find in virtual technology useful educational tools for the population;
learning, for instance, to be empathic, whilst enjoying a pleasurable source
of entertainment. In this respect The Lawnmower Man demonstrates both the
advantages and dangers of psyche stimulations through Virtual Reality, which,
after altering the intellect of Jeff Fahey (Jobe Smith), produce devastating
effects on his personality.
For Lévythere is no such opposition between real and virtual; the
antagonism that we can appreciate is between virtual and actual:
The virtual, strictly defined, has little relationship to that
which is false, illusory or imaginary. The virtual is by no
means the opposite of the real. The virtual should,
properly speaking, be compared not to the real but to the
actual (Lévy, 1999: 16).
Therefore, according to Lévy, Virtual Reality is a complement to, and not a
substitute for, real activities and existing social organizations. We should
understand virtual worlds as realities expressed in bits rather than atoms, as
signified and informational realities. Virtuality extends reality, rather than
eliminates it. In the same vein, Virtual Reality is not necessarily opposed to
cinema. Indeed, Virtual Reality offers an interesting opportunity to expand
cinema with new prospects and capacities. The idea of using digital and
virtual technology to create films with which the audience increases their
sense of immersion and interactivity to produce a personal experience cannot
be denied by traditionalism or technological fears. Moreover, it should be
accepted that ‘the marriage’ of cinema and technology has achieved a
different stage in their relationship. Nevertheless, even if we assume
nowadays that cinema can create anything that we can imagine, we have to
be aware that we firstly have to conceive it before we can make it into
fiction.
In this respect, and according to Jacques Aumont (1992), a further
stage in the development of cinema will come when the spectator will have
the ability to generate unique and original images, ‘produced’ by each person
but always from previous and recognizable ones. Nowadays digital and virtual
techniques can be applied to cinema and therefore, even being embryonic, it
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