Videodrome is a film that is simply crying out for the Internet. Representing the very height of cynicism towards TV, the poetically revolutionary tone is a war-cry against passive consumption. The Internet, for all its faults, is a savior for the active. It is a great step for humanity that such an outlet was created to instantly connect us to each other, democratize media, and wrestle the omniscient eye of Big Brother out of the hands of the powerful and into the pockets of the many.
There is the ever-present feeling in Videodrome that we should and will revolt against the corrupting signal of the conglomerate, but the film remains ahead of its time. There is the knowledge that an answer exists, but not what it is. Of course Videodrome must be stopped, reversed, and used to kill the originators, but what form will The New Flesh take? Perhaps it will take the form of communication for the masses, independent of a filter. Perhaps it will take the form of media consumption via active search, rather than consumption from a shouting box. 1983 Cronenberg had no way of knowing, but The New Flesh would be all these things and more…
