Await Further Instructions - The Evil Spirits In The Television
Thoughts On: Await Further Instructions (2018)
A divided home is locked in quarantine on Christmas day.
Why are so many British films and television shows in a time warp? If one watches a British film closely - especially a genre film - or worse so, a British television show (like Eastenders) you will notice that all of the technology within is about 5, 10 or even 20 years old. This is most apparent with phones, televisions and tech alike. The only answer I can think of as to why this is the case would concern product placement. Maybe using outdated models helps avoid this, or maybe allows companies avoid certain legalities. I would love to have a real answer. Alas, Await Further Instructions is just one example of a British film set in 2017/18 with fat TVs from 2003, no wifi, mobile data, only landline, phones more than 5 or 6 years old and a home computer from 2007. And this is all in a middle class household that would undoubtedly have much better tech than what we see.
Beyond its strange anachronisms, Await Further Instructions is a rather good film. Its greatest downfalls concern acting and dialogue. I feel I am far harsher on British acting than any other kind because, not only is there no language barrier, but my ear is naturally attuned to the accent and all of its inflexions. So much easier it then is for me to see a bad performance from a British actor or actress in a British film. With American acting, because I am (we all are) so accustomed to it, I feel I can be pretty vigilant. With non-English performances, this gets a little harder. I then find myself rather nonjudgmental of acting in French, Indian, Japanese, etc. films. There is a line, however. I recently turned away from Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil due to shoddy performances - as I almost did with Await Further Instructions. However, though the performances aren't great - and nor is the writing - I stuck with this to find a rather abrasive 80s-esque tech horror. Tonally and thematically reminiscent of the likes of Repo Man, Videodrome, Poltergeist and your average trapped-in-a-house horror, Await Further Instructions is a deliberate and self-conscious allegory about politicised media.
The film opens with a man and his girlfriend travelling to his estranged family home for Christmas. He is British, she is Indian. His family is racist - not entirely and not to the degree that they will actively shun the girlfriend, but more than enough to make staying with them very abrasive and very awkward. As the unpleasant proceedings grind on as the girlfriend meets the family - mother, father, grandfather, sister and to-be brother-in-law - news coverage of what seems to be the 2017 London Bridge attack comes onto the television. This catalyses a more serious conflict in the family. The grandfather and sister speak down upon immigrants, a general "they" and those of different religions. The girlfriend speaks up. An outburst ensues. Such establishes the fact that this is a film both about the influence that television exerts and the malleability, the capacity for conformity, that the average Brit apparently holds; the average Brit apparently watches mediocre news coverage of persistently negative events and draws out material to reinforce naive, fearful and spiteful views of the world. Such is Await Further Instructions' basic assertion--and there is certainly some truth in it, but that is not to say that this deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for profound social commentary.
If one understands the basic triggers of the social commentary present in this film, it does not take much insight to unpack it and associate it with recent political drama in and around Britain concerning manipulative politicians, media, immigration, terrorism, etc. The family name of our cast is Milgram. Stanley Milgram is of course the developer of the infamous Milgram test, one that was established in the aftermath of WWII and the Nuremberg trials that sought to test the degree to which people will conform under a certain authority. Await Further Instructions re-dramatises something approximating the infamous experiment with aliens in televisions that serve as the great authority - an authority that aligns itself with the Christian religion and the government. These are apparently the forces that the evil spirits in all of our TVs (the media) use to control us. The only force that can combat these spirits is free and liberal thinking. Again, these are Await Further Instructions assertions--they make sense, but, again, maybe don't grant any awards.
Whilst this film is rather open to close analysis, I will leave that in your hands having opened the gates. A film that would work well alongside Await Further Instructions is The Stanford Prison Experiment. But, with that said, have you see Await Further Instructions? What are your thoughts?
Previous post:
Us - A Mire Of Many Possible Readings
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
A divided home is locked in quarantine on Christmas day.
Why are so many British films and television shows in a time warp? If one watches a British film closely - especially a genre film - or worse so, a British television show (like Eastenders) you will notice that all of the technology within is about 5, 10 or even 20 years old. This is most apparent with phones, televisions and tech alike. The only answer I can think of as to why this is the case would concern product placement. Maybe using outdated models helps avoid this, or maybe allows companies avoid certain legalities. I would love to have a real answer. Alas, Await Further Instructions is just one example of a British film set in 2017/18 with fat TVs from 2003, no wifi, mobile data, only landline, phones more than 5 or 6 years old and a home computer from 2007. And this is all in a middle class household that would undoubtedly have much better tech than what we see.
Beyond its strange anachronisms, Await Further Instructions is a rather good film. Its greatest downfalls concern acting and dialogue. I feel I am far harsher on British acting than any other kind because, not only is there no language barrier, but my ear is naturally attuned to the accent and all of its inflexions. So much easier it then is for me to see a bad performance from a British actor or actress in a British film. With American acting, because I am (we all are) so accustomed to it, I feel I can be pretty vigilant. With non-English performances, this gets a little harder. I then find myself rather nonjudgmental of acting in French, Indian, Japanese, etc. films. There is a line, however. I recently turned away from Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil due to shoddy performances - as I almost did with Await Further Instructions. However, though the performances aren't great - and nor is the writing - I stuck with this to find a rather abrasive 80s-esque tech horror. Tonally and thematically reminiscent of the likes of Repo Man, Videodrome, Poltergeist and your average trapped-in-a-house horror, Await Further Instructions is a deliberate and self-conscious allegory about politicised media.
The film opens with a man and his girlfriend travelling to his estranged family home for Christmas. He is British, she is Indian. His family is racist - not entirely and not to the degree that they will actively shun the girlfriend, but more than enough to make staying with them very abrasive and very awkward. As the unpleasant proceedings grind on as the girlfriend meets the family - mother, father, grandfather, sister and to-be brother-in-law - news coverage of what seems to be the 2017 London Bridge attack comes onto the television. This catalyses a more serious conflict in the family. The grandfather and sister speak down upon immigrants, a general "they" and those of different religions. The girlfriend speaks up. An outburst ensues. Such establishes the fact that this is a film both about the influence that television exerts and the malleability, the capacity for conformity, that the average Brit apparently holds; the average Brit apparently watches mediocre news coverage of persistently negative events and draws out material to reinforce naive, fearful and spiteful views of the world. Such is Await Further Instructions' basic assertion--and there is certainly some truth in it, but that is not to say that this deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for profound social commentary.
If one understands the basic triggers of the social commentary present in this film, it does not take much insight to unpack it and associate it with recent political drama in and around Britain concerning manipulative politicians, media, immigration, terrorism, etc. The family name of our cast is Milgram. Stanley Milgram is of course the developer of the infamous Milgram test, one that was established in the aftermath of WWII and the Nuremberg trials that sought to test the degree to which people will conform under a certain authority. Await Further Instructions re-dramatises something approximating the infamous experiment with aliens in televisions that serve as the great authority - an authority that aligns itself with the Christian religion and the government. These are apparently the forces that the evil spirits in all of our TVs (the media) use to control us. The only force that can combat these spirits is free and liberal thinking. Again, these are Await Further Instructions assertions--they make sense, but, again, maybe don't grant any awards.
Whilst this film is rather open to close analysis, I will leave that in your hands having opened the gates. A film that would work well alongside Await Further Instructions is The Stanford Prison Experiment. But, with that said, have you see Await Further Instructions? What are your thoughts?
Previous post:
Us - A Mire Of Many Possible Readings
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
