Thread: Sucker Punch movie coming out this weekend

It's difficult to become immersed if you feel as if the characters aren't in any real danger. Difficult to sympathize.

I honestly don't get why people feel this way. Personally, I think this only applies if you look at the battle scenes as if they are actual battles, happening in the real world. The danger/consequence doesn't come from physical threat, as it is portrayed in the fantasy. The threat comes from what happens if they are unable to complete these missions (lobotomy; being killed by Blue; etc.). I think it takes being able to look at the situation from that perspective to realize the risk that was associated with each mission. In the final mission, the danger was more immediate, because the cook had a knife. But there was risk associated with completing every mission they showed - even the first one.

Remember: "If you do not dance, you have no purpose. And we don't keep things here that have no purpose."

She knows that she has to 'perform' to get through the ordeal (which then turns into having to perform, to keep the men occupied while she steals from them). The missions are representative of what she has to go through, mentally, to endure the whole asylum/abuse experience, and the threat of getting caught while trying to deceive her captors.

But, in other news: Here's a pretty interesting commentary on the first 5 minutes of the movie, and some of the recurring symbolism that follows.
First Five Minutes of Sucker Punch Dissected

[Edit]
Also, here is an awesome post by someone on IMDB, talking about some possible background on the Sucker Punch world:

Spoiler for http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978764/board/thread/180862404:

The club's a front...
by taudarian 10 hours ago (Thu Apr 7 2011 15:44:02)
Ignore this User | Report Abuse Reply
UPDATED Thu Apr 7 2011 15:54:16
... for his business - guns, gambling, medication, special favors

Rocket to Babydoll

You're suddenly not aware of what it is we do here?

Blue to Dr Gorski

Extract from wikipedia article on the Duplessis Orphans of Quebec:

"Beginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1960s, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis, in cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church which ran the orphanages, developed a scheme to obtain federal funding for thousands of children, most of whom had been orphaned through forced adoption/kidnapping from their unwed mothers. In some cases the Catholic orphanages were relabelled as health-care facilities and in other cases the children were shipped from orphanages to existing insane asylums. Years later, long after these institutions were closed, the children who had survived them and become adults began to speak out about the harsh treatment and sexual abuse they were forced to endure at the hands of the psychiatrists, Roman Catholic Church priests, nuns, and administrators."

The stepfather is depicted as a Roman Catholic priest.

Extract from Canada's CBC-TV site:

"an alarming number of healthy children living in sanctuaries were hastily diagnosed as mentally incompetent, psychotic patients. The diagnoses were always swift — the children went to bed orphans and woke up psychiatric patients. The reason? Shrewd fiscal planning; federal subsidies paid out more to hospitals than to orphanages. Some children allegedly endured lobotomies, electroshock, straitjackets and abuse"

During the 50's and 60's the CIA ran project MKULTRA, an experiment in mind control conducted on people declared mentally ill and orphans, using hypnotherapy, drugs, torture and sexual abuse to induce dissociate identity disorder (multiple personality disorder). Survivors of this program in Canada successfully sued for compensation bringing evidence of this program to light. The CIA settled out of court. As part of their testimonies they alleged that they were forced to work as prostitutes by the CIA who filmed them with powerful clients who were then blackmailed. More on this here:

History of Mind Control

Note the name of the site owner - Gorski.

The Brattleboro Retreat in Vermont, formerly the Brattleboro Asylum for the Mentally Insane, has a special program for female sufferers of dissociative identity disorder.

The National Clandestine Service (NCS) of the CIA has it's office in Fort Wayne.

The bus Sweet Pea boards at the end is going to Fort Wayne.

I can understand Blue running medication out of a corrupt asylum. Guns, gambling and special favors I have a hard time believing. However were the CIA running guns and drugs in the 50's and 60's? Yes.

BabyDoll's name is given as M. Reeas. Reeas = Erase as an anagram. Does M = Mind?

The more I discover about this movie's subtleties, the more I love it.

Most underrated movie ever.