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A Socionomic Take on the Movies

Weekend Oct 20 2013

Socionomics

While markets have picked up, the themes at the theater are decidedly downbeat. 

Screen Shot 2013-10-20 at 6.48.15 AMRobert Redford stars in a one man show with little to no dialog. in All is Lost. Here is the tag line.

After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.

This suggests a population grappling with whether the future is indeed brighter than where they are today.  I have not seen the film but presume Redford survives. Contrast this with the first Rocky movie that appeared shortly after the Dec 1974 low of 577 on the DOW. Rock resonated with audiences as the underdog winning the day. Here potential movie goers are navigating their own lives comparing it  with the sailor lost at sea. 

Audiences are flocking to see a similar story in Gravity. Contrast the theme of Gravity, lost in space, with the 1983 film The Right Stuff. The Right Stuff finally gave Chuck Yeager, first man to break theScreen Shot 2013-10-20 at 6.52.31 AMsound barrier, his due. All seven of the Mercury Astronauts had, as Tom Wolfe described it, the right stuff. This was just what audiences wanted to hear as the markets lifted off the 1982 final lows of the 1966-1982 bear market.  In the photo  notice the astronaut floating helpless in space, a metaphor for the contiinued jobless recovery in the country. 

 

 

Screen Shot 2013-10-20 at 6.56.22 AM

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2 responses to “A Socionomic Take on the Movies”

  1. Cary Kingsley Avatar
    Cary Kingsley

    And yet what are some of the most expected movies comming out? A new 300 movie, and the hobit part 2. Don’t get me wrong neither will be a movie for the ages like the “right stuff” however they both will show victory in the face of adversement, just as gravity and redfords new movie do. When we are in a free fall and there is nothing solid to grab onto to halt the fall, we as a people tend to shrug off the ‘malise’ and pull our selves back up one painful clawing inch at a time. There is no doubt in my mind that no matter what else happens, no matter how bad the drop we are still an forward moving socities that does not accept defeat. Never said it wouldn’t be painful, like being lost at sea or being attacked by dragons, however we shall over come.

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  2. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    I think we are a society rapidly becoming used to the support net being the employment net. Are we Greece, looks like it to me.

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