Pump Up the Volume

Updating the vitriolic hatred of the blind conformity found in Network and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Allan Moyle’s Pump Up the Volume (1990) appropriates these anti-authoritarian classics and channels them through the lens of a teen movie that is smarter than its peers. As such, and as it is bound to, it succeeds at building up the heroic stance of its protagonist, anonymous Mark Hunter and his far more imposing on-air personality Happy Harry Hard On (Christian Slater), so that we come to understand how a singular voice gains in strength and resonance when not held captive by societal pressures. When allowed the autonomy and creativity of self-definition that the formerly shy Hunter finds with his radio show, he truly possesses the power to expose the abusive regulations and hypocrisies that the adult authorities adhere to in their exploits.

At its heart, then, Moyle’s film is an empowerment tale, struggling to work within the margins of teen genre cinema and still speak of larger issues than simply guy-desires-girl teen material. And while the film still possesses these latter issues of sexuality, it complicates them by allowing the gothic-attired Nora (Samantha Mathis) to be the aggressor in the relationship between her and Mark, shifting the complexities of subjectivity onto her persona rather than being the stereotypical victim figure. In some way it’s a symbolic superhero she’s drawn to in her adulation of the vehemently outspoken anti-conformist Happy Harry, but we soon see her appreciation and love for the more underachieving Mark Hunter persona as she works to negotiate his passivity and plan to quit speaking out. Her strength soon transforms Mark, allowing him to build a continual critique of the abusive school administration and the willingness to shift the blame onto his radio show rather than dig deeper into the societal problems themselves.

Perhaps most fundamentally, though Pump Up the Volume draws parallels to Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, which featured a similarly minded independent-thinking protagonist who desperately wanted to awaken minds to the complexities of life and society. Here, rather than focusing on those who empty lives inspire them to call into a personality who despises them, Mark actually empathizes with his fellow youth listeners. As such, he wants to exposes the improprieties of a system that often treats teens like chattel, throwing aside the weak or unmotivated while manipulating school figures so as to score higher state funding. The finale, though, feels just a bit too positivistic, so that, while inspiring, ignores the reality that most youths don’t aspire to grow out of passivity.

Furthermore, at times the film feels like its themes are a bit too shallowly drawn, as the shy Hunter is almost too inward in his stereotypical aloofness. Additionally, most of the secondary characters are rather one-dimensional, with the exceptions of Mark’s creative fiction instructor and his father, who develops complexity after initially seeming to be the father figure who pacifies his family with empty assurances. Also, even as the film avoids overt emphasis on simple sexuality, the film seems to shy away from it as well. Here, Mark has the goth hottie Nora lusting after him, but he never takes her and [CENSORED BY BLOGSPOT MANAGEMENT] and [CENSORED AGAIN] while he is [SERIOUSLY, YOU DON'T WANNA READ WHAT'S UNDER HERE].

That said, this is eminently watchable and a very noble film in its admittedly broad politics in the end, one that benefits from smart dialogue and a strong partnering of two actors (Slater and Mathis) who have characters that are alive and never less than engaging. Well worth a second look if you disregarded, as I once did, and worth a rewatch for a personal reappraisal.

Pump Up the Volume: 8/10