SFX
September 19th, 2020
Starring: Student 1, Student 2 (college age, grad or undergrad)
A dorm/apartment common/living room, midday. The lights are off. The screen illuminates Student 1, who watches a movie on the couch. The lock turns, and Student 1 pauses the movie as Student 2 enters. Student 2 looks at the TV.
STUDENT 2
Avatar?
I thought you were studying.
STUDENT 1
Study break.
STUDENT 2
A three hour study break…
STUDENT 1
Give me a break, I was up all night.
And I’m writing a paper about it, so it’s research.
STUDENT 2
What?
STUDENT 1
The media studies thing. We’re both in it.
STUDENT 2
I know. I was asking what your topic was.
STUDENT 1
I don’t know. It’s not fully formed, I just have a hunch.
STUDENT 2
About Avatar?
STUDENT 1
Around Avatar.
Sort of about how we as consumers see CGI and special effects as “realistic” relative to our time.
Like
When movies like Jaws and The Exorcist came out they freaked everyone out because the SFX felt so real to them. And then SFX got better and there was probably some movie in the 90’s that felt super real, like a step up from those, which I’ll find. And then there’s Avatar, which was the first movie I remember seeing in the theatre that made me go like “holy shit” about next level realness of SFX.
But now, Avatar’s closing in on 15 years old. And now when I watch it, and I see the SFX are still amazing, but they’re just not where the average SFX are in a movie today. And the 90’s SFX are abysmal in comparison to that, and The Exorcist and Jaws have lost their scariness and believability entirely because their SFX just isn’t real to us anymore. It’s almost a novelty. But even though when those movies came out, their realities were as real as ours is now.
So I guess that means to me that our expectations for what “real” is are always evolving. We always think we’re in the age of “peak realism,” despite our literal world staying consistently real.
…
STUDENT 2
That’s kind of a mindfuck.
STUDENT 1
Tell me about it. And then I’m like, if what we see now in media is peak realism, then what’s next? Because with this logic, things are only going to get more realistic and more realistic, so at a certain point, I have to imagine simulated reality is going to actually mirror our reality.
And like
Then what?
STUDENT 2
Sure
...
To be honest by mindfuck I kind of lost your argument.
But it’s interesting. Like you should still go for it.
STUDENT 1
I am.
Student 2 grabs their backpack from their room and heads to the door.
STUDENT 2
I have class. See you in a bit.
STUDENT 1
See ya.
Student 2 leaves. Student 1 turns Avatar back on.