Stuck on The Island (Media Meditation 1)

A few weekends ago, I went and paid the $7.25 to go to the movies and see Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. This movie is a psychological thriller/ mystery movie, and it kept me guessing until the end. I'm glad to say, that I absolutely loved this movie.

There have been a lot of mixed reviews when hearing about it, but this is the type of movie you really need to have a taste for. It's a movie you really have to pay attention to because all the small details come together to make perfect sense, but if you miss one of the details, you are left a little in the dark. I don't want to spoil the end, but you'd never guess it coming. And even when it's laid out for you, you don't know which is the real thing; is he crazy or sane?

It was a thriller, and my reptilian brain was loving this. It was controlling my body to deal with the jumps, shocks, and fear in some cases. My heart rate was always up an then down, and then up, and then down. My limbic brain was loving all the images, the set was so well done, it made you feel like you were really there. My emotions went for a ride in the end, as I really didn't know what to believe anymore! Finally, my neocortex was fully engaged, as this movie really made me think. I had to thing back to the entire movie and think about all the small meaningless actions, that turned out to be so important to the movie in general.

The movie in itself featured a bit of the cultural shift. It was taken place in a psychiatrist facility, and there was always someone watching, they never had any alone time. I thought it made an unintentional connection, or maybe it was just me, to how life is these days. That, if something is wrong, we just get rid of the problem, and in this case it's the people. They are always watched, and the only time they were alone is when they ran away, or made a great effort to hide. In one scene, even in the case where they are hiding, they are still found unknowingly. This is like todays media culture. It's everywhere, and we can't get away.

It used good examples of value messages as it makes us question some things. Me personally, it made me question the insanity of the main character, and how someone can create a different personality to escape their real life, or, if that was really the case, and he was just brain washed. It's like today, were we can be convinced of anything, even losing sight of ourselves and who we really are. If someone has a convincing argument, then, that's all it takes.

In terms of persuasion techniques, it really was based around the big lie. You're not supposed to know what's real and what's not, even though to the end of the movie. They are not telling the truth about something, but it's unknown when it really is. They use bandwagon techniques in both positive and negative ways to the story line. The movie is based around one rhetorical question of what happed to patient 67. And, of course, fear is used, as it is a scary movie.

This movie didn't use to many specifics from our four tool sets, but it really worked my brain on all three levels. I would pay to see this movie again, I loved the thrill so much. Two thumbs up Leonardo, I hope you get off the island eventually