Review of Videodrome (1983) by Ville I — 26 Jul 2009
"First it controls your mind, then it destroys your body.". That's what television really does, with or without shows like Videodrome. David Cronenberg was mainly influenced by Marshall McLuhan, who was a lecturer in media studies at the University of Toronto the time Cronenberg was studying there (early '70s).
Videodrome has a lot of scenes that involve physical transformation, which gave Cronenberg a hard time with censorship. But no matter how disgusting Videodrome gets at some parts, the message is still there: wether you like it or not, television is a new form of control over the masses.
"Videodrome has programmed you to kill me." says professor O' Blivion's daughter, Bianca, to Max Renn. Doesn't television do that? "Buy this, live like that, make money".
It makes people feel as if everything is their own choice and leads them to a new way of slow self-destruction. We might not as yet have holes on our stomach or guns stuck on our hands, but we all are victims of Videodrome.
Long live the new flesh...
This review of Videodrome (1983) was written by Ville I on 26 Jul 2009.
Videodrome has generally received positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
