MovieChat Forums > The Box (2009) Discussion > Did anyone get the central metaphor of t...

Did anyone get the central metaphor of this movie?

posted 12 years ago by roell29
19 replies | jump to latest

It's about the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about and makes the case that ultimately it is the American people who are to blame for it's perpetuation. Remember the scene where a map of the world made of little cards is shown and, when the cards are flipped over, another map is revealed of the globe divided up into sectors of occupation by the US military? How many Americans even know that this is actually true - that the US maintains over 900 military bases in 130 countries?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Unified_Combatant_Commands_map.png

To a degree far greater than any other economy, the American economy is dependent upon, and fueled by violence and threat of violence. We spend more on the military than the next 19 highest spending countries combined. The meaning of the box is that each person makes a decision whether or not to profit individually from the deaths of unknown people in some unknown location. Each time the American people vote for candidates who unquestioningly support the US military (and who doesn't "support the troops"? - precious few), we are, in essence, pressing that button. And just as sure as the sun will rise in the morning, we will eventually reap the karmic rewards of those fateful decisions, though not as speedily as those button pressers. A recent poll showed that Americans are the only people in the world who, by a substantial majority, support drone killings of unknown people around the world without due process. After all, "we need the oil", right?

There is one fundamental rule whose moral exigency is so clear that all religions share it and it's the same rule that the willfully blind citizens of this country flagrantly and systematically violate every time they vote for candidates who support American foreign policy. It's called The Golden Rule - "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". It wouldn't take long for us to be treated the same way we have treated others before millions would abjectly prostrate themselves and beg forgiveness.

We are the coup, you idiot!

[–] gottfrid 12 years ago

mmmmm... an enlightened american. thats rare.

"It doesn't matter what Bram Stoker has told you... dead people don't come back from their graves"

[–] therefdotcom 12 years ago

yet it is a more than far fetched interpretation of this movie.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] melinda2001 12 years ago

I agree that roell29's explanation is far-fetched, but I do think he is on to something. At least I like his karma idea. We certainly do enjoy our artificially and seemingly low gas prices. In the end, we still pay the same prices as the rest of the world, just not all at the pump. Our costs are subsidized through the high price we pay for our ridiculously huge military that "secures our vital resources" more than anything else.

roell29 is right that we appear to benefit from the misfortune that we cause to unknown people far away. The irony is that we are not really getting anything for their suffering because we pay through our taxes rather than at the pump. We should simply do like the rest of the world and drastically cut our military and stop acting like the world's police which doesn't make us any real friends anyway. We need to pay full price at the pump and tack on hefty taxes at the point of sale. This is the way to end the cycle of greed and gluttony and wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and gain the right kind of respect by the rest of the world.

It's definitely a stretch to think that this is the central metaphor of the movie but I'd bet there is a connection here somewhere.

[–] therefdotcom 12 years ago

i agree with everything you said, except that i don't see ANY connection between those facts and the movie.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] melinda2001 12 years ago

I did agree with roell29 that his karmic idea was a bit far-fetched but I still think that he's on to something. I can easily see the metaphor being a reflection of US behavior. The connection that he sensed, rightly or wrongly, was that we tend to be very willing to enrich ourselves without regard to our misery that we cause to poor people far away. Does that mean that Americans are more likely to push the button than other nationalities? I really have no idea.

[–] therefdotcom 12 years ago

well, as i said, i completely agree to "we tend to be very willing to enrich ourselves without regard to our misery that we cause to poor people far away.", BUT in the movie the protagonists have artificially brought into an existence threatening situation, so enrichment does have little to do with it. at least in this movie. people will do a lot to survive and if "rather you than me" is morally wrong is up to each person themselves.

if you change the situation in a way that a person whose survival does not rely on the push of that button, but rather would help that person gathering wealth, then 1st world country inhabitants, especially US citizens, because of our strange culture of senseless luxury, would be more likely to push the button. nevertheless, greed is a global problem, so as i said, it would work basically everywhere, but you would be able to find more button-pushers in 1st world countries.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] mpurvismattp 9 years ago

Mmmmm... A pompous European. How surprisingly common.

[–] drnossal 8 years ago

Heh.

How much of that military spending goes to defend the next 19 countries on the list anyway?

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

[–] ThatDoesntMatter 12 years ago

Gosh I feel a little bad because Richard Matheson died a couple of days ago, but the OP's post seems to be metaphorising it...then again, I haven't read the original story. But it is an older one, are you relating to Eisenhower because it was written in that time?

It's a simple choice in the film, and rarely anything in life is that black and white, even the US military complex ain't (oh my, what am I writing?? ^^). Life's unfair, newsflash. Though I really felt nothing for anyone in the film as it was totally ridiculous, good acting cannot change that...I couldn't help thinking something must have gone wrong in the editing room, but I really don't care enough.

To put another spin on the premise of the story: organ donation! Need one for a loved one? Push the button! Compatibility of donor and receiver guaranteed!
But that would at least be a real dilemma to be in...

[–] therefdotcom 12 years ago

"must have gone wrong in the editing room"

yup. it is confirmed that some stuff had to go. some of it even surfaced in the trailer. as much as i hate this movie, i would like to see it in the version as kelly originally planned it, just so i know how much the studio made a bad idea worse.

"To put another spin on the premise of the story: organ donation! Need one for a loved one? Push the button! Compatibility of donor and receiver guaranteed!
But that would at least be a real dilemma to be in... "

yup, that would be interesting.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] ldsdbomber 11 years ago

Great idea but too specific, don't you think it works better as a generic metaphor for every minute of our lives that all of us every day turn a blind eye to horrors done around the world in order for us to live a materialistic life

[–] roell29 11 years ago

Sure, there are as many legitimate ways to interpret the movie as there are humans, although the US, being the unipolar hegemon (or big cheese, if you prefer), is in a unique position. No other country can throw it's weight around to the extent the US can. No other country has so many others cowed, corrupted, or otherwise coerced to do it's bidding (although you will never hear about that in the mainstream media except between the lines). Kelly made it very clear what he was talking about when he showed the map of the globe divided into US military command centers - a real map that can be found on Wikipedia - and which scene might very well be the reason he hasn't made a film in the last four years (the power the Pentagons wields over Hollywood was illustrated in the excellent documentary "Hollywood and The Pentagon: A Dangerous Liaison"). The US has military deployments in at least 153 countries by the Pentagon's own numbers. Russia, by contrast, has one outside the borders of the former Soviet Union. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say. There are few more cogent examples of that truism than the behavior of Uncle Sam over the past several decades (sadly, for me as an American with a conscience and a clue).

Leave the gun, take the cannoli...

[–] I_Created_U 8 years ago

I like you. We would definitively get along ideologically.

People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs

[–] susanemccool 10 years ago

roell29, I don't think you're "onto something;" I think you absolutely nailed it - much to my chagrin.

[–] Neuronhead 9 years ago

OP sounds legit.

I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mpurvismattp 9 years ago

Well I can say maybe ur onto something but then again Langella's character was kinda running his operation through government installations so maybe that had something to do with it or maybe it didn't, who can say for sure. The funny thing,when ya think about it is Americans are people from all walks of life and from every single country on Earth coming and staking their claim. The country was founded on one people overthrowing another in order to advance themselves and prosper, never mind that it came from someone else's pain or misfortune. This multicultural pie called America is made up of all of us as HUMANS and just shows that we are at our core heartless, greedy and possibly even evil and maybe were not worth a damn.

[–] tripper-09331 8 years ago

Wow you got all that from this movie?

I think the central metaphor or moral is this: "no one truly knows themselves". Boom, I just saved you 115 boob-less minutes.

[–] Karamakate 8 years ago

I thought it might was a interpretation of a Greek myth. The librarian's name was Clymene who in the myths was a water nymph and Prometheus's mother. The librarian did have power over those 3 water-ish things so the question is who Marsden and Diaz were supposed to be - maybe Orpheus and Eurydice? And Langella in that case maybe Hades.