For David Cronenberg, there is nothing new about working outside the studio system. Beginning in 1975 with Shivers and continuing with such releases as Rabid, Videodrome, and M. Butterfly, Cronenberg has shocked audiences with films that examine the consequences of a society moving closer towards the technological and further from the natural world. Cronenberg’s 1999 release, eXistenZ, is no exception. Set in the world of virtual reality, eXistenZ shows us a world in which the lines between games and real life have been blurred in society’s quest for entertainment.
When the average person hears the phrase “virtual reality,” they most likely envision an electronic interactive headset. In the world of eXistenZ, however, electronics have been replaced. Instead, the games are powered by human energy, with nearly every person fitted with an outlet, or “bio-port,” at the base of their spine. In order to play a game, one simply plugs themselves in with an “UmbyCord.” This cord, being connected to an all in one modem/controller- made of actual living tissue- brings the world of virtual reality to whomever it is plugged into.
The New Reality Begins
The story begins with Allegra Gellar, the most renowned architect of virtual reality games in this world of the near future. We first see Allegra, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hudsucker Proxy, Kansas City), in a deconsecrated church where she is about to premiere her latest and greatest achievement: "eXistenZ." The game’s debut, however, is brought to a halt when a member of an anti-virtual reality organization, the Realists, attempts to assassinate its creator. While escaping death with the help of her “security,” really a marketing trainee named Ted Pikul, Allegra suspects that her game, which she had been plugged into during her assassination attempt, possibly suffered damage when she was shot in the shoulder (by a gun made of, what else, animal tissue and bones and using human teeth as bullets).
Not sure whether more assassination attempts- later referred to by Ian Holm as a “fatwa”- will follow, Ted, played by Jude Law (Gattaca, The Talented Mr. Ripley), is forced to take Allegra into hiding. Traveling through the countryside, Allegra, a woman disillusioned by the dullness and monotony of the so-called “real world,” cannot live long without the excitement experienced in one of her games, especially "eXistenZ." Needing to re-enter her newest game in order to see if it was damaged when she was shot, Allegra asks Ted to accompany her into the world of virtual reality, since, as she claims, the game is more interesting if played with “someone friendly.”
There is one problem, however: Ted has never been fitted with a bio-port. As common as an ear piercing- bio-ports can be installed at the local mall- Allegra leads Ted to a rural gas station where Gas, played by Willem Dafoe (Platoon, The English Patient) supplements his income as a black market bio-port installer. With the possibility of reward money from the Realists looming, Gas intentionally botches Ted’s installation, damaging "eXistenZ" even more after Allegra plugs it in to Ted’s faulty bio-port.
Blurring the Lines Between Real and Virtual
Requiring the aid of colleagues from Antenna Research- the producers of "eXistenZ"- she deems trustworthy, Allegra brings Ted to one of Antenna’s research facilities. There she has a co-worker, played by Ian Holm (The Fifth Element, Big Night) repair her game so that she and Ted can play. Once the repairs are complete, Allegra and Ted finally enter into "eXistenZ". Once in the game, reality and game become confused as "eXistenZ’s" players travel further and further into the realm of virtual reality. Twists and turns around every corner bring both protagonists face to face with the possibility that their society has advanced its forms of entertainment to the point where the “real world” ceases to be a place and becomes a product of the mind.
Leading the genre of science- fiction thriller into a whole new direction, Cronenberg's eXistenZ not only examines whether or not we should create fictional worlds, it considers the possibility that the fictional world is the only thing left that is real.
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