by Victoria Potenza, Staff Writer

First off, I am thrilled to be bringing back my Cronenberg column here at Moviejawn! I am back with Cronenberg’s first original screenplay since Videodrome,  eXistenZ. It is wild that Cronenberg spent 16 years working on adapted material before he released another one of his originals. Unfortunately for me, it is one of the few Cronenbergs I did not find a meaningful connection with. There are plenty of Cronenberg’s anxieties, themes, and philosophies throughout the film, but overall it feels like he has done a better job working through it in other films. 

In an interview with Serge Grünberg, Cronenberg talks about viewing his films and the alien experience of it “I think I’m not the same person who made those movies, and when I watch the movies that I’ve made it’s shocking really.” So maybe as he grows he needs to deal with those same anxieties in a new way, becoming a cyclical expression of his ideas. One wonders how he would deal with these anxieties now. As of this writing, Cronenberg has teased a new project with Viggo Mortenson, so one can only imagine what new ideas he wants to work through on screen. But for now let’s dig into the sexualliy and gender representaion around eXistenZ. 

eXistenZ stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as Allegra Gellar, a famous video game designer who is about to release her brand new game eXistenZ. She is presenting her game to a focus group so they can test out the new world. However as they begin to experience the game someone in the crowd attempts to assassinate Geller. She is forced to go on the run with Ted Pikul (Jude Law) a man who works for the gaming company. While on the road they are consistently met with people trying to destroy the game and Gellar. While hiding out from potential assassins, Geller also attempts to enter her game and see if it has been damaged. A task she can only do with the help of Pikul, a newbie to the gaming world. As they start to play the game it becomes harder for the two to decipher what is reality and what is eXistenZ.

Of course one of the most interesting and sexual aspects of the film is just how people play the game. In this dystopian-esque future people can have surgery that leaves a “port” in the base of the spine where players plug into the game. The game pods are all fleshy-looking sacs with an umbilical cord attached to them. Later in the film, we see a pod dissected and they mention that it is made out of synthetic flesh and wires. This concept is truly a Cronenberg melding of technology and flesh. Several times throughout the film, they show the characters plugging in, sometimes they have to apply lube or spit in order to make it easier for the cord to get into the port. In one scene they use a can of WD40 to lubricate the spot. We see characters lick and finger the port, which is a whole new orifice for them to explore. When the players are plugged in they moan and express extreme pleasure when playing the game. It would not be at all surprising to assume that people in this world would feel less interested in sex. The only sex we even see between the two main characters only happens within the game. This new orifice and way of connecting becomes more exciting than reality. 

Much of this feels like Cronenberg’s evolved paranoia over video game culture and the sort of effect it has on people. One aspect of this that was slightly different from our reality is that it seems like people of all ages, races, and sexes are interested in experiencing games this way. This made it seem like gaming had gotten to a place where it was enjoyed by most people and it would be abnormal to not play games, especially when we learn Pikul does not. It was especially seeing the focus group be filled with an equal number of men and women, and a significant number of older folks. The experience of gaming almost has a Carl Jung feel to it. Everyone plugs in and then they can experience the collective unconscious together. While in theory that is a beautiful idea, it is clearly more of a nightmare to Cronenberg. 

Once Gellar learns Pikul has not experienced gaming she immediately treats him like a virgin; completely inexperienced and vulnerable. They have to attempt to have a port implanted into Pikul so he can help her with the game, and they are only able to do so illegally at a rural gas station. It is here that he reveals his phobia about having his “body penetrated medically”. From this discourse, it is clear that he is inexperienced in more ways than one. He also brings up his concerns for his body and what could happen to it while he is in the game. It is clear that Cronenberg is using Pikul to take on more of the feminine characteristics in his relationship with Gellar, who is meant to be the more masculine character. Pikul is consistently afraid, confused, and cowering. While Gellar is forceful, assertive, and unafraid. Although this dynamic is not unusual in Cronenberg films it does feel like the most obvious of those dynamics in his filmography. 

It is also clear that gaming has an addictive sort of reaction to those that are playing. While this seems fairly close to reality for some of us or some people that we may know, it is also palpably sexual. Once she is unplugged from the game after a short time she comments that there is nothing going on and she wants to be transported back into the game.  At one point Gellar rubs the sac and talks about wanting to plug in again like she is a nymphomaniac and can never have her pleasures fully satisfied. While it may come off as anti-sex, it is clear that Cronenberg is more paranoid about the replacement of real sex and flesh with the synthetic. Cronenberg also describes exploring the idea of a new orifice that is not politicized or restricted like some of our other parts. How would humans treat them?

Another interesting aspect of the film is that Gellar constantly refers to the pod that holds eXistenZ as “her.” The game seems to represent a reproductive being that gives life to those who “go into her”. This goddess/mother/creator aspect is not explained or explored too much although Gellar refers to the pain “she”, the pod, is in several times. It does make sense that they ultimately cast a woman to be the videogame designer because it is a story about the creation and birthing of a new “video game” life. The way that people speak of Gellar and her games do give off a sort of cultish vibe. They worship her and call her a goddess who has and changed their lives. This has also made others want to destroy her. A powerful woman, creating without the need for a man does seem to be a terrifying possibility. The only real assassins we see seem to be men as well which begs the question, is Gellar specifically a threat to masculine ideals?

Eventually, the film reveals everything we have seen thus far was inside a game. They wake up and “Gellar'' is simply a character that Leigh was playing. This distorts our reality and makes us question what we have experienced. We are told that people bring some of their own thoughts, ideas, and imagery into the games they play much as we do in dreams. So if the fleshy sac gaming pods are actually part of the collective dream does it mean that we are inherently sexual creatures and will find ways to sexualize everything? At the beginning of the film, Pikul attempts to make a call on his “pink phone” which clearly looks like a penis. So in this “reality” the technology we all have become so dependent on is represented as some sort of sexual object. One wonders if Cronenberg is saying that we are replacing all sex and fleshy pleasures with phones, games, tv, etc. There is no real technology seen within the film; no tv’s no videos, cameras etc. Given his past films, it would make sense that he continues to dwell on the effects of technology on our bodies. Maybe not necessarily in a negative light but more of a curiosity as to what we will become as we attempt to meld more with the technology we use. The only item that does not seem totally sexual or phallic is the gun that is made entirely of bones and shoots teeth (in order for it to get through metal detectors). Why does the gun look less fleshy than that in Videodrome for example? This is something I continue to dwell on.  

Ultimately, it feels weird that this one did not resonate like so much of Cronenberg’s other work. Especially with its obvious connections and similarities to Videodrome. I suspect it has something to do with how distant and disconnected this film feels. Because the film is so much about living outside reality and having these out-of-body experiences, it feels less connected to the body and flesh than his other works. The tiny spinal port is far less connected than the chest vagina of Videodrome. Probably because it is attaching itself to something inhuman like the game pods. It feels more about escaping the body than truly being within it and integrating with something else. So much of the film is seeing people react to being a part of the game without knowing what it feels like which ultimately puts the audience at a distance from what is happening and how they are experiencing what goes on. We cannot truly experience other people's realities. 

The game itself is so tethered to the reality that it seems crazy people would want to play. We see the character shopping, purchasing video games within the game, working, going to lunch. But that is not too unlike some of the gaming we do now. As one character mentions, “it’s a game everyone is already playing” even in our attempts to escape the reality we are so used to and entrenched in it we don’t know what anything else would really look like. As Cronenberg says in his Grünberg interview “All reality is virtual. In a sense that’s the theme of many of my movies.There is no absolute reality, therefore virtual reality becomes a meaningless term.”The other aspect of the film is of course those who are after Gellar and want to destroy her game. Although little is offered about this group of rebels it can be assumed from their “death to eXistenZ!” chants that they are people who do not have ports and do not play games. So are they the real rebels? Those who have decided to stay fully entrenched within reality? Even though as Cronenberg says, this is essentially impossible. 

There is so much of eXistenZ that is interesting and very much in line with Cronenberg’s anxieties and fixations. Since Cronenberg has stepped away from much of his body horror/genre film making one wonders what would be the updated version of this film? Of course, having Jennifer Jason Leigh star in this as well as his son’s film from last year, Possessor, feels like a very fitting way to extend the Cronenberg dystopia. There is some imagery like the “plugging in” aspect of eXistenZ that we also see in Possessor. The gender aspects of this film also feel very tied to his films like Dead Ringers where it is clear he is exploring the gendering of the twins. The sexuality of this also feels very in line with Videodrome or Crash but ultimately lacks the danger that those films have. Maybe he is worried that videogames have toned down our sexual impulses and left us far less kinky than the cars and videos of his other films. Or they have offered a way to experience those kinks without putting ourselves in the same kind of harm. As I continue into his later, less body horror filmography it will be interesting to see if these ideas translate to his other work.