On Total Recall and Video Game Aesthetic in film

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On Total Recall and Video Game Aesthetic in film
關於電影全面回憶和電影中的電子遊戲美學

原文：http://10oclockdot.tumblr.com/post/47364423600/on-total-recall-and-video-game-aesthetics-in-film

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記憶，夢，影像三點交匯的區域已成為大批影像製作者探索和演繹的重點，從像Bruce Conner這樣的實驗先鋒，到像Paul Verhoeven這樣的動作大片能工巧匠無不參與其中。Jason Vest 在他的書《Total Recall》(後來被Philip K.Dick搬上螢幕)中探索了真實記憶，虛擬植入記憶和科技產生的幻想夢之間的區別。影片提供了大量的線索，促使我們不得不懷疑劇情的現實地位，但是它也重申了，一個身在現實和感覺中的人，無法確切的監測自己現實與感覺的地位。
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 除此之外，Verhoeven 提供了大量的諷刺意味和旺盛的自我意識來模糊界限。我們該怎麼製作Edgemar 和 Quaid對峙場面的螢幕？用一個Quaid家有兩扇窗大小的巨大的視訊螢幕怎麼樣？我們應該用通過動作因素把他們歸位的方式來忽視難以置信的情節嗎？還是我們應該把難以置信的部份都歸於Quaid的夢境幻想？這裡夢境和戲劇的連結再次顯現出來，就像Buster在Sherlock中的角色一樣，Jr夢到了一個幻想的冒險旅行，象徵懸疑電影因素，也許Quaidz只是想在夢中表現火星冒險，完全取決於動作因素的隱喻。
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在傳統的關於夢的優秀影片中，Total Recall 保持了視覺上的難以置信來肯定的說出了夢境和清醒狀態的不同。因此我們難以確切的說出電影是應該像清醒現實一樣拍攝，還是應該成為Quaid的關於他第一次到Rekall下面那一刻的夢。我必須說，對於電影本身的認真理解，後續帶來了更多的觀眾。除了Total Recall中不可置信的荒謬部份，考慮到Rekall僱員似乎擁有怪異的洞察力，Bob McClane,試圖給Quaid推薦作為秘密特工 的火星度假套餐，並承諾他「你得到了這個女孩，殺死了壞人，你就可以拯救整個星球！」確實，這就是事實。
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在電影中，Dr.Edgemar 試圖說服Quaid，他正在經歷精神分裂，「自由妄想的基礎是我們的記憶紐帶。」當對此質疑的Quaid對Edgemar進行武力威脅時，E解釋了接下來會發生的事「」確實，所有的預言也都發生了，在電影最後耀眼的強光掩蓋了吻。Verhoeven說過，白色代表了Quaid迷失在他的意識中，他成為了Lobotomized，這是和一個和影片角色預言一致的完美解釋。
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所以如果我們接受了這個影片是一個夢，這是一個什麼類型的夢？E告訴Q,他的妄想是基於R的記憶紐帶，但是「你在進程中自行創造了新的。」由程序控制的創意交互對我的暗示更多。更進一步，我探討的是Quaid像玩一個遊戲一樣接受了這個記憶模擬。事實是，人們可以通過調整虛擬現實電影中開發的交互工具在電影中交代更多。但是我認為沒有比假定Total Recall是一個錄製的遊戲更符合他的美學和過渡的了。
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一幕接一幕，Total Recall的美學就像電子遊戲的美學。在Rekall，McClane向Quaid規劃了遊戲的承諾：一個成為另一個人的機會。他說：「你在自我之中完成一個旅行。他是最先進的旅行形式，叫做Ego Trip。」當Quaid同意之後，McClane和Dr.Lull 讓他進入了選擇角色的流程。年輕的技術員Ernie重申「他一定不想回來。」這確實就是後來發生的。之後當Edgemar面對Quaid,給了他兩個選項，回到現實還是繼續遊戲。未在遊戲中感到滿足的Quaid，由於腦內的判斷和可見的原因（滑落的汗滴），讓他不相信Edgemar所說，而去追逐更多交互的體驗。
就在Johnny出租把Quaid從ReKall送到目的地之後，他工作的朋友和三個壞人把他堵住想要殺死他。但在不可思議的肉搏之後，他殺死了他們四個。像很多遊戲一樣，遊戲角色殺死了非遊戲角色的人物，武器用來用來解決很多問題。4人死時瓷磚的網格和空白的牆壁在視覺上是一個未分化的多邊形空間，是一個電子遊戲建築的隱喻。
在解決了這4個壞人之後，Quaid打贏了遊戲的「第一關」。就好像要強調這一點一樣，遊戲裡克切換到文字交互遊戲：Quaid的假妻子Lori，正在玩一種全息網球。
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在和Lori的爭執之後，推動Quaid的奔跑。電影通過一系列巧合推動了情節，諸如設計恰到好處的巧合推動Quaid完成一系列扭曲的目的性動作。一個不知道從哪冒出來的制服男，推動了情節把Quaid帶向了火星。班尼的計程車總是恰好出現在恰當的時機，有效的吧Quaid送到下一個情節點。在另一個敘述模式，觀眾唾棄像圍繞角色發展的恰到巧合的剪輯，這種剪輯用敘事的張力綁架了觀眾。但是，在電子遊戲中，玩家預想的情節，通過讓不論不可能的或不符合邏輯的實現，都會在適當的時機出現。最終，觀者開始注意到Quaid的個人自由其實與他追尋的環境線索並不相關。
當班尼用一個巨大的機器攻擊Quaid的時候，不只是一個出現在恰當時機恰當地點的武器，而且是一個具有巨大穿牆力量的機器，解釋了地下室的存在，引出了第三幕的高潮。在和班尼的段落結束後，Quaid和Melina的傷奇蹟的痊癒了（之前也發生過多次）。就好像他們都升級並回血了一樣。緊接著，古老的外星反應爐——最終的boss，等待著他們登上最終的決鬥場。
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在這個意義上，全面回憶是媒體領域中電子遊戲崛起的先驅。不僅僅是電子遊戲開始接管好萊塢經濟，而且是每年70億美元世界市場佔有率的響應，採用遊戲美學已經成為電影的共同之處。這種情況也發生在那些沒有採用遊戲的電影之中。諾蘭的全面啟動展示了一個規則約束的宇宙，暴力稱為解決衝突的首選模式。不斷升級動作的分離關卡以及難度（和夢境分級重合），以及有著超乎常人能力且不會受傷的頂住敵人強火力的角色（SAITo是個特例，但他傷的加劇推動了其他角色的挑戰）。Jim Emerson明智的認為，全面啟動是一個設想為電子遊戲的解謎電影。
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但是儘管這些特性讓全面回憶成為一個hypermasculine, misogynist, ultraviolent, sensory-motor-reward-circuit automatic-reaction thought-destroying pleasure-center-stimulation-fest的電影，全面回憶事實上是一個過於複雜的電影。通過使用通用的符號和強化的風格，全面回憶提示觀者讓位真實，而相信一個難以置信的敘事空間。之後，電影指出這些不可信，並讓他們在電影中對立。之後從敘事中給我們一個答案，讓我們去懷疑電影中所謂的真實。因此，全面回憶的偉大之處包括，他通過把反身性的懷疑植入敘事結構基礎合理化了普遍的恐懼。就像諸如Grindhous這個電影嘗試邪惡合理化，或就導演意圖而言,全面回憶要求他本身的恐懼作為影片含義的重要架構。沒有這些滑稽的類型記號，這個電影就不會提高一切只是QUAID夢境的可能。但是雙重可能讓我們更有自由選擇到底是更嚮往冒險還是直視嘲諷糊塗。敘事本身包括了敘事本身和我們自己的選擇。還有什麼比誇讚一個電影是通過裝作愚蠢來彰顯它的智慧，一個當我們合理肯定他的輝煌時我們總是感到異常優越，更好的稱讚呢？
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全面回憶誕生在藝術的一個特殊過渡時期。結局歸功於令人吃驚的廣告，包括小說化和電子遊戲化。在20世紀中葉，藝術審美和遊戲架構開始融合。OuLiPo 實驗，偶然音樂，和之後的自己選擇冒險書，孤立的藝術通過和讀者或音樂人共同創作經驗的方式與遊戲元素第一次結合。Romans a clef（RPS小說）存在百年，有挑戰性的讀者可以拆解未解之謎，和像Bruegel’s Netherlandish proverbs 鼓勵a decoding practice somewhere betweenWhere’s Waldo, a rebus, andAmelia Bedelia. 但就這樣看，當閱讀和觀看的經驗保持基本可觀時，這個解釋提供了謎題（或遊戲）元素。在藝術作品中添加遊戲元素使得觀眾成為聯合創作者。而不是給觀眾呈現一個設定好的已經完成的美學知覺。被遊戲影響的藝術作品包含了更多可能和觀眾交互創造經驗的算法。不用說，這是一個巨大的改變。


 1. The triple overlap of film, memory, and dream has become a crucial locus of investigation and play for a number of reflexive filmmakers, from experimental pathbreakers like Bruce Conner to crafters of slam-bang action blockbusters like Paul Verhoeven. Jason Vest argues in his well-titled book on Philip K. Dick adaptations in cinema that Total Recall (1990) reflexively explores the indistinguishability of real memory, fictional implanted memory, and a technologically-produced fantasy dream. The film offers a number of clues to suggest that we should doubt the reality status of the diegesis, but it also reasserts (as Plato and Descartes once did) that one cannot definitively test the status of one’s own reality or perception while bound within that reality and perception.

2. In addition to this, Verhoeven provides a number of hiply ironic and self-aware flourishes (as well as some classically metacinematic gestures) to further blur the lines. What should we make of the prominent mirrors in the scene where Edgemar confronts Quaid? How about the large video screens in Quaid’s home which double as window simulators? Should we dismiss the implausibility of the plot by situating it solely within the action genre, or should we narratively account for its implausibility by explaining that it’s all Quaid’s dream-fantasy? Here dreams and cinema link up again; just as Buster Keaton’s character in Sherlock, Jr. dreamed up a fantasy adventure determined (and overdetermined) wholly to the tropes of the mystery film genre, perhaps Quaid merely dreamt his adventure on Mars (while hooked up to a machine at Rekall) entirely according to the tropes of the action genre.

3. In the tradition of the best films on dreams, in Total Recall it remains visually impossible to definitively tell the difference between dream and waking states. Thus, we cannot say for certain whether the entire film should be taken as waking reality, or whether the film becomes Quaid’s dream the moment he first goes under at Rekall. I』d like to suggest that a careful interpretation of the film turns up more evidence for the latter. In addition to the unbelievable absurdity of the plotting of Total Recall, consider the uncanny clairvoyance which Rekall’s employees seem to have (and they』re not even mind-reading mutants, though they do have mind-hacking technology). Bob McClane, trying to upsell Quaid to the 「secret agent」 Mars vacation package, promises him, 「you get the girl, you kill the bad guys, and you save the entire planet!」 And indeed, this is just what happens.

4. Then, at the midpoint of the film, Dr. Edgemar arrives to try to convince Quaid that he’s experiencing a schizoid embolism, 「a free-form delusion based on our memory tapes.」 When disbelieving Quaid threatens Edgemar with violence, Edgemar explains what will happen next: 「One minute you』ll be the savior of the rebel cause, then, next thing you know, you』ll be Cohaagen’s bosom buddy. You』ll even have ridiculous fantasies about alien civilizations–as you requested. But in the end, back on Earth… You』ll be lobotomized」 (script here). And indeed, all the rest of that happens, too, right down to the blinding glare of light that overwhelms the kiss at the end of the film. Verhoeven himself has said that this white-out represents Quaid’s loss of consciousness as he is lobotomized (see Vest, p. 38), an interpretation perfectly consistent with the predictions of the most reliable characters in the film.

5. So if we accept that the entire film is a dream, what kind of a dream is it? Edgemar tells Quaid that his delusion is based on Rekall’s memory tapes, but 「you』re inventing it yourself as you go along.」 This brand of creative interaction with a program implies more for me than Quaid taking over his memory simulation and constructing it according action film clichés. Rather, l argue that Quaid takes over his memory simulation and begins to play it as though it were a game. To be sure, one can account for quite a lot in Total Recall by adapting interpretive tools developed for simulated reality films (like World on a Wire) or dream films (like Waking Life), but I argue that nothing rationalizes its aesthetics and excesses better than postulating that Total Recall is a recording of gameplay.

6. Scene by scene, Total Recall’s aesthetics resemble the aesthetics of a video game. At Rekall, McClane lays out for Quaid the promise of video games: the opportunity to be someone else. He says, 「You take a vacation from yourself. It’s the latest thing in travel, it’s called the Ego Trip.」 When Quaid agrees, McClane and Dr. Lull take him through the process of character selection (see above). Ernie, the young technician, remarks, 「He’s not gonna wanna come back.」 And indeed, this is what happens. Later, when Edgemar confronts Quaid, he gives him the choice, in essence, between returning to reality or continuing to play. Quaid, sensing that the game has not yet fulfilled his desires, invents both conceptual justifications and visible reasons (the trickle of sweat) to disbelieve Edgemar so that he can pursue more of his interactive fantasies. Just after the Johnny Cab drops off Quaid from his first visit to Rekall, his buddy from work and three other thugs corner him with the intent to kill him. But with inexplicable adeptness for hand-to-hand combat, he disarms and kills all four of them. As in many games, the character has skills which the player does not, and weapons are used to solve a great many problems. The tiled grid and blank wall upon which the four others die visually suggest a space of undifferentiated polygons, a metaphor for video game architecture. Having dispatched these four bad guys, Quaid has beaten the first 「level」 of the game. As if to underscore this point, the film immediately cuts to a literal interactive game: Quaid’s ersatz wife Lori playing some sort of holographic Kinetic tennis.

7. After his altercation with Lori puts Quaid on the run, the film threads the plot through a number of deus ex machinas - cheap just-in-time coincidences designed to propel Quaid down a twisting path of goal-driven action. A man with a suitcase appears out of nowhere so that the plot can take Quaid to Mars. 班尼’s taxi always seems to show up at just the right moment to efficiently ferry Quaid, et al, to the next plot point. In other narrative modes, spectators spurn deus ex machinas as tawdry shortcuts around character development, things which rob the audience of a proper working-out of the narrative tension. But in video games, the player expects that the plot will always arrive just in time, by whatever implausible or illogical means available. Eventually, the viewer begins to notice that Quaid’s individual free will becomes irrelevant as he tracks down whatever clues the environment drops in his lap (he follows them to Mars, to the Last Resort, to Kuato, and so on). When 班尼 turns on Quaid and attacks him with a large mining machine, not only does a weapon appear at exactly the right place at exactly the right time to penetrate the cabin and kill him, but the machine even unbelievably breaks through a rock wall, revealing the subterranean chamber which will provide the third-act climax (a towering ejaculation of air). Within moments after this run-in with 班尼, Quaid and Melina’s injuries have miraculously healed (as they have several times before), as though they each just leveled-up and earned a restoration of health. And instead of simply blowing up the ancient alien reactor, Cohaagen - the final boss - kindly waits around for Quaid to arrive so that they can engage in a final battle.

8. In this sense, Total Recall was one of the many harbingers of the rise of video games in the blockbuster media landscape. Not only have video games begun to take over the economics of Hollywood, but in response to their 70 billion dollar annual world marketshare, it has become commonplace for films to adopt the aesthetics of gameplay. This is the case even in films which were not adapted from games. Christopher Nolan’s Inception (to return to a familiar touchstone) presents a rule-bound universe, violence as a preferred method of conflict resolution, discrete levels of escalating action and difficulty (which uncoincidentally correspond to the levels of the dream), and characters which are able to withstand inordinate swaths of opposing gunfire without injury (Saito is the only exception to this, but his exacerbating injuries work to deepen the challenge for the other characters). Jim Emerson wisely opined that 「Inception was conceived as a kind of video game puzzle-movie.」

9. But despite the fact that all these characteristics make Total Recall a hypermasculine, misogynist, ultraviolent, sensory-motor-reward-circuit automatic-reaction thought-destroying pleasure-center-stimulation-fest, Total Recall is actually quite a sophisticated film. Through its generic markers and stylistic excess, Total Recall prompts its viewers to make concessions on reality and believe in an implausible diegesis. Then, Total Recall takes this suspension of disbelief (which is what allowed us to accept a filmic reality which has so little in common with extrafilmic reality) and turns it against itself, giving us a reason from within the narrative to mistrust a majority of what the film seems to present as reality. As such, Total Recall’s greatness consists in the way it justifies its own generic terribleness by implanting reflexive skepticism into the very foundation of the narrative. Whereas a film like Grindhouse attempts to justify its badness intertextually (it references other bad movies, so it’s okay) or in terms of the director’s intentionality (they meant it to be bad, so it’s okay), the narrative of Total Recall requires its terribleness as essentially constitutive of the film’s meaning. Without the ludicrous markers of genre, the film wouldn』t raise the possibility that nearly all of it is just Quaid’s dream. But its double-address allows us full freedom of choice over where we will enjoy the adventure and where we will scoff at its silliness! The narrative itself circumscribes both reactions and our oscillation between them. What’s more audience-flattering than a film that shows its intelligence by pretending it’s stupid, a film we can always feel superior to while justifiably insisting on its brilliance? (See quotation #6 here)

10. Total Recall arrived during a strange moment of transition in the arts. The end credits surprisingly advertise both a novelization and a video game based on the film (see above). In the second half of Twentieth Century, the aesthetics of art and the structure of games began to converge. In OuLiPo experiments (like this one), certain aleatoric music, and then later in Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books, isolated artworks first toyed with incorporating game elements by forcing the reader or musician to co-create the experience of the work on the fly. To be sure, Romans a clef had existed for centuries, challenging readers to crack an allegorical riddle, and paintings like Bruegel’s Netherlandish Proverbs encouraged a decoding practice somewhere between Where’s Waldo, a rebus, and Amelia Bedelia. But in such cases, the interpretation provided the puzzle (or game) element, while primary experience of reading or viewing the work remained basically an objective one, autonomous of any audience activity. Introducing game elements into an artwork turns the spectator into a co-creator. Rather than presenting the viewer with a stable set of aesthetic percepts, as artworks have always done, the game-inflected artwork contains a field of possibilities and a set of algorithms through which the viewer’s interaction creates an experience. Needless to say, this is a big change.

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