Screenshot: The Night of the Hunter (1955)

“Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets.” - Roald Dahl

As parents, we do our best to protect our little ones for as long as possible from the nastiness we secretly know will invade their lives soon enough. We also try to encourage them to see the world as essentially a safe place where grown ups are (on the whole) to be trusted. How then to deal with a troubling film like The Night of the Hunter that undermines in all ways possible these essential pillars on which childhood rests?

The film, released in 1955 and directed by the great character actor Charles Laughton (his one and only directing credit), is based on a Davis Grubb novel, which tells the story of Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), an unhinged religious fanatic who marries a gullible widow, Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) in an effort to get his hands on $10,000 of stolen loot. Powell discovers that the money has been hidden by Willa's children, sworn to secrecy by their real father before his arrest and subsequent death by hanging, as he sets about on his relentless and murderous pursuit of the children through a fantastical and nightmarish Depression-era West Virginian setting.

The film, failing miserably to connect with audiences on its initial release, has since gathered an enthusiastic following and is now heralded as one of the best films ever made. In addition to employing filming techniques, set design and an exaggerated acting style largely inspired by German Expressionism, the film also bends genres -- using both film noir and horror motifs in equal measure to present its skewed fairy tale vision of lost innocence. The Night of the Hunter, like all good fairytales, succeeds in blurring the lines between the familiar and the unfamiliar -- setting the stage for a journey of hardship leading to a ‘happily-ever-after’ resolution.

The screenshot above takes place midway through the film following the children’s narrow escape from Powell’s clutches and into a small boat that carries them down a river to temporary safety. They seek shelter and a place to sleep in a farmhouse, as John (Billy Chapin) is suddenly awoken by the ominous sound of Powell’s voice singing his now trademark rendition of "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and then sees him in silhouette leisurely ambling on horseback in the distance.

This terrifyingly beautiful shot introduces us to the unrelenting pursuer -- think The Terminator, Michael Myers or most recently the hidden force in this year’s It Follows -- embodying a nightmare scenario whereby there is no escape.

The visual of Powell on horseback is reminiscent of iconic American Westerns from the 1940s, but the impressionistic staged setting and back lighting add menace and disorientation to the scene. Powell’s pursuit of the children up until this point has been desperate and at times violent, but here he is calm and serene; a ghostlike apparition on the horizon. Is John still asleep? The hunter invading his dreams, foreshadowing the likes of Freddy Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street thirty years later?

It isn’t until John and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) are taken in by Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), who plays mother hen to a gaggle of other orphans, that the children are truly safe -- now part of a family unit that stick together and are joined by a common familial bond to protect and look out for one another.

This adopted family stands in stark contrast to their actual family -- an errant criminal minded father, hopelessly delusional mother and unfortunate drunk uncle (James Gleason) -- none of whom provide the moral compass and security that the children need. It’s their collective weakness that allows the predatory Powell to invade the children’s lives with such ferocious intent. But while Powell may have tricks and charms at his disposal, casting his charismatic spell over the children even though they know he poses a threat, Cooper is his equal; an opposing force of good who actually embodies the traits that Powell’s preacher uses as a disguise -- true religious faith, a charitable nature and a desire to do right in the eyes of God.

The standoff on the porch near the end of the film, which sees a shotgun toting Cooper keeping watchful guard from her rocking chair while Powell lurks in the shadows, couldn’t be more symbolic. Powell once again sings "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" but this time Cooper joins in as if using a counter spell to render him powerless -- the two forces of good and evil, love and hate (as tattooed on Powell’s fingers), in a harmonious metaphysical showdown.

Screenshot is an ongoing column from Gabriel Solomons, Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Editor-in-Chief of The Big Picture magazine and Series Editor of The World Film Locations and Fan Phenomena book series. Screenshot examines a single shot from a film and presents an in-depth analysis.

Kill Bill and the Erosion of the Set

The set of a film, even at its most despicable, is pristine. They convey a mood and a setting more expositional than the multiple locations that they are based; a single space can read as the epitome of a Midwest mother’s house, while someone else may register it is as a crack den. The set of a film is up on the screen with the stars, on display for a wide and scrutinous audience.

These sets may anticipate their own demise, often in an entropic relationship between the characters of the film and the film set itself. The destruction of a set at the hands of a film’s character is by no means a new notion -- Charles “Citizen” Kane reducing a room of opulence into nothing more than splinters, a group of anxious Frenchmen pulling apart the geometry of The Royal Garden Restaurant under Jacques Tati’s direction, or even Matt Foley ending a scene with an effective belly flop onto any given piece of furniture -- Kill Bill: Volume 2’s mobile home fight scene stands out as a particularly discordant relationship between person and architecture in film history.

The location, isolated at the bottom of a Texas desert and in driving distance to the very seedy strip club in which he is occasionally a bouncer, this home describes the character with a single panning image. The audience sees that he has no time for thoughtful decoration, but has plenty of stuff on the plywood walls and marble countertops (or, at least, they look like plywood and marble countertops). The single open space appears to be recovering from the presence of a small tornado; over all, his home is the picture of feigned luxury treated with abandon.

Elle Driver collects her money from the fatally bitten Budd after his deal with her goes sour. Elle opens the side door to the sight of Beatrix Kiddo on the verge of kicking her across the living space. The plywood bounces in recuperation. Elle attempts to unsheathe her sword only to have her reach foreshortened by the now apparently narrow dimensions of the room. This happens several times while Beatrix counteracts with several short-range hits and is pummeled to the floor.

Elle goes for an air kick from across the room, but rather than retaliate, Beatrix guides her again to the nearest wall. The plywood does not recuperate; it caves in. Elle goes straight through it and into the bathroom made of equally pliable materials. Beatrix hops through the newly opened wound and they continue their tussle in the now expanded living room. The hole in the wall becomes the expanding shield for both as their health deteriorates with the set.

Bernard Tschumi often recalls the discrepancy between symmetrical, harmoniously proportioned villas and the clumsy masses that stumble through them as the historical position of architecture in event-space, and perhaps in Kill Bill: Volume 2, we see a reversal of this principle. The two skilled assassins compete against an obstinately fragile background; a flimsy vinyl concoction eaten away by the two warriors that nearly go down with the ship.

The Best Films of 2014: The Ballots

The original format of Interiors ended in 2014, as we made the transition into a full publication. The best thing about this new format is that we can now collaborate with writers and offer multiple viewpoints on films. Their top ten lists all shed a light on their individual tastes and preferences. This is our first year in which we are publishing top ten lists and we are extremely excited that we are doing so with our entire team. The collective list of the entire team will be published soon.

Mehruss Jon Ahi, Co-Founder and Creative Director

1. Boyhood
2. Nightcrawler
3. Enemy
4. Gone Girl
5. Under the Skin
6. Birdman
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
8. Foxcatcher
9. Edge of Tomorrow
10. American Sniper

I set out a goal for myself for 2014, which was that I would watch enough films that I could make a respectable top ten list. I'm often mostly interested in films that make use of space and production design in inventive ways. In this regard, there were several cinematic gems, such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman,Foxcatcher and Enemy. It's interesting, however, that my two favorite films of the year -- Boyhood and Nightcrawler -- had little in the way of architectural space. This further speaks to the quality of films released within the year. The films that I haven't seen but am still interested in seeing include Whiplash, Two Days, One Night and Inherent Vice.

Armen Karaoghlanian, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief

1. Boyhood
2. The Immigrant
3. Under the Skin
4. Enemy
5. National Gallery
6. Mommy
7. Winter Sleep
8. Birdman
9. Gone Girl
10. Inherent Vice

Boyhood, The Immigrant and Under the Skin are all my number one films of the year. This order is my actual preference, but let's also just assume that I placed them in this order for alphabetical reasons. 

I knew nothing of Under the Skin when I saw the film in theatres. I think I had seen the trailer months before, but I wasn't too interested in the subject matter. I figured I'd appreciate it, but wouldn't connect with the film in any real way. In the course of watching the film, I was confused about why so many critics and friends had liked the film so much. I was irritated, disappointed and, at times, bored; then the scene in which Scarlet Johansson picks up the disfigured man came on the screen and something happened within me. It's not that the preceding fifty minutes didn't make sense. This was a rare instance where I felt the film was so ahead of its time that I couldn't appreciate or understand its greatness. This is a film that we will come back and rediscover in the future. I don't think we were (or are) ready for Under the Skin in 2014.

I loved every single one of James Gray's four feature films before The Immigrant. I believe he is the only filmmaker who has outdone himself with each film. The Immigrant is no exception. Christopher Spelman's beautiful score with the opening shot of the back of the Statue of Liberty grabbed hold of me and didn't let go until after the equally exceptional closing shot of the film. The film has a lot of supporters now, but the fact that the film was abandoned and dumped into theaters feels so unfair. The Immigrant feels like a perfectly kept secret and it's one that I adore.

I first heard about Boyhood when Richard Linklater set out to film the project in 2002. I would see the film listed under Richard Linklater's filmography on the Internet Movie Database, and knew nothing other than the fact that the film would be comprised of short films, each filmed once a year. I was interested, curious and confused about this ongoing project. The reason the film has connected with so many people is without a doubt the fact that its themes are so universal. In one of the final scenes of the film, we realize that we never thought about things from his mother's perspective. "I just thought there would be more," his mother says. That's how I feel about life. I am in a similar position now in my personal life as Mason is at the end of the film. I saw Boyhoodtwice in theatres. I was with my mother the second time. We both cried. It's a cinematic experience that I will probably never have again.

Mary Nazaryan, Production Manager

1. Boyhood
2. The Immigrant
3. Mommy
4. Enemy
5. Under the Skin
6. Birdman
7. Gone Girl
8. Inherent Vice
9. Two Days, One Night
10. The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014 was a noteworthy year for film, mostly because we were offered such an eclectic offering. Mommy andBirdman, in particular, stood out for their distinct styles. Xavier Dolan’s films are always so rich and bold, and in Mommy, he takes his style a step further and shoots in a 1:1 aspect ratio, which results in a square frame. The cinematography of Birdman, and its sense of immediacy, provided an immersive, breathtaking experience that brings its audience into its world. Boyhood and Two Days, One Night are both very similar experiences. In both films, we spend the majority of our time with the protagonists, experience their daily lives. Boyhood takes its audience on a journey, over the course of twelve years, bringing us closer to this little boy and connecting us with his family and having us grow with them. This was also a good year for Marion Cotillard, who displayed a great deal of emotion with her powerful dramas The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night. The year also brought with it films that twisted our minds. Enemy and Under the Skin both seem strange and carry with them an “alien” character, which can be both the protagonist and antagonist of the films. In terms of adaptations, the sharp storytelling of Gone Girl made for an exhilarating film, whereas the casualness of Inherent Vice was coupled with Paul Thomas Anderson’s artistry. It’s also impossible to think of The Grand Budapest Hotel and not think of the color pink. Wes Anderson brought to life a fictionalized hotel with his use of color, composition and impeccable imagination. The film is essentially a moving art gallery with its overall style.

Anthony Versaci, Contributing Writer

1. Under the Skin
2. Boyhood
3. The Look of Silence
4. Winter Sleep
5. The Immigrant
6. Force Majeure
7. Listen Up Philip
8. Two Days, One Night
9. Hard to Be a God
10. Inherent Vice

I can't say there has been a year that I felt was even remotely subpar, since I became a "serious" film fan in college and started watching films regularly -- despite the death knell for cinema that rings every so often on internet think pieces. 2014 was certainly no exception in this regard, as I found numerous works that will stick with me for a long, long time, and I still haven't seen many films that haven't been released in the United States.

There were films this year that moved me with their striking level of clear-eyed empathy (and starred Marion Cotillard) like The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night. There were films that lingered in my head for their complex and nuanced portrayals of relationships and the weaknesses that often keep us apart (Force Majeure,Winter Sleep and Listen Up Philip). The films that earned my highest rating, however, did not share much of a thematic through line. The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer's more direct but equally brilliant follow-up toThe Act of Killing that resurrects a hidden and tragic past was one; another was Boyhood, Richard Linklater's modest epic that sensitively and poignantly charts twelve years of moments in an ordinary boy's life. The film that I have ultimately rewatched the most and that took my top spot was the one whose world I felt myself most transported by was Jonathan Glazer's atmospheric and nightmarish Under the Skin, a piece of science fiction that compels its viewers to see the familiar through alien eyes. Jonathan Glazer's haunting work was certainly not for everyone, but like other films on my list, the film, in its bold and singular nature, represented for me cinema at its most exciting and provocative. The films that I haven't seen but am still interested in seeing include Phoenix, Journey to the West, Black Coal, Thin Ice, Li'l Quinquin, Eden, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Clouds of Sils Maria and Girlhood.

Kamran Ahmed, Contributing Writer

1. Journey to the West
2. Boyhood
3. Mommy
4. The Immigrant
5. Jauja
6. Phoenix
7. Black Coal, Thin Ice
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel
9. Under the Skin
10. Blind Massage

It’d be impossible denying the power of cinema as a transformative presence during a time of film ubiquity, a presence that has never before encapsulated so much of life. In my own professional life, 2014 has been the most lucrative year for critical film appreciation. I saw more films in 2014 than any previous year. I completed my Master’s degree in Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto and extended my scholarship to the festival circuit. I began this practice by providing overage for the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and have continued attending film screenings as accredited press ever since.

I consider 2014 as one of the best years in cinema. I feel compelled because my knowledge of contemporary world cinema is partial towards releases within the past two years. I had the pleasure of viewing exceptional works of world cinema, which, frankly, fly under the radar. Hollywood continued its “pop cinema” offerings, its commercial and blockbuster films, which is often rife with computer-generated images projected via assembly line production teams. Their efforts are not in vain, however, as the lack of artistry is knowingly absconded for escapist thrills. In that same sense, however, many supposed art films appear to not hit their mark when film festival life fails to yield distribution. The films that I haven't seen but am still interested in seeing include Eden,Field of Dogs, La sapienza, The Kindergarten Teacher, Stations of the Cross, Fish and Cat, Corner of Heaven and Wild Tales.

Razvan Gabor, Contributing Writer

1. Mommy
2. The Immigrant
3. Inherent Vice
4. Norte, the End of History
5. Boyhood
6. Timbuktu
7. Stray Dogs
8. Jauja
9. Atlas
10. Leviathan

2014 was packed with high quality work from some of the finest filmmakers, so putting together a top ten list was rather difficult, seeing how there are twenty or so films that I would consider placing on my top ten list in any given year. I felt uneasy leaving films like Under the Skin, Maps to the Stars, Listen Up Philip, Only Lovers Left Alive, Black Coal, Thin Ice and Winter Sleep off my top ten. I did, however, narrow this list down to the ten that I believe are each masterful in their own way.

In a year when a wonderfully accomplished film like Boyhood is finally getting its rightful praise as the best film of the year, I would also like to celebrate the lesser appreciated gems that haven't popped up as often in the conversation. James Gray's intimate period drama, The Immigrant, has left the strongest impression on me and my appreciation for the film has continuously grown. I often think about Marion Cotillard's tragic performance and the film's timeless opening and closing shots, which remain my favorites of the year. Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, a bizarre, drug-induced exploration of the early 1970s, is also at the top of my top ten. The film, in my opinion, is the most purely entertaining film of the year, while still maintaining a sense of personal intimacy at its core.

If I were picking an absolute favorite of the year, it'd be my most recently viewed film, Xavier Dolan's Mommy, which may admittedly be a premature choice as I'm still riding high off of the visceral experience, but it's very rare that I come across a film with such raw emotional power. The film may not be perfect, but I don't feel that the film ever intends on being perfect. That's what makes the film all the more effective and unpredictable.Mommy expresses an energy that truly feels present and alive and it's one of the few films that is representative of our generation, both in its forward-thinking aesthetic and hyperactive nature. Xavier Dolan places his desperate but hopeful characters in a claustrophobic 1:1 aspect ratio frame that puts us in the same space as them and conveys an intense emotion that recalls the work of the great John Cassavetes. I'm often caught up in the cool, technical aspects of films, but nothing compares to when a film can impact me emotionally, and Mommy is one that has emotion pouring out of every frame. I can safely that it has been a long time since a film has left me so emotionally drained and exhausted.

The look into human despair seemed a recurring theme in many films of the year, from the terrifyingly real documentary Atlas, which offers an unflinching look at the horrors of prostitution and drug addiction, to the citizens being crushed by domineering authoritative figures in both Timbuktu and Leviathan, as well as the three characters of Norte, the End of History, who are searching for their individual selves after a horrific incident changes their life's course. 

There is never a shortage of films that push cinema into new places and create wholly refreshing cinematic experiences for the audience. This was most notably accomplished in 2014 with Tsai Ming-liang's Stray Dogsand Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, the former's use of extra long shots sets a pace that calls for an entirely different sort of participation for the viewer, which makes for a thoroughly engaging and unexplainably fascinating watch, while the latter's decision to send its character into the real world with hidden cameras blurs the line between reality and fiction, and maintains a heightened visual and sonic aesthetic which in turn provides one of the most atmospherically haunting experiences that cinema offers. The films that I haven't seen but am still interested in seeing include Phoenix, The Tribe, Horse Money and The Duke of Burgundy.

2015 Oscar Predictions

This is a fantastic awards season for many reasons. The Oscars, this year, seem as unpredictable as ever. It's usually incredibly easy figuring out the winners and it's not a lot of fun watching a three-hour long ceremony when you know all the winners. There a lot of close races this year, but what's also noteworthy is that, this year, more than any other year, the Oscars may be spreading the wealth. The eight nominees will all probably pick up at least one award a piece, and that, in itself, is quite exciting. The following are my predictions of the winners. I have included a "Will Win" and "Should Win" note, as well as my personal favorite of the year.

American Sniper
Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Will Win: Boyhood
Should Win: Boyhood
If I picked my favorite of the year: Boyhood

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tydlum, The Imitation Game

Will Win: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Should Win: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
If I picked my favorite of the year: Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Will Win: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Should Win: Michael Keaton, Birdman
If I picked my favorite of the year: Joaquin Phoenix, The Immigrant

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Will Win: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Should Win: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
If I picked my favorite of the year: Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant

Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Rufallo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Will Win: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Should Win: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
If I picked my favorite of the year: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Will Win: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Should Win: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
If I picked my favorite of the year: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Nightcrawler

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: Boyhood
If I picked my favorite of the year: Boyhood

American Sniper
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Will Win: The Imitation Game
Should Win: Inherent Vice
If I picked my favorite of the year: Gone Girl

American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

Will Win: Boyhood
Should Win: Boyhood
If I picked my favorite of the year: Boyhood

Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

Will Win: Birdman
Should Win: Birdman
If I picked my favorite of the year: The Immigrant

Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Will Win: Ida
Should Win: Ida
If I picked my favorite of the year: Under the Skin

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
If I picked my favorite of the year: The Immigrant

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: Inherent Vice
If I picked my favorite of the year: The Immigrant

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Should Win: Foxcatcher
If I picked my favorite of the year: Birdman

American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

Will Win: American Sniper
Should Win: Interstellar
If I picked my favorite of the year: Under the Skin

American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Will Win: American Sniper
Should Win: Interstellar
If I picked my favorite of the year: Under the Skin

American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Will Win: American Sniper
Should Win: Interstellar
If I picked my favorite of the year: Under the Skin

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

Will Win: The Theory of Everything
Should Win: Interstellar
If I picked my favorite of the year: The Immigrant

"Everything is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie
"Glory" from Selma
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell... I'll Be Me
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again

Will Win: "Glory" from Selma
Should Win: "Glory" from Selma
If I picked my favorite of the year: "Split the Difference" from Boyhood

Screenshot: They Live (1988)

"'I was blind but now I see!'" - John 9:25

"You ain't the first son of a bitch to wake up out of their dream." - Nada

Those unfamiliar with John Carpenter’s paranoid satire They Live (1988), in which a hapless, unemployed alpha-male called Nada (played by alpha-male pro wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper) stumbles upon a covert alien invasion with the help of truth revealing sunglasses may, after reading that last sentence, be even less likely to seek it out.

If you scratch beneath the surface, however, the film has much to say about Reagan Era politics, capitalism, racial tensions, police surveillance and material culture -- all hot topics that were fueling the creative fire of maverick directors like John Carpenter at a time when self-preservation and social status were the mantras of the political elite. The film, according to the director himself, is as relevant now as when it was first released back in 1988:

“Well, They Live was a primal scream against Reaganism of the ‘80s. And the ‘80s never went away. They’re still with us. That’s what makes They Live look so fresh - it’s a document of greed and insanity. It’s about life in the United States then and now. If anything, things have gotten worse.”

In essence, They Live is meant to act like a wake up call to apathetic America dulled into passive obedience through mass consumerism, lured in by an all pervasive marketing assault. There are screens everywhere in the film -- from the television screens that regurgitate inane branded fluff in a seemingly endless loop, to the advertising billboards plastered around the city. The vehicles and walls in the film also act as screens to transmit messages -- lo-fi alternative surfaces used for protest by the rebel minority against the unseen elite. The various slogans, such as "thought control" and "they live, we sleep," flicker past as if interrupting a broadcast -- evidence of dissention in the ranks.

The shot featured above occurs a third of the way into the film when our reluctant hero dons a pair of the aforementioned sunglasses -- referred to by the rebels as ‘Hoffman lenses’ -- revealing a monochromatic world of authoritarian slogans as if part of a city wide culture jam. The film has essentially been stripped of its color, and so have the city's billboards been stripped of their visual enticements, leaving us with a set of functional instructions; "Submit," "Stay Asleep," "Conform," "Watch TV."

In the same manner that Dorothy entered Oz or Neo opted for the red pill in The Matrix, things will never quite be the same for Nada, and his world quickly becomes that of stark opposites: good and evil, us and them, conform or resist. In some ways, this simplified reconfiguration suits both our hero’s limited skill set and our own expectations for action movies set in the 1980s, whereby meathead protagonists fare less well in the world of emotional grey areas than they do when given a recognizable bad guy to pummel along with the necessary hardware to do so. Nada simply appropriates the Alien newspeak to his own set of instructions; "Shoot," "Kill," "Kiss My Ass, "Fuck You."

This is cinematic wish fulfillment for those in the 1980s who felt disenfranchised and disempowered to the point of despair, and a stiff middle finger to "the man" seems in hindsight the appropriate gesture to an equally simplistic mantra of "submit" by those with the power to make it happen.

The use of large scale typographic sloganeering in the film directly references work by artists such as Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger, both of whom used strategies of mass media and advertising to comment on capitalist culture in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The typeface most often associated with Kruger’s "subvertising" work -- Futura Bold -- is also the same used by John Carpenter in the film, with slight variation.

It's nearly 30 years on and it’s interesting to note how the visual look of language in They Live has been co-opted by the commercial world it was so desperately looking to undermine. The assertion made in the film is that "there is a distance between the 'lies' of commercial-ideological speech and the coercive 'truths' smuggled inside it’ -- when really, the two co-exist with relative ease. In fact, a prime example of this is how street artist Shepard Fairey’s guerilla Obey campaign of the 1990s developed into a million dollar clothing brand and his Hope poster was condoned by the official Barrack Obama campaign prior to the 2008 US Presidential Election. The artistic interventions by Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger have by now lost their initial significance as they too have succumbed to the brand strategist retrofit -- their slogans such as "I Shop Therefore I Am" and "Protect Me From What I Want" appearing on t-shirts, mugs and perfume advertisements  -- social commentary, giving way to irony, giving way to ker-ching.

In fact, while protest movements will continue to use posters and banners as an effective weapon for change, their words and graphic imagery seem more likely now to end up as tomorrow’s marketing fodder, as the gap between dissent and commerce gets ever narrower.

Submit indeed.

Screenshot is an ongoing column from Gabriel Solomons, Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Editor-in-Chief of The Big Picture magazine and Series Editor of The World Film Locations and Fan Phenomena book series. Screenshot examines a single shot from a film and presents an in-depth analysis.