From his earliest days as a filmmaker, David Cronenberg has been fascinated with out of the body experiences of one kind or another. Whether in the tiny, sharp-toothed demon children of The Brood, his remake of the classic The Fly, or James Wood's bodily transmogrifications in Videodrome, he's kept the people who make prosthetics, masks, and armatures busy. Coming into the digital age, then, it's no surprise to see him taking up the theme of virtual reality in ExistenZ, complete with VR "pods" which bear an uncanny resemblance to a stomach connected to an umbilical cord, which are attached via a "port" at the base on one's spine. It's a new, fleshy twist on the virtual reality theme, which goes back at least as far a Tron, a movie made long before the technology which made such things possible had been invented.
Yet despite this, the overarching narrative questions which drive ExistenZ are largely of a non-material form. The structure of the film represents, I believe, an attempt to take some of the structure of classic noir films, exchanging a tightly-drawn plot for something more like the "scenario" of a video game: a set of rooms, a set of actions triggered on entry into these rooms, and a set of narratives-within-narratives. The difficulty here of course is that even the best video-game scenarios are exhaustible, and often lead to frustrating repetitions and narrative dead-ends (a situation parodied here with the store owner who stops moving and starts staring blankly until he finally gets his verbal cue). The idea of having the game's designer trapped within a scenario of her own design is another brilliant twist, as are the sudden edits within which a character "wakes up" somewhere else without the usual noir assist from a blackjack. Some, and I am among them, are disappointed by the film's ending, which seems to come at a point far before its full potential has been realized, but seen alongside such concepts as the "new flesh" of Videodrome, it makes a powerful and cogent contribution to the Cronenberg oevre, and offers perhaps the most disturbing iteration yet of the idea of cyborganic reality.
Crazy, weird, and confusing, are the words that come to mind when thinking of the movie, ExistenZ. The concept of video games being so technologically advanced they have become integrated into our bodies via umbilical cords, is disturbing, yet visionary for the time. Although current video games have not advanced to a biomorphic state, they are beginning to challenge our perception of reality. Virtual and augmented reality games, apps, and devices push the boundaries of reality by allowing us to live as someone else usually in another world. ExistenZ creates a world for gamers to forget their own reality as a form of escapism. Although we are not given any history about video games and their role in society within the movie, the feel is that they are expensive and have an underground vibe. The “pods” are as common as owning an iPhone, while the users addiction to the game seem drug-like. Does the escape increase our endorphins and give us happiness beyond belief? Or do the pods and the game deteriorate our perception of reality until insanity enter our minds?
ReplyDeleteWhile the concept of the film ExistenZ is interesting and thought provoking, the means by which the reality presented is created is disturbing and grotesque in many ways. What is reality in this film? There is no evidence to support that an actual reality exists in this film. The perceived reality is smashed to pieces once an additional "reality" is introduced. The process plays out over and over throughout the film. Reality is non-existent, reality is perceived, reality is individualized. The film leads to the idea that escape from reality is the motto of the game. In comparison, this is not that different from real life. As humans, we may try to escape reality from time to time in order to mask hurt, pain, guilt, and fear. We may search for a way to become someone else, in order for us to disappear. I believe the film may in fact be speaking to the disadvantage of not being able to cope with reality. Not being taught how to problem solve, or make sense of our emotions. Alternate realities are an escape, an escape from life, or an escape for pleasure.
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