The thought of televisions polluting our brains with violent imagery and potentially damaging ideologies is one that is talked about often. However, Cronenberg's 1983 body-horror game-changer presents a new and relevant take on the idea. We follow the story of Max Renn, a TV executive that starts to take interest in a show, 'videodrome', dedicated to shockingly real-looking gratuitous torture and punishment. Renn sees a potential hit, a supposed gap in the market. The film critiques the media and deals with the disturbing idea that humanity is becoming so dependant on technology, that it becomes a part of them.
'Videodrome', the show, is a political movement interested in changing the monotonous fabric of society rather than to only provide a different perverse form of entertainment. This is evident from Brian O'blivion, who we encounter earlier in the film through a screen in a television interview. He is highly aware of the dangers of videodrome and informs Renn that "the battle for North America will be fought in the video arena. The videodrome. The television screen is the retina of the mind’s eye. Therefore, the television screen is part of the structure of the brain. Therefore whatever appears on the screen emerges as a raw experience for those who watch it. Therefore, television is reality and reality is less than television." Cryptically, the message O'blivion poses here is that this low budget show, ' videodrome' is capable of changing that fabric of society forever. The message that Cronenberg is presenting to the audience here however, is that we are so connected and acclimatised to the media that (in this case) the introduction of one new channel on our televisions can alter our perception of reality. Cronenberg criticises society in that we protest for democracy and freedom yet we consciously allow ourselves to be consumed by media. He addresses the alarming idea that the consumer is consumed by what they consume; they become what they are consuming in this case.
Marshall McLuhan is a celebrated Canadian philosopher, some would say one of the foremost thinkers on media theory. His most famous phrase was that 'the medium is the message', implying that any basic message presented through a medium can transcend its nature and for the viewer to then take on a greater meaning or cause. He also proposed the idea that
“the news automatically becomes the real world for the TV user and is not a substitute for reality but is itself an immediate reality.” O'blivion is introduced as a 'media prophet' and if McLuhan would have lived to see the film he would have probably agreed with his views on the media. Interestingly, much like McLuhan, O'blivion believes that television or any screen generally are not just basic objects solely for entertainment purposes. Rather, they are devices that can weave their way into the linings of a person's DNA and their mind. Whilst it sounds extreme, the message is that TV and the media in general carves our identity so much that it could be considered that it weaves its way into our DNA. 'Videodrome', the show, attempted to and found Renn, an individual that would become violent and anti-capitalist after being over-exposed to it. He experiences 'hallucinations' because of the overexposure, however as the story progresses it becomes more and more ambiguous to whether they are real or not. This is the idea again, of how media finds its way into our real life outside of the screen.
Cronenberg has had films prior to Videodrome and after that have had political and social implications. However Videodrome penetrates much further than any of those films. Cronenberg taps into a deep underlying worry about corporations and larger-than-life characters tapping into our own insecurities. Videodrome offers a deep, widespread kind of postmodern model of the manipulation of helpless isolated individuals by predatory corporate forces under the conditions of universal technological penetration and colonization. It suggests that, if you allow the government and corporations to control what you view, then you could lose all sense of self purpose and identity.
After discovering the truth about 'Videodrome', Renn is programmed by O'blivion's daughter, Bianca to become an agent of 'The New Flesh'. This is a liberal movement in which he is instructed to kill those behind 'Videodrome'. as though he is part of their ideology and quasi-religious movement. "Bianca, in effect, 'baptizes him' (Christopher Sharrett: Myth and Ritual in the Post-Industrial Landscape: The Horror Films of David Cronenberg) The New Flesh is supposedly a state, concocted by O'blivion and Bianca, in which you exist without rules or regulations, yet it is more appealing than any form of social cleansing. Cronenberg depicts this scary prophecy and one that continues to be played out in almost all sectors of the media/society.
'The New Flesh' is somewhat presented as a positive alternative. Although Renn is controlled and programmed, he is given a positive 'escape' from his 'old flesh.' The bewildering end of the film sees Renn take his own life on a TV set, almost in a tutorial-like fashion. Then, he actually carries out the act after being convinced that his body will transcend to a higher plain, 'The New Flesh.' Politically, this is similar to the false promises offered by politicians that do not deliver with.
Videodrome is a fascinating film that is more relevant and fiercely contemporary than ever. It's readings and interpretations are completely subjective, Cronenberg's unsettling amounts of ambiguity makes it so. Whilst VHS and DVD may seem like a subject of nostalgia, the deeper messages and themes do not. That is a worrying thought.
Long live the new flesh..
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