Ursula Hentschlaeger
Zelko Wiener
Vice Versa. Mediatised
Projections in the Worlds of Science-Fiction Movies
1998
This work aimed at focusing on a
mediatised notion of the mirror, which can mainly be defined on
the basis of distinctions: If, in visions of the future, the
traditional mirror still serves as
1. an
instrument of observation, self-knowledge and exposure, and
2. as a means
to condense interior worlds and dream worlds then the
"new" ways of mirroring, which are eventally always
mediatised project-ions, find their equivalents in
3. digital
instruments (of control) or as
4.
constructions of reality in a fictitious cyberspace.
BACKGROUND
OBSERVATION
1. Mirrors as instruments of observation:
Self-knowledge and exposure
In the world of science-fiction movies,
the traditional mirror image is initially also an image of that
which is reflected. We see it the wrong way round, so that the
figure in the mirror is always a little different from the
actual self. Inevitably, this leads to notions such as knowing
oneself and finding oneself. Protagonists who thoughtfully
glance at their image in the mirror fit this interpretation
perfectly. Examples include Robocop (who is aware of himself
for the first time when he is shown his image in a mirror),
Johnny Mnemonic (who returns to "reality" with the
help of his mirror image) and Virtuosity (when a real-time
video projection is the mediatised counterpart replacing the
conventional mirror function). At the same time, the mirror has
a potential of exposing "the truth". The function of
exposing is mainly of criminological interest. Examples include
the famous mirror sequence from Blade Runner (when the scan of
a photograph can decipher the mirror image of a woman), and the
function of the glasses in
They Are Alive (when
the glasses become the mirror of a parallel world).
INTRERIORWORLD
CONTROL
CONSTRUCTION
CONCLUSION
