Westworld - Travels in Hyperreality

What can Westworld teach us about the modern media landscape?
It's not TV.
All third party clips are used under Fair Use.
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[@LukeRichert]

Pirates of the Caribbean broke down when I was on it once. We were stuck for what must’ve been an hour, the pirates looping “Yo Ho-Ho” the entire time. It was nightmarish.

[@dysmissme7343]

FirstActFilms wow

[@deondresixfo8188]

I could only imagine the horror, all bad

[@robotwolf]

“We now face the danger, which in the past has been the most destructive to the humans: Success, plenty, comfort, and ever-increasing leisure. No dynamic people has ever survived these dangers.”

[@grahamcracking5056]

i don't know WHO kyle sold his soul to to become so brain-crappingly GOOD at making videos (and video essays in particular), but I'm glad he did because holy shit i LOVE his freaking channel more than life itself

[@gabrielsalazar8930]

And know here comes the "Post-Kyle-or-Lindsay-video period of looking blankly at a wall and re-think life"

[@corhydron111]

and Contra!

[@ThatManinWhite]

No....there are others. They will come.

[@andyrebelo]

Lindsay who?

[@jamespolk5428]

We sit inside the screens And contemplate the view That's painted on the screens More beautiful than true

[@gabrielaubry1334]

When "pics or it didn't happen" becomes not good enough...

[@gabe_s_videos]

Those without the pics evolved.

[@RaketenKuhGewehr]

"pics or it didn't happen" hasn't been all that valid for quite a while now.

[@gabe_s_videos]

I still hear it from time to time. But it's always been more of a smug way of calling someone's bluff, and it's usually from people who don't actually want to believe it. It's where "Ugh, OBVIOUSLY photoshopped/auto-tuned" came from.

[@RaketenKuhGewehr]

Oh yeah, it still gets used. Let me give a bit more context to my comment: The basic idea behind the saying was kind of "obsolete" even when it was still actively used. In academic circles questioning the validity of images as proof began shortly after the photograph became popular. I realize now that my comment may come across a bit snarky. It absolutely wasn't meant that way.

[@gabe_s_videos]

Oh no, I didn't think you were being snarky at all. I thought you were being quite literal lol But yeah, like I said, that phrase is general used as a sort of smarmy dismissiveness, usually by people who don't WANT to believe that what you're telling them happened. I've rarely heard "Pics or it didn't happen" from someone who genuinely wanted to know whether or not it happened. Present company excluded, of course lol

[@ZolRoyce]

A) God damnit Kyle your videos are so well done and smart. B) God damnit Westworld is so good. C) Sorry for swearing so much god damnit.

[@BrandonJudy]

the funny thing is that the Western has never really realistically depicted the 'West' but yet when we think of the Wild West, we might as well just have thought of Westworld

[@rembrandt1078]

America: Obsessed with creating a reality that doesn't exist out of the eternal dissatisfaction with the one that does. Maybe it's because I'm getting older but the only question I ever get out of explorations of the American psyche anymore is: Why are we all so goddamn *unhappy* ?!?

[@gabe_s_videos]

It's because our culture is all about being unsatisfied with what we have and wanting more. We started with manifest destiny and just continued in different forms.

[@AquaLantern]

That's far from exclusive to America. Romatization of the past, creating a fictional construct that we can latch onto and say "this is what the past was like, this was better back then, we should go back to this," that's been around since early civilization, hasn't it?

[@gabe_s_videos]

I never said it was exclusively American, but it isn't NOT American. Though I supposed in broader terms, it's primarily colonial, people making up for a noble past that they don't really have.

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

Related: A lot of people seem to hold an unbelievable reverence for their childhoods. Like it is the single good thing they had in their lives. What does that say about their present?

[@briankoontz1]

We're becoming increasingly unhappy because none of the problems that have been piling up have been solved. Corporate tyranny? Worse than ever. Nuclear annihilation? Always a possibility. Ecological destruction? More certain and worse than ever. The hyperreal isn't some fad. It's a natural extension of the dying world. It's the point in history in which capital is extensive, industrialization is highly developed, and the capitalist industrial infrastructure remains intact, but the KNOWLEDGE of the dying world is fully upon us. This knowledge then reflects itself back upon the world, as a bloody dying man casts a gruesome image in a mirror. There's an immense critical mistake made in consciousness, which is to think of the dying as the skeletal, as the diseased, as the old. How many times have we heard shock expressed at death, with remarks like "He seemed so healthy" or "He was so young". We are now dealing with a reality in which we are dying, *without* any of the elements that we typically associate with death. So we're confused, schizoid, our cognitive dissonance at a fever pitch, as we struggle to comprehend this bizarre, ahistorical reality, this Brave New World.

[@christianfriisjensen2055]

"The Good Dan Brown"... Goddamnit, Kyle. There's a good reason I love you so much.

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

As someone without even half the talent needed to write a Da Vinchi code, i refrain from such roastings.

[@christianfriisjensen2055]

I haven't tried my hand at writing something like that yet, but I do still reckon I could do a decent job of it. However, when it's a matter of comparing one of the most brilliant thinkers and writers of these past few generations to the workmanlike-at-best Dan Brown, it's pretty cut and dry.

[@digitaljanus]

I don't think it's a roasting of Brown as a thriller author, so much as having learned insights on art, architecture, history, theology, and cryptography, which he does not. Eco definitely does.

[@fallingcrane1986]

Came for the Westworld, stayed for the _oh my god I’m going to be replaced by robots, aren’t I?_

[@vicenteortegarubilar9418]

I have been watching a lot of older videos of this channel. And they are so great. I was expecting another new video and this doesn't disappoint. As a fan of Eco and Crichton, Disneyland, the original film Westworld and the new show in HBO this essay is really enjoyable.

[@dlivingstonmcpherson]

I double like this since the Western as a genre is so far divorced from historical reality, but it stands in for a national history that we yearn to have. And its a great story, too! It has become Mythic and serves as a way to define the American identity. You see this kind of fabrication of a romanticized history all over the place, too. A lot of Scottish lore (like the clan-specificity of tartan patterns) was something added after-the-fact during the Romantic period by folks like Walter Scott to promote a Scottish cultural identity. And even though I know these stories are recent inventions, I still love the cultural variety it promulgates and indulge in those stories whole-heartedly and un-ironically.

[@lildeadgirl1443]

That's why a well trained cast member can know the answer to any question of the reality that a child might have. Minnie isn't out right now because she has to be in the parade in a few minutes, Indiana Jones is closed right now because the ball is loose and has to be rangled back. It's one of the things I enjoy most working at Disneyland, answering the "why" questions.

[@scaper8]

I've heard so many horror stories from people working in those costumes and suits that it's good to know that, at least for one person, the magic on a child's face when meeting the "real" Mickey/Cinderella/whatever did make up for some of it. That look on their face must of have been worth its weight in gold.

[@lildeadgirl1443]

One of my best friends used to actually be a manager in the department for costumes for people like Mickey and Minnie and such, the costumes have changed a lot of the years and are a lot more comfortable. Plus when it rains or is ridiculously hot a lot of them do meet and greets in the lobby of Great Moment with Mr Lincoln, and they hang out with kids for like 30 minutes at a time depending on what heat level it is and then they go on a little cheese cake break. I work on Main Street and my favorite thing to see it the characters when we're not busy. I saw Pluto one time take a little boy, maybe 6, who was wearing Pluto hat by the hand and just walked around main street with his family, jumping up and down when he saw anything in the window that had his face on it. That or watching Cruella, just because she gets to insult people's fashion sense all day.

[@JadeCryptOfWonders]

I am fortunate enough to have visited the real Luxor temple in Egypt, and the Luxor Casino in Las Vegas, both sacred sites for very different reasons (Nomi Malone sulked on a bench in Showgirls at the latter, the former commemorated Rameses II).

[@badlydrawnavocado2569]

Wow. Don’t know if it was the music, but around 9:10 I actually wanted to burst into tears. I just feel... overwhelmed. This was a very, very good video. Kudos to you, Mr Kallgren.

[@theBigBadBonobo]

Studying history, this kind of stuff gets to me. I mean, there's some value in things like the living history museum beyond mere entertainment. Historical sources are often inaccessible to ordinary people, hard to find if you don't know where to look, even hard to understand. If we think it's valuable to teach people about the world, then I think it's important that we teach people in a way that they can understand. Not merely to simplify or to entertain, but to represent. I think there's value in that kind of performed reality. But the potential of that kind of video editing is... disquieting. Especially in a historical context. Everything we know about the past comes from the sources we have about it, since until we make a time machine, we won't be able to experience it firsthand. We know that documents can be faked. We know that photos can be retouched. We know that people can lie through their teeth in order to present a certain narrative about history. But when video can be changed that convincingly... I worry about how historians will picture this period of history. Because we have enough context and sources to debunk the frauds. But when we lose the context, we're not going to be left with much. Just the hyperreal. And that's worrying.

[@EwMatias]

How future generations will decipher what we left behind without context is a question that HAUNTS me daily- Also, questioning just how wrong we might be getting history without ever being able to realize it.

[@scaper8]

There's already so much that we get wrong about history even with the various contexts to parse it. I can't imagine how wrong things will get when even in the present we can't tell the real from the unreal.

[@jc-kj8yc]

I thought about that too. But to be fair I don't find it that bothering. Yes, we have to reconstruct history with what's left over and we have to make sure what's the background of the leftovers but the fact that videos can be changed that easily doesn't seem much more problematic to me than the fact that documents can be written with a certain agenda. Historians will always have to fact check what they are using and the technology that gives us the ability to change certain mediums might also give us the ability to find out if sth has been changed. And because of the internet we have a huge amount of context for future generations compared to let's say medieval times where most context can be reconstructed only in writing and paintings. So future historians might face an overload of information instead of just fragments. But I don't think that this will have a huge negative effect on how history will be "created". It's still gonna be fact checking. Just with different tools/methods.

[@jseeker1867]

There's another example of hyperreality that I wish you could take a look at someday: professional wrestling.

[@jmalmsten]

This reminds me that Westworld was most interesting before it broke down. Or as someone said. It's the fascinating question of what are the Non Playable Characters of our open world simulation games up to between the times where the player shows up? It's also fascinating when they toy with the old Plato's Cave allegory. But the temptation of the robot rebellion was too great and now that's all we're left with.

[@SeanMcGuire92]

"It's not TV . . . it's DiGiorno."

[@gabe_s_videos]

Now I just imagine a future where we can watch TV on pizzas.

[@robstewartstewart98]

Robogabriel Damn it! You ate the commercial I was watching! Now I have to order another pizza. Im not made of money you know!

[@xingcat]

When you consider how much study has shown that memories and eyewitness accounts and history are really just...not as real as we have been assuming for a long time, the idea that film may not be a reliable source of "truth" becomes a little bit less surprising, I guess.

[@BuddyL]

Kyle, your analysis never ceases to amaze and provoke me. This one's an interesting companion piece to your "Immortal - Ad Vitam" review, for which I disagreed with at least of what you said about CGI. As someone who spends a considerable amount of time doing proper theatre🎭, I'd like to believe - nay, hope - that the reason theme parks, concerts, and yes, theatre continue to thrive is because audiences will always yearn for the (near-)visceral experience of seeing something in person.

[@bigredjanie]

BuddyL What did you disagree with when it came to his views on CGI?

[@Chaogardenx]

VR, VR is better than reality.

[@danilogondim9300]

the good dan Brown

[@digitaljanus]

Lost my shit at that.

[@tmage23]

Dan Brown is Umberto Eco with a head injury.

[@dliessmgg]

The whole "truth at 24 frames a second" always seemed questionable to me. Was film ever not hyperreal?

[@theGhoulman]

Agreed. Well said. imho. Hey, it's a quote from French "new wave" filmmaker Jean Luc Godard. Who knows what he was on about. I don't. But even if film has it's place in art, it's about as able to present truth as theatre. Or so I reckon. That is, telling a tale (a lie) to show the truth of ourselves. Just as any fable does.

[@Ronin11111111]

I'm not really certain what the conclusion here was but the fact that it's 2 AM might be clouding my interpretive engine.

[@Silvixia]

Great editing! The way the clips of Dolores and Mai went along whit your narration, loved it!

[@Skreezilla]

your style is so beautiful, your words really flow well and have impact. you have such a beautiful way of analysis. Thank you so much for your work.

[@PaceFilmsProductions]

I work at Colonial Williamsburg so needless to say it was weird to see some of my co-workers in one of my favorite content creator's new video.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Jesus Christ, your stuff always gives me chills, Kyle.

[@lucidexistance1]

Haha, cute Disclaimer. And adding the sound to it made it easy to pause at the right moment. Wish others would do that when flashing info for a moment. :D

[@gabe_s_videos]

I actually rewound it and paused it. Also, does anyone else thing Kyle doing (not sure if this the right word) "dank" jokes, like awkward half-mumbled disclaimers and random bits of informal bitchiness, doesn't work for him? The rest of his presentation is too sincere and sophisticated, so these random bits of informality just feel kind of annoying to me. And just to be clear, I'm not referring to what he's talking about, but the attitude of his presentation. I want him to talk about what he's talking about.

[@marioricomeza2839]

Robogabriel I feel like that kind of stuff was OK when he was reviewing art house crap he didn't like, but that yeah now it doesn't fit in so well

[@lucidexistance1]

Huh, just seemed human and honest to me.

[@gabe_s_videos]

Eh, it felt like he was trying too hard to be funny. Or he just isn't good at telling that particular joke.

[@violetaisling]

I mean, personally, I always thought Godard's quote was always a fallacy. Cinema isn't truth, nothing can be truth. Everything is construction, it's all just an attempt at creating the illusion of truth. If anything, this isn't new, it's just becoming more apparent now technology has reached this point of advancement.

[@tenaciousrodent6251]

Who exactly came up with the idea that everyone has their truth but objective reality can never be known?

[@violetaisling]

I couldn't say for sure, but I'd say Baudrillard would be a safe bet.

[@DavidBehlman]

I'd say the very ones who want to control the "accepted story". The ruling families wish us to ignore our own logic and cave to their version of reality. They sell a world in which ambiguity assumes the seat of intellectualism and when people need solid, real answers they can only find "ad populum" reasoning and most don't have the backbone not to cave. Film is and has always been the most manipulative and manipulated art form. Kyle criticizes those who don't believe everything on the news as if they lack sense, but the whole premise of this video is that we cannot trust what is shown the TV/movie screen. That's what Videodrome is about. Being hyperaware that we are being lied to doesn't make it hyperreal, it makes it more obviously phony. Not sure why "crisis actors" came up in this video about fiction film making. Lots of spin here.

[@james_mackey]

This video is art. Absolutely fantastic editing for a video essay!

[@kokuinomusume]

But Kyle, Schloss Neuschwanstein is an hyperreal 19th century copy of the Alcázar of Segovia in Spain which is the one that is actually medieval. :D

[@bigredjanie]

I noticed that too! I think he just picked that to make a neat transition to Sleeping Beauty's castle, which was famously influenced by Neuschwanstein.

[@highlonesomed]

This is great. I didn't even realize Eco was a novelist. His Ur-Fascism essay that I read a few years ago was insanely important to me.

[@ariellakahan-harth8831]

Absolutely fascinating! I never realized how many copies of ancient art and architecture we have here in the U.S. It's strange, like we're trying to make up for lost time.

[@CourtneyCoulson]

Your videos just keep getting better and better, this was beautifully written and paced and edited. It's profound.

[@bloodcure]

A stunning video. You don’t stop to amaze me and challenge us. I loved it.

[@paulmitchum8658]

Bravo, and very gratified to see the Nashville Parthenon reference. :-)

[@sirrliv]

One thing that puzzles me about Westworld, especially given this very thorough and wonderfully phrased analysis of hyperrealities in general: The main supposition underlying the Westworld concept is that people go there seeking purpose, yes? Purpose that they may not have in their real lives. It's a familiar concept, found as well in other virtual reality stories such as (braces for blind thoughtless hate-comments) Sword Art Online: People lack a sense of purpose in their real lives, so they escape to a different reality to try and find a purpose there. My issue is that nearly all of these stories of "seeking purpose in a fantasy world that real enough to be mistaken for reality" all seem to come down to the same thing: killing. Whether they want to be the brash train robber or the heroic mysterious stranger, the conquering general or the lone swordsman, it all comes down to the same purpose: people want to kill without consequence to themselves (right up until there actually *are* consequences, such as the robots gaining sentience and turning on the tourists, or "you die in the game, you die in real life"). And that is certainly one of mankind's baser instincts, and one that is impossible to fulfill in our modern 21st Century civilized society without the very high risk of very dire consequences indeed. But here's my problem, after that long-winded setup: What if you want to do something other than killing? What if you want to go into a fantasy world to, say, explore for new lands like the tales of Columbus or the Vikings sailing the Atlantic? Or what if you want to go back to the Wild West and become a railroad baron, building an empire on ribbons of steel with your own guile, shrewdness, and eye for the future? Or hell, what if you just want to escape from the rigors of future life and settle down to a simpler profession; escape the drudgery of the office to spend a few weeks as a blacksmith or a rancher? Heck, you could even use such a concept to explore questions like "How would our fat, lazy modern butts cope with crossing the Atlantic on a Victorian steamship?" or "What would I do if I were a passenger on the Titanic?" I've only really seen this concept crop up in one place before, and even then only as a minor setting detail at best. In the anime series Log Horizon (the "good" alternative to Sword Art Online, according to the more vocal parts of the internet. And before you jump on me, yes, I like Log Horizon too, and it is objectively better), the players find themselves trapped in the virtual world of the MMO Elder Tale in the forms of their characters; when they die, they respawn at their home city's cathedral, they have all of their characters' superhuman abilities, etc. Some ways into the story, the players begin to discover that by doing more things themselves, such as actually cooking their own food rather than using the in-game crafting system, they can create items that were not available in the original game, starting with simple items like foodstuffs, but eventually working up to larger things like simple steam engines, culminating in the building of a full-scale iron-hulled steamship. Sadly, this revelation largely takes a backseat to the main storyline, but nevertheless this is still one of the only stories I personally have seen where the concept of a fantasy reality more real than real has been utilized for something other than "when the gloves are off, people will just want to kill".

[@varana]

"The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin touches on this - the virtual reality game in the novel isn't about killing but about discovery and finding out why things happen. In the end, though, that seems to mirror real-world video games, esp. in the more sensationalised reception among a wider audience. The vast majority of video games prominently feature killing as conflict solution, and the most successful ones are exclusively about killing and nothing else. If we want to, we could probably trace that down even further to the stuff of legends - going out into the dangerous world and overcoming the monster often involves killing said monster. The focus on killing as the ultimate symbol of power seems to be deeply ingrained somewhere.

[@edisonmichael6345]

I do get your argument and, yes, I think "everyone is a psycho" is becoming a tire trope, already. And I might be getting this from a slightly estereotyped angle, since I'm not American, but in the particular case of Westworld, the park recreates a time and place that is widely known for one and one thing only: violence. The fabled Wild West is not the first place I would think about as a place to live a nice and communal life of harmony. Because it is not about the real place, it is all about the estereotypical version of it. The real life West was full of people who would have crossed their entire lives without killing, raping or robbing, but it is the stereotype that draws people to theme parks, to live the estereotype up close, and not to experiment the entire thing. Disney is not about witnessing the character growth moments of the characters of the animations in real life, but about that ball dressed Belle or pre-destruction villain, for instance. Perhaps that's why the show cut the other worlds (the original movie had a Medieval world and a Roman world) from its establishing introduction back in season one. If they had put a Medieval world in it before establishing how the society in which the park exists is cruel, an expectation that a lot of people would want to play the hailed white knight in PG reenactments of tales of adventure and valour would be unavoidable, as that is one of the major estereotypes about the Middle Ages, even if that is not how life really was, and since HBO wanted to make it unambiguously dark... Nevertheless, I don't think a recreation of vikings sailing accross the sea would attract that many people who would abhor doing what the guests in Westworld do to the hosts... violence is a big part of the power fantasies of most people I know who say they would be vikings if they traveled in time. As many people would want to play a pacifist viking merchants in a robotic theme park as are there people who would want to play a pacifist store owner in Westworld.

[@RothurThePaladin]

Always great to see more from you Kyle.

[@ThePa1riot]

Happy Memorial Day Kyle. Gotta say, I now have to add Echo to my reading list after this. The non-American’s reading on my beloved home is a subject of fascination with me.

[@kaxamdays9540]

Your best video yet. Your work never ceases to fascinate me, Kyle. Great job, as always.

[@alperenturkel2180]

Man I'm in awe at your amazing content! I just discovered this channel and I can't stop watching your videos, these are the type of videos that better than my wildest fantasies. Keep up the good work.

[@lekkerdices]

I KNEW that if someone could get the Rachael analogy, it would be you. Thank you for a wonderful presentation of thought experience once more!

[@lauren-ko7mr]

how did you get so good at absolutely scaring the shit out of me, specifically

[@aerynh6116]

God damn it, Kyle. This is the second time you've almost gotten me to cry during one of your videos. I can't even explain why. The first was when you introduced me to "Chimes At Midnight" (thank you by the way, it is now one of my all time favorite Shakespeare adaptations) when you were talking about the acting chops on Orson Welles and now this. I can't even begin to explain why but I was choking up as you talked. Maybe it was the haunting tone or the scarily realistic discussion of what should have completely fake. I don't know, but I love it. Keep up the good work man.

[@MariahGem]

This was really beautifully done!

[@sisyphusmarble8460]

Just found your channel, and I'm loving it so far!

[@marinabarcellos9859]

Amazing analysis as always Kyle! I love to see your content get every time better :3

[@Lanterns_light]

Exceptional quality. Ty

[@JRCR252]

"...it's plastic.".....and then sounds Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead. That was cool.

[@TheActualCathal]

This is a great video. I'm glad it exists.

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

"“Things that try to look like things often do look more like things than things." Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

[@ernestoA2]

One of your very best!

[@1pierosangiorgio]

wonderful, thought-provoking video.

[@Croallster]

I'm surprised that the film S1m0ne wasn't mentioned, it's plot revolves around a director who is given the program for the perfect actress: a computer program. He invents an up and coming actress to star in his film and she is a recluse and films her scenes without co stars, she become a huge star and when the pressure gets to him, he "kills" her.

[@jeniferjoseph9200]

Excellent vid as usual

[@kazaloolovesgames]

Another brilliant video.

[@HannibalHanslaughter]

I always love your videos

[@iloveyourunclebob]

This was such a good watch.

[@DwRockett]

Oooo, this is an interesting episode, great job

[@FS_Scott]

thumbs up for "the good dan brown"

[@Deol1194]

Hey Kyle, on the topic of hyperrealism, I really hope you make a video 1 day on Spielberg's A.I. and precisely it's finale which I believe is a tragic conclusion masking itself as a happy one.

[@Roland00]

Okay Kyle you made me cry.

[@TheVeryMask]

The definition of hyperreal I was given once upon a time, indirectly from Lewis Carrol, was about information. A map is a representation of something real, and if you make that map so large that it lays over the entire real space it describes, but contain within it more information than the real thing, the map is hyperreal. I had always taken that to be a description of Augment'd Reality, where you add layers of information to existing substance. Eco seems to be describing things that trade some of their substance for more symbols, rather than adding symbols atop the substance. A replacement reality rather than construction to improve it. The end comparison especially suggests that meaning and reality are mutually exclusive, and while that brand of nihilism is certainly attractive to champions of escapism, I don't think it's a universal necessity. Rather I'd assert that people either are unable to find the meaning they're seeking and willing to accept in reality, or they don't know how to look that they might see it.

[@EwMatias]

I've seen many people just offhandedly dismiss Westworld and I just don't get it. It's great.

[@syystomu]

4:41 that castle in the background is also an example of hyperreality. That's the Neuschwanstein Castle, the *Ultimate Medieval Castle...* built in the 19th century. It's THE castle people think about when they think about castles and it was deliberately built that way, long after actual medieval castles. Not sure if that was an intentional choice in the video or not

[@bigredjanie]

I think he just picked it because it was the main inspiration for Disneyland's castle, and it made for a neat transition.

[@syystomu]

ZemplinTemplar That's kind of the point: of course someone who actually knows what medieval castles look like wouldn't see this one as a particularly typical example. If anything it's pretty atypical (because it's not actually medieval... and it was built more for the looks AFAIK). But it corresponds to the popular image of "castle" that people have. Hence; hyperreality. To be clear when I call it the "ultimate castle" it's to exaggerate the perception, specifically because it is such a funny thing.

[@TravelQuintessence]

Wow!! Great Video!

[@henryburby6077]

I've rewatched this so many times...

[@nightazday7988]

Funny thing there is a well known anime that is all about hyperreality and how it doesn't vision that a bad thing. One about a mundane life working in a tourist trap on a watery recreation of Venice, on Mars.

[@MarkFilipAnthony]

I have to say that Film has never ever been true. It has always been, as any other form of storytelling, and will always be a subjective point of view of a series of particular events in a specific sequence. The fact that we have the ability to manipulate and edit it now more than ever, doesn't make it less true, but only more specific. Just as Art changed from replicating reality, and now evolved to represent or awake specific human emotions, film has reached a specific stepping stone as an art form where the struggle between the recular errors and accidents that occure during shooting can be changed and manipulated to become exactly what the filmmakers want and intend to be shown. similar to what Ford said: It is now saying more about the creator than it says something about the audience

[@gabe_s_videos]

I think when people say "Film is true," what they mean is "film is capturing a real moment in time by virtue of being a combination of photography and audio recording." Film is the art form that feels the more like you're literally just watching real things happening.

[@MarkFilipAnthony]

Robogabriel yes, but every frame is a subjective construction and choice. Images for specific information to be communicate to its audience in a specific and particular way. Intentional or Intentional, it's always going to be a subjective lense. It's only an illution of nutrality and reality. Just think about all the filters, lighting conditions, angles, frame positions, subject choices, camera movements, image quality, framerates, edit choices, pacing, music, narrative structures, context etc etc that needs to put in account and manipulated to active a specific image, look and narrative for the picture to make sense to an audience. And that has been done since day 1 of filmmaking history, simply due to the nature of the medium. The fact that someone has to chose those things to make it "feel real" , is enough proof that any video footage never reveals the full "truth" , but only subjective clips of reality. One could argue that the most "real" footage that we humans shoot, is the accidentally captured images we film or take with our phone cameras when we forget that it was recording something. These are the most nuteral and unpersonal, but are also the ones usually with less information in it. Still, if we "found" something worth watching in that footage, we would still usually edit it so only the "interesting" part would be present, but in that instant the footage is atumatic a manipulated image for a specific subjective goal. Which is how all documentary filmmaking fundametally is based upon: capturing real life with a lot of footage, and then edit it down to follow a specific narrative. The other option is the 'dogma' movement of filmmaking, which was the goal to creat as "realistic" stories with the most simplest and "real" tools, in the goal to make more truthfull narratives. Limited edits, no professional actors, natural lights etc etc. But despite the effort, it's still a director "manipulating" the footage to show and tell specifics for and audience. Yes, film is capturing "real moments in time" , but "real" is always relative because it's only as good and truthfull as the skills and experience as the filmmaker. In the end it's still only an illution.

[@SEGAClownboss]

Yes, film and photography have never been truths. Even as far as the 19th century photographs could be edited, and as far as George Melies can film have additional props, actors, faces, and effects superimposed in post-production. Stalin edited his photos to erase some of his office opponents from history. It's kind of the name of the game.

[@SonofMrPeanut]

RE: Lake Compounce Even keeping in mind the difference between a Theme Park (all attractions are connected) and an Amusement Park (rides for the sake of rides), Santa Claus Town in Santa Claus, IN (currently Holiday World) still predates Knott's as a themed venue. Too, it was Disneyland that motivated most of the ride-building, though it would work the other way around as both the Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride would influence future Disneyland attractions (the switchback queue, Splash Mountain).

[@edisonmichael6345]

Thank you for the nod to "The Congress". I loved that movie and it annoys me that nobody seems to have watched it or at least cared for it.

[@TrentKallust]

Phenomenal video as always, Kyle. Could've used a head's up on the unexpected Bladerunner 2049 footage though; it's still a bit recent to spoil in a video where you wouldn't see it coming.

[@davide2711]

This is the third video I just watched in a row where the channel displayed their distrust of the media

[@hunterblankman1502]

This make me think about one of my favorite mods for a game which creates an alternate world and timeline to explore. I think about it almost everyday wondering what that world would like from the inside

[@annarchie9949]

I have, of course, seen "Jurassic Park" and read the book, as well as a few other of Crichtons books, and it's taught me everything about how not to write a story. His stories are only sold by the idea. I can't recall the name of a single character, because they are not characters at all, but functions - "THE scientist", "THE kid", "THE bad guy"... So, I think it's really interesting and ironic that his characters are "Westworld"-robots.

[@rngwrldngnr]

"I've been waiting for you."

[@hemangchauhan2864]

4:00 Man, this feels so deeply disturbing. To twist your imagination so much into believe things that are actually fake...

[@sslugboy]

i guarantee you do it too

[@hl-river8580]

Dang I gotta read this book now

[@edwardtjbrown1979]

rewatched this after watching your recent video on anti-fascism.

[@honeyham6788]

this brings up an interesting question. If we can create the fake and make it appear real, what would happen if you took the fake and kept that inherent fakeness. A untrue world. Real enough to see, hear, believe, but acts and behaves in a fake manor. Do real people act this way? look this way?

[@lonelysoul954]

We are all living in that world. Consider how different is the life of a modern human to the life of a cro-magnon hunter-gatherer, that we biologically evolved to live. Recent things that came with civilization, like money, jobs, social status, art, ideology, citizenship, religion - all of that can be described as shared fiction, yet our existence is defined by those concepts.

[@Flowerart482]

Since you mentioned E.T. A. Hoffmann, can we hope for a review of Sandmann someday?

[@halfpintrr]

Prescient this one, especially the role of AI.

[@chibiktsn3]

I always look forward to your episodes. They're always well-written and well-spoken, and that you brought the deepfake horror in seamlessly made my day. Awesome video essay!

[@TiffanyWu]

Nice use of Fake Plastic Trees

[@williamwong1982]

Please do one on True Detective season 1

[@QuintanaDS]

Excellent essay, and I enjoyed it greatly as I so often do! I'd only ask for the disclaimer that flashes mid-video to last a wee bit longer.

[@est5187]

omfg someone else who has seen The Congress It wasn't a perfect adaptation of the Stanislaw Lem book but a fair attempt and a very decent cult film in its own right. My family has a tradition of weird sci-fi marathons on New Year's Eve (my mother's birthday) so to me there is a whole genre of "New Year's Movies" that suits The Congress just perfectly. See also: Twilight of the Cockroaches, American Astronaut, Rubber It's totally a "you know it when you see it" situation

[@edisonmichael6345]

The Congress is this movie I tried and failed to show to other people. So it is always nice when it comes up.

[@cherrybiscottitouille3753]

chrichton just really hates theme parks doesnt he

[@wechselderg8438]

I live a ~one hour train ride away from Castle Neuschwanstein and have never seen it. I have seen the one in Disneyland Paris tho

[@lamecasuelas2]

I haven't seen this show, i love the movie thought

[@MrCowabungaa]

Great editing, especially with the Westworld bits but... did you spend an almost 15-minute video essay about hyperreality without mentioning Baudrillard? My dude. My -dude-.

[@Garland41]

If anything, the discussion of Art, and what it is makes me really want you to read Gilles Deleuze's and Félix Guattari's co-authored book _What Is Philosophy?_ because the second to last chapter focuses on Art which is the longest chapter in the book. And all of the text is brilliant. For instance, here is the first paragraph. The young man will smile on the canvas for as long as the canvas lasts. Blood throbs under the skin of this woman's face, the wind shakes a branch, a group of men prepare to leave. In a novel or a film, the young man will stop smiling, but he will start to smile again when we turn to this page or that moment. Art preserves, and it is the only thing in the world that is preserved. It preserves and is preserved in itself (quid juris?), although actually it lasts no longer than its support and materials-stone, canvas, chemical color, and so on (quid facti?). The young girl maintains the pose that she has had for five thousand years, a gesture that no longer depends on whoever made it. The air still has the turbulence, the gust of wind, and the light that it had that day last year, and it no longer depends on whoever was breathing it that morning. II" art preserves it does not do so like industry, by adding a substance to make the thing last. The thing' became independent of its "model" from the start, but it is also independent of other possible perso- nae who are themselves artists-things, personae of painting breathing this air of painting. And it is no less independent of the viewer or hearer, who only experience it after, if they have the strength for it. What about the creator? It is independent of the creator through the self-positing of the created, which is preserved in itself. What is preserved-the thing or the work of art-is a bloc of sensations, that is to say, a compound of percepts and affects. _(What Is Philosophy?_ pg. 163-4)

[@davidstumpfl5889]

Shout out to my Nashville folks

[@AbraCadaveric]

Disneyland opened in 1955

[@CaladonianQueen]

lol 'the good Dan Brown.'

[@heathercalun4919]

Please review Portal 2. You’d do such a good job!

[@kathrynblakeley9823]

Wait so the HBO show WestWorlds is based on a movie called WestWorlds, learn something new everyday. Also that disclaimer at 6:22 is amazing. This was worth the wait and the no shakespeare month.

[@Pomshka]

Kathryn Blakeley yep! Give it a watch! Loads of things have referenced and been inspired of it! Even the gunslinger was uses as reference for the Terminator!

[@Fhaolan]

Yep. If you go looking for the 'original', make sure you get the 1973 Westworld, not the sequels ('Futureworld' and the 5 episode series 'Beyond Westworld') Those sequels were... disappointing? Yeah, that's a good word for it, disappointing.

[@kathrynblakeley9823]

Thank you for @Fhaolan for the advice!

[@amphioxusanniversary]

Hmm... the living history aspect reminds me of Douglas Adams's anecdote about visiting the Gold Pavilion Temple (www.goodreads.com/quotes/742883-i-remembered-once-in-japan-having-been-to-see-the), but I can't put my finger what their relation actually is