EXistenZ

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

A “graphic novel” is not merely a fancy comic book, with prices to
match. It can be an exciting new art-form that advances its genre. To
Alliance Communications and Key Porter Books it is a marketing tool, a
variation of the “novelizations” of original screenplays that are
found in bookstores.

This is not to reduce this adaptation of the science-fiction drama
EXistenZ to the literary equivalent of the Pokémon trading cards sold
at Burger King—another movie “tie-in.” The novel includes an
interview with writer-director David Cronenberg and an intelligent
career overview. Since readers may be unfamiliar with the movie,
however, this work has to stand on its own merits.

The script is a mixture of personal obsessions and corporate
calculations. Cronenberg’s story was inspired by his interest in
computer technology and a Shift interview with Salman Rushdie, a writer
targeted by Islamic fundamentalists for challenging their view of
reality. Alliance Atlantis produced the screenplay to attract, or
exploit, that desirable youthful demographic.

The writer–director works with one hand tied behind his back.
Talented actors and cinematic devices are, of course, useless here.
Cronenberg is left with a story that is supposed to work on several
levels, but fails to engage the reader on any of them.

A crafty sense of humor is displayed. When the protagonist, computer
game designer Allegra Geller, tells marketing trainee Ted Pikul about a
surgical procedure that will enable him to use her latest creation, he
snorts, “Yeah, sure. With only an infinitesimal chance of permanent
spinal paralysis.” Later Ted talks about having the procedure
performed at the “local country gas station” and, sure enough, the
procedure is performed at the Country Gas Station! Unfortunately, even
these Belgian chocolate chips fail to save this stale cookie.