The "23" enigma predates the film. Started with William S Burroughs and was elaborated on by Robert Anton Wilson, Genesis P'Orridge and many others over the years.
@@onuq3r4y478 Sounded like that to me too, but the idea that it's actually Hollywood is great, and the idea that that can be mistaken for 'not a friend' sure works.
1492 is the house number at the beginning of It Follows. I wanted to throw out there that Indian Tribes in the last 1000 years would bury their leaders inside giant earthen mounds like the billionaires in modern day LA. The Egyptian hieroglyphs were similar. Both people's are Sun Worshippers.
squirrel fall from the tree, what does it mean or what reference?, maybe Beware the dog killer can be written on the glass window of a coffee shop can be coded as Beware the god killer (Dog anagram for god), and the 2015 movie Revenant story of Hugh Glass, Tom Hardy ‘God Is a Squirrel’ monologue. Under the Silver Lake is a bizarre disjointed movie but it must mean something squirrel fell from a tree and died on the asphalt near the main protagonist's feet.
I would like to point out that the dolly zoom is a tool in the cinematic language that has been used across a vast number of movies so great that I don’t think you could necessarily call it a reference to another specific film or set of films unless the framing of the shot contained other markers that were specific to the movie that it was referencing. In the shot you showed, I don’t believe that dolly zoom was a reference to another film. Just smart use of this cinematic technique.
The scene where Sam turns the corner, to see Sam, is 3rd person perspective, the third person being Sam's subconscious. Sam doesn't see himself in a good light.
Look forward to next vid. I, without spoiling here, had the impression that even and uneven numbers mean something (sum of numbers). Uneven, he is distancing from the truth and even numbers closer/on path to understand more. But not sure. Its nothing connected to the actual happenings, thus not spoiling anything, but seems interesting to analyze.
Nice. The film is vastly underrated. Even minus the meaning and codes, his journey itself is cool. And the lightness of the characters, like get stoned on a first date.. so unexpected, and the HOBO king, he is so friendly indeed, unexpected. I could go on.. its cool. Thanks again for the vids!
1492. Sam enters the authors house to find the conspiracies piled up in this guys life. Sam is discovering what's in the lives of Americans in present day and this is no way to live. The man dies alone with all his bars and camera's and Sam ends the movie with a message to make the most of what's left of his after making so many mistakes thus far. I imagine Sam lets go, keeps quite and hopefully finds direction in his life.
Nah! Sam IS the comic creator. There is a line in 'What's the frequency' which implies this, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy". Sam is coming to terms with his apathy towards the abuses that occur in LA, and has withdrawn in disgust to write his comic. There are three stages to Sam's character development, after his girlfriend dumped him. There is Allen, Sam trying to make it as a suave and charming actor. Then there is 'bar buddy', Sam apathetic about his failure as an actor. Then there is the comic creator, Sam as he withdraws in disgct.
The same thing happened in "The Killing" It's Sarah the detective's last day on the job. She's about to get married to her fiance in California. but she becomes so obsessed with the case she never leaves town. Maybe it's a trop. If the main character becomes so obsessed they let everything go, the audience will too.
Unfortunately we have been on hiatus from film club, my wife and I moved to a new city and haven't even had the opportunity to set up a reliable internet connection. I'll keep you posted though!
the word "reference" does a lot of heavy lifting here. having the camera round a corner in a hallway to reveal a person is a "reference" to The Shining? the number 23 existing on a door is a "reference" to the film The Number 23? you say it as though you're like, certain, which is weird because I feel like there is almost nothing to go off there besides an association that could just as easily be a coincidence, or even something the director (who I'm gonna assume has steeped themselves in the culture of films, watching much more movies than just the ones film students watch) may have subconsciously imitated, or imitated imitations, or just adopted an idea/technique through cultural osmosis. you could even be totally right about both but the way the possibility is presented here it's like you think there's no other conceivable reason the director/screenwriter/set designer would make those choices. doesn't that seem a little reductive? I wouldn't go on about this but I feel it affects your analysis negatively even in the later entries in this series.
Sam and Robert Greysmith are definitely similar characters, guys just obsessed with the case. I’d recommend watching Kevin Costner in JFK. His character is right in line with those two…
A protagonist doesn't have to be a "good" guy or a hero...Columbus for instance, a man who has been dead for more than 500yrs but who you seem to have a strong dislike of, would be the protagonist in a movie about his life.
Perhaps I could've articulated the point better, that being that Sam isn't a good person by any stretch of the imagination although he is the main character. Certainly not a hero. As far as my opinions about Columbus, I do have a strong dislike of his treatment of Natives as well as how celebrated he is in historical context. It wasn't until I studied him thoroughly as a history major that I was enlightened about how awful he was. My disparaging comments were largely just comedic commentary in mentioning that he was no sort of hero or likable figure.
Thank you, apologies - I've never done VO work before, only music recording. I'll be back with new videos soon, so hopefully there has been/will be noticeable improvement throughout the videos. Thanks for watching!
@@Tdurdenreturnssomevideotapes I’ll be back for sure. I’d love to see a condensed 10 or 15 min condensed version/ breakdown of the meaning of Under the Silver Lake. I am going to watch it again and I’d love something short to watch that will help make sense of the show. I’m convinced Andrew’s character is the dog killer.
Great videos, but I'm going to take issue with your theory on Sam being the dog killer, Bar Buddy being imaginary and Sam being a musical instrument thief, so maybe...just about everything. The dog killer idea misses the deeper coding. As another vid analysis points out, dogs aren't being killed in the movie: women are. Women are repeatedly associated with dogs, notably when they bark. OK, they bark at Sam, but it's made quite clear who' or what is really killing the women and it's the whole point of the film's critique: it's Hollywood. When Sam arrives at Purgatory, the rooftop party, a woman dressed in old-style housewife garb recites a poem about 'holy trinities of women under the city's male gaze' and then repeatedly says the number three. Trios of women are of course a motif here. One is the Brides of Dracula and one of them comments that 'There's so much vampirism in pop culture.' That means more than she intends, clearly. The actress Sam has sex with has a Dracula poster above her head as he does. The 'king' at the end also describes his female companions as 'brides'. Sam is implicated in all this, clearly, notably embodying a rather Hitchcockian male gaze as he spies on his sexy female neighbours, keeping Playboy by his bed and more. But the point is, he's a dupe of all this like so many others, seeking love, sex and connection but led astray by Hollywood and the media's easy, seductive simulations of these things. His own lost love has been transformed, achingly, into the simulation, and she, on her giant billboard, is the first thing he sees after he tells the Homeless King about how he used to love a girl who had a dog. She has now been grotesquely half transformed into a clown next to the slogan 'Hamburgers are love' - that same old media false promise. There's a lot more to say about this - I'll quickly note Sarah's suggestion to Sam that he get another dog as he needs some unconditional love - but probably best not to go on and on. Musical instrument theft: good points about Sam not hocking his stuff to pay his rent, but there is, at least, a plot hole here if you buy your interpretation: when the sheriff arrives to evict him, he's just been in the world's greatest trove of valuable musical instruments, the songwriter's house, and seems not to have taken a thing. Same issue might apply with pawnshops checking for police reports - though it seems likely the songwriter's death will not be reported - but with stuff that good, there'd be some way to unload it for profit. On Topher Grace's character being imaginary, I simply don't think your evidence is that strong, though the Kubrickian dissolve is a nice point. Here's what it seems obvious he is to me: a stand-in for the filmmaker, for filmmakers in general maybe and for David Edward Mitchell specifically. The link with Sam is very close since Sam is then probably a kind of self-portrait. First of all, in the script, Bar Buddy's described as older - in his 40s, which I believe matches Mitchell - but also he's actually operating a camera, the one on the drone, and he's the movie's resident expositor of meaning - even more so in the script where he monologues essays almost as long as this one. The drone scene is like a certain argument of the film's in microcosm: you get involved with filmmaking because you're seduced by the culture, and then you find through your involvement that that culture is corrupt and you're implicated in the corruption: the woman they're spying on comes in crying, probably because of the culture of abuse in Hollywood, and here you are with your lustful male gaze reinforcing that abuse. Sam, notably, says he feels sick as Bar Buddy begins the peeping Tom surveillance, and this is clearly hypocritical given Sam's own behaviour with the binoculars earlier. Because yes, Sam is absolutely a hypocrite, as also seen in his rant about homeless people, but that doesn't mean he's as monstrous as you say. His arc is the arc of that drone scene: from implication in a culture built on the male gaze to recognition of how profoundly degrading, damaging and life-ruining it is.
The "23" enigma predates the film. Started with William S Burroughs and was elaborated on by Robert Anton Wilson, Genesis P'Orridge and many others over the years.
Number 23 is special in gematria, hence Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Marshall lynch etc wore it
The bird is saying "hamburger" which means love in this film
Which sam doesn't or can't or chooses not to understand.
Oh because of the billboard
it says oliver
It says hollywood, thats what the subs say
@@onuq3r4y478 Sounded like that to me too, but the idea that it's actually Hollywood is great, and the idea that that can be mistaken for 'not a friend' sure works.
1492 is the house number at the beginning of It Follows. I wanted to throw out there that Indian Tribes in the last 1000 years would bury their leaders inside giant earthen mounds like the billionaires in modern day LA. The Egyptian hieroglyphs were similar. Both people's are Sun Worshippers.
Just watched 1st time last night, looked it up and fell down the hole! Thank you for the videos dissecting all the little treats in the film. 🤓
squirrel fall from the tree, what does it mean or what reference?, maybe Beware the dog killer can be written on the glass window of a coffee shop can be coded as Beware the god killer (Dog anagram for god), and the 2015 movie Revenant story of Hugh Glass, Tom Hardy ‘God Is a Squirrel’ monologue. Under the Silver Lake is a bizarre disjointed movie but it must mean something squirrel fell from a tree and died on the asphalt near the main protagonist's feet.
I would like to point out that the dolly zoom is a tool in the cinematic language that has been used across a vast number of movies so great that I don’t think you could necessarily call it a reference to another specific film or set of films unless the framing of the shot contained other markers that were specific to the movie that it was referencing.
In the shot you showed, I don’t believe that dolly zoom was a reference to another film. Just smart use of this cinematic technique.
The scene where Sam turns the corner, to see Sam, is 3rd person perspective, the third person being Sam's subconscious. Sam doesn't see himself in a good light.
Look forward to next vid. I, without spoiling here, had the impression that even and uneven numbers mean something (sum of numbers). Uneven, he is distancing from the truth and even numbers closer/on path to understand more. But not sure. Its nothing connected to the actual happenings, thus not spoiling anything, but seems interesting to analyze.
Interesting idea, I'll have to consider this the next time I watch the movie all the way through. Thanks for watching!
Nice. The film is vastly underrated. Even minus the meaning and codes, his journey itself is cool. And the lightness of the characters, like get stoned on a first date.. so unexpected, and the HOBO king, he is so friendly indeed, unexpected. I could go on.. its cool. Thanks again for the vids!
1492. Sam enters the authors house to find the conspiracies piled up in this guys life. Sam is discovering what's in the lives of Americans in present day and this is no way to live. The man dies alone with all his bars and camera's and Sam ends the movie with a message to make the most of what's left of his after making so many mistakes thus far. I imagine Sam lets go, keeps quite and hopefully finds direction in his life.
Nah! Sam IS the comic creator. There is a line in 'What's the frequency' which implies this, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy". Sam is coming to terms with his apathy towards the abuses that occur in LA, and has withdrawn in disgust to write his comic.
There are three stages to Sam's character development, after his girlfriend dumped him. There is Allen, Sam trying to make it as a suave and charming actor. Then there is 'bar buddy', Sam apathetic about his failure as an actor. Then there is the comic creator, Sam as he withdraws in disgct.
I feel like the number 23 reference is also a hint that he is schizophrenic. Not to mention everything else Sam does.
very nice vid. love this film!
Thanks! Check out Part 2 if you have time!
Just found your video series, here I go! One of my favorite movies.
Instant sub. This movie is a gift lol
I just watched this film today for the first time, I feel like it won’t be the last time…🤔
The same thing happened in "The Killing" It's Sarah the detective's last day on the job. She's about to get married to her fiance in California. but she becomes so obsessed with the case she never leaves town. Maybe it's a trop. If the main character becomes so obsessed they let everything go, the audience will too.
ohhh this is well done i'm gonna watch all of ur vids thank uuuu
Is your film club still accepting members?
Unfortunately we have been on hiatus from film club, my wife and I moved to a new city and haven't even had the opportunity to set up a reliable internet connection. I'll keep you posted though!
the word "reference" does a lot of heavy lifting here. having the camera round a corner in a hallway to reveal a person is a "reference" to The Shining? the number 23 existing on a door is a "reference" to the film The Number 23? you say it as though you're like, certain, which is weird because I feel like there is almost nothing to go off there besides an association that could just as easily be a coincidence, or even something the director (who I'm gonna assume has steeped themselves in the culture of films, watching much more movies than just the ones film students watch) may have subconsciously imitated, or imitated imitations, or just adopted an idea/technique through cultural osmosis.
you could even be totally right about both but the way the possibility is presented here it's like you think there's no other conceivable reason the director/screenwriter/set designer would make those choices. doesn't that seem a little reductive? I wouldn't go on about this but I feel it affects your analysis negatively even in the later entries in this series.
That's really interesting, you should make a video about it or something.
One of the strangest movies I've ever watched.. Totally designed to mess with your mind !
Sam and Robert Greysmith are definitely similar characters, guys just obsessed with the case. I’d recommend watching Kevin Costner in JFK. His character is right in line with those two…
Subbed. This is great stuff, great work. Any thoughts on the three word map coordinates? Would love a video series on that.
A protagonist doesn't have to be a "good" guy or a hero...Columbus for instance, a man who has been dead for more than 500yrs but who you seem to have a strong dislike of, would be the protagonist in a movie about his life.
Perhaps I could've articulated the point better, that being that Sam isn't a good person by any stretch of the imagination although he is the main character. Certainly not a hero.
As far as my opinions about Columbus, I do have a strong dislike of his treatment of Natives as well as how celebrated he is in historical context. It wasn't until I studied him thoroughly as a history major that I was enlightened about how awful he was. My disparaging comments were largely just comedic commentary in mentioning that he was no sort of hero or likable figure.
lol do you like columbus?
@@Tdurdenreturnssomevideotapes Columbus in FGO is based tho
You have a great ASMR voice but it’s so hard to hear without headphones.
Thank you, apologies - I've never done VO work before, only music recording. I'll be back with new videos soon, so hopefully there has been/will be noticeable improvement throughout the videos. Thanks for watching!
@@Tdurdenreturnssomevideotapes I’ll be back for sure. I’d love to see a condensed 10 or 15 min condensed version/ breakdown of the meaning of Under the Silver Lake. I am going to watch it again and I’d love something short to watch that will help make sense of the show. I’m convinced Andrew’s character is the dog killer.
Great videos, but I'm going to take issue with your theory on Sam being the dog killer, Bar Buddy being imaginary and Sam being a musical instrument thief, so maybe...just about everything.
The dog killer idea misses the deeper coding. As another vid analysis points out, dogs aren't being killed in the movie: women are. Women are repeatedly associated with dogs, notably when they bark. OK, they bark at Sam, but it's made quite clear who' or what is really killing the women and it's the whole point of the film's critique: it's Hollywood. When Sam arrives at Purgatory, the rooftop party, a woman dressed in old-style housewife garb recites a poem about 'holy trinities of women under the city's male gaze' and then repeatedly says the number three. Trios of women are of course a motif here. One is the Brides of Dracula and one of them comments that 'There's so much vampirism in pop culture.' That means more than she intends, clearly. The actress Sam has sex with has a Dracula poster above her head as he does. The 'king' at the end also describes his female companions as 'brides'.
Sam is implicated in all this, clearly, notably embodying a rather Hitchcockian male gaze as he spies on his sexy female neighbours, keeping Playboy by his bed and more. But the point is, he's a dupe of all this like so many others, seeking love, sex and connection but led astray by Hollywood and the media's easy, seductive simulations of these things. His own lost love has been transformed, achingly, into the simulation, and she, on her giant billboard, is the first thing he sees after he tells the Homeless King about how he used to love a girl who had a dog. She has now been grotesquely half transformed into a clown next to the slogan 'Hamburgers are love' - that same old media false promise. There's a lot more to say about this - I'll quickly note Sarah's suggestion to Sam that he get another dog as he needs some unconditional love - but probably best not to go on and on.
Musical instrument theft: good points about Sam not hocking his stuff to pay his rent, but there is, at least, a plot hole here if you buy your interpretation: when the sheriff arrives to evict him, he's just been in the world's greatest trove of valuable musical instruments, the songwriter's house, and seems not to have taken a thing. Same issue might apply with pawnshops checking for police reports - though it seems likely the songwriter's death will not be reported - but with stuff that good, there'd be some way to unload it for profit.
On Topher Grace's character being imaginary, I simply don't think your evidence is that strong, though the Kubrickian dissolve is a nice point. Here's what it seems obvious he is to me: a stand-in for the filmmaker, for filmmakers in general maybe and for David Edward Mitchell specifically. The link with Sam is very close since Sam is then probably a kind of self-portrait. First of all, in the script, Bar Buddy's described as older - in his 40s, which I believe matches Mitchell - but also he's actually operating a camera, the one on the drone, and he's the movie's resident expositor of meaning - even more so in the script where he monologues essays almost as long as this one.
The drone scene is like a certain argument of the film's in microcosm: you get involved with filmmaking because you're seduced by the culture, and then you find through your involvement that that culture is corrupt and you're implicated in the corruption: the woman they're spying on comes in crying, probably because of the culture of abuse in Hollywood, and here you are with your lustful male gaze reinforcing that abuse.
Sam, notably, says he feels sick as Bar Buddy begins the peeping Tom surveillance, and this is clearly hypocritical given Sam's own behaviour with the binoculars earlier. Because yes, Sam is absolutely a hypocrite, as also seen in his rant about homeless people, but that doesn't mean he's as monstrous as you say. His arc is the arc of that drone scene: from implication in a culture built on the male gaze to recognition of how profoundly degrading, damaging and life-ruining it is.
Eyes Wide Shut
Good video, but audio sucks
why must my NBN be so crap? having to refresh like every 5 minutes
You're touting myths about Christopher Columbus
Are you, like, an apologist for genocide?
@@Tdurdenreturnssomevideotapes Christopher Columbus never killed anyone
I’m gonna go ahead and pretend that this is a meta joke about conspiracy theories.
WAS great...until your woke Columbus bashing. Really could have avoided that. Unsubbed.
I’m so happy! FOH