a few thoughts…

After watching Existenz, you wonder whether the characters are in the physical world or if they’re still stuck in the overly realistic virtual reality game. Throughout the film, the two main characters, Allegra Geller and Ted Pikul, venture in and out of what seems to be the physical world and Allegra’s intricate video game eXistenZ. In the game, the characters frequently allude to Plato’s philosophy on reality, such as when Gas, the gas station attendant, refers to the creator as “the mechanic” and jokes adding that his job at the gas station is only at “the most pathetic level of reality”.

The Inception like mind games throughout the film were ahead of its time, especially since virtual reality hadn’t yet existed, and definitely would have intrigued Plato. The entire movie bounced between the different levels of reality that Plato describes in his Allegory of the Cave, in which Allegra and Pikul travel through, whether it be the initial eXistenZ world, or the “real” world where the game tranCendenZ is played. Now, the real question that the audience is left with at the end of the film is “are they still in the game or did they wake up in the ‘real’ world?” A character themselves even laughs adding in “aren’t we still in the game anyways?” (or something to that effect), after the whole mess in the church between Pikul, Allegra, and the rest of the players of tranCendenZ. The whole point of the weird virtual game and the characters own conflict of knowing what is real life, and what isn’t, is to question if we ever really know whether we’re in the real world or not.

Most like to believe that we have free will and that we can control what happens in our lives, however, in eXistenZ, Allegra often tells Pikul not to fight his character’s urges. Could this be a direct reference to the idea that what we do is already determined? And, although we would like to think we have control over our actions, we might not. While I don’t think that we’re living in a simulation or game, I do believe that on some level of reality there is an unknown factor, such as fate or “the universe”, that determines our actions and thoughts. Maybe Plato’s interpretation of art and deception is the answer, but if this is all an illusion would we even question reality? I don’t think we would. People are afraid of the unknown and when they become overwhelmed with an abstract concept I think they decide to attribute these unknowns to the idea of living in another reality. I feel like if we were living in a simulation, then it would be convincing enough for the people living in it to never question themselves.

word count: 465