GE reality.
I just went to YouTube and was looking at the top rated news related videos of the day. It won't stay up there for long, but it got my attention.
Regarding the GE cable channels, don't get me started. Have you seen Conspiracy, or Conspiracy Files? Bin Laden? They produce a new UFO show nearly every month. Of course these same people own Animal Planet, which is as much a white wash job, as the Discovery Channel is industrial PR. And the History Channel is as devoted to selling Western supremacy as the Military Channel.
And have you noticed which commercials play on these networks? Naked PR spots for chemical, plastic, oil, and tobacco industries. Lots of pharmaceutical and military recruitment commercials. Its all so explicit.
Regarding the movies you mentioned, unfortunately I think that they play into making people feeling more powerless. My favorite movie is Brazil by Terry Gilliam. In case you haven't seen it, its about one man with ideals, in time of blind acceptance of authority, who gets squashed when he tries to escape. Amazing movie, but not encouraging in the slightest.
While that movie was a beautifully tragic metaphor for modern society, many of the movies that you are addressing do not lend themselves to reasonable critique of our present circumstances. Very much like the Discovery Channel, these movies frame counter-cultural themes while enforcing mainstream priorities. Its all about the 'so what'. What was the moral of those movies? What are people really taking away from the experience? Do they feel more empowered? Or have they simply been fed more reason to fear the power of the system?
Take a movie like The Bourne Supremacy. The whole movie makes you sympathetic to one man who has been wronged by a corrupt CIA agent. The whole movie pits him against the agency until he is able to clear his name. Kind of like The Fugitive in this way. The bulk of each of these movies is a presentation of the tactical abilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies. In the end of each movie, the bad cop goes down, and the good cop is there to shake the guys hand, and make it clear that the institution was never the problem, only a corrupt element that needed to be flushed out.
And both of these movies left me feeling very much like these intelligence and law enforcement agencies could easily find out everything about me, track me, and take me out for any reason. If the best CIA assassin could hardly dodge the CIA, I could never stand a chance. Not that I have any reason to hide. Every new Tom Clancy book, movie, and video game is in fact PR/commercial propaganda for the military. He consults with military and intelligence agencies, and has his own inside sources.
Not that every movie with this theme has a negative intent, but it seems that many do.