Issue #19: Binge-worthy narratives
Here in the dog days of summer, rather than suggesting our usual Deep Reads, we thought it might be more relaxing to sit back and let some storytellers do the prognosticating. Below are just a few productions probing the ramifications of VR, AI, meta-narrative, and more.
Originally from Channel 4 and now available on NETFLIX, Kiss Me First features an unusual lead character: a working-class young woman hooked on a VR game to distract herself from her mother’s death. Soon she finds her online and offline worlds colliding in harrowing ways as she’s drawn into an in-game clique with an ominous agenda. While the series has earned mixed reviews, it’s got an intriguing moodiness that contrasts with the usual slick cyber-thriller.
From podcasting powerhouse Gimlet, Sandra offers a tongue-in-cheek peek behind the workings of an Alexa-like chatbot, voiced by comedian Kristen Wiig. Turns out this virtual assistant is a real girl (a premise also explored by artist Lauren McCarthy in a previous issue of Immerse). The main character, played by Search Party’s Alia Shawkat, gets ever-deeper into the lives of her users, for good and ill.
What will it take to make the comedy of the future? This is the question that oddball 2017 Spanish film Something Huge poses and only half answers. Jammed with behind-the-scenes shots of motion capture, it shows the difficulties of combining new tech with creative egos. As reviewer David González notes, “The film’s premise, which is very unusual, appears to be a game of objects, aimed at revealing the process of creating a film, a comedy or perhaps actual humour itself.”
Speaking of deconstructing genres, Dramaworld kicks it up a notch as an episodic streaming series that takes the form of K-pop dramas so it can pick apart their conventions. Protagonist Claire Duncan is obsessed with watching these habit-forming soaps on her phone, until one day she gets sucked into one and has to learn how to play by its rules. (Beware: this can be a gateway drug for such shows, which are packed with quirky mobile-first tropes.) While the first season was released way back in 2016, a new season is apparently in the works.
The “VR Dream” episode is just one of many in Cartoon Network’s deceptively adorable We Bare Bears series that digs into anxieties about how media and technology are reshaping us all. Other episodes address cellphone addiction, narcissistic internet celebrities, the foibles of online dating, robot housecleaners gone wrong, and an app that will bring moms straight to your door.
Immerse is an initiative of the MIT Open DocLab and The Fledgling Fund, and is fiscally sponsored by IFP. Learn more about our vision for the project here.