Hyperlinks Through the Lens; The Internet's Dual Aesthetics in Cinema.

by Fionn Morris, July 2023.

Since the World Wide Web was made publicly available in 1993, allowing basically anyone to open a page and connect to other people, the concept of “The Internet” in modern semantics has evolved. From a novelty that even people who contributed to its creation deemed insignificant, the most famous of these being the creator of the Ethernet Bob Metcalfe writing a 1995 article predicting the internets collapse within the year; Bob Metcalfe, 'Eating My Collapse Column', merit.edu, 1997. Bob Metcalfe, 'Eating My Collapse Column', merit.edu, 1997. a prediction so catastrophic that we would go onto Bob Metcalfe, Eating My Collapse Column, merit.edu, 1997. blend a copy of his article and proceed to “eat his own words.” To now, where access to the internet is seen almost as a necessity within modern society, and its uses being found from the personal computer, to washing machines, and insulin injectors. Consequently, due to its widespread use, there has been a wide spread of opinions on how the internet should be used and even what the internet actually is.

It is this deviation, exploring what the internet is, that is interesting in relation to film as there seems to be two contradictory definitions that are primarily presented. On one end, there is the idea of the internet as a tool, one that can allow in different areas to connect with one another and be present at two places at once, a portal that can give information to its user immediately. The other, however, interprets the internet as a sort of hub of culture, as rather than being at two places in the world at once through the connections, this interpretation rather pushes for the idea that the internet itself is a place where people connect, rather than just a window to see through. As such, the internet as a whole is composed of an infinite amount of these hubs, and as a result, is an amalgamation of all these different cultures and clichés that emerge from these hubs. These two massively distinct interpretations of the internet have coincidently led to there being two different, “internet aesthetics,” to accommodate each analysis.

Many mainstream films tend to lean into the former interpretation, using the internet as some sort of way to get information and connect together different scenes in a natural and contemporary way. One example of this from TV is the Emmy winning award episode of Modern Family called, Connection Lost (Steven Levitan, 2015) which sees Claire as our eyes into this world as she tries desperately to piece together the chaos at home through her laptop, all while stranded at an airport. Yet, it is the film Searching (Aneesh Chaganty, 2018) that is possibly the best example to use for this first, “internet aesthetic.” The real world, for example, is always made present within each scene, whether that be David’s face or the pictures from the outside world. As such, the internet aesthetic becomes more of a frame to look at reality through within the film, a filter that can be used to see the rest of the film. This is reinforced further when looking at how conversations are held in the film, namely through the use of face calling. In doing so, the conversation focuses not on personas or avatars, but rather two humans. This idea is even extended to the profile pictures that our main characters use, most if not all of which heavily feature the face of their owners. The only real exception to this choice is the villain, who regularly uses a fake photo on all her social media apps. However, this works in favour to “otherise” our villain, establishing their deceitfulness as a core part of their character as it even affects their appearance. Having this aspect of the real world bleed into every scene, Searching explicitly grounds itself in a sort of contemporary realism, establishing a familiar yet separate world that exists just shy of our full view on the computer screen.

Another important aspect is how Searching plays with the concept of time and editing, as it’s typical approach to the subject further grounds this internet aesthetic to reality. David's ever present face cam is one such example, as unlike other videos shown in the film like Margot's car driving away, the film contextualises David's camera as if it were happening in real time Through its presence, we are not only able to see David’s reaction in time, but are also grounded to a familiar linear sense of time that is directly attached to that of David. Similarly, the editing also centres itself around David, as the film will make use of zoom in to focus in on what David is actually looking at. Yet Searching does, in some parts, explore this idea of the “cultural internet aesthetic,” in particular through the dual presentation of Margot’s supposed, “friends.” Initially a lot of her friends are portrayed sympathetically, talking on broadcasts about the disappearance of their friend, and how much they miss her. This is contrasted later on when David talks to them and explores how they ostracised and isolated her from the group, a far cry from their supposed close relationship that David and the audience had once believed. In doing so, the film acknowledges this idea of how the internet allows a unique ability to create a persona that is relegated to the World Wide Web, one that is not just separate from the real world, but rather can be completely contradictory to it.

Compare this relatively grounded depiction of the internet, where it is used as a tool for people to connect and speak in different places, to that of the, “cultural internet,” that tends to explore excess, unrealism and the idea of constant surveillance and the necessity for performance. Music videos tend to display this the best, such as SCARING THE HOES (Logan Fields, 2023) by JPEGMafia and Danny Brown. The video’s use of excess of noise and editing that plays with multiple screens and constant distortions through both audio and visual content, it’s addressing of a third party by acknowledging and outright speaking to the camera, all narratively contained in a pre-recorded mp4 file, suggesting that they are contained within the computer rather than existing outside it. For films though, it is a more rare occurrence, as this focus on excess seemingly becomes too much for many audiences. However, the newly realised indie darling We're All Going to the World's Fair (Jane Schoenbrun, 2021) is an example of a film that does play with this newer fantastical aesthetic for the internet, as it becomes some sort of supernatural presence within the world that destroys the perception of time.

One important aspect is, again, the face cams, or in this film the lack thereof. Unlike Searching , Schoenbrun’s film never features two or more faces talking to one another. While, yes, there are shots in the film that do depict more than one face at a time, such as when Casey is watching Youtube videos on her laptop, there is no receptive dialogue between the two as the audio is pre-recorded. And while there is conversations that Casey has with other characters, in particular her father and the man online called, “JLB,” neither of their faces are actually shown in these sequences, with Casey's father relegated to a voice in the walls while JLB keeping his face-cam off until the end, where he is seen in alone in a chatroom. By having this lack of any human faces, it re-contextualizes these characters outside of Cassie into avatars in that moment, not exactly human but existing entirely through audio online. This is particularly more potent towards JLB, a character that, similarly to Margot’s friends, is presented in two very contrasting lights both online and in the real world. However, too, does this tug on the idea of artificiality, an idea reinforced further when it is revealed that Casey, the girl we have been following all this time, has actually been acting out the challenge as some sort of game, even saying that her real name is not actually Casey. By having this reveal, the film contextualises the internet not as a looking glass to other places in the real world, but rather a space where one can build a completely new identity separate from reality.

Cultural internet aesthetic also tend to play with the concept of self-awareness to the film, making the audience self-aware of that they are watching the film through the camera, to being outright acknowledged by Casey, yet are also established to be completely separate from her, as all these aspects of self-awareness are also explained as diegetic in the film, creating this paradoxically state where the film is seemingly both aware yet unaware of the audience watching. The best display of this is during the opening credits, where Casey talks directly into the camera while exploring the woods. Already, this establishes how Casey is self aware of the camera and the audience behind it, but also how the audience behind the camera is actually a character within the film itself, being a recipient of Casey antics and witnessing her go down this rabbit hole. However, despite acknowledging the audience, there is still a dissonance between the audience in real life and the diegetic audience, as while one is watching Casey through the Schoenbrun’s film, the in-film audience is presumably viewers of Casey’s online videos. As such, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair enters this paradoxical relationship, as while it establishes and outright speaks to the viewer, but is seemingly unaware of the existence of the film itself. A similar concept can be found in the use of filters, which seemingly switch from scene to scene. For some, there is a clear early homemade digital camera filter with its lower quality resolution and stuttering of the camera lens, to then very clean resolution, intentionally making the audience aware that they are watching a film by switching through these filters. Yet, again it is explained as diegetic, as the sequences where it is lower quality is actually footage taken from Casey’s own hand held camera recorder. Both of these examples leave the film in this odd anomalous existence, as while both the camera and the characters' interactions are seemingly aware of the viewer, it is also all contained dietetically.

Finally, the last interesting part of this cultural film aesthetic is how this separate space of the internet seemingly bleeds into the real world, infecting and forming its own existence outside of reality. This is shown through the portrayal of excess in the film, in particular the excess of colour. The portrayal of excess in relation to the internet is one not exclusive to this film, as being this point of culture and infinite growth and information, excess is inherent in order to portray the true scope of the internet correctly. Within Schoenbrun’s film it is displayed through the excess of colour, a stylistic choice initially associated to the internet when we first see Casey watch the titular “World’s Fair” video. Rather than watch it's contents, the audience is instead by a strobe effect of colours be projected from the laptop to Casey and her entire room, covering the wallpapers with multi coloured flashes. Already, this portrays how the internet’s excess is seeping into this world, being projected onto the walls and skin of Casey. Yet, it is later in the film, where we find Casey in a seemingly dazed state, where this point of excess is much more apparent, as the once warm coloured walls were covered by glowing neon paint, with it even being present on Casey’s face. In turn, the internet has not become a projection into reality, but rather a tangible presence, and with the eerie music and Anna Cobb’s melodramatic performance, reinforces that this place is somewhat distant from the warmer colours and silence of Casey’s room before. Schoenburn touches on this aspect in her own interview with Little White Lies. As she describes itNATALIE MARLIN, Jane Schoenbrun: ‘I wanted the film to feel like we’re lost in the haze of the internet’, Little White Lies, 2022. , NATALIE MARLIN, Jane Schoenbrun: ‘I wanted the film to feel like we’re lost in the haze of the internet’, Little White Lies, 2022. NATALIE MARLIN, Jane Schoenbrun: ‘I wanted the film to feel like we’re lost in the haze of the internet’, Little White Lies, 2022. “Structurally, I wanted the film to feel like traveling from one bedroom to another, and in between we’re sort of lost in the haze of the internet – feeling very far away and distant from the warmth of the start of the film.” With this reading, it could be argued that not only is this an invasion by the internet onto reality, but also how this inevitably makes this reality more dissonant and abstract, inherently making this once recognisable world into an alien existence.

Conclusively, we are able to see how both these readings of the internet are utilised and expressed within films. For the pragmatic view of the internet as a tool, it’s existence within the film becomes more of a window that simply connects to places in reality together, and one that is grounded to itself. Yet, it is the cultural view of the internet that is seemingly more fantastical, as it portrays the web more as a meeting point of culture, one that indulges in excess, and allows people to shape their own worlds and identities that are impossible within the limits of reality.

by Fionn Morris, July 2023.