of the TV screen Deckard uses looks very similar to numerous TV/Video packages sold in the 1990s.
4) Digital Advertising
The animated sky-high neon-lit billboards in the film were probably jaw-dropping back in 1982. In a time before HD digital quality CGI animations even existed in advertising. This is because back then most billboard adverts were static posters and even in prestigious premium spots like Piccadilly Circus, you wouldn’t ever imagine a flickering, bright flickering animated advert casually appearing over your head as you walk. Nowadays, the very nature of such casual brand placement and marketing is just second nature. Much like the characters in the film, pedestrians rarely blink an eyelid when going about their everyday lives. Even the neon luminous product placement of Coca-Cola and the TDK signs in the background of the ending rooftop chase seems glib compared to the oversaturated branding of today’s modern marketplace.
Compare the image above from Blade Runner to the image below of the London’s Piccadilly Circus in1979. The gap in digital advertising technology is huge.
The sequel Blade Runner 2049 takes the digital advertising even further into the future with larger than life animated holograms. As the original set the bar for many sci-fi films decades later like Fifth Element [2000] and Ghost in the Shell [2017]. Much of the original was so influential that most of the trademark features like camera shots and backdrops have been nicked and reused by numerous imitation films since. I wrote earlier this year that in light of Ghost in the Shell’s excellent holographic level advertising backdrop Blade Runner 2049 to up its game. But did it? ( We think it did).
5) A.I. (artificial intelligence)
The basic premise behind the storyline is about replicated cybernetic humans becoming self-aware of their own existence and questioning their place in society. This has been the backbone of almost every sci-fi killer robot reboot film for the last century and is even a serious concern in modern-day robotics. It was reported that Facebook recently switched off its a.i. software due to signs of it becoming culturally self-aware, generating its own language. Gadgets we use every day like Siri and the Google Home smart speaker, or even the sat navs in your car run from some form of self-generating intelligence. We all know how Skynet went down. Google’s recent a.i. experiments apparently showed aggressive tendencies. much like the runaway Nexus replicants in Blade Runner:
AND . . . Flying Cars
OK. So we don’t have flying cars hovering up and down the road or outside your local co-op just yet but we do have electric cars. The classy upwards sliding electric scissor doors on the Police vehicles are likened to the Lamborghini Countachs and DeLoreans of the era but they are still not in widespread commercial use. The film was set in 2019 though, only two years from now so who knows what the future holds. We might have them by then.
Legendary director Jean Luc Besson’s latest Sci-Fi venture graced UK cinemas this week. The film is endless eye candy. The creator of Leon and Fifth Element hit a bit of a bad patch with his last film Lucy, despite starring Scarlett Johanssen, the film somehow failed to ignite for me but did provide record breaking financial success for the French film industry. I read it was an ongoing script nearly a decade in the making and perhaps missed its natural time in space etc . However Besson has easily made up for lost ground in this latest venture. I personally found Valerian to be a visually spectacular appealing journey from start to finish. From pans-dimensional chases to multiple planetary settings the visual continuity of the story is mind blowing in itself.
Even this small snippet shows how picturesque and complicated the sci-fi universe Besson has created. Quoting James Oster; ” a rich and jaw-dropping world.”
In the long list of classic futurist sci-fi/action masterpieces Besson scored highly in his film Fifth-Element, arguably ( in my opinion) borrowing from Vlade Runner and taking the crown from Ridley Scott. Earlier this year I wrote how the live feature film version of Ghost in the Shell borrowed a lot from Ridley’s 1985 classic. It seems the ball is safely back in Besson’s court now after this fantastic cinematic voyage. With Blade Runner 2049 heading to our cinema screens next month, we will have to see how this year turns out.
The Fifth Element is probably considered a sci-fi classic by most. The rich and deep artistic quality of the universe Besson created for us is reunited in many parts of the City of a Thousand Planets.
Even the concept is great and the opening sequence leads to a utopian intergalactic idealism that can lead to helpful futuristic reflection. Besson has always been a bit of a futurist but also a humanist and I really like that Valerian in a thoughtful message of social critique along the lines of Fifth Element. The added benefit of Cara Delevingne’s presence on the screen for over 2 hours adds to the charm. The faux-American accent of both Cara and former Harry Osborn/Green-Goblin Dane Dehaan may have been unnecessary but she can act and is given a character with more space to flex her theatrical muscles after the restrictive portrayal of June Moon/Enchantress in Suicide Squad last year. If that was enough to quench your sensual appetite, halfway through the movie Rihanna arrives making the experience visually stunning in more ways than one.
I really cannot overemphasise the extensive and incredible beauty of the film’s scenic locations and settings. It is an ongoing creative journey that refused to slow down. I suspect the viewer is graced with a new unique and original background setting almost every 5 minutes of the film. It really is a “sci-fi treat”.
This is likely because western consumer culture has changed very little in the last few decades with relatively little cultural evolution. Only the progression of brands and trends. The only technological sophistication in the film was the presence of dial-up internet as a joke, to signpost the pre-wifi broadband age of the internet.
Rant &Rave 