9 . Tunnel Vision Inner, Outer, and Virtual Space in Science Fiction Films and Medical Documentaries ANNEKE SMELIK mages of tunnels are abundant in both science fiction cinema and medical imagery. In science fiction cinema, the tunnel signifies something virtual and abstract: cyberspace or virtual reality. In medical imagery, on the contrary, it signifies something actual and concrete: the interior of a body. Yet both sets of imagesare equallyvirtual and abstractto the spectator. In this chapter, I argue that the visualization, in science fiction films, of a spec- tacular ride through cyberspace is in fact a metaphorization based on the human body. At the same time, I suggest that the image of a ride through the body is informed by typical elements of science fiction cinema, such as speed and move- ment. Thus fictional cinema and medical visualization techniques mutually shape one another. Here, I explore two different representations of the cybertunnel in science fiction film that are based on analogies with the body-specifically, with the nervous system and thewomb. Starting from cyberfilms, ' I assess how the visu- allysimilar "ride"in two suchdifferent genres as science fiction cinemaand med- icalscience informs ourimagination ofcyberspace as well as our understandingof the bodyas shot through with technology INTO THE MATRIX With remarkabletenacity, cyberfilms represent the trip into virtual reality as the passagethrough a tunnel, andthey do so to thepoint where this kindofrepresen- tation has quicklybecome a cliche. I use the metaphor of the tunnel in my read- ing ofthese images because the films showa rounded, closed-ofif, tunnel-like space functioning asa passage. The tunnel in this figuration canbe seen asa newversion ofthe old topos ofthe tunnel as a passage from one kind ofworld to another, such 729 130 . ANNEKE SMELIK aswe know it from fairytale andmyth. Computertechnology enables filmmakers to createvirtual tunnels with the use of digital special effects, which spectators find quite overwhelming. From Tron (1982), one of the first movies in which characters enterthe mainframeof the computer, to suchfilms asFreejack (1992), Lawnmower Man I (1992), Hacker (1995), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), The CeH (2000), and the tril- ogyof The Matrix (1999, 2003, 2004), virtual reality andthe trip into it are repre- sented in conspicuously similar ways.2 Thetrip into cyberspaceis, quite obviously, imagedby computer animation. It isvisualized as progress through a twistingtunnel into whichthe character is sucked at incredibly high speed, a passage lasting usually about one or two minutes. The accompanyingsounds are eerie and nonhuman. During the ridethrough the tun- nel, the characteris not representedas an actualpresence; in otherwords, the (vir- tual) camera travels through the tunnel by itself. In these scenes, the absence of any image of the actor's livingbody is consistent with the viewthat "the plasticity of the image ... has overwhelmed the reality of the flesh and its limits" (Sobchack 2004:50). At the end of the tunnel, the (now virtual) character arrives in an alto- gether different dimensionwhere cyberspace is represented as pure mind, a cos- mic power, or an altered reality. Meanwhile, in most films, the "real" body of the character is shown as having stayed behind in real life. After the character's exhil- aratingride through the tunnel, a muchquieter and more open virtual space allows him or her to freely move, float, or fly. Nevertheless, this space of virtual reality threatensto trap the character;he or shecan disappearinto it, disintegrate, fall to pieces, or go mad. Death is often imminent. Finally, the character is either liber- atedand returned to the realworld or is lost in virtual spaceand dies. Whilemost tunnel scenesfollow this pattern, a distinctioncan be made in how theyare visualized. One tunnel looks like a q^berneticgrid, whereas another is closer to an endoscopic image as we know such images from medical visualization tech- niques.Although the secondkind oftunnel is recognizableas an imagethat takes the inside of the human body as its point of reference, I want to suggest that the tunnel visualizedas a cybemeticgrid also refersto thehuman body: that is, to the nervous system. An example of the trip into cyberspace as a ride into the nervous system can be found in Freejack. Two characters, Alex Furlong (Emilio Estevez) and Julie Red- lund (Renee Russo), are about to be transported into cyberspace. They stand in the dark, lookingwith some apprehensionat a hugeeye that has appearedbefore them.A windbegins to blow,and uncanny sounds of swishing and screeching are heard.Then computer-generated images take over. Thehuge eye contracts into a Tunnel Vision . 737 Fig. 9. 1. The opening of the tunnel in Freejack black hole (fig. 9. 1), and the characters are sucked into the iris. While the swishing andscreeching becomes louder, thesimulated camera flies through the tunnel at animprobably highspeed. Thetunnel isvisualized with graphic andkinetic images that flash by. After about a minute ofthis pure simulacrum ofa ride through time and space, the camera slows down before being sucked into yet another tunnel and speeding up even more. After another minute, the camera emerges from the computer-generated tunnel, slowly descending into a rocky, alien landscape and zoomingin on the stunned faces ofAlex and Julie. An image of ripples resolves into the figure of lan McCandles (Anthony Hopkins), who greets them: "Welcome to my mind." The trip into cyberspace asa ride within the interior ofthe human body is sim- ilar but shows some characteristic differences, as we can see, for example, in the film Virtuosity (1995). "You'rein myworld now!" shouts one of the villains, hurl- ing Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) into q^berspace against his will. While Parker'sworldly body is tied to thecomputer, hisvirtual bodyfalls through a vir- tual city that swirls around him. His screams offear andhorror echo throughout the scene. As he falls through cyberspace, his mind is deleted, as visualized with digital special effects. A great mouth opens, andthe virtual camera enters a narrow redtunnel (fig.9. 2),curving and turning while its speed and Parker's screams inten- sify.Farther downthe tunnel, human facesappear, andagain the camera is swal- lowed by a mouth, which gives accessto yet another tunnel. The scene switches backto the computer room, whereMadison Carter (KeUyLynch) comesto Parker's 132 . ANN EKE 5MELIK Fig. 9. 2. Theopening of the tunnel in Virtuosity helpby switching off the computer that is deleting his mind and his nervous sys- tem. In real life, he sits up. Surprised and in pain, hetouches hishead. Themain difference between thetunnel visualized asthe human nervous sys- temand the tunnel visualized as the interior of the human body has to do with the typesof cybernetic imagesthat are used. In the case of the tunnel asnervous sys- tem,the images are gridlike or chartlike, smooth, taut, and graphic. The dominant coloris blue or green. This kind of tunnel is featured in Tron, Freejack, Hacker, Johnny Mnemonic, TheCell, and the Matrix trilogy. By contrast, the tunnel as endoscopic imageis visualized as fleshy, bumpy, fluid, andformless, continually expandingand shrinking in every direction. The color red dominates here. This kind oftunnel is foundin Fortress (1993), Ghostin the Machine (1993), TekwarII (1994), andVirtu- osity. LawnmowerMan /features both kinds oftunnels. Nevertheless, thesedistinctive visual modes can be connected through a metaphor thatis frequently used for cyberspace: the matrix. The word "matrix, ""derived from Latin andrelated to mater (mother), "matrbc" originally connoted thewomb or a breedingfemale. Itis probably no coincidence that Virtuosity featuresa red,human mouth asthe entrance point ofthe cybertunnel. Inmathematics, theterm "matrix" refersto a rectangular arrayof quantities orexpressions, orto a gridlikearray of elements,especially of data items. We find this kind of representation inthe images ofthe tunnel asa nervous system. Because thenervous system isconnected more withthe brain than with the womb, the eye features as the entry into the cyber- tunnelin Freejack. Here, science fiction cinema borrows extensively from neuro- Tunnel Vision . 133 scienceand its insight that the actof representation takesplace within the brain throughthe response patterns of sets of neurons, interpreted as "points in phase spaces, " whichhave a metric andare visible in figures of sensory and motor grids (Churchland Smith1986:452-53). According tothis view, cognition canbe under- stoodgeometricaUy, as "characterized in terms of phase spaces, vectors, and matri- ces" (ibid. : 457). The term "matrix, " then, brings together the two different visuaUzationsof the ride into cyberspace. I willcome back to this metaphor in con- nection with my analysis of the tunnel asa trip into the "wetware" ofthe human body. THE TUNNEL AS NERVOUS SYSTEM Theimage of tunneling into cyberspace conceived asa nervous system isbased on ananalogy between the computer and the human brain. This is typical of cyber- culture, whichis all toohappy to postulate a sustained analogybetween the com- puternetwork and the human nervous system. Scientists who have had a hugeimpact oncyberculture, suchas Hans Moravec and Marvin Minsky, believe that in the future it will bepossible to plug a computer or implant a chip directly into the human nervous system or thebrain (Dery 1996), whether to download or upload infor- mation. Equations aremade between