Privilege & Cosmopolis

Cosmopolis, a 2012 film by David Cronenberg attempts to address the subject of privilege. It does not gratuitously display privilege in a way that it is not critiqued, however it does not condone the usage of privilege either. The film merely skates by the subject, tangentially tip-toeing around the real meat and cause of privilege in our society. The source material has similar issues, all hidden by hard-to-read metaphors and odd sentence structures. Odd sentence structures which I appreciate by the way.

Imagery that is successful includes the choice to tell the majority of the story in a limo. Eric Packer's limo is his symbol of power, a direct division between him and the poor. It also shows his need to control the presentation of information, even if it is already known. Entering his limo means an exchange of dialogue, information, will take place. Every guest in his limo is almost a disciple, excusing his actions and at most times, aroused by them. The limo forces odd camera angles that emphasize uncomfortable situations and claustrophobic emotions felt by him and his visitors.

Clearly, there are heavy political overtones and a need to control things sexually as well as financially. Eric sleeps with 2 other women than his wife, and flirts with many more. He wishes to sleep with his wife, although she is withholding sex from him. She loses interest in maintaining their marriage after Eric becomes bankrupt. This relationship is the one thing Eric cannot maintain and control. At a glance, Eric seems all-powerful and capable of making wealthy decisions, but he cannot even have sex with his wife. It is a consistent power struggle bleeding into his political life.

Later, he, Eric, speaks about technology advancing faster than the human mind can comprehend. There is a sense to equalize, a sense to destroy and rebuild to get back to a natural state where humanity can control and comprehend its technology. Entropy leads to a self-destructive outcome. To further this point, a discussion about time as a currency happens between Eric and his Chief of Finance. Time has accelerated because of technology, altering the state at which nature processes time.

The novel and film nail metaphorical references, but the execution of the content is poor. A good conversation alluding to privilege is when a character asks why kids must take drugs and drink alcohol while in a rave club. Another character responds "there's enough pain for everybody."

On another note, they also address complications with "progress" in the technological age. "The more visionary the idea, the more people that get left behind." This A: address issues with a small amount of people having power and B: how these people get this power. The movie critiques capitalism in this regard, calling it a spectre and saying it is haunting the world. At the end we can conclude that Eric's power relies on other people giving him that power. Guns are used to discuss this point as the person with the gun holds the power. 

As a last note, another movie in a similar metaphorical vein is Mother!. Mother! performs much better but speaks also in vague dialogue to examine a greater concept, the destruction of mother nature because we can and we choose to. We choose to abuse our power. Overall I feel this movie is a better discussion of privilege, but on a global scale.