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There are subliminal themes in Eagle Eye

Our minds are being bombarded with subliminal messages all the time. But what I am going to talk about in this article is something a little different from subliminal stimuli or messages, what I am going to present to you is the idea of Subliminal Themes in movies. What I mean by Subliminal Themes is the idea that movies tell a story, that much is obvious. And in each movie there is a basic plot that the story follows. And within that plot the characters create a theme which is the unifying idea of the story. But I argue a Subliminal Theme is a unifying idea in the movie that one does not perceive consciously and it isn’t actually talked about by the characters, it is instead transmitted to the viewer by short repeated messages and visual concepts throughout the film. And a Subliminal Theme oftentimes over-arches and connects with other films that may or may not be created by the same filmmakers. These Subliminal Themes are created in part by the film itself, and also by the consumers interest and demand for the film. Thus the marketplace helps to create Subliminal Themes and they can extend over long periods of time.

In the movie, Eagle Eye (2008) the main characters are being manipulated by a big computer who is trying to wipe out the main people in the Executive Branch of Government. The reason why it says it is doing this, is because the Executive Branch has become too powerful. The main theme of the movie is that surveillance and networked computer technology has become too sophisticated and powerful and that there needs to be oversight into our own methods of security. But there is an underlying, Subliminal Theme in the movie that isn’t quite as obvious to see. I picked up on it when I saw how the digital technology was directly communicating with the main character, “Jerry” played by Shia LaBeouf. Basically throughout the movie, this computer intelligence is telling Jerry what to do, either by calling him on the phone or by displaying digital messages on electronic billboards and portable devices. There is a connection to be made: Technology has gotten so advanced that it has become a neural network, that can reach you from almost anywhere. This Subliminal Theme has multiple prongs to its mental attack. On one hand, it is sending the idea, that there is no escape from electronic technology and surveillance. And the end result of this is to basically and quite blatantly heighten the viewer’s level of paranoia. But this paranoia isn’t geared to make you not want to use technology. In fact the technology is presented in a very, “Gee wiz. How cool.” sort of way that almost makes being contacted anywhere on the grid seem fun and exciting. The paranoia is trying to make you actually comfortable with being watched. It is in a way trying to prepare and settle down the viewer so that he or she would feel at ease with surveillance. The computer that creates the problem in the first place is portrayed to be so advanced, that it is almost re-assuring to think that there is an intelligence this diligent and well-connected that it is watching over us without hesitation and without rest. So what is the end result of this Subliminal Theme of accepting paranoia? In short, it is becoming one with the surveillance state. We are no longer in Kansas anymore. The system that we live in rewards people who stay connected with increased exposure and opportunities. Yet in order to gain these connections and opportunities one must sacrifice a layer of privacy with each turn. We are being directed, herded like sheep or cattle really, in the direction of being transparent to the system. And strangely we aren’t really becoming naked before some kind of supercomputer that is tracking us. We are in reality self-monitoring each other. Big Brother is in fact the very friends you have made. We are remodeling our own images each moment we post something to our Facebook Wall, in order to gain more approval and interest from our friends and in many cases online acquaintances. The government’s biggest ally in surveillance and controlling the masses is us. Eagle Eye uses slight of hand to make us think that we are threatened by super-powerful futuristic computers. When in fact we are in fact being controlled by one of human society’s biggest tools: The desire to both fit in, and to be unique. When online, people are rewarded by being unique by getting more attention from their peers. A cool picture will be, “Liked” and a funny post will get a “thumbs up.” Yet at the same time people will get massive attention by discussing the mundane aspects of life on their “wall” or “comment box.” The end result of this Subliminal Theme within our own culture is nothing less than behavioral modification.

Click the picture to learn more about the movie Enemy of the State

Ten years before Eagle Eye came out, there was a movie called, Enemy of the State (1998). This movie starred Will Smith and Gene Hackman. It was about a murder of a politician that was going to resist a law which would increase the surveillance of the American people. Will Smith’s character gets a hold of a video file that proves that the politician was murdered, and bad guys try and get it from Will Smith, and they use every technological means at their disposal. Unlike Eagle Eye, Enemy of the State isn’t about a supercomputer using networked technology. Instead it is focused on the power of the NSA to track and affect people’s digital information such as bank accounts, credit cards, things of that nature. The obvious theme of Enemy of the State is that agencies like the NSA are extremely powerful and that if people abused that power than the average citizen will be faced with serious problems. Another obvious theme in the movie is that people should resist the encroachment of new surveillance measures before it gets too late. But there is a Subliminal Theme, and that is that once you have been detected by the system as a threat, your entire life is completely vulnerable. So the Subliminal Theme motivates the viewer to not anger the system in which we dwell. In the movie, Will Smith’s character didn’t comply with the desires of the agency that was following him and his entire financial life got turned upside down. This Subliminal Theme of basically, “BE GOOD” is completely reinforced by Eagle Eye and expanded upon to be, “BE GOOD, BE AFRAID, and STAY CONNECTED.”

-Tyler