Imagined reality, the liquid, dystopia, and virtuality in science fiction cinema: Don’t Worry Darling, a case study
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The history of cinema has never shied away from the representation of the future, and beyond the abstract nature of the contemporary concept and its temporal fluctuations, the sheer profusion of scenarios and their different links to the very concept of the real have generated a wide range of futuristic film references, especially those conceptually linked to the dystopian.
This article presents a case study of Don’t Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde in 2022. It is a contemporary science fiction film proposal that condenses retro aestheticism and the American Way of Life with the historical proposals of science fiction and its forecasts about humanity’s connection or disconnection with sensory reality and the birth of virtuality. The analytical methodology, which links patriarchal dystopia, virtual reality and gender studies, is based on the analysis of differentiating elements that provide signs with which to question the reality of the experiences of the film’s main character and the environment that surrounds her.
This research employs a qualitative analysis by means of case analysis with a dual approach: the audiovisual language and signs of gaps in the filmic reality created. Firstly, the audiovisual language will be analysed through the use of the decoupage technique and, secondly, the sequences that generate gaps in the filmic fiction and lead the spectator to realize that he or she is facing a simulation of reality will be organized. The anomalies identified and inferred have been subdivided for analysis into: unrealistic space/time (synchronizations and repetitions, duplications, spatial incongruities, logical errors and perfections), mediated reality and the eye metaphor and, finally, diegetic technological analysis.
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(c) Sara Calvete-Lorenzo, Andrés Rozados-Lorenzo, Rocío del Pilar Sosa-Fernández, 2024
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Sara Calvete-Lorenzo, University of Santiago de Compostela
Sara Calvete-Lorenzo (A Coruña, 1986) is a doctorand in Communication and Contemporary Information at the University of Santiago de Compostela, with her thesis: O triplo corte, como despedazar o corpo na pantalla. She is also a professor at the School of Communication Sciences and investigator of the Audiovisual Studies Group at the same university. Her lines of research within the communicative field focus on narrative and semiotic cinematic analysis of the body, especially the female.
Andrés Rozados-Lorenzo, University of Santiago de Compostela
Andrés Rozados-Lorenzo (Pontevedra, 1986) is a doctorand in Communication and Contemporary Information at the University of Santiago de Compostela. His lines of research within the communicative field focus on the relationship between film and advertising.
Rocío del Pilar Sosa-Fernández, University of Santiago de Compostela
Rocío del Pilar Sosa-Fernández (Lima, 1988) is a doctorand in Communication and Contemporary Information at the University of Santiago de Compostela. She is also a researcher of the Audiovisual Studies Group at the same university. Her lines of research within the communicative field focus on immersive technologies and their relationship to education.
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