By Alice McIntyre
Videodrome (1983), directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, is a sci-fi horror classic. It chronicles the descent of TV executive Max Renn (Woods) into a derealized nightmare by way of the ultraviolent program known as, well, “Videodrome.” The film is well and truly terrifying—not only by way of its incredible special effects and the atmosphere of dread it cultivates, but for the questions it raises about the future of mankind.
Over the course of the film it is made apparent that Videodrome is no ordinary piece of snuff television. Exposure to Videodrome causes Max to develop vivid hallucinations, involving everything from slapping a coworker to being swallowed by a speaking, breathing television screen. The worlds of flesh, mind, and representation merge as one—and this is the essential subject of the film.
“The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye” and “long live the new flesh,” these two mantras express a core recognition of the increased inseparability of human mind and being from the tools of its expression. To the martyred Dr. Brian O’blivion (Jack Creley), such a connection was a tool which could be used to open a new frontier for humanity. Those in control of Videodrome, Spectacular Optical (a manufacturer of eyeglasses and missile guidance systems), thought similarly—but with a much different end in mind. Videodrome, which causes the development of an undefined tumor-organ in the viewer’s brain, would be used to purge Western society of undesirable elements that would be attracted to its graphic content.
The name “Spectacular Optical” recalls the notion of the spectacle in critical theory, a generalized detachment of image from reality and mediation of social relations through these images, essentially an advanced form of what Karl Marx referred to as “commodity fetishism,” where the products of human labor become autonomous beings, bearing their own characteristics and identities beyond their basic function. Shoes cease to simply be shoes—now they connote slogans, “just do it,” feelings of adventure and urgency. In the age of omnipotent media, individuals are increasingly reduced to cultivated images, representations of what we wish ourselves to be and for others to perceive us as. Further, in a period where interactions beyond the constraints of social media are difficult and even dangerous, the lines of demarcation between the worlds of image and reality are increasingly blurred.
The utopian Dr. O’blivion and the shadowy goons of Spectacular Optical represent the dual nature of mediated interactions. In the vision of O’blivion one may imagine the anonymity of the early internet, the camaraderie of tight-knit niche communities, the flexible modes of expression enabled by avatars and profiles, the deluge of creative content from the past two decades, unprecedented access to information, and the ability to communicate near-instantaneously from across the planet. In Spectacular Optical the flipside manifests: cyberwarfare, disinformation campaigns, inescapable advertising, breeding grounds for far-right violence, expanded routes for (genuine) criminal activity, and new methods of mass surveillance.
Long live the new flesh?
Verdict: VHS Tape/10. Tried and true.
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