In no way am I trying to come of as preachy, my brain is basically media mush I'm afraid to admit. Excess kills.
I enjoy the thought provoking notion that too much television (in the case sex & violence) desensitize us, or worse, mess with our perception of reality. How many times have we been guilty of rushing home after an 8 hour day to watch or favorite sitcom or drama? Again, not being preachy just seeing the warning signs in VIDEODROME.
Program director of a trashy television station, Max Renn is always looking for new programming to keep audiences tuned in. When he happens upon "Videodrome", a show dedicated to torture, Max sees huge potential and wants to broadcast the show on his channel. After the disappearance of his girlfriend who auditioned for the show, Max investigates and finds out that "Videodrome" and the violence it depicts might not be as fake as he thought.
As much as I love the "philosophy" of VIDEODROME, my favorite aspect of the film is the practical effects! In 1983 I'm sure the effects had to be groundbreaking. Today they are somewhat dated (some more than others), but the visceral impact remains.
And lastly, I enjoy VIDEODROME on a purely surface level.
I'm obsessed late '80's and early '90's sleaze cinema, mainly the exploitation films from that era. A lot of it has to do with the fact that even at a young age I was aware of this sub-culture of film, thanks in large part to cable movie channels and co-workers of my dad who bootlegged some of these films.
To this day I get a taboo nostalgic vibe when watching something like VIDEODROME.
Cronenberg is a master filmmaker who's art makes you think, but I can also enjoy just kicking back and watch a grotesque hallucinatory odyssey of a guy who becoming a weapon for a right wing conspiracy that wants to control and manipulate people via the television. And he also shoot people with his cancer gun.
Body-horror at it's finest.
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