David Cronenberg
explores the implications of highly mediated societies in his 1982 release
Videodrome, and his 1999 release eXistenZ. In Videodrome
and eXistenZ Cronenberg constructs diegetic worlds in which the
characters in the film are confronted by the transformation of experience
by the advent of new media technology. In Videodrome the mass-produced
video image is the dominant form of media, and is totally enmeshed in the
structure of society. The television screen functions as the primary medium
of experience, and as a result, causes the distinction between reality
and representation to erode. In eXistenZ Cronenberg posits a time
period in the future when technological games have advanced into the domain
of virtual-reality, drastically altering the terms of existence.
In both films Cronenberg
focuses on the way people interact with media technology, and the way media
forms affect and shape patterns of human experience. The body is accentuated
as the site of transformation under the influence of technology that interacts
with it in new and intensified ways. The suspicion that technology is separate
from human activity, and perhaps autonomous, has been a popular topic that
has been the subject of many films. In contrast Cronenberg's films represent
technology, especially media technology, as being directly linked to human
purposes and the functions of the body. In this way, Cronenberg's films
literalize McLuhan's understanding of media, resulting in an exploration
of the possibilities, and critique, of the mediated world.
In Videodrome
the video-image, a cheap and mass-produced media device, is transmitted
through the medium of the television. Television technology and culture
pervade society in Videodrome, and the video-image is completely
enmeshed in the constitution of social reality. In the world of Videodrome
the representation of experience on television is authentic; the video-image
is autonomous. We are informed that any distinction between reality and
representation is blurred in Videodrome when the McLuhanesque character
of Brian Oblivion states austerely that "Television is reality, and reality
is less than television." Thus, television is the dominant dimension of
experience in Videodrome; it is the primary extension of man, in
terms of translating information into external forms. In this way Cronenberg
literalizes McLuhan's theory that "the medium is the message,"4
as Videodrome portrays a society that is structured according to
the formal pattern of television.
From the instance
Videodrome begins it is clear that representation no longer refers
to the real, it actually constitutes reality. Videodrome begins
when the title of the film emerges out of static, signalling the activation
of the Videodrome transmission. In the next shot a video-image fills
the screen, in which an over weight man reclines with a television set
on his stomach. The advertisement is inscribed with the caption "Civic
T.V- the one you take to bed with you," an image signalling the complete
immersion of television into human consciousness and consumption. Following
this shot the camera pulls back slightly to reveal the television that
is transmitting the video-image: a women appears on screen (Max Renn's
assistant) informing Max that it is "time to slowly, painfully ease yourself
back into consciousness." As the camera draws back into the darkness of
the room, her image floats alone in empty space, an image without referent,
self-contained and autonomous. It is only then that we are introduced to
Max Renn, central character of Videodrome, who in this instance
signifies the real. It is already apparent in this opening sequence that
in Videodrome representation precedes the real, as we have emerged
into reality through the transmission of the video-image. In this way,
television reorganises patterns of perception in Videodrome as representation
has saturated reality.
Max Renn is a director
of a small television channel broadcasting soft-core pornography as well
as hard-core violence. In almost every single scene that Max appears in
there is some form of Tele-visual apparatus; his entire existence is mediated
through television; his reality is always already one of representations.
When Max discovers a channel signal broadcasting scenes of extreme sadism
he thinks he has found something really "tough" to show to his viewers.
Unknowingly, Max has exposed himself to the videodrome signal, which has
the effect of causing the victim to hallucinate uncontrollably. In one
hallucinatory episode Max enacts the sadistic fantasy of whipping girl
friend Nicki Brand, except it is her Tele-visual image that is the receiver
of his blows. As Max's sense of reality is overwhelmed by the Videodrome
signal representation and reality become indistinguishable from one another.
The message
of the videodrome signal is not the content, but rather the form of the
medium itself, which is responsible for causing Max's hallucinations. Max's
sense of perception is literally programmed by the videodrome signal, causing
his reality to become an enactment of the violent imagery of the videodrome
channel. The videodrome signal thus conforms to McLuhan's prognosis that
the medium is the message, except that in this case the message is loaded
with sinister intentions. Max is actually the victim of an extreme right-wing
political organisation called Convex, whose moral goal is to eradicate
sexual depravity from television. Convex use the videodrome signal to programme
Max, transforming him into a videodrome assassin.
Under the influence
of the videodrome signal Max perceives his body as being in a state of
metamorphosis. When the program commands Max to kill his fellow broadcasters,
his homicidal intentions are manifested as a gun that is technologically
merged with his arm. In this case the desire to kill, that is forced upon
Max, is perceived to be real and physical as the gun has become part of
his bodily purpose. The spectator joins Max in this experience, as his
hallucination is also our hallucination, therefore drawing us into the
distorted reality of Videodrome. As spectators we are implicated
into the world of images and representations that are transforming Max's
perceptions, thus drawing a parallel between the Videodrome signal,
and Videodrome the film.
The reason for the
effectiveness of the videodrome signal is that, in the world of Videodrome,
it is television that structures the pattern of human perception. Indeed,
Professor Brian O'blivion is convinced that television is so embedded in
the structure of human consciousness that it has become part of the human
anatomy: "The television is the retina of the mind's eye. Therefore the
television is part of the physical structure of the brain. Therefore whatever
appears on the television screen emerges as raw experience for those who
watch. Therefore television is reality and reality is less than television."
Professor Brian O'blivion
is a character in Videodrome who has chosen to exist as a media
representation rather than a body, believing that the transformation of
the human condition by the cathode ray tube is deeply evolutionary. Apparently
he has not conversed in person for twenty years, preferring to communicate
through the medium of televised videotapes. Even after death, O'blivion
lives on in the form of thousands of videotaped performances. O'blivion's
entire being has been extended beyond his body into forms of information
that exceed him. The McLuhanesque mannerisms of O'blivion are strikingly
apparent, and his existence as a representation of himself is a wicked
parody of McLuhan's theory of a complete extension consciousness.
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4
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. p. 7.
