This film has a really interesting concept, which reveals our human fascination with the theatrics of death (which dates back to and beyond the Roman Colosseum), but also our unhealthy relationship with gamifying peoples lives and experiences in the name of entertainment. It demonstrates the immense pressure and stress day-to-day life can have on people, and the power of desperation.
There is an underlying conversation about how the sickness of addiction, loneliness, guilt, financial gain, greed and fame can eat away at a person, with clear references to sacrifice. We sacrifice our time and our lives to jobs which most people don't have a passion for or which fails to bring them fulfilment. We also sacrifice our pride by doing things we aren't proud of - for what? To survive and not thrive? The film draws on this by encouraging people to give the biggest sacrifice yet, their life for money, and the audience seems to believe this is greatly noble.
The TV show host's goal (played by actor Josh Duhamel) was to make something real which cuts through the fake 'reality' shows which flood our screens, but instead, gamified and glamorised suicide.
Things that truly shock us, in this case public displays of suicide, are only interesting because we are so numbed from the constant feed of content or information through our phones, TV and the media. Even the nightly news scare mongers us with solely grisly details. But this film confirms that our morbid curiosity only extends to strangers, to those who are distanced from our own lives and that we can forget about tomorrow, as we wait for the next viral shock.
The producers for the TV show within the film believes the audience craves death and destruction, when actually, a story of survival and the underdog beating the odds is what they craved. A story which provides hope that we too can survive this day and this life.
There is an underlying conversation about how the sickness of addiction, loneliness, guilt, financial gain, greed and fame can eat away at a person, with clear references to sacrifice. We sacrifice our time and our lives to jobs which most people don't have a passion for or which fails to bring them fulfilment. We also sacrifice our pride by doing things we aren't proud of - for what? To survive and not thrive? The film draws on this by encouraging people to give the biggest sacrifice yet, their life for money, and the audience seems to believe this is greatly noble.
The TV show host's goal (played by actor Josh Duhamel) was to make something real which cuts through the fake 'reality' shows which flood our screens, but instead, gamified and glamorised suicide.
Things that truly shock us, in this case public displays of suicide, are only interesting because we are so numbed from the constant feed of content or information through our phones, TV and the media. Even the nightly news scare mongers us with solely grisly details. But this film confirms that our morbid curiosity only extends to strangers, to those who are distanced from our own lives and that we can forget about tomorrow, as we wait for the next viral shock.
The producers for the TV show within the film believes the audience craves death and destruction, when actually, a story of survival and the underdog beating the odds is what they craved. A story which provides hope that we too can survive this day and this life.