Directors, like Christopher Nolan, use the master manipulator as the protagonist. This "hero" sells illusions within illusions for their own ends, be they benign or catastrophic.

Blockbuster directors not only reflect society but shape it. They function as "cultural engineers" equivalent to industrial engineers building highways or spreading electricity.

The heavy work undertaken is to sell the vision of values (propaganda) that supposes a deeper reality than the shallow, vapid, consumerism we encounter daily.

Anyone who can provide depth, even if illusory, offers vitality to an otherwise flattened reality: sans-God we still crave a deeper order, even if it is conspiracy-laden, tech-fueled nonsense.