The Virtual Space Theory

The topics discussed in The Virtual Space Theory are often very theoretical, yet this does not mean that the discussion about them needs to remain detached or purely academic. Rather, its approach is – whenever possible – to reinforce the presentation of any theoretical idea with a matching visual example: a painting, a photograph, a video, etc.

For example, in the book there is a large section which addresses Western culture’s fascination with the possibility of experiencing other worlds that may lie beyond the physical world in which we live. This is a vast topic, which can be – and surely has been – debated on from various psychological, sociological, and philosophical points of view. However, in the book I chose to approach the topic from the point of view of how it has been expressed in popular culture, and particularly in film.

This method of presenting a theory provides challenging examples with which to question the discussion and drive it forward. In the particular case given here, it demonstrates the central role of the pictorial arts in this cultural dream of accessing other worlds, and leads to conclusions which might not have been arrived at otherwise. The following are film trailers for two of the films which are involved in this discussion.

The film The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985) provides an example of crossing-over from a film into the physical world:

The film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Robert Zemeckis, 1988) provides a curious example where a crossing-over from film into the physical world is not even necessary:

The approach of basing a theoretical discussion on visual examples has several reasons that support it. First of all – especially in the book – the visual contents form the counterpart to the theory anyhow, and are therefore just as relevant to the discussion. Second, as an author, following this approach makes sure that I do not get lost in the high spheres of pure theory, and that I keep The Virtual Space Theory anchored in what it was actually developed for: a theory of the pictorial image. Third, for the readers, it broadens the discussion from being just an abstract academic debate, thus inviting into it anyone who is interested in its subject matter – yet without compromising the depth of its analysis. And finally, it is simply much more fun.