The Futurology Conference is a very interesting work. It combines live-action shooting with animation. We will combine the symbolic connotation represented by the heroine Robin with Baudrillard's theory to analyze the deep connotation of the film.
The heroine Robin is a once very successful actress. She has starred in classic movies such as The Princess Bride and Forrest Gump, and has won the crown of actresses. However, due to the innovation of the entire industry, live actors will no longer be required for future filming. It is to enable computer-generated "image" shooting of actors, so as to avoid problems with real actors themselves, and buy them out at one time, which can save costs in comparison. Therefore, the film company asked the heroine to sell her "image" to continue her acting career arranged by the company...
At this time, Robin has changed from an actor with inner expression to a symbol with commercial value and worship (symbolic meaning). The communication between the film and the audience and the expression of the actor are transformed into a commodity relationship, which also implies the future society. The essence is materialistic and governed by symbols.
In "Consumer Society", in addition to the value, exchange-change and use-value proposed by Marx, Baudrillard proposed a fourth value - sign-value. That is, the value of a commodity in the system of things by distinguishing itself and obtaining a luxury status. At present, the symbolic value has indeed surpassed other values and has become the most important determinant in the current society.
20 years later, Robin was invited to "Abalahama" for the "Futurology Conference"
People can enter a self-created animated AR world by taking hallucinogenic drugs (Robin's Abala Hama is a Disney animation in the 80s, a utopia chosen according to the actual situation of the actors)
Abalahama shows us the third sequence of Baudrillard's simulacrum theory, "simulation", that is, a fictional world that is different from reality, similar to "theme park" or "two dimensions". The boundaries are dissolved by drugs.
And Robin was invited to participate in this conference, because McLamon wanted to renew Robin's image copyright for another 20 years
The purpose of the futurology conference is to completely implode the theme park "Abaca Hama", and the McLamon Group launched their latest product: a hallucinogenic drug that can become others, which means that you can become yourself . Anyone who wants to be , this move also marks the elimination of movies, because everyone only needs a potion to direct and act in their own movies. (Actually, it is also an irony that contemporary movies have turned from the self-expression of artists into a tool for entertaining the public)
In fact, in a consumerist society, capital will link items with lifestyles through advertising. For example, drinking red wine means I am very sentimental, and buying LV means I am noble. The media makes us live in a mimetic environment. Let's think we have something like this and we can live like TV stars or social media stars. People falsely acquire a way of life through objects, that is, by acquiring certain kinds of symbols, in order to symbolize that we are in a certain social class and obtain satisfaction.
And this new type of medicine makes the purpose of consumption metaphor directly reach one step, we don't need to imitate those people through objects and symbols, we can directly become them . We are constantly replacing our identities through drugs, and the ego is constantly being replaced, we are lost in the sea of different symbols and cultures created for us, the self and the truth are constantly imploding, and the worst part is: maybe we will become There is no ego, just a phantom formed by piling up and decorating itself with symbols. But because of this, the disputes among people have disappeared, and everyone's desires can be satisfied. In a sense, this is a utopia.
But Robin can still understand that this is not a real world. At this point, the story has become a classic Matrix problem - the blue pill or the red pill, that is, in which direction will our values be deflected in the face of hyperreal being more real than reality?
When Dylan asked Robin what do you want to become, Robin chose Usher Syndrome (Retinitis Pigmentosa Syndrome) which is Robin's son's disease, and he still wanted to be with his son Aaron , and returned to the real world to find Aaron, and learned that Aaron had also taken the medicine, and took it again without hesitation to find Aaron. The creator of the movie gave us the answer here, "Wherever the person you care about goes, we will go to the side". This ending may be considered cliché, but it is the most humanitarian ending I can think of. .
After the heroine finally took the hallucinogenic drug, she returned to her womb and was born as Aaron, so that she could follow Aaron's footsteps and finally find Aaron
Since surreal is more real than reality, does real really matter that much?
- End -
Follow the new world of Icarus, let's get close to the sun together
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