eXistenZ

Last week’s exploration of electronic literature revolved around a feature length film known as eXistenZ.  The movie eXistenZ explores the idea of virtual reality through a new gaming system. The system was created by the character Allegra Geller, played by Jennifer Leigh. Due to her attempted assassination in the opening scene, Allegra is forced to spend the duration of the film with her companion Ted Pikul (Jude Law). Pikul, a young admirer of  Allegra, fights an internal battle throughout the film with his fear of body penetration. This becomes an issue when he is asked to play eXistenZ, because he does not have a “bioport”, an orifice located at the base of the spine required to connect to the game. Even after successful implantation, Pikul struggles in the conflict between perception of the real world and the game.  The remainder of the film focuses on the gameplay in a world of virtual reality. Throughout the film Pikul adapts to the virtual world, and at one point claims he can't tell the difference between gameplay and reality. Nonetheless, the inability to discern reality from the virtual gameplay within eXistenZ shows the depth and potential of gaming realities.

Many gaming realities are often complex and difficult places.  The premise of eXistenZ may make the true capacity of those realities much more difficult to explore.  The violent stances and murderous encounters between gamers and Realists is a remarkably exaggerated reflection of some prevailing controversies over the debate between the virtual and real benefits and risks of gaming.  The integration of biological and digital technologies in gaming is an old idea that is still a bit difficult, even grotesque, to imagine, especially considering the blatant sexualization that this work puts on it.  Unfortunately, many of the shocker elements of the film distract from the deeper truths it has the potential to convey.  Ultimately, reality is the question posed by eXistenZ.  The answer to that question rests on the player, and remains unanswered even after the final departure from both realities of the game.

Gaming may be a new medium, but its purposes have been echoed through time.  The potentials for characterization of the human condition, assuming another role, and approaching and exploring a story have been possible through forms of the written word, theater, art, et cetera, since the dawn of civilization.  The book, the act, the game: all are augmentations of our ultimate reality.  They are not, and were never meant to be, replacements.  Inside of eXistenZ, we find characters devoid of purposeful, meaningful lives who have taken to artificial constructs to restore the missing elements.  Such activity and attitude could be considered comparable to abuse of alcohol or drugs.  The game, much like for some in the world today, has consumed our perceptions of the world around us.

One revelation stands above the rest.  As Geller and Pikul return to the pod factory, he expresses his growing disdain.  “We're both stumbling around together in this unformed world, whose rules and objectives are largely unknown, seemingly indecipherable or even possibly nonexistent, always on the verge of being killed by forces that we don't understand.”  “That,” Geller replies, “sounds like my game.”  “That sounds like a game that's not gonna be easy to market,” Pikul fires back.  “But it's a game everybody's already playing,” Allegra imparts.  That game is life, and it’s a game not worth escaping, not worth losing, not worth wasting.

Does gaming have the power and potential to distort reality?  Yes.  Can extensive embracing of that distorted reality be harmful?  Indeed.  However, that distortion can be seen as a blessing more than a curse.  Games allow people to assume roles that would be otherwise inaccessible to them, inhabit and alter world’s sometimes of their own creation, and temporarily escape a typical reality to engage challenge in a digital realm.  Gaming realities have extensive ability to showcase art, foster creativity, and promote thought.  Not to mention the potential for stress relief, cognitive development, and social connection through gaming  So if you have the urge to explore, the urge to create, the urge to be free, press start.  But don’t get lost in there.  It’s just a game.