Arresting a Symbol

In Bolivar Yo Soy, the character Santiago took up the identity and image of Bolivar, and wanted to bring about change to Colombia. Throughout the movie, you see police officers and government officials trying to stop Santiago. However, they all show hesitance to kill or arrest Santiago, even though they believe he is an actor who has gotten too into his role.
I have seen several movies at this point that showcase a similar phenomenon; a regular person becomes tired of the way the world works, and seeks to change it by becoming part of a symbol or icon. Officials always try to stop them, but finding a proper way to stop them becomes tricky. There are a couple reasons why arresting or killing an icon is a bad idea.
A symbol is created because it has meaning within a group of people. A symbol such as Bolivar was held as important among the people of Colombia. In the movie, it is also apparent that the President used Bolivar the symbol to gain popularity among the people. If he had arrested Bolivar/Santiago, it could be assumed that the President has no regard for the Colombians' beliefs. Also, if he had moved people to believe in his cause, there would be people who would rise up and take his place. This is demonstrated in the rebel forces that later "help" Santiago. They believe in the real Bolivar's cause, and try to finish what he started, even though it is more violent than what Santiago would like.

Week 2 - Network

For me, the main points of Network were summed up in the final argument between Diana and Max. They have an argument about the way their "script" is going, and Max ends up moving out to try and reconcile with his wife. I think his explanation to her about her life fits perfectly what these network TV shows do to people. He tells her that everything she touches becomes corrupt and dies, and that she can't just take the parts of him that she wants and throw out the rest. She is television personified.
You can see her changing the things she touches by what she does to the TV shows she creates.When Diana wants to put the rebel group on a TV, you see them becoming pawns of the network. They adjust to meet her ideas of what sells, and even go as far as to carry out an assassination at her bidding, using a ratings boost as an excuse. The moment a show stops earning high ratings for her, she eliminates that show by any means possible.

Week 1

Revolutionary change is more desperately urgent than ever, but we do not know any more what revolution means.
-John Holloway

This week in class, the topic of "revolution" was discussed. Before the term itself was defined, we saw how revolution was conveyed in the media. These days everything from ball-point pens to cars seems to have been described as "revolutionary". Through the media, it has become steadily apparent that we have lost a true concept of what revolution actually means.
I don't usually watch a lot of TV, but I did hear a few excerpts from the Golden Globes while I was cooking dinner tonight. Oddly enough, I overheard someone talking about revolution; a TV actor was talking about what to expect on the new season of a program he stars in. He said that some of the topics covered on the show would be "revolutionary".
Previously I would have ignored this kind of statement; after all, I don't have much interest in TV, save for a few shows. However, I was reminded of how we had defined revolution. For purposes of discussion, a definition we used was that revolution is a sudden wrenching of people out of their accustomed patterns of seeing and believing. I found it interesting to think about, whether or not a music TV show about high school could actually be as revolutionary as the actor seemed to believe, or if this was another case of the media romanticizing revolution.