Molotov Alva
Molotov Alva is something extremely different from anything I have seen before. The closest to it, in this class at least, was the use of dolls in "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story," but this comparison is faulty. As Horwatt writes in his article, "machinima ... refer[s] to playing games in ways contrary to the designer’s original intentions," (2) and this is exactly what the director, Douglas Gayeton, does with Second Life. The film seems to be animated, but upon learning about the world of SL one realizes that it is not made of scenes created for the film. Krinsky writes that, " Molotov Alva looks like an animated film, and it’s easy to assume while watching it that the director just created the scenes he needed. But Gayeton is not an animator, and Molotov Alva is not a special effects film. The only reason that his film is animated is that the world he is documenting happens to be an animated world. The visual style of the film simply reflects the reality of Gayeton’s subject" (par 8).
It was very strange to be watching the film with "real" people representing the avatars on screen, not just in terms of their voice (which I believe does not belong to the person), but instead in terms of the whole character. We were exposed to avatars behind which sat real flesh humans who controlled their every move. Despite the claim that they have left their human world behind completely, we can not yet transcend our bodies and thus these people need to fulfill their human needs like eating, drinking and using the bathroom. As well, it is difficult to imagine a person who forgoes all social contact in the real world to experience it all virtually and removed from tangible contact.
I can understand the drive to create an alter ego and live out your most true self in complete anonymity, but this film takes this idea one step further by suggesting Alva has completely become this alter person. For both people using SL recreationally and for those who spend the majority of the time on it, they still have to face the woes of the economic struggle and disparity. I find it strange (but not all too hard to believe) that corporations have influenced the SL platform and people need to pay to become digitized versions of themselves. Why should one have to pay for a certain online setting or character look.
All in all, this piece was something that made me think about the possibilities of the internet and the fact that so many people have embraced these alternate realities in such strong ways. School teachers, investment bankers and others in such a wide variety of jobs have become digital versions of themselves to (hopefully) find some sort of happiness or tranquility, but unfortunately, I believe their troubles will follow them online.
