Analyzing strange days, battle royale, and the hole

playback. Playback is a thinly masked approximation of the concept of

simstim as illustrated in the science fiction author William Gibson’s book

Neuromancer (Phantasia Press, 1984). Simstim, or a simstim deck, is

described in Gibson’s universe as a kind of virtual reality machine designed

to simulate stimuli, or in other words, recording and playing back someone’s

memories for whoever chooses to experience them again, which is

essentially the same as the concept of Playback. Playback sets Strange Days

apart from other films in the scifi or thriller genre.

Usually, films with a climactic crime that needs solving, may show a

few flashbacks to give us an idea of what happened, or the protagonists

poring over poignant clues that have been left behind, but Playback allows

us to see the full horror of the crime. I was horrified when I saw the crimes

in progress, especially when the perpetrator used the S.Q.U.I.D. apparatus to

make the victim see what he saw as he violated her. After seeing this, I

found myself hoping that the protagonists would put together the clues

Some topics in this essay:
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