Virtual Reality,

Human Imagination:
Examples of Virtual Reality in Pop-Culture
Strange Days
Based on a novella written by
James Cameron in the 80s, dir. by
Kathryn Bigelow in 1995.
Set during the end of the
millennium, the film uses VR as a
means of reliving other peoples
memories and sensory experiences
by use of a SQUID
(Superconducting Quantum
Interference Device)
Strange Days
Recorded memories are then sold
to hedonists and addicts who live
vicariously through other peoples
experiences.
The film explores themes of
estrangement within a segregated
society, and the use of VR as a
means of torture, by playing with a
victims perception of traumatic
events.
The Veldt
1950 short story by Ray Bradbury.
VR in this case takes the form of a
holodeck sort of nursery
telepathically linked to the children.
Explores the relationship of two
parents with their children. And the
nurturing role of the parents
gradually becoming replaced by
technology.
The Veldt
"That's just it. I feel like I dont
belong here. The house is wife and
mother now, and nursemaid. Can I
compete with an African veldt? Can
I give a bath and scrub the children
as efficiently or quickly as the
automatic scrub bath can? I
cannot."
Time Out of Joint
Written in 1960 by Philip K Dick.
The title comes from a quote in
Hamlet, when the protagonist
meets his ghost father for the first
time.
The novel deals with protagonist
Ragle Gumm as he lives in a 1950s
town with strange anachronisms.
He makes his living by winning the
weekly trivia contest held by the
paper.
Time Out of Joint
As Gumm begins to find out more
of the towns secrets, citizens and
random happenstance incidents
begin occurring to obstruct his path
to uncover the truth.
The simulated reality is not
technological in this novel, and is
instead an elaborate charade
designed around Gumms own lack
of sanity.
Time Out of Joint
The novel uses simulation and
augmentation as a means to
explore multiple layers of meaning
in events, and the symbiotic nature
of delusion and reality.
World on a Wire
German miniseries from 1973,
based on the novel Simulacron-3.
One of the earliest depictions of VR
on screen. The film The Thirteenth
Floor is based on the same novel.
The plot concerns Dr. Vollmers
investigation into the death of his
mentor, and that of his double in
the virtual reality his company IKF
runs through a supercomputer.
World on a Wire
Unlike most films, the virtual world
is monitored through CCTV and
looks closer to standard
surveillance footage than computer
graphics.
Mirrors also play an important motif
in the film constantly showing
duplicates of characters in the
background
You are nothing more than the
image others have made of you.
Dark City
Released in 1998 and directed by
Alex Proyas, concerns a lot of
similar themes to The Matrix.
The setting concerns a noirish city
that is perpetually night. At a point
in every day, the city is
reconfigured by a group of
shadowy Strangers and individual
citizens memories are erased.
Dark City
The protagonist retains his
memories, and using his
knowledge of the city and powers
to change it, becomes its new
creator.
Concerns a lot of philosophical
ideas related to The Allegory of the
Cave and Gnosticism.
Unlike other examples of
constructed realities, this movie
features no true world ultimately.
Open Your Eyes/Vanilla Sky
Originally released in 1997 (and
remade in 2002), the film concerns
the protagonists attempts to
unravel various incidents of his life
as the context and key players
keep switching in subtle ways.
The VR in this film is actually an
artificially induced Lucid Dream
while the protagonist is in cryogenic
freeze after a car accident.
Open Your Eyes/Vanilla Sky
Notably, in the American version of
the film the protagonist has some
control over his reality, as elements
of his subconscious corrupt the
program, and anachronisms begin
to appear.
Virtual Reality notably functions as
a form of therapy for the
protagonist as he is able to atone
with his past.
Ubik
Written by Philip K Dick in 1969,
the novel concerns Joe Chip and
his coworkers waking up from an
accident, and trying to navigate a
world where time is flowing
backwards.
Similar to Vanilla Sky, the VR in
this novel is the result of cryo-stasis
or cold-pac storage for the
recently deceased.
Ubik
While the dead cannot stay forever
in storage, they exist in a half-life
where people may communicate
with them via a telephone like
visiting an inmate.
Cold-pac is not only similar to a
lucid dream, but the bardo of the
Tibetan Buddhist afterlife before
one goes to reincarnation.
eXistenZ
Directed in 1999 by David
Cronenberg, the film follows a
world-renowned game designer
and her bodyguard, as they
descend into several layers of a
virtual reality game, and contend
with both pro and anti realist
factions.
VR in this movie is shown to be
organic technology that hooks
directly into a users spine.
eXistenZ
In addition to questioning realities
manufactured by political
ideologies, the movie also
deconstructs and plays with video
game tropes and logic.
This can be seen in actors
sometimes wooden performances
and moments where action is
paused by a character in the
game.
Rainbows End
Written in 2006 by Vernor Vinge,
the novel depicts a world where the
majority experience life through
Augmented Reality.
Additionally, people can choose
realities to exist in worlds similar
to Second Life, based on the works
of authors like H.P. Lovecraft.
These worlds are referred to as
belief circles.
A Few More to Check Out
Paprika
Alphaville
The Nines
The Truman Show
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone
Complex
Serial Experiments Lain