Going Viral

This film captivated me. The 'real-world' setting of a southern suburb in the 1980s provides a backdrop of simpler times, and the narrative examines today's digital narcissism.

We get sucked into 'the matrix' by allowing our brains' synapses to rearrange themselves according to the constraints and functions of microchips. We become the chimera and thus inhabit the inside of a circuit board more than we inhabit an 'external reality'.

The conceit of having the victims get sucked into a screen, while on some scales the reverse of what actually happens, works very nicely (the machine also enters the ghost and possesses it that way, but plenty of films out there have already shown it in this direction). In practical effect, the very fantasy of it seemed more accurate precisely because of how the visuals and narrative abstract the concrete process.

Related viewing:

• 1985's _The Goonies_.

Related reading:

• Stephen L. Talbott's _The Future Does Not Compute_ (1995) and _Devices of the Soul_ (2007); (Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media).

• Clifford Stoll's _Silicon Snake Oil_ (New York: Doubleday, 1995).

I watched this film with no expectations in mind as always and it honestly took me by surprise. This is a type of movie you would make some homemade popcorn, order some pizza, and chillax on your coach kind of vibe. I really do miss movies like these. To see Corey Feldman in a movie again is amazing! It really brought back some childhood memories and believe me I barely had a childhood. Going Viral took me into a whole new world of adventure. As a former content creator myself, I don't think I'd go that extreme to be popular. But it would show me a new side of reality that I didn't think would exist. 10/10 would recommend!