Thirteenth Floor
From Metaverse
Contents |
Plot
Douglas Hall is the star programmer for a company that has created a breakthrough virtual reality simulator modeled after 1930s San Francisco, in which the inhabitants are fully conscious. When Hall’s boss is murdered, Hall enters the 1930s world to find clues – essentially hijacking the body of one of the 1930s characters. But as he searches for the message and becomes involved with Fuller’s mysterious daughter, police start to uncover evidence that suggests that Hall could have been the murderer. Meanwhile inside the simulation Hall encounters characters that have discovered the artificial limits of their existence and then makes the disturbing discovery that the whole outside world could be a virtual one too.
Characters
Craig Bierko .... Douglas Hall/John Ferguson/David - Star programmer and co-director of company specializing in Virtual Reality Research
Armin Mueller-Stahl .... Hannon Fuller/Grierson - CEO of company specializing in Virtual Reality Research
Gretchen Mol .... Jane Fuller/Natasha Molinaro - Poses as Fuller's mysterious daughter
Vincent D'Onofrio .... Jason Whitney/Jerry Ashton - Works under Hall for the company as a programmer. 1930's bartender that realizes he is part of a simulation.
Dennis Haysbert .... Detective Larry McBain - Investigating the murder of Hannon Fuller
Jeremy Roberts .... Tom Jones - rats out Hall as Fuller's killer to McBain
Themes, Symbols, Motifs
"I think, therefore I am" and "Ignorance is bliss." - These quotes, found in the beginning of the movie, proved to be an important theme throughout the film. Ashton, the bartender in the simulated virtual reality, finds out through a letter addressed to Ferguson that the reality in which he lives is fake. From this point on, he struggles with the fact that his so called reality is not real and wants Hall to just leave him alone. He was happy being ignorant to the fact that his reality is fake.
Eyes and Eyesight - The symbolic references found with eyesight and eyes are seen in the transporting of the human mind and memory from each world. While laying down in the machine being transported from one world into another, the camera focuses specifically on each characters eyes and goes deep into them to show the mind being transported into the other world. This clearly shows the other theme of a connection between the human brain and computer.
Film noir - Much of the movie had very dark, rainy scenes. Almost every scene, from the bar, being outside, to the 13th floor in the hotel where the computer networks were housed, each setting was very dark and rainy. The characters can be found smoking cigarettes and wearing very dark goth like clothing (trench coats and tatoos.)
Color red- The color red can be found in the beginning of the movie, which helped established who were the very important characters throughout the film. Right away, our group noticed these symbols and discovered their importance later in the film. From Erica's red dress, the bartender's clothing, the singer's clothing, and the chauffer, each character was important in this film.
Networks - Networks can be found throughout the entire movie. There is a totalitarian control through the network computers that have created each simulation. There is an overall simulation network control, then with the simulation within a simulation, there is another network.
Discussion Questions
1. The movie begins with the quote: "I think therefore I am." What exactly does the author mean by this? And in your opinion, if you found out that your reality is really fake, would you try to find out what the ultimate truth is, or would ignorance really be bliss?
2. At the end of the film, Douglass Hall agonizes over the fact that he murdered people. Jane tries to comfort him by saying that it really wasn't him because someone took over his mind, as he is only a simulation. In your opinion, does this relate at all to murders in our reality? Does that mean that we are a simulation ourselves?
3. Are the 1930s people any less real than the 1990s people, simply because they are buried one layer deeper within the simulation?
4. When Douglass Hall realizes that he is only a simulation, what does he do to try to confirm this fact?
