Before I draft further ideas for a short film, I thought it would be interesting to further elaborate on my idea from last week.
To provide a short summary, it would follow a young boy on the eve of his unloved bike being mysteriously replaced with a much newer bike. Whilst the ideas seems simple to the point of being uninteresting, the over-dramatic nature of his investigation into the random swap, as well as the deliberately placed red-herrings, would hopefully create a gripping and entertaining mystery short film.
I am awfully fond of films that strive to have a political message. Whilst most films do have this, it’s the occasional appearance of the generic blockbuster release without any sort of political commentary, that make you truly appreciate the films that bother to have a message (thanks for making other films seem so much better, Michael Bay).
This appreciation caused me to consider a political message that I could tie into my film, in order to strengthen it’s core.
Therefore, here are 3 ideas for political meanings I could tie into the short film. (Please excuse the “Buzzfeed” style numbered list, it’s just too much easier to resist, there’s a reason why Buzzfeed do it.)
1. A commentary on materialism in Western society.
Why does our protagonist never appreciate his bike until it’s been replaced by a much newer one? I think this would work as a reflection on the grip that corporations have on our materialistic instinctual desires. We always want the newest iPhone, and the updated software. We don’t care how minimal the difference is, we just need to quell that desire for something new that runs deep into our privileged subconscious. Furthermore, I would love to add even further power to Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” by focussing on the statement of ‘You don’t know what you’ve got, till it’s gone’. If I could show our protagonist missing the bike that he never loved after it has mysteriously disappeared, it could be used as a statement on how we only want what we can’t have.
2. A satire of the TV mystery
From ‘Castle’.
Whilst famed crime shows such as Criminal Minds, Law and Order or (your Grandma’s favourite) The Bill are undoubtedly entertaining, their over-dramatic nature is something which often goes unappreciated. Scores are constantly tense to the point of being distracting, whilst the hyper stylized credits, colour scheme and overly formulaic and convoluted plots can make the whole genre appear comedic. If I could transfer these elements to my film, I believe the irrelevant and seemingly meaningless nature of the bike-mystery would create an effective contrast with its over-dramatic presentation, to shine a light on how ridiculous the modern TV mystery has become.
3. Reflection on our desire to be accepted
I mentioned in my previous post about how our protagonist could have a step-father. If I was to make the step-father step in and tell Simon how he bought him the new bike for his birthday, only for that to be revealed to be a lie, it would demonstrate the sheer desperation of the step father to be accepted by the protagonist. Whilst this effect may be hard to achieve, I think this action by the father could work quite well as not only a reflection on the illegitimacy of his words, but also a deeper reflection on how much we are influenced by our instinctual desire to be accepted.