Videodrome

Videodrome, also known in Canada as Network of Blood and Zonekiller, was written and directed by David Cronenberg and stars James Woods and Deborah Harry. The film was originally released in 1983; a Criterion Collection DVD was released in 2004.

The film tells the story of Max Renn, the president of a cheap cable TV station in Toronto called Channel 83, who chances upon a sleazy, violent broadcast called 'Videodrome'. As he watches, the broadcasts begin to affect his mind and he finds himself unable to distinguish between his increasingly gruesome hallucinations and reality.

Videodrome is an ideal case study for many of the themes at which we look in this module. In terms of the vehicle strand, the film has an unusual narrative structure, is hard to classify, raises difficult questions concerning representation, and explicitly addresses the relationship between audience and text. Additionally, considering the environment strand of the module, Cronenberg is familiar with the work of his fellow Canadian Marshall McLuhan and deliberately engages with several of the communication theorist's ideas, including media as extensions and environments, as hot or cool, and the notion of discarnate man and virtual identities. One of the film's characters - Brian O'Blivion - is even based on McLuhan. The film as a whole can be read as a disturbing, self-reflective meditation on the power of television, as well as a visceral, thought-provoking satire on attempts at media censorship.