As a child, everybody would sometimes imagine that some mirrors are haunted, trapping spirits inside that we could only see through reflections. Oculus is the perfect movie that completely captures our childhood imaginations but at a darker and deeper level. Originally released in April of 2014, the movie revolves around two characters, Kaylie (the sister) and Tim Russell (the brother), attempting to destroy a mirror, called the Lesser Glass, which they believe to be the source of paranormal activities. Through clever editing, the movie integrates the past and the present of the interactions between the Russell “kids” and the Lesser Glass, with the past focusing on how the mirror destroyed the Russell family and the present about the brother and sister trying to prove that the mirror is haunted. Oculus was written and directed by Mike Flanagan based on his own short movie Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan.
Oculus explores into horror mainly using the Lesser Glass as the main source of fear. However, at a deeper level, Oculus seems to dive more into the fear that technology may one day be manipulatively powerful and become the controlling force of humans. In the movie, the mirror is the only source of problems in the Russell family, driving the parents to insanity and ultimately death, while Kaylie was pushed into orphanage and Tim into a mental hospital. Similar to that mirror, technology is always present in every household and has become an influential part of everybody’s lives, especially in recent years. As a result, more problems eventually seeps into families, like miscommunications or misunderstandings. The Lesser Glass, both in the past and the present, is the center of attention for all the characters. At the same time, in reality, people pay most of their time using technology either for work, study or entertainment. The movie dives even deeper into the fear of technology when we see the manipulative and deceptive powers of the Lesser Glass to human minds, having us act unknowingly, against our will.
I want my adaptation to carry the same ideas on technology but not through the imagery of a mirror and instead using the technology itself. The movie Oculus uses two parallel plot lines to explore the story and it’s surprising how well connected they are both in cinematography and in story-telling. However, my adaptation would not be applying the same way of narration, for it is too complicated and distracting from the message I want to deliver. I would shift my story’s timeline to a more recent period when technology has become a much more essential part of everyday life. The story would no longer take place in an ordinary house but in a compacted apartment building. People would be living several steps away but would never have face-to-face interactions with each other because technology has pulled them away from having such socialization. I will take the Russell family into my adaptation for I want to explore what negative influence technology can have towards normal family relationships.
My adaptation will comment on how technology has become more and more manipulative towards our lives in recent years. Technology is a conduit for social media which plays a significant role in shaping our lives. However, people are too busy carrying on with their lives to ever notice that technology is already in the process of taking control of our world. I want my audience to ponder about the idea that maybe the end of the human race is not a natural disaster but a technological apocalypse. Moreover, I want to spread a reminder that everyone should start looking at the influences of technology have over their own lives, seeing how dependent they have become on technology. What if it suddenly disappears from our lives?
Oculus explores into horror mainly using the Lesser Glass as the main source of fear. However, at a deeper level, Oculus seems to dive more into the fear that technology may one day be manipulatively powerful and become the controlling force of humans. In the movie, the mirror is the only source of problems in the Russell family, driving the parents to insanity and ultimately death, while Kaylie was pushed into orphanage and Tim into a mental hospital. Similar to that mirror, technology is always present in every household and has become an influential part of everybody’s lives, especially in recent years. As a result, more problems eventually seeps into families, like miscommunications or misunderstandings. The Lesser Glass, both in the past and the present, is the center of attention for all the characters. At the same time, in reality, people pay most of their time using technology either for work, study or entertainment. The movie dives even deeper into the fear of technology when we see the manipulative and deceptive powers of the Lesser Glass to human minds, having us act unknowingly, against our will.
I want my adaptation to carry the same ideas on technology but not through the imagery of a mirror and instead using the technology itself. The movie Oculus uses two parallel plot lines to explore the story and it’s surprising how well connected they are both in cinematography and in story-telling. However, my adaptation would not be applying the same way of narration, for it is too complicated and distracting from the message I want to deliver. I would shift my story’s timeline to a more recent period when technology has become a much more essential part of everyday life. The story would no longer take place in an ordinary house but in a compacted apartment building. People would be living several steps away but would never have face-to-face interactions with each other because technology has pulled them away from having such socialization. I will take the Russell family into my adaptation for I want to explore what negative influence technology can have towards normal family relationships.
My adaptation will comment on how technology has become more and more manipulative towards our lives in recent years. Technology is a conduit for social media which plays a significant role in shaping our lives. However, people are too busy carrying on with their lives to ever notice that technology is already in the process of taking control of our world. I want my audience to ponder about the idea that maybe the end of the human race is not a natural disaster but a technological apocalypse. Moreover, I want to spread a reminder that everyone should start looking at the influences of technology have over their own lives, seeing how dependent they have become on technology. What if it suddenly disappears from our lives?