Gary Langfield 
After watching “The Running Man,” I’m convinced that this is the most perfectly timed movie in the 21st century. Directed by Edgar Wright, this Stephen King adaptation tackles class struggles and emphasizes major issues within American society that have been here for a very long time.
Hollywood is still in a creative drought with yet another remake, however, this one stands out due to the themes and messages being conveyed in this high action, sci-fi experience of a movie. In it, we follow Ben Richards, played by Glen Powell, a father who has been blackballed out of his job industry and was convinced to join “The Running Man” to provide a much better life for his wife and sick daughter.
Fun fact, the original novel, written in 1973, takes place in the year 2025. This emphasizes the point that even though the story is set in the near future, the exaggerated struggle that the characters face is a direct reflection of present day America.
“The Running Man” is a game show where three contestants avoid being killed by a group of hunters at all costs. The longer they stay alive, the more money they get with a grand prize of one billion dollars if you survive 30 days.
Within this premise, the movie is what you can expect from a high budget action project, but as the game unfolds it becomes a clever metaphor that I hope my fellow American citizens can pick up. To put it simply, the game is being run the same way the country is being run right now. The movie communicates ideas such as media manipulation and class subjection beautifully because it’s part of the problem our hero has to overcome in the story.
During the show, contestants have to submit proof of life videos every day, and they’re shown to the public. However, Ben’s videos were altered whenever he was speaking the truth about how the rich class were hurting the working class.
In America to this day, we suffer from false narratives all the time. The movie serves as a reminder of how easy it is to manipulate people into hate. The game show manipulating media in this movie hits home because America does it all the time, and the increased use of AI is only making it easier.
The movie gets deeper. America usually weaponizes the media against Black people, but in this plot it’s a weapon used to entertain the elites in their society while making money. This ties into real world politics as tensions rise over the rich getting richer while middle to low income people struggle. The movie’s story is simply a class battle disguised as a simple action movie.
In the end, Ben, our main character, makes this speech about how the elite put people against each other while they sit back, laugh, and make money, reminding his fellow working class citizens who and what the problem is. Of course they altered the footage, but the truth prevailed leading to a satisfying ending where viewers overthrew the show. The movie had me thinking that everybody should go watch it so we can have intelligent double meaning conversations.
By Gary Langfield Jr.
Instagram: @ima_menace21
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