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Why A Face in the Crowd is relevant

This film predicted the rise of celebrity politics as early as 1957. It follows an alcoholic womaniser who is deeply troubled named Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes. He manages to charm radio audiences with his extroverted personality and his “every man” persona Corrupted by household fame, he fosters political ambitions and abandons his liberal beliefs for a grab at power. Rhodes ill fait arrives at the peak of his own delusion, when his deranged ramblings are rapidly hitting new extremes and are unwittingly broadcast. It stands as a president exposé of mass media as a tool of manipulation and a terrifying warning against the cult of personality. This film has never been more relevant with Donald Trump in the Whitehouse, it exposes the dangers of what America are about to face. Back in 1957 this film was mearly satire but now it is reality. Donald Trump has opened a door for celebrities to feed on their own cultural power to channel power and influence into politics. What’s next Kanye for president? 

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Why Wag the Dog is relevant

Barry Lennisons film cast light on the collusion between politics and media to viewers who are naive to the extent of their relationship. A media guru played by Robert De Niro employs a movie producer in attempt to deflate attention from a presidential sex scandal by creating a phoney war in studios in front of green screens. They use a photogenic young girl and a forgotten soldier as the poster boys of the mythical war. Here spin doctors are going to extreme lengths to distract the public with a new scandal in order to cover one up. This is not unheard of in modern day politics and is actually common practice, from burying bad news to cherry picking positive statistics. This film highlights the extreme potential for press compliance with official government policy. 

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why the Truman show is relevant

The Truman show foreshadows the rise of reality TV and how artificial it can be. Truman, played by Jim Carey, discovers that his entire life in a suburban paradise is a set up and is aired 24 hours across America. This can be considered a precursor for performers in “structured reality” formats that are arranged with elaborate storylines produced in controlled environments. The film comically ridicules the use of product placement that has dramatically increased throughout the 21st century with modern examples in Keeping Up with the Kardashians where brands sponsor the stars to discreetly place and rave about their merchandise. It also inadvertently presages social media with the notion that every milestone in Trumans life has become a cultural event. This forecasts social media where we have the means to share our personal information with millions of people worldwide. The difference being that Truman is not seeking fame compared to the present day where private lives are purposefully routinely played out in the public arena to increase following and popularity by playing on the curiosity of people outside the limelight. This movie can stand as a metaphor for how your privacy can be sold for entertainment in an era of paparazzi and a world thats heavily influenced by celebrity culture. The Truman show, released over 20 years ago, acts as an allegory for how society is actually living. In some ways society has evolved into the Truman show, except with more viewers and outside influences on our lives. Unlike Truman it seems like non of us are trying to escape.   

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Movie List

A force in the crowd (1975)

The Truman show (1998)

Ace in the hole (1951)

Network (1976)

Wag the Dog (1997)

Bamboozled (2000)

Starship troopers (1997)

The running man (1987)

The great dictator (1940)

Chief Zabu (1986/2016)

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Satire definition

Satire is a genre of literature and sometimes graphic and preforming arts that contains at least two messages: a direct and an indirect message. The direct message is what the satirist is actually saying but the true meaning is indirect, or implied. This leads to a different set of expectations about the effect that satiric humour, as apposed to more conventional jokes, might have. Gruner noted that “the less direct the satire..the more likely it is to be entertaining; and the more direct the satire is...the more likely it is to be entertaining” If the satire is funny, it is because the explicit message is so obserd. Therefore, the attention is drawn away from the implicit message. The true message that the satiric humorist is attempting to convey may not be the one the audiences are processing. Scholars have said that “the satirist holds a place half-way between the preacher and the wit” (Wolfe 1929) and “though he may enjoy his talent and may hope that we will enjoy it too, the satirist normally avows a more serious intetnt” (Pollard 1970). Further, satire has been called “a weapon and a toy” (Nokes 1987), which “aims to entertain and amuse as well as inform and reform” (Brown 1993) Similarly, satire has been said to stimulate “jest and earnest” (Highet 1962?) and “combines aggressive denunciation with some aesthetic features which can cause pure pleasure to the spectator”. Satire is an essential combination of critique and entertainment. 

There are 3 kinds of satire: Horation satire, Juvenalian satire and Menippean satire. Horation satire is the mildest and gentilist form of satire there is- it is not seeking to change the world. It is mearly focused on highlighting folly in all its myriad forms, perhaps through anecdotes and characterisation more so than plot, and so its chief purpose is primarily, to amuse. Indifferent to menippean satire where the reason for amusement is ultimately in the portrayal of a characters views, lampooning a vice connected to a specific mental drawback or an inherant personality foible. That is the main thing that separates it from the other kinds of satire. Whereas, Juvenalian satire is when a strong point is made with a clear target for disdain, often pessimistic and laced with bitterness. As a result, Juvenalian satire is often not as humorous as other types of satire, but is quite possibly the most daring and revolutionary. 

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Serre- stuffing (1984)

Commenting on our drive to over eat and drink our greed is gonna end in world hunger as we are destroying crops and using up to much world resources, one day we are gonna run out (jokes that we will end up eating insects) He also comments on the use of artificial flavouring beeing a bad thing before it came to media attention and laws and regulations where put in place in regards to it.

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Thomas Nast (1840-1902) much of his work on social issues and conflicts of the past such as the civil war seem surprisingly relevant today in regards to first world politics; the divide between liberal and republican, capitalism driving employment/unemployment and the lifestyle we all live by, money and conflict.

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Ronald Searie’s take on the future of femamism, gay pride and technological advances from the 60s

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Europe 2003 -- The Next 10 Years --- 2003: Honecker Is Alive

By Jay Hershey.

FOR YEARS, POLITICIANS, financial analysts, journalists and astrologers have monopolized the predictions business, each with about the same lack of success. So, The Wall Street Journal Europe decided to tap a new source of crystal-ball gazers: Europe's comedians, satirists and other jesters. Will they come closer to the truth than the pundits?

Germany's humanitarian courts may have freed Erich Honecker due to his cancer, but Berlin cabaret star Gisela Oechelhaeuser predicts he'll be alive in 2003, in Chile. (Wasn't another former German leader rumored to be in the region?) Ms. Oechelhaueser's ensemble at the Distel Cabaret for years nurtured the art of sidestepping Mr. Honecker's censors, but she couldn't bear another decade of his "inane speeches."

Political satirist Martin Buchholz, another star in Berlin's thriving cabaret scene, shares a rather detailed vision of the future. On March 14, 2003, Mr. Buchholz predicts, a heavily bearded man will present himself at our offices in London. He is a journalist on economic matters, he informs the bureau, and wants to share the wealth of his knowledge in a regular column titled "Charlie's Corner." The Journal and its readers are equally thrilled, for Charlie proves to be witty and extremely well-read -- rare qualities at a time when modern economic theories have turned out to be utter nonsense.

The truth, however, is detected too late. Charlie is a ghostwriter -- the ghost of writer Karl Marx, to be precise. Correcting its oversight, the Journal Europe quickly promotes Marx to ghosteditor. As Charlie himself says, "Where would capitalism be today without my `Kapital?'"

Le Monde humor columnist Claude Sarraute wakes up in 2003, turns on the radio and collapses, "horrified by what I learn, by what I know, by what I see."

Britain has become an under-developed country. Like Greece, Portugal and Ireland, it is entitled to European Community convergence funds. Sussex, like the rest of Europe, is turning into a desert. Farmers consider using beasts of burden again. "Thank you Common Agricultural Policy! Thank you GATT!" Europe's youth attains endangered-species status. "Forced to work like animals to pay the pensions of almost 300 million old folk, the young are sheltered -- from unemployment!"

British comedian Michael Bentine isn't quite so gloomy about 2003. The Japanese Rolls Royce will be electric car of the year, he says, and a distinguished animal-rights leader will be eaten by a lion. A McDonald's will open on the moon. If that doesn't ease global unemployment, reintroducing slavery will. After the moon is colonized, the first manned expedition to Mars will land -- and be met by a CNN crew. As a humanitarian gesture to a group staying on Earth, free hearing aids will be distributed to the rock `n' roll generation.

For Jose Maria Perez, a political satirist whose cartoons appear in Spain's El Pais under the pen name Peridis, there will be good news and bad news in 2003. Forest fires will be a thing of the past. But so will forests. The South Pole will have melted. But there'll be great golfing in Antartica. Russia will disappear, replaced by 700 republics, 300 civil wars and 20 million U.N. peace-keeping forces. Good news for Italy is that the pope will again be Italian. The bad news is he'll come from Sicily.

Belgian cartoonist Luc Zeebroek, also known as Kamagurka, predicts that by 2003 his country will exist only on paper, to give the king a job. Technological advances will mean more free time for vast numbers of Europeans, as they'll be unemployed. A resulting boom in down-market cafes and restaurants will create some jobs. Other work will include repairing things that used to be thrown away. But manufacturers will outsmart these competitors by finally making more durable products.

Belgian pop star Jean-Luc Fonck, whose satirical rock group Sttellla lampoons his country's weakness for beer and frites, sees a future that includes 99 European TV channels and workers who refuse to accept pay cuts. Asked how he feels about people like Karl Otto Poehl making decisions that affect his life, Mr. Fonck says, "Karl Otto Poehl? Dunno him. We never sang together."

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Mr. Hershey is Deputy Features Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe. Regine Wosnitza, Anne-Michele Morice, Diana Edwards and Martin du Bois contributed to the story.

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AMALIA ULMAN – “EXCELLENCES & PERFECTIONS” (2014)

If you were following artist Amalia Ulman on Instagram in 2014, the chances are you were fooled by her genius artistic hoax “Excellences & Perfections”. Dubbed by art critics as the “first Instagram masterpiece”, Ulman spent four months curating an Instagram feed that followed the life of an aspiring it-girl’s quest for perfection in Los Angeles. From boob jobs, to clean eating, to being a sugar baby, Ulman’s performance went through three transitory stages to perfectly curate a fake personal brand that fooled over 90,000 of her followers. Not only was the show aimed at demonstrating how easily duped we are by content in the digital age, but it was a prediction of how social media would become a platform for the curation and ‘perfection’ of personal branding online.

A year later, an Australian model with over 612k followers quit Instagram, and stated that the platform was “contrived perfection made to get attention.” In 2018, lifefaker.com launched as a website where you can buy photo packages for your Instagram like the “The My Weekend Was Amazing Thanks Package’ or “The Look What I Had for Lunch Package”. However, the website was actually a campaign aimed at raising awareness about the detrimental effects social media has on mental health, bringing the aim behind Ulman’s hoax back to life four years after its creation.

Reference:

https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/39915/1/artworks-predicted-the-future-of-the-world-warhol-yayoi-caravaggio-beuys

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Times The Simpsons predicted the future

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Times the Simpsons predicted the future

Three-eyed fish-1990

A decade later a three-eyed fish was discovered in water from a nuclear power plant just like in the episode. 

The censorship of Michealangelo’s David-1990

This became true in July 2016 due to Russian campaigners vote.

Siegfried and Roy tiger attack-1993

In 2003, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy was attacked during a live performance by one of their white tigers.

Horse-meat scandal-1994

Nine years later horse DNA was found in over one-third of beefburger samples from supermarkets in Ireland.

Autocorrect-1994

The Simpsons was lampooning Apples underwhelming Newton which was the iphones ancestor. This moment in The Simpsons served as inspiration to get the iphone keyboard right.

Smartwatches-1995

Watches used as phones was aired 20 years before the apple watch was released.

The invention of the Shard-1995

You can see an uncanny building to the shard in the right location of London. The construction of the Shard started 14 years later.

The discovery of the Higgs boson equation-1998

A complicated equation written by Homer on a blackboard is a prediction of the mass of the Higgs boson particle. It wasn’t until 2013 that scientists discovered proof of the Higgs boson in a £10.4 billion experiment.

Ebola outbreak-1997

They predicted the 2014 outbreak of Ebola 17 years before it happened. The virus wasn’t particularly widespread in the 1990′s but years later it was the top of the news agenda.

Disney buys 20th Century Fox-1998

On December 14, 2017, Disney purchased 21st Century Fox for an estimated $52.4 billion.

The invention of the tomacco plant-1999

Homer creates a hybrid of tomato and tobacco plants. Inspiring US fan to create his won plant in 2003.

Faulty voting machines-2008

Four years later, a voting machine in Pennsylvania had to be removed as it kept changing votes. 

The US beats Sweden in curling at the Olympics-2010

In 2018 the US mens Olympic team won a gold medal after defeating Sweden even though they where behind, which is exactly how it played out on The Simpsons.

Nobel Prize winner-2010

MIT professor Bengt Holmstrom won the Nobel prize in economics in 2016 six years after he was bet on to win on The Simpsons.

Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl half time show-2012

Lady Gaga preformed for the town of Springfield hanging in mid air. In 2017 five years later she flew off the Houston NRG Stadium roof.

Daenerys Targaryen’s big plot twist in Game of Thrones-2017

On the latest episode of Game of Thrones Danerys Targaryen and her dragon laid waste to an already surrenders King’s Landing, obliterating thousands of innocent people.

Trump’s presidency-2000

19 years ago they predicted that Donald Trump would become president.  

Reference:

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-simpsons-is-good-at-predicting-the-future-2016-11?r=US&IR=T 

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Scar Strangled Banger 1987

These are a series of images taken from Ralph Stead’s book Scar Strangled Banger. One of the images portrays the effects of climate change which the world only became aware of just after this book was published around 30 years ago. It claims that due to our advances and over use of technology it will destroy the planet via energy use and our ‘beloved belongings’ such as freezers and cars will mean nothing. The ice caps are still yet to melt however scientists predict they will be gone by 2040. This in recent years has become a real threat to the world and is closely followed by media attention via documentaries by globalists such as David Attenborough.

Another piece depicts an abandoned, polluted wasteland with a worn down computer reading “Tree Planting Scheme Implemented”. Suggesting the world will respond to the current deforestation crisis when it is too late as we priorities manufacturing, unclean energy sources and agriculture over the planets own oxygen supply and wildlife sanctuary. This is yet to happen however the UK has a target to plant 1.5 billion trees to tackle climate change and has fallen 71% short of the years target in 2019 alone. Therefore, research would suggest that the people with the power to tackle this issue have simply not focused on it as a real threat to humanity and will inevitably end up leaving in until it’s too late. 

Other images touch on the lack of land we will have for wildlife, agriculture and living due to an ever expanding population. This could lead to food shortage illustrated by a starving couple eating their dog. The risk of this is high if we run out of land as global warming will ruin crops, there will be no room left to farm animals and the wild animals will become extinct due to the loss of their habitat. This is yet to fully happen but is currently a work in progress. These illustrations have great potential to become a reality if action is not put in place by the people in high power. 

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Ralph Stead predictions for the future

Scar Strangled Banger

1987

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Ralph Stead predictions for the future

Scar Strangled Banger

1987