How many days have gone by since the NSA was discovered spying on the people they were installed to protect? Conspiracy theorists were proudly able to point to their tin-foil hats as having “known all along;” perhaps there was a general "live and let die" attitude towards the idea of the government collecting data that could exist as long as there was nothing visible under the bed at night.

And so, what was done? A few movies were made, which includes the well-put-together documentary "Citizenfour," and people were pretty upset... for a while. Whether it was from the feeling that this was something inevitable, that we had been groomed to deal with from countless pre-Snowden science fiction stories, or that the problem was too immense and too abstract to grab hold of any one tail and so resulted in a big shrug (like what can I even do about this) — one result is that much of the initial outrage at this discovery has sloped off into a kind of complacency.

Not that this hasn’t impacted life now. One thing that’s been eager to absorb this situation is the film industry, which allows the public to channel their unease into sweet box office cash (oh yeah). Effects have touched even the most mainstream of movies such as 2015’s "Spectre" (and surely James Bond would be the most excited to get to fight a shadowy antagonist called PRISM — which is pretty much the evil plan of the villain in that movie). Films can raise awareness or call to action for an issue — but so far the movies that have done so either politically or commercially have fallen short in reenergizing the issue or getting public pressure on the government for more transparency.

In steps Oliver Stone with "Snowden." Other critics have noted the similarities of his upcoming movie with two among his best reviewed: "JFK" and "Nixon." Both deal with conspiracy at the highest level of government, and though he took artistic liberties with authenticity, it furthered the point he was trying to make. Finally Stone gets subject matter that reaches the scope of his previous movies without having to fictionalize, because the truth is so interesting by itself. Perhaps this telling of the NSA story will have a greater call to action — that by directly dramatizing the events, there can be a greater sense of urgency and relatability to the subject matter for a general audience (instead of just those who watched the documentaries).

That would be the hope anyway. A system which broke its contract with the American public and who largely maintains innocence in the matter, cannot stand against popular culture with mobilizing potential. If Oliver Stone can’t spark this in "Snowden," someone needs to. However, there is also the danger of oversaturation of this “paranoid technology” theme that may pave the road to normalizing an unconditional crime and thus eventually people are like: forget it, I need my next paycheck, I don’t have time to deal with this. But any attempt may be better than none, and whether Edward Snowden is a “hero” or not, like the "Spectre" Bond theme the “Writing’s on the Wall” appears not on plaster as it does in Daniel 5 of the bible, but now on a blinking computer terminal. Its warning is waiting to be read and taken up, but whereas the king in the bible passage could only stare at the translated words implicating his corruption — the question that arises in the 21st century is if those in a position of power can manipulate that message to give a false sense of domestic protection.