> Is it any coincidence that -- in an election year -- we are being
> greeted with trailers and other images for a summer movie release featuring
> the White House being zapped by an alien invasion ?  (Note the front page
> of today's USA Today).
>
> Is this an attempt by the filmmakers to tap into the country's perceived
> dissatisfaction with the political process, lengthy negative campaigns, etc.?
 
That's an interesting point that's not gone unnoticed.  You might
want to pick up a book called "Reagan's America".  I can't remember
the name of the author off-hand, but he's a "Psycho-Historian" who
looks at the ebb and flow of historical events, personalities, and
media and analyses them on the basis of psychology.
 
He describes different periods that we go through as a culture every
few months or years that he says are reflected in images in media --
images of guns and violence in political cartoons or "hot" words
related to violence  in pop song lyrics or news stories, appearing
before the Kennedy assasination and attempted Reagan assasination,
for example.
 
His arguement that these things work on a subconscious level on
society as a whole and that journalists or artists are reflecting
overall moods apparent in the country at a particular point in time.
 He takes the thesis further than that, saying that the images can,
in turn, influence the mood the public, setting off reactionary
events.
 
Overall, a book that can make you a little paranoid or amuse you a
great deal.
 
I've noticed a great deal of simple anger expressed more and more in
popular music and film directed against technology or those "in
power".  Look at films like "Strange Days," or "The Net", the
popularity of the "X Files" or imagery and lyrics in music videos by
groups like Nine Inch Nails.
 
Maybe the entertainment industry execs need a therapist.
 
RAND
 
 
 
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Randy A. Riddle, Winston-Salem, NC
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