Enemy of the State
The film Enemy of the State is a conspiracy-thriller film released in 1998 by Touchstone Pictures and was directed by Tony Scott and written by David Marconi. The film uses a variety of cultural assumptions, attitudes, values and beliefs throughout to manipulate the viewers of the film into accepting them. Enemy of the State is based around the US Government’s intelligence agencies and politicians and their huge amount of power, technology and the conspiracies involved with their intelligence departments such as the National Security Agency (NSA).
Robert Dean (Will Smith) a labour lawyer, who unknowingly becomes involved in a government conspiracy when he receives a disc containing the video of the murder of Congressman Hammersly (Jason Robards). This is when Robert Dean’s life begins to fall apart; he loses his job, his family and all his money. Whilst on the run he meets a former government operative, Edward Lyle “Brill” (Gene Hackman) who then unwillingly befriends Dean and helps him to escape from the NSA. Brill becomes an antihero because of his unconventional methods, and because he is unlikeable, but is a protagonist in the end.
In the film, Enemy of the State, there are many cultural assumptions, values, beliefs stereotypes and attitudes presented throughout the film. One of the most important values presented in this film is that of privacy, which conflicts with the governments want of safety. The film is based around the government’s proposal to install video and audio devices throughout US households. This is for surveillance purposes, mainly to prevent terrorism, but is also a major invasion of privacy. This is also the reason for the murder of Congressman Philip Hammersly, as he was opposed to the idea and his vote could mean the cancelation of the bill. Because of this the audience are positioned where they begin to dislike the authority figures in this film, which then promotes Dean as the protagonist throughout the film, and becomes a more
Robert Dean (Will Smith) a labour lawyer, who unknowingly becomes involved in a government conspiracy when he receives a disc containing the video of the murder of Congressman Hammersly (Jason Robards). This is when Robert Dean’s life begins to fall apart; he loses his job, his family and all his money. Whilst on the run he meets a former government operative, Edward Lyle “Brill” (Gene Hackman) who then unwillingly befriends Dean and helps him to escape from the NSA. Brill becomes an antihero because of his unconventional methods, and because he is unlikeable, but is a protagonist in the end.
In the film, Enemy of the State, there are many cultural assumptions, values, beliefs stereotypes and attitudes presented throughout the film. One of the most important values presented in this film is that of privacy, which conflicts with the governments want of safety. The film is based around the government’s proposal to install video and audio devices throughout US households. This is for surveillance purposes, mainly to prevent terrorism, but is also a major invasion of privacy. This is also the reason for the murder of Congressman Philip Hammersly, as he was opposed to the idea and his vote could mean the cancelation of the bill. Because of this the audience are positioned where they begin to dislike the authority figures in this film, which then promotes Dean as the protagonist throughout the film, and becomes a more