Joy Ride

Rating: 80%


(http://movielistmania.blogspot.co.uk)

Also Known As:

Unknown

Version:

Language:

Length:

97 minutes

Review Format:

DVD

Year:

2001

Country:

Predominant Genre:

Thriller

Director:

Outstanding Performance:

Premiss:

Three young Whites on a road trip antagonize a trucker via their CB radio, then must run for their lives when he seeks vengeance.

Themes:

Alienation

Christianity

Coming-of-age

Compassion

Corporate Power

Courage

Curative

Destiny

Emotional repression

Empathy

Erotophobia

Ethnicity

Family

Free Speech

Friendship

Gynophobia

Humanity

Identity

Individualism

Justice

Loneliness

Love

Loyalty

Mankind

Materialism

Narcissism

Nationality

Nostalgia

Personal

Personal change

Political

Political Correctness

Preventive

Redemption

Republicanism

Role modeling

Sadomasochism

Schizophrenia

Sexism

Sexual Repression

Snobbery

Solipsism

Stereotyping

Totalitarianism

White culture

White guilt

White Privilege

White supremacy

Similar to:

Duel

Pandora’s Box

Caucasians Hold Grudges Forever Because they Have no Other Emotional Outlet

Summary: What happens when Whites believe that the emotions of others do not matter.

T

hese kinds of stories work well in White culture and, so, are an accurate reflection of the problems that Whites, and those who wish to be accepted by them, possess. The violence inherent in such a culture is well to the fore here - as is the response to it; a cycle of violence with no end in sight.

Whites are so obsessed with hiding their emotions from others - and themselves - that even among their friends they are required to conceal what they really feel or be mocked for being too much like the so-called lower races. This results in the inevitable political stereotyping that results in viewing people as members of social groups - rather than as individuals - since the latter becomes impossible when one eschews ones own emotions along with everybody else’s. Whites then act surprised when a backlash occurs - as here - and imagine a simple apology will suffice.

Emotional repression is, ultimately, the basis of the story here as we witness Whites mocking each other for being both repressed and for being emotionally-expressive - an oxymoronic worldview that can only lead to the mental illness and catastrophic emotional rage displayed here.

Mocking others is an activity undertaken by those who have no real, inner, emotional life and/or who are as immature as they are defensive. It does not fill the time, but merely passes it in the hope that the effort involved in taking responsibility for ones actions represents a time in ones life that will never occur.

Like all the best thrillers, a strong vein of humor runs through this and helps both to underscore the action and to necessarily-relieve some of the well-crafted suspense. The comedy helps compensate for the lack of a proper exploration of the moral can-of-worms the script begins to open in favor of eventual plot-heaviness; feeling a little unnatural in its eventual abandonment of character-development.

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Copyright © 2015 Frank TALKER.
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