The Uncanny Spaces of Modernity

The Backrooms, a horror phenomenon that originated from a 4chan copypasta, has been making waves in the entertainment industry. The concept of an industrial-looking space that feels uncanny has bled into other media, including Apple's hit TV series Severance and the A24 movie Backrooms. But what does this have to do with videogames and late-stage capitalism?

It all starts with the 1990 Mickey Mouse game Castle Of Illusion on the Sega Game Gear. A breezy platformer starring Mickey Mouse, it's one of Sega's best 8-bit offerings of that era. The game features a noclip mode, which allows players to walk through walls, a feature that was later adopted by other developers.

The noclip mode has been a staple in first-person videogames, providing a shortcut and allowing players to experience a virtual world in a different and faintly disturbing way. Developers soon began prodding at this feeling of uncanniness, creating games that simulated the look of grainy camcorder footage and took place in abandoned shopping centers.

One such game is The Stanley Parable, which took the Half-Life 2 engine and created a sardonic and spooky first-person game in which the player explores an empty office space filled with arcane puzzles and contradictory messaging. The game has continued to exert a quiet influence since its release, with such games as Superliminal, Viewfinder, and Antichamber taking its puzzle-filled, surreal interior worlds even further.

The concept of an industrial-looking space that feels uncanny has bled into other media, including the Backrooms copypasta and Apple's hit TV series Severance. Series creator Dan Erickson has confirmed that he had The Stanley Parable in the back of his mind when he created Severance's dystopian office drama.

The success of A24's Backrooms movie has turned former YouTuber Kane Parsons into one of Hollywood's most talked-about young directors. Parsons began making Backrooms videos when he was still in his mid-teens, his YouTube channel also filling up with other, similarly unsettling short pieces that take place in abandoned shopping centers.

All are marked out by the way they simulate the look of grainy camcorder footage, making them the younger sibling of 1999's The Blair Witch Project. Some of the short films have monsters, but they're mostly at their most effective when they provide a first-person view of an empty building where the architecture feels somehow off.

The Backrooms, and other recent films including Exit 8 and Skinmarink, use a similar visual language to describe the eeriness of the global pandemic era, in which city streets and public places lay empty under lockdown. It's no coincidence that Parsons began to learn to use Blender, a free 3D graphics package, while he was stuck at home in 2020.

Parsons has said himself that he "wasn't someone who fell in love with film as a kid," and that the imagery in his work is more drawn from what he's found online, the videogames he's played, and the sensation of his own dreams.

The Backrooms and pop cultural items all drive at a similar, uncanny sense of modern emptiness. Even the Backrooms' setting isn't designed to make us feel nostalgia, as such, but to emphasize the story's detached perspective. The furniture, the decor, the cars - all these things that might once have been objects of desire now look familiar yet outmoded.

Parsons almost certainly didn't make Backrooms as some kind of anti-capitalist screed, but commerce and advertising run deep in its storytelling. Its protagonists, Clark and Dr. Kline, have both made TV ads - Clark dresses as a pirate for his furniture store; Dr. Kline has a self-help book out.

Clark's existence could be seen as a mirror of how someone in their teens or 20s (as Parsons is) views the modern world: an endless trudge of poorly-paid work, insecure housing and no sense of hope for the future. Capitalism has long been marketed as being as natural and vital as air and water, and just as vital. And yet, as we've lived through recessions and stock market bubbles and watched the accelerating wealth of the ultra-rich, there's also the sense that the system isn't working for everyone.

Something is wrong with our modern reality, but we can't always articulate what the problem is. We've been raised as consumers who have a specific purpose: to work and to buy things. But increasingly, generations of people are finding that their work is paying less and less compared to the things they want or are expected to buy. And if they can't afford to buy things, then society tells them, over and again, that they simply aren't working hard enough.

The Backrooms, through its videogame-inspired imagery, echoes that sensation of modern unease. Under capitalism, everything must have a function. But remove the people, and an office has no purpose. It's devoid of meaning, and that emptiness is what the Backrooms and other recent films are trying to capture.

## The Influence of Videogames on Modern Storytelling

The videogame industry has had a profound influence on modern storytelling. Games like The Stanley Parable and Superliminal have pushed the boundaries of what is possible in interactive storytelling, creating immersive and thought-provoking experiences that blur the lines between reality and fantasy.

The use of videogame-inspired imagery in films like Backrooms and Severance is a testament to the power of games to shape our cultural narrative. By tapping into the uncanny spaces of modernity, these films are able to capture the sense of unease and disorientation that many people feel in the face of late-stage capitalism.

## The Uncanny Spaces of Modernity

The Backrooms and other recent films are not just about horror or suspense - they're about capturing the essence of modernity. They're about the feeling of being lost in a world that is increasingly complex and confusing.

The use of industrial-looking spaces and the simulation of grainy camcorder footage creates a sense of unease and disorientation. It's as if the viewer is trapped in a never-ending loop of commercialism and advertising, with no escape from the emptiness of modern reality.

The Backrooms and other recent films are a reflection of our times - a time of great change and uncertainty. They're a reminder that, even in the face of adversity, we must continue to push the boundaries of what is possible and to challenge the status quo.

## Conclusion

The Backrooms and other recent films are a testament to the power of videogames to shape our cultural narrative. By tapping into the uncanny spaces of modernity, these films are able to capture the sense of unease and disorientation that many people feel in the face of late-stage capitalism.

As we move forward into an uncertain future, it's clear that the influence of videogames on modern storytelling will only continue to grow. By embracing the uncanny spaces of modernity, we can create new and innovative forms of storytelling that capture the essence of our times.

### Comparable figures across items - specs, prices, dates, scores, model or product variants

| Feature | Castle Of Illusion | The Stanley Parable | Superliminal | Viewfinder | Antichamber | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Release Year | 1991 | 2013 | 2017 | 2018 | 2013 | | Platform | Sega Game Gear | PC | PC | PC | PC | | Genre | Platformer | First-person puzzle game | First-person puzzle game | First-person puzzle game | First-person puzzle game | | Developer | Sega | Galactic Cafe | Superliminal | Viewfinder | Demruth | | Publisher | Sega | Galactic Cafe | Superliminal | Viewfinder | Demruth |