Death Race and Desi-Fi

I watched this film over the weekend- not exactly brain food but it's combination of guns, cars, metal and girls led by Jason Statham was exactly what I expected.

But one thing I did like was the set up for the film. It provided a background story for how the context of the film came about. They started out with a piece fairly believable information and then started to extrapolate in a fairly logical way to get to an unbelievable conclusion which was then acted out through the rest of the film: Design Fiction. (as I see it) Here's what they said:

. 2012. The United States economy collapses . Unemployment hits a record high . Crime rates spiral out of control. The prison system reaches breaking point . Private corporation now run all correctional facilities for profit . Terminal Island penitentiary streams a series of cage fights live on the internet . Prisoners fight to the death creating a ratings sensation . They are the new Gladiators and Terminal Island is their coliseum . But like the mob of ancient Rome, the modern audience soon becomes bored . They demand more... . Death race is born

Fascinating and moving.

malibu "The government and Daily Mail won't shut the fuck up about the perils of binge-drinking and the harmful effects of alcohol.

But this girl died after injecting neat Malibu into her eyeball, she was vomiting out of her ears just before she passed away, which was pretty fucking freaky, tbh!"

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I saw this on flickr while doing research for 'city portraits' at Kin. I found the image and the text legend very compelling and interesting. I don't want this post to be seen as disrespectful in any way- it's not a lol. I think on a story telling level it's fascinating, and even stuff like starting to question the truth of the image or the attached text. I think it's interesting how the two combine to give a very convincing and sad story. Separately they can be dismissed but when presented together they seem to help validate each other. I think Words and Pictures magazine can learn something from this kind of presentation. I also think it's interesting that it was created and displayed within the flickr context- my thought process makes me think of the potential for government info type films and subsequently (and away from the morbid content of this particular 'story') advertising.