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If, as some suggest, the simulation will be inevitably be built sometime in the future, it feels to me that these things are steps along the way to getting there. To me, using digital avatars felt like a way to comment on the fact that much of our person to person communication is already an artificial digital creation-from Zooms to gifs to emojis to snapchat filters, etc.
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Perhaps I overthink it, but the more a film’s style can reflect its themes, the more I like it. Regarding the use of digital avatars for your Glitch interviewees, what led to the use of this device? And why did you choose to apply it to the characters you applied it to and not the other experts who appear?Īscher: I’m a pretty visually-oriented filmmaker so early into the process, before I even do any interviews, I think about the way they’ll be presented onscreen. In both instances, you use the “prompt” of the film to create character studies-not necessarily of your subjects themselves but of their thought processes.Īscher: I never formulated it quite like that but I like how it sounds. At the end of the day, I don’t have a more direct window into Kubrick’s head or the nature or reality than anybody else, so even if thought that Group A was more right than Group B, that wouldn’t make it so. My ambition with both films was to let the audience see things through the eyes of the people featured in them and to keep my own POV fairly discrete. Is this accurate?Īscher: I wouldn’t cop to it. My sense watching A Glitch in the Matrix is that you’re perhaps more inclined to believe in Simulation Theory than you are any of the Kubrick fan theories presented in Room 237. RODNEY ASCHER (Photo by Joseph Cultice, Source: IMDb) We recently chatted with Ascher about the film, Simulation Theory and the process of creating his unique directorial vibe. Dick as its jumping-off point, Matrix is an exploration (and meditation) on the emerging concept of “Simulation Theory,” which posits that present-day reality as we are experiencing it now is, in fact, a highly detailed artificial simulation being maintained and operated by outside forces.Īn essayistic look at issues from technology dependence to media consumption, semiotics, philosophy and video game mechanics, A Glitch in the Matrix certainly gives the viewer plenty to ponder over. Using the content of a 1977 sci-fi convention keynote speech by late author Philip K. Ascher’s fascination with our varying interpretations of reality (and its accompanying intersections with pop culture) continues with this year’s A Glitch in the Matrix, which premiered at Sundance 2021, now on Hulu. In his three documentary features to date, Rodney Ascher has demonstrated a keen interest in the way human beings process and interpret sensory input, from the byzantine fan theories about The Shining in Room 237 (2012) to the bespoke permutations of sufferers’ sleep paralysis experiences in The Nightmare (2015).