eXistenZ. As others have said... weird film indeed.

Strange film with fleshy games, umbilical cords and Jude Law. Yeahhh... ;D

 

Yes, the first lecture back into the new university term and we watched a film with Jools for Context 1 - eXistenZ. We have been given the task of writing about this film in terms of the three main multimedia threshold concepts. These are:
-Narrative
-Interactivity
-Convergence

"A threshold concept is like a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something, without which the learner can not progress"   Meyer & Land (2003)

I must say this idea has confused me somewhat, but I can get a jist of what it all means. I think the main meaning of a threshold concept is a method of viewing a piece of multimedia, for instance, in a way that the viewer did not necessarily think of before or that was not available to them. It is pretty hard to get a grasp on.


So, eXistenZ.  How do these threshold concepts tie in with this film? How do the three concepts help the viewer to see things in a different light?

Narrative: The narrative of this film started with the launch of a revolutionary gaming system called "eXistenZ". (This was later found out to be a fake, virtual console. Confusing!) The creator Allegra Gellar is wanted dead by people who believe her games are deforming reality. She makes Law's character Ted Pikul have a bio-port installed (a hole in back to allow gameplay) to join her as a friend in her own game (eXistenZ). They carry on to progress the game, switching between game and reality, getting confused about which is which until the end, where it is revealed the whole story was a simulated game experience during the testing of virtual reality console "tranCendenZ" and the testers and creator are all the characters from the main narrative. Therefore, I feel there are multiple narratives all happening at the same time without the audience realising it until the very end. (see convergence)

Interactivity: In terms of interactivity with the audience, think this film is successful in involving the viewer through the confusion between games and reality throughout the narrative of the film. I feel this film's success, in terms of its plot and interest, relies very much on this interaction with its audience. For instance, if the audience knew exactly what was happening in each of the scene transitions throughout the film, it was not be so intriguing or interesting for them to view.

Convergence: I think the convergence of reality and fantasy in this film is one of the most successful concepts. As I have said in the other sections (they all seem to intertwine, hmm?), throughout the film the scenes swap between surreal, game scenes and the assumed reality of the characters lives. Towards the end of the film it is revealed that a lot of this "reality" was in fact fake like the rest of the film, and makes the idea rethink what is real and what isn't - a successful threshold concept indeed?

I probably haven't understood this very well but have given it a good go anyway.



p.s starting another one shot film project tomorrow. expect a lot of posts on my progress... and moaning. :P