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Videodrome at BFI: the Cronenberg classic’s enduring appeal
VIDEODROME AT BFI: THE CRONENBERG CLASSIC’S ENDURING APPEAL
A London event announcement that caught our blogger’s eye this week was that the British Film Institute would, over ten days this month at BFI Southbank, be hosting screenings of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, starring James Woods and Debbie Harry. This cult sci-fi/body horror satire was released in 1983 and is still regarded by many critics as Cronenberg’s best movie.
The transformational ideas characterising much of this director’s work over his 55 years of film-making have long appealed to elements of the fetish/BDSM community, particularly those drawn to body-mod and body-horror themes. Videodrome chimed with those tastes in ways that were not only perceived as groundbreaking then, but also seem more prescient than ever today.
Top image: Debbie Harry as sadomasochistic radio host Nicki Brand in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Debbie got the gig in the wake of Blondie’s break-up and her earlier role in 1980’s Union City (Canadian Film Development Corp/Universal, 1983)
This dark, Marshall-McLuhan-inspired satire on media overreach not only embraces the director’s fascination (some would say obsession) with the physical fusion of machines and human bodies; it also included numerous dreamlike sequences of torture in a scary space that could be interpreted either as a real torture chamber or a BDSM fantasy dungeon (or both).
Videodrome was released in North America on February 4 1983, just four days after the original Skin Two club first opened its doors in London. And the film had its UK release in November of the same year, by which time two more London fetish clubs — Maitresse and Der Putsch — had been established. So it’s likely that more than a few of London’s pioneering kinky clubbers would have seen Videodrome and felt that Cronenberg was tapping into the same zeitgeist that had inspired the launch of those clubs.
Yes, he was a Canadian and the film was based in Toronto. But Toronto had its own long-established fetish/BDSM scene centred on the clothing business that later became internationally famous as Northbound Leather. And the Canadian city was, by North American standards, also a near neighbour (under two hours by air) of New York City, whose BDSM clubs in the meatpacking district had directly inspired the launch of Skin Two.
Another direct influence that NYC club culture had on some denizens of the nascent UK fetish scene was the then-very-new drug ecstasy. It didn’t take long for early adopters on the scene to discover that its active ingredient (MDMA) could provide a most agreeable enhancement to the enjoyment of fetish/BDSM play. Thus, by the time Videodrome was officially released in the UK, its combination of sadomasochism and dreamlike/hallucinatory content would certainly have chimed with that particular scene demographic.
Unfortunately for distributor Universal — which had been the first major studio to back a Cronenberg movie (after his earlier low-budget efforts such as Shivers, Rabid and Scanners) — the original theatrical release of Videodrome proved it to be too much of a minority taste. It bombed at the box office and only achieved cult status and wide critical acclaim in later life as a video product. Which, considering its theme, is either totally appropriate or deeply ironic, depending on your point of view.
One reason Videodrome was considered ahead of its time was its anticipation of the personalised targeting and consumption of video content that is now thoroughly embedded in modern culture. Among other modern phenomena it foresaw — almost two decades before the internet became ubiquitous — was that ‘torture porn’ would become ‘a thing’; BDSM would be seen as part of pop culture; virtual sex might be widely considered more interesting than actual sex; cyber implants would be given to humans; electronic media would be perceived as a cesspool; virtual, fictional presence would become unremarkable on social media… and more.
Videodrome has also been interpreted as a satire, specifically, on America’s fetishisation of gun culture. In one hallucinatory sequence towards the film’s climax, this is vividly represented by a glutinous pistol merging with James Woods’ right hand to create what became known as the flesh gun.
Incidentally, this and the film’s other numerous special effects were created by the legendary Rick Baker of An American Werewolf in London fame. But while time and budget limitations meant that a few of the more ambitious plans for effects had to be dropped, it’s safe to say that latex still plays a pretty prominent part in Videodrome, albeit not in the form of tight ’n’ shiny clothing!
Videodrome is currently available to rent or buy on around half a dozen of the popular video streaming services. But if you have access to London and fancy watching it on a large screen, tickets were still available at time of writing for the Saturday June 21 and 28 screenings at BFI Southbank (link below).
Finally, if you would like to read more fascinating background about Videodrome and/or David Cronenberg (whose later films include The Fly, Dead Ringers, Crash and EXistenZ), we recommend the Wikipedia pages below. Long live the new flesh!
Videodrome BFI Southbank tickets
Videodrome Wikipedia
David Cronenberg Wikipedia
