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Cinema Mr. Robot: A Well-Written Study in Pointless Cynicism

Arnox

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As people here know, I can be a serious fan of shows and movies that tackle the darker side of life. Black Lagoon, The Dark Knight, Fury, John Wick... But that was actually not why I was originally drawn to Mr. Robot. I'd heard many times that it had incredible accuracy in the Computer Science department. Being a nerd, I felt I needed to take a look. But what I got was much less a fun and slightly dark romp into the lesser known side of espionage and computer hacking, but Breaking Bad having a threesome with Fight Club and Silicon Valley. Actually, this show feels much more like Fight Club than anything else, ironically.

When I finished the first season, I was impressed with the writing and acting, but it also heavily depressed me. I set it aside. But then I really began thinking about how this show portrayed practically everything and everyone in it. There are no good people here. Almost everyone's lower class scum or some corrupt fat cat with too much power. There seems to be no middle ground.

Normally, I wouldn't mind such cynicism if there was a light of some kind at the end of this tunnel, or even if there was some kind of epic rebuttal towards the middle or end (see: Rock's epic verbal beatdown of Revy). It also wouldn't have been so bad if it was just a 1 1/2-2 hour affair as it was with Fight Club, but Mr. Robot's cynicism just stretches on and on and ON for no discernible reason. I cheated and looked ahead some to what future episodes had in store after Season 1, and it was like a broken record. Doesn't this show have anything else to offer but unrelenting negativity? Is this really what we as a society need right now?

Perhaps that was the point of it all. Maybe Sam Esmail, the series' main writer, intended the audience to get fed up with this worldview. To present it in such an unrelenting way that we'd sooner or later reject it. But if that was the intention, that was a pretty bold move there, Cotton. Now, at first, I wasn't going to write anything about this show, but it got me more and more annoyed with it the more I thought about it, and after that, I kinda had to say something. At the end of day, Mr. Robot's like that emo kid we all had in our classes that seemed to have nothing better to do than to go around raining on everybody's parade in a pointless display of alleged intellectual superiority.

There's a difference between being realistic and not trusting anything or anyone. You can realize the truth of things without crying in the corner and hacking into people's Facebook profiles. There is indeed darkness in the world, but you don't beat it by spewing out venom and distrust. You look for what's true and help others out as much as you can.
 
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Ave Satanas

You look for what's true and help others out as much as you can.
We strive for justice and morality, but a just and moral way of life is impossible to us. From ancient times to the modern age, the life of a human being has been nothing more than a frantic striving to be the criminal and not the victim. A vast majority of the people (I would say 99.99% of them) end up as the victims—there is no way of remedying the situation because the victims are mired in ignorance, cowardice, and malice, and are incapable of confronting the criminals.
 

Arnox

Master
Staff member
Founder
Messages
5,289
We strive for justice and morality, but a just and moral way of life is impossible to us. From ancient times to the modern age, the life of a human being has been nothing more than a frantic striving to be the criminal and not the victim. A vast majority of the people (I would say 99.99% of them) end up as the victims—there is no way of remedying the situation because the victims are mired in ignorance, cowardice, and malice, and are incapable of confronting the criminals.
Well, yeah, if you wanna only look at the dark side of history. There have been many triumphs in morality as well. Times where humanity has said, not just singularly, but collectively that we're not gonna take this shit lying down. And sure, some actions of the past have been misguided, but that's besides the point.
 

Ave Satanas

some actions of the past have been misguided, but that's besides the point.
>Consumer
>Pays for China fucks you in the ass
>Mormon
>Pays dues to Church
>Church donates to China, so it can keep fucking you in the ass

I was wondering if you were ignorant, coward or malicious. Got my answer. Enjoy the anal sex.

Edit by Arnox: This post is clearly derailing, but I'm gonna let it be this one single time to serve as a warning to you and anyone else. You post something as unregistered, there is zero way to get feedback as to why your post got moderated, and I am going to have ZERO sympathy for you if you try to email me with some whining bullshit. If you want an account here, join the Discord or email me at "fakeout0@yahoo.com". Carry on.
 
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