Subliminal messages in the film “Oblivion”
You probably thought the film Oblivion starring Tom Cruise was just another sci-fi film portraying the futuristic dystopia that many directors have attempted to create before. It is one of many films that portrays what life might be like after humans render Earth uninhabitable and destroy virtually everything. I personally didn’t think much of it when I watched it for the first time, although I do remember thinking at the end that this film conveyed “surveillance gone too far” and “rise of the machines” messages.
But this article by Jason Di Rosso takes an interesting view. He points out the films underlying fear of drone warfare, particularly relevant given Obama’s plans to introduce drones into civilian airspace. Di Rosso notes the film reflects the “uneasy peace” that we are presently experiencing.
Di Rosso concludes “Oblivion seems to suggest that if you look hard enough in any post-war period you will find the seeds of the next conflict.”, suggesting there will always be a certain uneasiness in times of peace, or perceived peace, as technology and society advance to produce new mechanisms for war and terror.
This film ultimately communicates present discourses on techno-phobia in relation to the war on terror, and in a broader context, is an interesting metaphor of human fragility.
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