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eXistenZ
In eXistenZ
the virtual-reality of the game world creates extraordinary possibilities
for those that play it. The game plugs straight into the nervous system
through a Bio-port situated at the base of the spine, directly accessing
the nervous system, and effectively connecting the game pod to the senses,
desires and fears of the player (a point I will discuss later.) This creates
a complete interplay between game technology and the player's sense of
perception; a complete fusion of the human body and technology. Consequently,
the game is able to project the player's consciousness into a virtual-reality
that is so believable it is almost impossible to discern fantasy from reality.5
Game-world experience is extremely realistic; so realistic that it is practically
lived-experience.
In this way, the
game world could signal the realisation of McLuhan's idea that human consciousness
could be extended beyond the body, into a new realm of experience and possibilities.
Allegra Geller, game designer and central character, also makes this claim
when she tells an audience of game players "We are programmed to accept
so little, but the possibilities are so great!" Potentially, the player
could experience all things imaginable in the game world. Although this
possibility is complicated by the disorientating effect of game experience,
as the virtual-reality is too realistic for some players. First time game-player
Ted Pikul is struck by remorse and confusion after killing a waiter in
the game world, as he is unable to separate the virtual experience of his
game character from his usual moral values. The introduction of game technology
results in the loss of a fixed point of reality in eXistenZ, causing
some to suspect the radical potential of game technology. This is most
effectively represented by the militant organisation calling themselves
the Realists, who violently condemn the manipulation of reality. Virtual
reality is a point of contention in eXistenZ, at once full of astounding
possibilities, while also complicating the border between what is real
and what is play.
CATHARSIS AND CONVALESCENCE
In Cronenberg's
films media introduce new patterns into human affairs as a result of the
formal qualities they possess. The television in Videodrome and
the game in eXistenZ are both very cool mediums. Like McLuhan's
definition of cool media, the television and the game involve deep participation,
and a high level of interplay with the senses. Cronenberg thereby literalizes
McLuhan's description of the electronic age by creating film narratives
that revolve around cool media technology operating within the social sphere.
In relation to McLuhan's theory that "the medium is the message "6
one could say that the television and the game have created new forms of
experience in Videodrome and eXistenZ. In both films electronic
media perform functional roles in society, as mediums of experience providing
catharsis and continual convalescence.
Videodrome
In Videodrome
television is the dominant medium of experience. It is also the domain
for the outlet of excessive social behaviour: pornography, scandal, and
violence. On the Rena King show a televised debate takes place between
Max Renn and Nicki Brand (moral spokesperson and emotional help-line personality.)
During the show Rena King accuses Max of promoting sexual depravity on
his channel, (the representation of sexuality on Max's channel is deemed
to be socially unacceptable as it exceeds social custom and moral values.)
In response, Max justifies his profession as performing a positive social
function. Max claims that his channel helps to regulate the sexuality of
the viewer by providing a private and cathartic outlet for them. Max is
then of the opinion that his channel only reflects what already exists
in society, and that television is a way of releasing, and therefore containing,
excessive sexuality. As McLuhan predicted in Understanding Media,
the television performs a social function of cooling down the viewer
through participation. In Videodrome sexual representation, in the
form of pornographic video images, provides a form of social catharsis.
Even public debate
addressing questions of morality takes place on a television talk show,
transforming the debate into a spectacle of moral scandal. As television
is the prime medium of information dissemination, moral issues of social
importance must pass through the filter of Tele-visual entertainment. As
a consequence moral debate is reduced to a performance of social values
for entertainment value. Issues of social importance are thus tranquillised
within the medium of television. This is epitomised by the flippancy of
the Rena King show, during which Max Renn asks Nicki Brand, his moral foe,
out for a date. The Rena King show provides a channel for the release of
public sentiment by converting it into entertainment. Pornography and moral
scandal are forms of social excess in Videodrome that are channelled
through the cool medium of television. In this way the formal qualities
that television possesses function as a regulating force in Videodrome
by providing catharsis for excessive behaviour.
eXistenZ
In eXistenZ
the game functions as a medium of catharsis, as it acts as a channel for
the desires of the player, simulating the fulfilment of these desires through
virtual-experience. Experience that may be ordinarily unobtainable is completely
realisable in the realm of the game-world. Gas, played by Willem Dafoe,
works as a mechanic in real life, but in his leisure hours he assumes the
role of God in a virtual-reality game titled ArtGod. The sense of empowerment
that the game creates can be seen as a means of consolation for dreary,
ordinary experience. Gas asserts this point when he claims that he is a
mechanic "only on the most pathetic level of reality." It is obvious from
this comment that Gas prefers the role he plays in the virtual-reality
of the game world to his occupation in reality. Game playing in eXistenZ
is comparable to television viewing in Videodrome, as it provides
a form of recuperation. Although one major difference is that virtual-reality
is also a source of revitalisation for game-players such as Gas.
Videodrome
Television also
offers continual convalescence in Videodrome. The Cathode Ray Mission is
a redemptive project for less fortunate citizens, and bears similarities
to our contemporary soup kitchen. The vital difference being that The Cathode
Ray Mission supplies weary street people with access to television. Bianca
Oblivion, co-ordinator of the mission claims, "watching T.V will help patch
them back into the world's mixing board." This may be an attempt to help
assimilate street people into a society in which television not only transmits
representations of reality; it has also come to constitute reality. Therefore,
the redemptive strategy of The Cathode Ray Mission is to incorporate socially
alienated civilians into the structure of television, and subsequently
the structure of society.
The substantial translation
of human experience into media forms in Videodrome and eXistenZ
results in life being lived more vicariously, as human experience
is extended far beyond the body into mediated space. The television
screen is the arena of performance in which the spectator assumes
a contemplative role, and receives experience through representations.
Gas' game-world leads him to contemplate his own life as being a curiosity:
"God the artist: the mechanic; funny!" In Videodrome and eXistenZ
experience is fulfilled through interacting with media technology,
creating the sense that simulation has become real, and reality has
become contemplative.
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5
Rodley, Chris, "Game Boy" in Sight and Sound. V.9. i.4. April
1999. p. 8.
6
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. p. 7.
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