The Dutch film, “Necrocam”, watched in class last Monday is a rather thought-provoking piece of work. Written by Ine Poppe, this film narrates the lives of four teenagers—Christine, Xeno, Bivak, and Go—who technology savvy and have a penchant for various aspects of hacking. In an act of comradery, they make a pact to install a permanent webcam device or necrocam into their coffin, streaming the live video of the corpse as it decomposes, onto a web site. Certain that she’d be the first to die, Christine, who struggled with cancer was utterly shaken when her best friend Xeno is killed by a car. As promised, the group of friends places the necrocam inside Xeno’s coffin and stream images of his decaying body, onto a web site for users to see; his parents were strongly against this idea.
At first glance, the idea of the necrocam seems atrocious and disgusting. It is a grave invasion of privacy and a transgression of cultural rituals—death is a serious matter for a majority of cultures and deserves respect. However, throughout the film, the director communicates other notions that should be explored. Most importantly, “Necrocam” further emphasizes how technology is penetrating every surface of life, encroaching onto the most sacred aspects of us. Technology has become such a pervasive medium that the younger generations are highly dependent of it, it seems – the Internet included in the category.
Although the main element of the film, the necrocam, is an affirmation of the extent to which technology has reached, it is also preserves a memory. As was mentioned in class, it is as if the teenagers are hacking death by way of the camera, defying the obscurity placed in front of them once Xeno was gone. Placing the obvious intrusion of Xeno’s coffin and the fact that his parents are strongly opposed to it aside, the act itself can be considered as a way to remember the dead by way of new media. Mourning the dead has transformed and relocated from physical space onto cyberspace. The film’s last scene is a graphic image of Xeno’s face as it is eaten away by maggots, and demonstrates just how successful their act was – their web site reached high numbers of user participation.
The director’s use of color throughout the various scenes was an addition to the overall message of the plot. For the majority of scenes, the characters were set in a kind of dull blue tone, looking very pale and somber. It is interesting to observe that very few scenes are filled with bright colors and light—for instance, the opening scene of online video gaming or the taping of Xeno and Christine as they make a pact. Such particular use of color in the film is manifest of just how prominent technology is in the lives of the young teenagers, almost to the point that it transforms into a source of existence.