Caprica
Given our discussion in class on Thursday, I thought that I'd be interesting to see if anyone else has started to watch Caprica? I am thoroughly in love with the program and I think that it deals with a number of issues that we have been talking about over the semester. I think that, while some may be put off by the label of “Science Fiction,” the show, like Battlestar Galactica, deals with themes that are grounded in the struggles present within American culture.
The show calls to mind our fascination/horror/excitement with technology as we fight to navigate utopian/dystopian elements (the first episode actually explained this arc in a single line); we are straddling these two equally possible worlds and are trying to decide not only who we are, but who we should be and who we could be. Most of my research interests center around issues of identity, so I’m always keen on this sort of stuff, but everyone on the show is going through a transition of some sort and I find that middle space so compelling. Characters in the show straddle two (or more) worlds in different ways and the connection to online/virtual life is obvious.
The episode that just aired actually featured two things that our class might respond to. After an avatar changes appearance, it says, “You see? It’s still just me. Anything that is pure code can be manipulated.” I will transcribe the discussion that follows as this avatar talks with another (who, on a side note, is trapped in this virtual world because she’s a computer program based on a human but does not know that, which raises additional questions concerning whether this digital representation is now an actual entity).
Teen Gamer: Look, I know this must seem really random to you but this game, it really does mean something to me. It actually allows me to be something.
Tamara: Maybe if you weren’t in here playing this game, you could be something out there, too.
The episode also started off with a Russian Roulette sequence in which people put money into a pot that the survivors split (a game of sorts!). The show had already referenced shooting yourself in a virtual world, so this was not necessarily new territory. However, I love how I felt slightly queasy watching the scene. Everything about the setup tells you that this is fake--there's even "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" lighting--but that can't stop you from having a visceral reaction to the feeling of putting a gun to your own head and pulling the trigger. Metacommentary on feelings of presence, perhaps? The camera stays on the guy who dies (which is a strong choice by the director) and gets around censors by having the victim derez. As soon as it's over, you get why this is happening-because in a world full of excess and possibility, you explore what it's like to have nothing and to be nothing. Virtual life loses its meaning and you crave the sensation of death because it's now impossible to die. When your entire imagination is open for you to explore, you fall back on some of the most hardwired emotions revolving around survival-I imagine the exhilaration and fear surrounding death acts as a sort of high.
This episode featured both ends of a spectrum, where you have individuals wanting to be somebody, wanting to matter, wanting to have a name, and wanting a purpose. We can think about how this relates to the RP population and who comprises it. On the other hand, we can also consider how endless the endless do overs provided by virtual technologies changes the way that we approach life. In one simple episode, the show features some of the utopian aspects of virtual technology and immediately presents the dystopia of moral blankness. This is then contrasted with offline ways to develop the self and to instill value. Fantastic.
To end, the episode left me thinking about a large number of things related to our discussions in class.
1. Tamara (the avatar who can’t escape) is pure code-there are fantastic implications for this given the quote from before and our knowledge from Lessig. Think about how this entity is different from (or similar to) Agent Smith from The Matrix.
2. This episode is partially taking place in a virtual FPS called “New Cap City,” which invokes themes from virtual gaming (and movies about like Gamer, which in turn draws from the theme of real people playing games of survival a la Battle Royale, The Condemned, Rollerball, and Death Race) and is most likely references New Jack City. And let’s not even get started on the 1940’s film noir overtone.
3. The episode title (“There Is Another Sky”) references a poem that adds on additional meaning (and happens to come from my favorite poet).
As we have discussed, Science Fiction allows us to explore some of these philosophical issues because we are able to remove ourselves from our surroundings and see things in a different light. I think that the show does a great job of asking audiences to confront their thoughts on technology and to think about the effects of virtual technology on their lives. There is, of course, much more to the show that involves politics, religion, class, and ethnicity but that does not relate to what we do.