Movies. The colorized, audible, fascinating videos that brought in billions of dollars of revenue in the U.S. and Canada alone in 2019. An entertainment staple for decades and, pandemic aside, the movie industry has shown consistent growth over recent years. Everyone has seen a movie at some point in their lives, be it at the theater, local drive-in, streaming on their phone, or even on a plane. From fantasy to science fiction, horror, drama, the genres of movies know no bounds. An important part of the entertainment industry, movies make their viewers laugh, cry, and all the reactions in between. They’ve helped me learn truths about myself and the world around me, and, if it were more lucrative, I would have pursued making them. Opinions aside, films unite us all.

         To this day, eight years after it premiered in 2014, I remember experiencing my favorite movie, Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan. I had just finished baseball practice and my dad took my friend and me straight from the field to the theater. I had just finished baseball practice and my dad took my friend and me—in our uncomfortable pants, still stained with red-brown dirt, smelling like freshly cut grass—straight from the field to the theater. This scent was lost when we dragged our sore legs through the doors of the movie theater and the scent of popcorn permeated our nostrils. We sat down on reclining plush seats and watched the trailers, none of which I remember. I only recall the amount of time it took for the film to start, unbearable as always.

         But then the anticipation rose as the lights dimmed, and the film began. I’ve only seen that movie once. I refuse to watch it again, not because I didn’t like it, but because I feel like I can’t replicate the experience nor the impact of seeing it for the first time. While I remember the premise, a majority of the film has been forgotten over the years. That being said, I can remember the emotions I felt in that theater so vividly. The storyline and score were unlike anything I had experienced before. The building suspense and drama, built up by the distinct bellows of organs, hit me like an emotional freight train. Despite it being several years ago, when I was a less emotionally developed person, that memory will never leave my head as long as I’m living. That is the power of movies; they can draw you in and make you feel like a changed person due to the universal emotional range that they reach.

         While the experience of watching films is the part remembered by most, the director's message goes relatively unnoticed through the glamor. Due to this, movies are the Trojan horses of persuasion and propaganda.

         People go into a movie expecting or desiring a good laugh or maybe a thrill, or maybe just an escape from their everyday life. They leave remembering the experiences felt in the theater. They remember the laughs, the tears, and the events depicted in the movie that they relate to. But, in doing so, people also, unconsciously, relate to the director’s message, and the film’s job is accomplished.

         Most movie directors intend on conveying a message of some sort. Comedy, drama, or suspense can be used to enable the audience to empathize with the characters. The emotions created in the act of empathy validate the director’s message to the audience, who relate to the main characters. Take Top Gun, for example. Considered the greatest recruitment stunt of all time, it increased the volunteer enlistment of naval pilots by five hundred percent. It’s also my father’s favorite movie. We were watching it one night when he told me, “After my buddies and I watched that, we all wanted to enlist.” I asked, “Why?” And then he told me about how it made them feel, the action and emotion that drove the main characters, claiming they felt that too. That’s when I realized that movies use flashy scenes to lay the true message on the viewers: join the U.S. Navy. Top Gun conveys this message by including scenes about pilots playing volleyball and trying to pick up girls.

         Another example of a movie implementing this strategy is Gone with the Wind, a critically acclaimed and controversial film romanticizing the Antebellum South through the help of  “Uncle Tom” characters. Even when released, a large number of viewers wouldn’t have said that they missed slavery. But the use of characters and archetypal themes like going to war and doing one’s patriotic duty struck a chord with many, leaving them in a middle ground unlike before. A state of sympathizing with the protagonists who had different beliefs is established, and due to the empathizing, makes the audience stop and wonder, “Why do they feel this way?” And in this case, that question gave more merit to the outdated ideology of the Antebellum era than anything before. Even former United States president Jimmy Carter and his wife loved Gone with the Wind and watched it many times. But they didn’t go back to watch it thinking “This movie sympathizes with slave owners and glorifies the Antebellum era.” They re-watched it because they wanted to experience the sorrow that came with the death of the “Old South” and its “nostalgic” ways, according to the director.

         Going back to Interstellar, I left the theater completely awestruck, barely able to comprehend what I’d just witnessed. While I reminisced about the amazing score and wild science fiction scenes that unfolded, years later, I would be thinking about other scenes. Such as the burning of a cornfield, horrifying yet beautiful, still blazes bright in my mind.  Such scenes were terrifying, as I related to them because that could very easily happen in real life.

         And due to this, Christopher Nolan’s message that while humanity’s destruction has taken its toll, it’s not the only way and there is still hope, touched me.  One could call this coincidence, that the scenes and emotions we feel in movies are coincidental with the message of the movie. I would disagree, for movies are specifically crafted, scenes meticulously labored towards, to evoke certain emotions from the audience. Emotions allow them to empathize with the protagonists and therefore sympathize with the messages of the film. Some of the greatest films of all time have been propaganda-driven, such as The Great Dictator, a film where the most famous scene is directly intended to sway the audience to raise their voices against dictatorships. Just because one can’t see a message or persuasion method doesn’t mean that it’s not there. 

         One cold evening I was walking home with my girlfriend, and we were talking about great movies. I said, “We can’t forget Star Wars, an instant classic,” and she replied, “Absolutely, it’s so iconic.” A blockbuster film that revolutionized the industry. George Lucas’ movie about laser sword-wielding monks and golden-haired runaways captivated audiences everywhere. From ground-breaking special effects to other-worldly species and a plot that kept your eyes glued to the screen, crowds were utterly infatuated. Leaving the theater, no one would have believed that America’s unjust role and presence in the Vietnam war was the film’s main point. However, the Galactic Empire remained fresh in everyone’s minds and remains iconic to this day, opposing corrupt leaders and standing up for what one believes in is the famous message that most never suspected.

         It is always a good idea to be aware of these types of persuasion and reasoning when watching a movie to formulate your own opinions, rather than blindly believing the message the directors are trying to project. For there are messages in every aspect of the world around us, some readily apparent and some hidden. Being aware is the best way to formulate our own thoughts and beliefs and not let something as innocent-looking as a movie be a Trojan horse controlling us.