The movie ExistenZ begins with a group of avid gamers gathering to test the new creation of game designer Allegra Geller. The console is a flesh-colored blob that we later find out is made of animal parts and synthetic DNA, and its movements are like heartbeats. To play the game, you must have a bio-port surgically implanted in your spine at the small of your back. Allegra says that getting a bio-port is like “getting your ears pierced;” it is so common. A man comes in while the group is plugged in to the game and shoots Allegra with a gun made from flesh and bone and teeth that act as bullets: “Death to the deamoness Allegra Geller,” he says. We find out he is a realist, someone who hates video games and thinks they are a danger to humanity and to reality. To escape the danger, Allegra is carried away by Ted Pikul, a marketing trainee who must now act as bodyguard. They must plug into her console to ensure it was not damaged when the game was disrupted by the shooting. Ted does not have a bio-port, however, fearing surgical modification of his body. They find a gas station that will implant a bio-port in Ted only to find out that the gas station owner, Gas, wants to kill Allegra for a large bounty put on her head by a group of realists. Ted kills Gas, and the two escape, though Ted’s new bio-port was intentionally infected by Gas. Allegra is still worried about her console. Ted’s bio-port is mended by a friend of Allegra’s, and they finally plug in. Ted claims: “I feel just like me” inside the game. The characters are constantly impressed by how real everything feels within the virtual world. They arrive in a video game shop and get portable consoles to plug in further. They are now two virtual worlds away from reality. After pausing the game, Ted says his real life “feels completely unreal” and he is not sure “real life” is real at all. So they plug back in and Ted notes that “freewill is not really a factor in this little world” to which Allegra replies, “just enough to make it interesting.” Allegra then tries to plug in yet again, but the port is bad, and she gets very sick. Ted brings her out of the game, but the couple is being shot at. The last scene reveals characters taking off gaming headgear, revealing that the movie commenced inside a virtual reality. They were no less than one step from reality for the entire movie. The story closes with one of the gamers saying, “Tell me the truth, are we still in the game,” a question that persists and can never truly be answered.
The movie spends a lot of time focusing on the fusion of technology with flesh. A prime example is Allegra’s gaming console at the beginning. Not only does it look like it could be an enlarged human fetus, its movements are like heartbeats, and Allegra treats it like her child. Another exhibit of this is the concept of the bio-port – you must literally let the game enter your body, though Allegra writes off that vulnerability by comparing the opening to a mouth. Ted not having a bio-port at the beginning of the movie shows that he is less receptive to the new technology and hints at his realist leanings. The gun also comes up multiple times in the film. Advanced technology is used to build it, but the gun is made from flesh, bone, and teeth. Allegra says in the movie, “there is some sort of bleed between game-life and real-life.” This is the main point of displaying the dichotomy of flesh and technology. When gamers are so immersed in their games that the line is blurred between virtual and actual realities, it can present a real problem. This is especially apparent when the game must literally be allowed inside your body. The cord that plugs into the bio-port looks like an umbilical cord, and the body provides the energy for the gaming console. It is as though people are opting to replace their own human experiences, like have children perhaps, with virtual ones – like being shot at in virtual reality is better than anything that could happen in actual reality. Although technology is a part of our reality in current times and cannot be separated from it, the movie warns us to constantly be skeptical and wary of the technologies and very aware of how they affect and play into our lives.
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