Videodrome (1983)

VIDEODROME (1983)

Dir: David Cronenberg

14/31 #31daysofhorror

Marshall McCluhan - media theorist - famously wrote in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, "The medium is the message." McLuhan's thesis was that we should focus on the medium itself. In his work he posited that the medium can be innate by in-and-of-itself, but is often coupled with content. McLuhan likened an innate medium to a light-bulb that can illuminate spaces but does not have a direct or indirect affect on society; however, a medium that contains content is a different beast. Content can be a way to distract viewers from larger issues or reflections. Viewers tend to focus on the obvious, the content, and miss the message. McLuhan's definition of a message was, "The change of scale or pace or pattern [that a medium] introduces into human affairs”. Having graduated with a degree in Mass Communications and Media Arts, I was forced to swallow a lot of McLuhan's confusing writing. After a semester or two of his work, the only thing I actually learned was how to appreciate a joke in Annie Hall (1977) when Alvy Singer brings Marshall McLuhan into the film as a cameo. Where I could only understand a small part of the media theorists writings, David Cronenberg was able to dissect his work and revise it into the disturbing Videodrome.

David Cronenberg's follow up to Scanners (1981) is less straight-forward, more paranoid, and returns to the director's trademark themes of sexuality. Using, "The medium is the message," as a jumping point, Cronenberg envisioned a world where a rogue television transmission can cause viewers to hallucinate and become corruptible. We follow a sleazy James Woods, I mean his character Max Renn, who is the CEO of CIVIC-TV. This small TV station shows softcore porn and other titillating shows. One of CIVIC-TV's unauthorized satellite dishes picks up a few seconds of a plotless show where random victims are tortured and murdered. Being the monster he is, Renn believes he's struck gold. The future of television is torture porn. As Renn begins digging deeper, hallucinations start to make it hard to know what is real. As Renn falls into a conspiracy, he finds his mind being controlled by various groups that may or may not exist.

The theme of the media controlling how we think is present throughout the film and discussed by various characters. We are even told at one point that sex and violence, when viewed, open receptors in the mind that allow others to manipulate. The contextual elements and the Cronenbergian psuedo-science make for great storytelling, but the effects will stay with you long after the story ends. We all cheer for Michael Ironside as he sits next to a fellow scanner, beats him at his own game, and watch as their head explodes. No other effect in Scanners lives up to that moment. It would be easy to say the vaginal slit in James Woods' stomach may be a centerpiece, but that is only one of many spectacular effects on display in Videodrome. Why are the effects so good? I'm happy you asked. They were accomplished by Rick Baker and his team of super cool kids in their twenties. Coming off of An American Werewolf In London (1981), Baker was ready for anything. A hand turning into a phallic steampunk gun? Sure, why not. A head inserted into a television? Yeah, we have a weather balloon for that. Living and breathing BetaMax tapes? Bladder effects, easy. How about a body that erupts due to overgrown tumors? Sounds reasonable. Okay, and we'll also need a vagina-like slit on an actor's abdomen that you can feed guns and tapes to? I'm sorry, what was that? James Woods famously said of the apparatus after having to wear it for so long, "I am not an actor anymore. I'm just the bearer of the slit!" The effects all hold up more than 35 years later. They hold up way better than James Woods' career did.

The implications of Videodrome's theme were ahead of their time when considering what is done to us daily by the apps we use on our phones. Instead of controlling us and forcing us to assassinate others who stand in the way of our rise to power, we have advertising firms listening for keywords and documenting precisely how we scroll. Our likes and dislikes are thrown back in our faces to create a phone experience that is subjective to our own needs. This is all in a scheme to run the perfect ad on Candy Crush [insert whatever game or app is popular]. Right now, this data is utilized to manipulate our capitalistic urges. What if one day, the information is used to sway campaigns and elect presidents and cause divisiveness and rid the world of civility? Nah, that sounds like science fiction. Long live the new flesh.