Crash

William Gibson, in his interview, was critical of the post-human state our society has come to today. However, he didn’t advocate fighting against it or returning to more simple, idyllic times. His tone was one of sad acceptance of post-humanity as the result of a distinctly “human” impulse—to create new, faster technology to supposedly better our lifestyles. One element of the film that I think reinforces his tone of critical acceptance is the setting. Gibson, the interviewer, and the filmmaker are all in a car that remains in motion, passing everyday moderately decrepit semi-urban landscapes. Such a choice of layout only seems natural in light of J. G. Ballard’s apparent influence on Gibson. While I was watching the film, Ballard’s novel Crash came to mind (I can’t remember whether Gibson mentions the novel explicitly or not). Crash chronicles the exploits of two men’s pursuit of sexual fantasies through engaging in and reproducing car crash scenarios. Throughout the novel it is clear that commonplace sexual practices cease to interest the characters. The only way they can achieve full gratification is through the mediation of their own sexualities through the car. In a way, the car becomes their own post-human prosthesis, an extension of their sexual beings. They spend much of the novel merely driving around, playing voyeur to the world inside this man-created machine that has taken over their sexual identities. I can see how this would greatly influence Gibson’s idea that digital technologies mediate our interactions with the world. Engaging with the world either from behind the wheel of a car or behind a computer screen both have results of alienation from humanity albeit perceived connection. Ultimately the artistic choice to hold the interview in a moving vehicle, conveys the impossibility of escaping a mediated interaction.