Strange Days And Movie Leads

I have been asked, of late, if I have screened James Cameron's Avatar. The answer is no, but I have read a great deal about the film. So, with that disclosure addressed, I must say its popularity has less to do with its hackneyed plot as it has to do with its unimaginable display of computer-generated world-crafting and design. A film based on the exploits of a human "inhabiting" the body of an alien creature seems to herald an age that is fast approaching. Our need to supersede "virtual" reality has become the drive to sculpt our reality and augment it with a touch of other-worldly flair. There is a time coming that to exist will beg the question of "in which reality will we choose to exist?"

While the question is indeed a weighty one, we would be well served to bandy it about. What is the ultimate goal of entertainment if not to transport and absolve care? We do not actively seek to be further put-upon. On the contrary, we seek a balm to our troubled spirits and some affirmation that all is well with the world. To be sure, at the very least entertainment is charged with the task of getting us out of the here and now.

How, exactly, will we be able to get out of the here and now? Will it be similar to Cameron's inhabiting of a custom-made or groomed body? This is not his first foray into alternate -- or virtual -- reality. He produced the 1995 cyberpunk thriller, Strange Days, which featured an appropriately sleazy Ralph Fiennes selling other people's experiences to the highest bidder. Indeed, this kind of possibility does not seem so very far-fetched now.

To be sure, the possibility of inhabiting your favorite film -- or at least a portion of it -- is now possible. Thanks, in part, to companies like Yoostar, the masses can re-cast iconic films with their closest friends and relations. This means we no longer need to suffer with watching some actor play the lead -- we can now become the leads. Indeed, if we couple this possibility with the popularity of first-person video games, the future seems one "hack" away from truly becoming a Buddha-like dream within a dream within a dream.

The future, as they say, is wide open. The mind boggles at what it may hold in store for us. More and more, as our ability to manipulate the very fabric of reality becomes more and more tenable, we are faced with some stark and exciting questions. Where do we go from here? And in what body or simulated time period?