Motifs in Cinema 2013 - Man against Society

Andrew of Encore's World of Film and TV is hosting his annual blogathon of Motifs in Cinema. I decided to pitch in and explore a theme that was present, one way or another, in many movies last year - Man against society. Whether those films featured characters fighting the law, government or the ideas followed by majority but not themselves, cinematic year of 2013 was filled with the acts of defiance.

Dallas Buyers Club

There's been a lot of movies about survival in 2013. In All is Lost Robert Redford was trying to survive on an open sea. In Captain Phillips Tom Hanks was abducted by Somali pirates, who were hoping for ransom. In Gravity Sandra Bullock was floating in space and desperately looking for ways to return to Earth. In 12 Years a Slave Solomon Northup had to endure the terrors of slavery in order to stay alive. Nature, greed, space, hatred. All as relentless and vicious as a disease. But at this time - 1985, in this place - Dallas - this disease was also something those four things weren't - unbeatable.