There's an aspect of #Videodrome that I've been chewing over for a couple years at least, one of the important lessons of the film I think and yet it's been very difficult to bring myself to the point of cogitating this lesson and writing about it, because of the nature of the topic.

The way of the "Videodrome signal" into human brains, in Cronenberg's movie, is through traumatic imagery. The surface-level "Videodrome" program is tantalizing clips of extreme violence, stuff that Max Renn (who's voyeuristically into that stuff, and eager to market it to a larger audience) tries to persuade himself must surely be an elaborate fake. When he's told that the violence is real he dismisses the possibility, citing his crass commercial logic: it's easier to fake it. Unfortunately for Max, Videodrome has a purpose behind it. It's "political", as his friend Masha tells him.

It's a dangerous thing, attempting to live with a falsity as profound as what Max Renn tries to do. He is drawn to the Videodrome show because the violence is real, but he's unable to admit this to himself. His sense of reality thus comes progressively unglued.

(cont'd)

RE: https://seattle.pink/@mxchara/116705413739276077

Okay! #Videodrome it is. Got it rolling right now.