I really enjoyed “Landscape with Invisible Hand;” I loved the score, I thought the acting and screenwriting was good, and I really liked the design of the film, including the cinematography and the aliens.
To me, Landscape with Invisible Hand is an example of “revolutionary media,” that is, a form of propaganda built around keeping the viewer docile. It is manufactured to make the viewer feel like a revolutionary by watching it; The resistant, resilient spirit of Adam’s family is supposed to make the viewer feel as if they too have the revolutionary spirit in them, and that, in the end, things will work out. We will survive under Vuvv rule, we must simply worth within it, because there is no hope of changing it.
This is a dangerous idea.
The Vuvv are incredibly wealthy interstellar interlopers who see the Earth as an investment opportunity. They see the interconnected, ruling wealthy classes of Earth as a way to streamline the process of investment and to accelerate returns on their investments. The declining material conditions of the majority of humans on Earth, that is, the working classes of Earth, are a direct product of the decay of capitalism, which has been sped up by the Vuvv. Inevitably, if the Vuvv are not to intervene in and slow this decay, the returns on their investments will begin to reduce, and they will either have to take a tighter grip on humanity or leave the planet altogether. The former is more likely, seeing as the Vuvv have seemingly parasitized entire galaxies. This kind of state intervention, also known as state corporatism, is the defining feature of fascism, and it happened on our planet, in a shorter period of time, with the fascists of the Second World War. However, the Vuvv, unlike our fascists, possess the means to keep their form of fascism sustained for the foreseeable future; the Vuvv seek the protection, preservation, and perpetuation of capitalism in an imminent form of Vuvv fascism. The Vuvv, as both the state and the wealthy, are entirely unlimited in the influence and capital they can and will accumulate, and the future of humanity is enslavement.
But humanity can resist if it becomes organized, if it educates itself in the way of historical revolutions, and if it is truly willing to challenge Vuvv rule. This is not what the film tells us; the film tells us that we have no choice other than working in the new Vuvv system because of the Vuvv’s insurmountable power, because of insurmountable odds. But this isn’t true; things will get worse under the Vuvv, and if action isn’t taken, and mind you, action can be taken, it will continue to get worse.
I know the film isn’t entirely telling the viewer to be docile, but that is the overarching theme; it is the lesson. Stay put, work with what you have, don’t try to change the system.