MovieChat Forums > Escape from New York (1981) Discussion > Awesome movie, but Carpenter is borderli...

Awesome movie, but Carpenter is borderline paranoid


At the end of the movie Snake gives them the wrong tape and tears up the right one.

It's an amusing way to end the movie, but really doesn't serve much of a purpose and makes Snake look like an a-hole. Carpenter is so paranoid and anti-government, he has to have his characters lash out just for the sake of it. I get that Snake doesn't like the government and that's fine, but doing something that prevents the end of a World War makes very little sense. Snake gains nothing from it and is actually hurting innocents he claims the government is screwing over.

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EFNY is a bit boring action movie, but the ending saved a lot.

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God, I can't stand what a sickly, conformist culture the 21st century has developed. Nobody in their right mind would side with the government in this film.

Just amazing.

A generation of bootlickers eager to see free minds locked away.

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so in that situation you'd start a world war rather than do anything to co-operate with the government?

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If I were that character, yes. Makes perfect sense. Luckily, EFNY is this thing called FICTION, it's not real, so it's okay to root for someone like Snake because IT'S NOT REAL, IT'S MAKE-BELIEVE!

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yeah i get that , and it was a cool but ultimately pointless gesture on snakes part.
Its not like he comformed in any other way , so it wouldnt make him a "bootlicker" if he didnt fuck with the tape and averted a world war.
I love the sequence where he does it again in the sequel though.


But in the real world , we have a large contingent of people determined to do exactly the opposite of what the authoruty says , purely and simply becasue they said it - they give no thought to what has been said , they wikll just do the oppositte - and call everyone else 'sheeple' while doing it , the fucki9ng morons.
current example is mask not-wearers

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I agree. No-maskers have chosen the wrong hill to die on.

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I’d probably have deleted my account too if I’d written something like that.

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mask not wearers, God what a foolish example, have you ever realized that these people just simply may have had a common sense and dignity all along, plus knowing that masks do not prevent a pathogen because it gets through, and that harming ourselves by inducing the lack of oxygen to save someone else 'by force from an authority' is not only against our human rights of freedom, but also paradoxically is self destructive to the collective from within ultimately by the nature of its socialistic philosophy itself, it implodes on itself when the individuals become weak to hold the collective, but also it is giving consent to any authority to take away freedom from an individual to help this way, just out of their free will, instead the authority takes it as a consent to treat everyone the same, yes as sheeple, not an individual, and now a year later watch the trajectory where it leads, more control from authority in other areas, more and more. Each action we do is a consent that governments take as a status of where the collective stands in their mindset with regards to freedom and sovereignty of an individual. This is where Snake would come as a good role model, to teach people that the only way how we can help the collective is through the individual freedom of choice, self respect, self empowerment and self help at the same time, to come as an example for others how to do it, that teaches sovereignty and self reliance, not victimhood, and even in moments of self sacrifice, such an act comes from the empowered mind that makes that individual free choice, not by force of an authority, for it is that free choice that makes it an act of courage and power. By force it makes people weak and disempowered slaves. Notice this key subtle difference, which makes a whole lot of difference in this whole world for our humanity. People choose freedom or slavery by their actions in the name of love.

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Look , theres one ^

even cites Snake as "a good role model"

Even in this thread about where snake does something completely moronic out of spite that harms himself along with everyone else just to "stick it to the man"

Your anti government ranting has reinforced my opinion that most antimaksers are just "doing the opposite" no matter the context.

I assume you refuse to wear a seatbelt or a crash helmet because "the man" told you to as well ?
(and because this one time a guy was wearing his seatbelt and he Still Died! so it doesent work! wtf! right? )

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No they are doing the opposite because they know the government is lying to them and know what is helping others, and ultimately themselves, and it is not slavery. No I do not wear a seatbelt, or a crash helmet, I do not lock the door to my car or house either, and I do not wear a condom either, but that is my free choice, simply because I am not driven by fear, and know the science of what trust and faith does electro-magnetically to keep us protected. And there is a reason why it never failed me. But that is what self empowerment does. When the individual is in power, then the collective is in power, simply by us going as an example teaching others. Change the world, change yourself first.

What self destructive mask wearers do, is changing the world so they could change themselves, completely backwards, and they're on the way of death itself, because they dont see the bigger picture of how life works.

I am not telling you that you are irresponsible, cruel, ignorant, dumb, or any of that, you obviously have a good heart in the right place who has his own way how to help, just a different perspective. I know what I know, and you know what you know. Don't let governments divide us, that's what they want.

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I'm all for freedom and my-free-choice,
but I accept that I cant do what the hell i want when it impacts other people.
antimasking - spreads disease
no seatbelts and helmets - fills emergency rooms


Maybe im not seeing the bigger picture
why is the government against us?
why do the government want to divide us?



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Power corrupts. It will always centralise and draw more power for itself by removing the freedoms of the individual. That is why it must always be kept on a tight leash, with guns aimed at the heads of any human beings who accept positions of power.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

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We’ll, he did say: “I don’t give a fuck about your war, or your president”.

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Carpenter is actually pro democrat/progressive liberal controlled government. There are lots of videos of him on Youtube gushing over democrat leaders and policies.

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i was prepare to disagree with you but you know... you are corrects (if destroying tapes ends up in dead innocents).

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The tape means nothing.

Seriously, what could be on that tape that couldn't be recreated? This isn't some Dead Sea scroll or some alien knowledge of which there is only one copy. It's a recording of people that could be recreated by the same people and to the same ends.

It's almost like Real Genius; The government still have the weapon. What went wrong with the test will be quickly be determine by the engineers. They'll simply rebuild and test again successfully. Maybe it makes the audience feel good that someone got away with something but in the end what was to be will be. The same can be said for the end of Sneakers and, to a lessor extent, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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Snake isn’t exactly a nice guy, he doesn’t care about the fate of the world, he’s just pissed at Hauk for injecting him with that capsule and for the President not really caring about the people who died getting him out.

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I haven't read any novelizations and such. Just saw this for the first time in many years. The way it's presented in the film, the tape is important for world peace, and isn't easy to replace. It almost seems more important than the president. That does make Snake less of a likable anti-hero when he destroys it because he has a beef with the president. I understand that the president wasn't sorry enough for the lives that were lost rescuing him, but how many lives would be lost if there was a nuclear war between the three great powers of the world (in that version of the near future)? I don't think it was ever made clear or even heavily implied that Snack had been lied to about the tape. That would have made a big difference.

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