Wednesday, 20 October 2010

The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate is a paranoid thriller, political thriller and it can also come under a greek tragedy. The reasons for which some people categorise it as this is because it links to the Oedipus complex within thef film, this means when a child has sexual feelings towards the opposite sex parent and feels they have to eliminate the parent of the same sex. In context to the film it is where we see Raymond shaw and his mother kissing. The psychoanalytic theory is named after the Greek myth of Oedipus who, unknowingly, kills his father and marries his mother. The film is different from other thrillers as it draws the audience in by confusing them and making them want to watch on to find out what is happening in the characters lives.
The film is about a group of men who fought together in the army, who when ata placement were captures and taking away to be brainwashed. However we do not find this out until the end once Marco has added up all his clues, we find our Raymond Shaw's mother is behind it all.  We believe something happened when they was out fighting, but they have all been 'programmed' in a sense to not say anything about what happened to them, and live off a lie.
Throughout the film we follow the protagonist trying to overcome a vast variety of tasks. By not telling us the reason for the characters strange dreams and behaviour till the end of the film the director can make it so the audience can have their own opinions on the film.
There are many key scenes in the film this includes the murder of Senator Jordan, the2004 version differes from the 1962 version as in the classic Senator Jordan is shot. In the remake the Senator is drowned in the water, this creates a dreamy state by the remote lake. This is because the director wanted the water to symbolize how the characters are drowning.
During the final scene of the film we see the death of Raymond and Eleanor, this is when Raymon realises his sould has been corrupted and he decides to sacrifice himself and his mother to stop the possibility of becoming owned and operated.
At the end of the film we also see a prominent picture of mount rushmore on a backdrop during the final scene. It invites the viewers to wonder about whether past, present or future leaders may be corrupted, and there could be conspiracies.

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