Video Vision and our fondness for obscure formats

Video Vision (2024)

Dir: Michael Turney

 Screened as part of Chattanooga Film Festival (2024)

Nietzsche’s doctrine of eternal recurrence has been reduced to the catchphrase: Time is a flat circle, made popular by Detective Rust Cohle in True Detective. While Cohle and Nietzsche agree that life is absurd due to its endless repetition, Cohle loses sight of eternal recurrence’s push to form meanings out of the meaninglessness. But why are we discussing philosophy? Because director Michael Turney’s retro tech love story showcases absurdity, meaning, and romance amid the ever-changing world around us.

Video Vision stars Andrea Figliomeni as Kibby, Chrystal Peterson as Gator, and Shelley Valfer as Rodney. Kibby works in Rodney’s electronics shop. The store specializes in digitizing media from analog sources. VHS, Beta, CDs, Records, Reel to Reel, Film, and DV tapes are all mentioned. This is the jumping point of Video Vision’s deeper allegory.

Gator comes in the shop looking to digitize a few tapes for their dad. Kibby and Gator flirt and we are told Gator’s pronouns are He/Him. From here a love story blossoms and with it, many discussions take place about gender dysphoria and being transgender. Some of the conversations see-saw between humorous quips and transphobic zingers. A question is posed by Kibby: If I’m attracted to you now, what if I’m not [attracted] when you’re a man. And being attracted to you now also feels disrespectful.

The dialogue feels like the healthy open conversations that are had when the world cares about trans people. But this is also a horror film and director Michael Turney knows better than to negatively show trans folks. Like Nietzsche, he takes an argument to its absurdist ends. Kibby threatens a VCR and becomes infected by the analog technology. She begins to vomit oily VHS tape and see images of Dr. Analog. The evil doctor states he will use Kibby’s body as a conduit and she will not survive the last phases of “Techno-metaphysics.”

While Gator is in the beginning stages of transitioning to male, Kibby is transitioning into a VCR. As surreal as it sounds, the director makes it work. Through visual references to Videodrome’s new flesh and shot-on-shitteo murder POVs, Turney gives us a kaleidoscopic vision of analog obsession within the shell of a trans allegory. Our fondness for obscure formats is on display in each frame as we see a graveyard of VCRs or a New Retro Wave inspired animation or the fun of 80’s and 90’s 2D cartoons. Speaking of the 90’s, Michael Turney was once mesmerized by foot soldiers and the Shredder until a rat named Splinter and four turtles deprogrammed him. No wonder he’s so obsessed with seeing so many VCRs and walkmans. Time certainly is a flat circle. But in the words of Gator, “Neitzche, Please!”

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