For the last couple of years I have given a lecture that takes the “Virtual/Real” distinction and deconstructs it using various bits of geographical theory. I also talk about the enduring trope of the sort of eschatological narrative of VR, tying it back to a little bit of history, mainly focusing on how this has been propagated in pop culture. This year, for fun, I have decided to be a little bit more creative than resorting to my usual trick of showing the trailer for Lawnmower Man or Ready Player One – I’ve made a quick mashup of the two, which I think show quite nicely how the underlying narratives of the ‘virtual’ somehow counterposed to the ‘real’ but also in some way ‘crossing over’ is an enduring theme.
The other enduring theme here is that the forms of gameplay drawn upon are characterised as highly masculine (and normatively heterosexual – no queering of the digital here, sadly), which is something I will try to also blog about sometime…
Other film examples might include:
- Avatar (James Cameron special effects bonanza – first big budget film filmed in 3D)
- The Congress (base upon Stanislaw Lem’s The Futurological Congress)
- Existenz (written & directed by David Cronenberg)
- Inception (written & directed by Christopher Nolan)
- Jonny Mnemonic (based on a William Gibson short story)
- The Matrix (by the Baudrillard-loving Wachowski brothers)
- Strange Days (derivative of Gibson’s cyberpunk)
- Tron & Tron Legacy (Disney)
- Total Recall (based upon a Phillip K Dick story)