the belief in the big other a an invisible power structure which exist in the real be the most succinct definition of paranoia . slavoj zizek this be a review of marathon man and the falcon and the snowman and two film by director john schlesinger . though hitchcock and lang bring the conspiracy thriller to hollywood and the genre only blossom in the late 60 and 70 and with film like the parallax view and z and marathon man and capricorn one and the manchurian candidate and three day of the condor and all the president men . this be the age of vietnam and watergate and the public deeply suspicious of all political leader . the genre remain quiet in the 80 and early 90 and until the x file tv series sprung to life . with taglines such a the truth be out there and trust no one and the series posit a world of vast conspiracy and government plot and the common man at the mercy of all manner of ridiculously elaborate scheme . the only way out of the maze . fight the future . a the tagline of the series final season proclaim . it be apparently our duty to trawl through the labyrinth of information and discover some elusive truth that ensure our own freedom . this trend end with the boom of the internet and conspiracy thriller now give way to conspiracy documentary . the internet generation lap up such independent documentary a loose change and zeitgeist and whilst in the mainstream michael moore titillate his audience with stuff like fahrenheit 9/11 . all these documentary believe in a secret order and a cabal of wealthy politician and businessmen who conspire to reduce human right and enslave the world . they struggle to create a mono myth and link various conspiracy and hidden agenda into a single and all encompass narrative that explain the purpose and point and future of everything . this need to streamline narrative and to make them more efficient and be reflect in the scientific community and who battle to create a grand unification theory and ultimately a theory of everything and merge everything from quantum mechanic to special relativity into one giant all encompass formula . so ultimately and the conspiracy thriller be root in man desire to have control . the modern subject be one who display outright cynicism towards official institution and yet at the same time believe in the existence of conspiracy ( an unseen other pull the string ) . this apparently contradictory coupling of cynicism and belief be strictly relate to the demise of the big other . it disappearance cause u to construct an other of the other ( conspiracy ) in order to escape the unbearable freedom it loss cause . conversely and there be no need to take the big other seriously if we believe in an other of the other . be therefore allow to display cynicism and belief in equal measure . man thus seek to assert control over a wayward universe and to create a kind of paternal babysitter ( be it god and a mathematical formula and a conspiracy theory and an explanation for violence or conspiracy or murder or war etc ) who provide meaning and symbolic order . the big other provide reassurance to the believer . it a lifestyle choice and akin to religion and in which his place in the world be dependent on sheer irrationality . the problem with most conspiracy thriller and from the innocent day of hitchcock topaz all the way up to modern fare like the da vinci code and be two fold . firstly and they be not incorrect in suggest that something be wrong amongst the elite or best people and but they be incorrect in individualize and personalize process that be social and collective and systemic and an approach which imply that it be just a question of personal morality rather than social structure . secondly and and most importantly and these conspiracy ignore the fact that the big other simply doesn not exist . there be no symbolic order pull the string . some modern conspiracy thriller ( eye wide shut and existenz etc ) acknowledge this and with their untangleable web of lie and accident and truth and half truth and nothing ever add up and nothing ever make sense and the real and the hyperreal and the truth and the desire and all blur and without any identifiable ground zero and but these be mostly film by intellectual director . compare to these modern conspiracy thriller and marathon man and the falcon and the snowman be positively archaic . marathon man be a about a grad student ( dustin hoffman ) who get embroil in his big brother business ( roy scheider ) and which unfortunately have to do with spy and gun and double agent and diamond and evil nazi dentist . scheider be suave and hoffman be excellent and schlesinger hit u with some neat visuals ( the reveal of the eiffel tower be stun ) and but what most interesting about the film be the way that it various plot line do not intersect until the 1 hour mark . even then and it take a further half hour for thing to start make sense . unfortunately and the film end with a clichéd showdown between the villain and the good guy and everything neatly resolve and explain . the falcon and the snowman be a bit more ambitious . sean penn and timothy hutton play two friend who sell government secret to the soviet union . hutton work at a civil defence contractor and smuggles information out of his office and into the hand of penn and a small time drug dealer who have no qualm sell to the kgb . penn do this strictly for the money and whilst hutton be disillusion with the american government ( particularly it attempt to depose the leader of australia ) and so sell the secret strictly because he hat how his country conduct crime and game of espionage . in other word and the film be about a conspiracy undertaken a a response to conspiracy . marathon man 7. positive the falcon and the snowman positive aside from an oddly slapstick car crash and it clichéd end and marathon man be an effective thriller and with several neat scene . the falcon and the snowman be even well and penn turning in a memorable performance .