Thoughts on David Cronenberg

Cronenberg is a director who has always fascinated me. He is a 'director of ideas' if there ever was one. He often draws explicitly from literary sources. His films have striking, and often lurid, imagery. His films have become subtler and more sophisticated over the years. I will go through a few of his films and offer a few perfunctory notes.

The recurring theme that crops up in Cronenberg's film is the body and, more specifically, the relationship between mind/body and technology. This theme has been explored both in his early 'horror' film as well as his recent arthouse and thriller films. Cronenberg is interested in the way in which our bodily functions and our mental perception are altered by putatively benign technological developments. Most memorably to most people, this results in horrendous bodily deformations. James Wood memorably asserts at one stage in Videodrome, 'Long live the new flesh!' Cronenberg is also interested in pathologies and the way in which these technologies derange his characters. Several of his films could be seen as accounts of psychotic episodes. Still, Cronenberg is no luddite. He even embraces the notion that humans can defy natural selection and take control of nature.

Cronenberg is a Cartesian dualist. This means that the believes in the existence of both mind and matter. He sees the body as being concretely apart from the mind. In this sense, when the body has a transformation, the mind is independent from it. This is explored in Shivers, an example of a chemical experiment gone wrong. This results in the growth of parasites that tear through the bodies of its victims. The film is set in a large building complex. Cronenberg has always been interested in psychology, even in these early horror films. The film confines itself to the large building complex and documents the mental collapse of its inhabitants. The growth of the parasites ultimately degrades the mental state of the characters. The film is also somewhat critical of the permissive society at the time, with the phallic parasites in many ways representing STDs.

This mind/body dualism is similarly explored in The Brood. The protagonist's wife is institutionalised in a building that resembles a cult rather than a psychiatric unit. Bedeviled dwarf children spawn out of a lurid new body part growing out of her stomach. These dwarfs wreak havoc and kill several of the protagonist's relatives. Made at a time in which is own marriage was in turmoil, the dwarfs are symbolic of the wife's psychological manipulation. Out of all his early horror films, this is the one which is most interested in character development.

My favourite Cronenberg film, and the most characteristic of his entire career, is Videodrome. It is inspired by Marshall McCluhan's prescription that 'the medium is the message.' It explores the potential that audiovisual media has to corrupt has. The lead character is the purveyor of a 'video nasty' TV cable show, where he airs lurid pornography videos. Once he sees a video called 'Videodrome,' he develops a brain tumor that triggers a bizarre psychotic episode. Interestingly, there's a shelter home for homeless people where they can watch television. People who are deprived from television need to be exposed to it for the sake of their own sanity. At one point it is called 'the retina of the mind's eye.' Yet the mass proliferation of pornography and violence seems to have a sinister impact on the minds of its consumers, as it seems to harbour the onset of psychosis.

Videodrome

The theme of sinister technology is explored in Videodrome. However, Cronenberg also explores the theme of sinister scientists in both The Fly and Dead Ringers. In The Fly, a scientist messianically develops a technological invention that will lead to progress. However, it malfunctions and, instead of transporting inanimate objects, he gradually metamorphoses into a fly. An attempt to defy the laws of physics backfires and, more tragically than Frankenstein, the scientist turns into a hideous insect. Interestingly, as a scientist, he views his transformation with precision and wry detachment. He implicates his friends and close relatives and exposes them to danger. Dead Ringers explores the way in which trust is assigned to doctors and the ways in which this can be broken. Two twin gynecologists, both roles played deftly by Jeremy Irons, develop a sexual attraction to a patient. The film explores the notion of synergy. One twin is more confident whereas the other one is shy. Both are chronically dependent on one another. The film explores sexual inexperience and the way in which formidable, academic and socially awkward men feel entitled to the pleasure of women. The twins try to overcome the same sets of problems as a pair. The film ends with a lurid experiment in which one twin disembowels the other with bizarre gynecological instruments to 'end the Siamese twins' and to hence gain a sense of autonomy.

Cronenberg decided to adapt William Burroughs' 'unfilmable' novel Naked Lunch. Avoiding a literal adaptation, the film actually comes off as an innovative biopic. It is a particularly interesting attempt to understand the process of literary creation. William Burroughs is particular notable for his heroin addiction as well as his tumultuous personal life, having accidentally shot his wife in a game of 'William Tell.' The film binds all these elements together alongside elements from Burroughs' novels and an imaginary rendering of the gestation of Naked Lunch. The technological apparatus of interest here is the typewriter, which frequently morphs into a cockroach. The typewriter in this film is a central force of literary creation, as it often interacts with Burroughs in an oft-like humorous manner. The film is interesting in the way it depicts Burroughs' strong anti-authoritarian sentiments in the 'real life' sequences. Meanwhile 'Interzone,' a parallel reality where misfits congregate, is inspirational and where all of the writing of the book takes place. Burroughs' vision foreshadowed the internet and it is clear why Cronenberg was intrigued by it.

Naked Lunch

Another 'difficult book' that Cronenberg adapted soon after was J. G. Ballard's Crash. Like Burroughs' novel, it is notable for being subversive and controversial. The novel is very Cronenbergian, as it explores the relationship between man and technology and the proliferation of sex and violence in mass media. The film loses the novel's somewhat poetic tone and goes for a much colder and more clinical approach. The characters have no affection for one another. The gruesome scenes of sexual violence are approached as quasi-scientific experiments. The lead character Vaughn leads 'car crash' seminars. The film was lambasted for being amoral and it was banned in parts of the UK. Ballard defended it as a 'moral' work. What struck me when I saw it recently is that it is morally ambivalent. When the lead character, Ballard, sticks his dick into gory places, he seems to be all the better for it. The film also drops much of the novel's dialogue and focuses on very stylised sex scenes. The sex scene emerges as a plot device that centres the film. As such, it can lead one to accuse it as being nothing more than a porno.

eXistenZ explored our relationship with interactive technologies, such as video games and the internet. The film has a very 'meta' ending whereby these technologies have such a corrupting effect that we can no longer differentiate reality from fantasy. These fantasy realms, which appear as 'real' as the natural world, allow a newfound freedom in that they allow the subjects to control the outcome of causality. Interestingly, 'isten' is a Hungarian word for 'God,' which could be interpreted as symbolic of the powers conferred to man by new technologies.

A History of Violence is a very interesting film in that it explores the notion of identity in the form of a thriller. Cronenberg's previous film, Spider, was about a schizophrenic and hence about a film in which choice is confused. Violence is the first of a series of films which are far more realistic. The lead character chooses a new identity for himself following a career as a gangster. These gangsters visit him and his wife and the local community soon learn about his past life. Identity here is seen as something which is willed. Interestingly, the film was a comic book adaptation, a medium which has explored the notion of willed identity with the notion of superheroes. Although the character leads a domesticated life, his past 'violent' life remains latent. It re-emerges once he confronts the gangsters. The self is hence seen as something transient and the 'unitary' self is seen as an artificial construct. The film is interested in Dariwinian theory. The character has had to resort to violence in his past life in order to procreate and to later lead a stable existence.

Cosmopolis was an adaptation of a Don DeLillo novel. I was interested in the novel as way in which it explored a breakdown in communications. The dialogue is stilted and Beckettian. The characters are unable to talk to one another or show any affection. The lead character is a billionaire who is utterly insulated from the outer world. His limousine is completely sheltered from the outer world. Outside protests erupt about Wall Street whilst he his limousine shields the noise. The characters often speak using grand aphorisms about the state of capitalism. The billionaire is reckless. He bring about a financial crisis and voluntarily seeks his own death. The most powerful person in the world is shown to be so self-absorbed that he does not even notice his own surroundings. He only cares about getting a haircut, sex and, ultimately, seeking his own death.

History of Violence

When Maps to the Stars came out, I felt that most people focused too much on it as being a work of satire. I felt as if, once more, Cronenberg was interested in Hollywood from a psychiatric standpoint. Hollywood in the film is a microcosm. The characters in the film are incestual. I felt that Cronenberg wasn't satirising Hollywood for being insular. I felt as it if he was interested in exploring the pathologies of narcissists. The film is less interested in the socioeconomic inequities of the system; it is more interested in exploring the psychosis of people who live in a microcosm detached from the real world. This is a similarity it shares with Cosmopolis. That film is less interested in expounding economic arguments as it is in exploring the self-absorption of a coldly cerebral billionaire.