Propaganda Against Reality

The Running Man

This flow follows the struggle between Ben Richards’s lived experience and the Network’s manufactured public narrative.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Villain Portrait The Villain Portrait from "The Running Man". A Face Rewritten Visual Deception The Network alters Ben’s photograph so that poverty reads as animal cunning.

The Villain Portrait from "The Running Man". A Face Rewritten Visual Deception The Network alters Ben’s photograph so that poverty reads as animal cunning.

A Face Rewritten Visual Deception The Network alters Ben’s photograph so that poverty reads as animal cunning. The image precedes his voice and defines what viewers believe they see. Moral Simplification The broadcast reduces structural desperation to personal criminality. Ben is made legible only as a threat.

The Silenced Message The Silenced Message from "The Running Man". Pollution on Tape Speaking to the Poor Ben uses Running Man tape clips to address unemployed people and residents of Developments.

The Silenced Message from "The Running Man". Pollution on Tape Speaking to the Poor Ben uses Running Man tape clips to address unemployed people and residents of Developments.

Pollution on Tape Speaking to the Poor Ben uses Running Man tape clips to address unemployed people and residents of Developments. He explains that Air pollution and censorship are linked. Audio Erasure The Network removes or distorts his words, then substitutes fabricated obscenities. His attempt at public speech becomes evidence of the extremism they invented.

Laughlin’s Spectacle Laughlin’s Spectacle from "The Running Man". The Dead Contestant A Body as Proof The Network displays Jimmy Laughlin’s destroyed body and celebrates the children who reported him.

Laughlin’s Spectacle from "The Running Man". The Dead Contestant A Body as Proof The Network displays Jimmy Laughlin’s destroyed body and celebrates the children who reported him.

The Dead Contestant A Body as Proof The Network displays Jimmy Laughlin’s destroyed body and celebrates the children who reported him. Death is converted into a patriotic ceremony. Ben’s Moral Shock Ben’s anger becomes nausea rather than triumph. The broadcast makes him understand that the hunt is designed to erase sympathy for every contestant.

The Hostage Cameras The Hostage Cameras from "The Running Man". Live Visibility The Crowd Arrives News cameras and spectators surround Ben and Amelia Williams.

The Hostage Cameras from "The Running Man". Live Visibility The Crowd Arrives News cameras and spectators surround Ben and Amelia Williams.

Live Visibility The Crowd Arrives News cameras and spectators surround Ben and Amelia Williams. Their presence prevents the police from killing the hostage without explanation. Publicity as Shield Ben turns the Network’s need for continuous spectacle against it. Visibility briefly protects the vulnerable from secret state violence.

The Last Broadcast The Last Broadcast from "The Running Man". The Network Speaks Back A Bargain on Screen Dan Killian offers Ben a place inside the Games Authority and promises a fake execution.

The Last Broadcast from "The Running Man". The Network Speaks Back A Bargain on Screen Dan Killian offers Ben a place inside the Games Authority and promises a fake execution.

The Network Speaks Back A Bargain on Screen Dan Killian offers Ben a place inside the Games Authority and promises a fake execution. The offer seeks to absorb dissent rather than answer it. Refusal Through Impact Ben rejects the role of managed rebel and crashes into the institution. The final image overwhelms the narrative control that produced it.

the first broadcast

the fifth day of the hunt

after Jimmy Laughlin’s capture

during the Rockland standoff

during the final flight