use of artificial positions and movements of the camera to paradoxically
simulate reality. It is a cinema that appeals to the fascination of the
spectator by adopting visual spectacle to commandeer their attention. It is a
cinema that offers special effects that are pleasurable in their own right,
although they are often ‘artificial’ means to aid narration. Simultaneously,
these films transmit ideas about the confusion between reality and unreality
and/or distort the spectator’s image of what he is watching. The protagonists
of these films such as Neo (Keanu Reeves) in The Matrix, Quaid (Arnold
Schwarzenegger) in Total Recall and Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in
eXistenZ are frequently lost between a reality and an unreality that are
interwoven, and this sensation is arguably transferred to the spectator who
abandons a passive attitude in front of the screen to become an active and
willing participant in such disorientation. Contemporary cinema is therefore a
perfect tool and medium through which to investigate the major concern of
this research.
My hypothesis is that we are witnessing an emerging situation where
the confusion of reality and unreality is becoming more apparent and has
acquired new forms based on the culture of the copy and the simulation. This
is a culture that is spread through the visual technological media that
produces/facilitates the creation of (un)realities. This has relevant individual
and social influences that must be analyzed and understood in order to
prevent negative repercussions such as identity crisis or the de-socialization
of our society. Within this context, the recent spate of a range of films based
on the confusion of reality and unreality seems a particularly useful focal
point for examination of the disorientation we are experiencing nowadays.
The following research into pertinent visual and written texts
concerned with the confusion between reality and unreality should be
considered alongside the production of an original film, Luna, that
simultaneously researches the characteristics of this technologically
motivated confusion and its consequences. The theoretico-practical nature of
this thesis suggests an intentional and consistent election for the creation of
a philosophical and sociological discourse, cinematographically
contextualized. Thus, the written text is intended to be a personal position in