Existenz
so.. video games.
Is Cronenberg making a statement about the current state of video games and their effects on us? or is he predicting where they will end up? Is me making a statement about our escapist tendencies as a society today or is he making a statement about how our imaginations are so dulled we have to create a separate, but organic, one into which we have to jack into as to have someone tell us what and where to go to fulfill even a fantasy task?
I dunno.
But all of these themes are explored, and even ones about the fabric of reality as a whole. This movie even has the whole microcosm motif in play as well, with games in games in games so far deep that you dont know whats going on. but thats cronenberg for ya.
Do i think that we will become so immersed in said hyper-real video games that we lose all track of reality and human existence comes grinding to a halt? probably not, but there is a possibility of this happening somewhere down the line. i think i read somewhere (probably Gizmodo) that they are already taking out patents on subcutaneous PDA technology. So how far can we be? Then again, i cant tell you when the last time i played a video game was. I think the last video game that i intentionally went out of my way to play was Ghostbusters The Video Game but this game sells itself just from the fact that it was written by Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd. But i digress.
Do i think that the human experience is flooded with escapist products? Yes (knock on wood) But even i feel like a hermit when i watch enough TV/Movies in a row.
