Topic Seven: Cronenberg - Cinema and Technology

Lecture

Today's lecture was very interesting in that it continued to feed my curiosity about connections individuals (and society) have with a fictional based world, or virtual reality in the form of computer games. Stephen Stockwell started with a discussion about David Cronenberg, who just happens to be one of my favourite film Directors. His discussed his influences and some of the vast range of films he has directed over his career, highlights for me including The Brood, Eastern Promises and Crash. I have great respect for Cronenberg both as a story teller and also a visionary on social debates, arguments and trends. He often uses strong imagery to express the heavy issues to wants to address. We had the privilege of viewing his film existenZ, which dealt with the computer game industry and its effect on society and our perceptions of 'reality'. "What is reality?" seems to be the most easily identifiable theme throughout. When 'real world' gamers are playing in this artificial world, does the line between the two blend so greatly that they in fact begin to be one entity? Cronenberg has the last frame of the film ask this exact question in the form of "Are we still in the game?". Virtual reality has become to 'real' that the gamer cannot distinguish between reality and the virtual reality that has been manufactured.

Readings

The reading for this week comes from two of our Lecturers, Stephen and Adam. I involves the exploration of the connection of War and the development of war simulators. Our current war in Iraq had been prepared for by using war simulators for soldiers to get a grasp on what the job entailed, and how moves were to be executed. However, the planning that went into creating these simulators did not represent a reality, however created something that probably confused soldiers more than helped them. As the text says, "The simulations that began as theories about reality for planning and training purposes took on the form of reality in the heat of battle only to be revealed to be inaccurate as either reality or simulation in the harsh light of peace." The article also proceeds to discuss the connection between military and games based on military goings on, and why the government relies on the game industry to help train their soldiers, and why the entertainment industry relies on the military and war so much for inspiration. Why is the media and consumers interested in war so much? Have we been conditioned or desensitised to war so much that we can see it as a genuine form of entertainment?