Women and cyborgs combine in Virtuosity; they compare in their objecthood and
fluidity. Because conventional forms of representation, i.e, popular mainstream film, construct
women and science fiction cyborgs as objects, they are easily manipulable and morphologized,
especially in this film. Yet, this film includes one of the most visible and objectified actresses in
Hollywood: Kelly Lynch. Images and fan pages abound on this famous star of "Drugstore Cowboy" and
"Three of Hearts." Meanwhile, Denzel Washington stars as an ex-cop turned imprisoned murderer
(we later find out that the murder was totally justified) who must capture and terminate the latest computer manufactured bad guy, Sid 6.7. In fact, Sid 6.7 closely resembles the T101, the newest
Terminator in T2. Although Sid 6.7 began as a sarcastic computer personality, he gains
freedom from the screen and becomes physically embodied.
Not only
do we have Denzel Washington's enhanced body ...to compare to Lynch's, we now have the
weasely, masochistic and violent Sid 6.7 who can't stay away from the camera. Sid 6.7 compares
to Lynch. He is, literally, an object of the screen; however, he has come "alive" through physical
embodiment and now turns the camera on others. Does this suggest what could happen if the
objectified "Woman" so often gazed upon on the silver screen, overtakes the camera? Not only
will she turn the camera around, she will use it to document suffering and a violent overthrow of
the status quo.
In the quote that introduces this critique, Donna Haraway
implies that both cyborgs and women obviate the impossibility of all-encompassing narratives.
She writes in Cyborg Manifesto,
In a review for The Oklahoma Daily, Chris Ingle writes, "Virtuosity portrays women as hysterical and passive beings who have no control over their lives. When there is trouble, women are to rely on men for a solution" (Ingle).
Yet, visibility
and the fluidity of the camera gaze does not necessarily equate empowerment. As Peggy Phelan
notes in her text, Unmarked: The Politics of Performance,
Similar to Johnny Mnemonic, Virtuosity has been compared to a "William Gibson-esque" type of cyberpunk. Yet, in her review of Virtuosity, Juliette Collin writes, "Unfortunately, though, even Virtuosity's best special effects and Russell Crowe's [Sid 6.7's] vigorous performance as the over-the-top murderous cyber concoction aren't reason enough to see it. For a genuinely entertaining science-fiction ride skip this one and read William Gibson's cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, instead. It fulfills the promise of imaginative plot and copious virtual reality that Virtuosity only hints at." (Collins) The movie seems like a cheap imitation of a subversive form of science fiction. (Check out the Johnny Mnemonic page for more Gibson info.) The idea of the technology is good but the movie did not deliver on its "promise."
Yet, one aspect of the plot proves interesting to a
comparison between women and cyborgs: Lynch plays a single mother who's daughter is in
jeopardy after she is left alone as Lynch works. If Lynch is a cyborg like Sid 6.7, and as an
embodied subject, Sid 6.7 wreaks havoc on society, as a liberated working mother (who does not
reveal naked body parts as in earlier films) Lynch endangers our children. The failure of
motherhood, another havoc wreaking event, results when women abandon their "screen" of half-naked objectification.
Bibliography
Introduction
Johnny MnemonicStrange DaysThe NetCopycat