Dark City
From Simulism
Dark City (imdb entry) is a Sci-Fi movie from 1998. John Murdoch is accused of murder, while he is unable to remember anything at all. While he is trying to figure out what is happening, he encounters more and more inexplicable things and runs into a sinister group of people called 'The Strangers' who seem to have an important role in the current flow of events.
Spoiler warning! If you haven't seen this movie yet, go see it first, then read the rest of this article.
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[edit] The Simulation
The movie has a theme similar to that of The Matrix, in which a simulation is being run that keeps the people inside it captive. One of the more original concepts of this movie is that in this case, it is not necessarily a computer simulation. It appears that this is a Third Degree Simulation in which the inhabitants are physically present inside a physical simulation.
Although 'the strangers' have the ability to 'tune' the simulation (similar to how Agents in The Matrix can manipulate the world), to alter the consciousness of the human beings, they need to physically do so using injections of some chemical into the brain.
[edit] Boundary
Similar to other simulation movies, Dark City has a boundary that is hard to reach. 'Shell Beach' is the name of the edge of the city. It is hard to reach this edge (express trains that never stop at your station), but not impossible. Once the edge is reached, the nature of the simulation is revealed.
[edit] Awareness
The people in Dark City are not aware of the fact that they are living in a simulation. Although there is compelling evidence (nobody seems to remember anything from their past, it is always night, it is impossible to leave the city), they do not seem to notice. Even when confronted with the facts, they seem not to grasp the idea. It seems that the 'tuning' not only alters their memories, but also makes them accept their current reality without asking questions.
Dr. Schreber is the only person who is constantly aware of the simulation, because he helps The Strangers with the tuning process (Schreber applies the chemicals that alter a persons memories). John Murdoch, main character of the movie, gradually becomes aware of the simulation. This is started by what Dr. Schreber calls 'waking up'. It seems that at some point, he becomes aware of weird things happening and begins to ask questions about the nature of his reality. (Although this is not clear in the movie, it is likely that Dr. Schreber is the cause of this, because he is looking for a way to thwart the evil Strangers).
[edit] The One
Similar to Neo in The Matrix, John gradually becomes aware of the simulation, which gives him the power to alter it as he sees fit. Eventually this puts him in the role of the hero, whose sole purpose it is to free the people from the simulation.
A difference with The Matrix is that in The Matrix people can actually be freed from it, whereas it seems that even if The Strangers are conquered, the people in Dark City are stuck in the city. All John can do is tune the city to make it a better place (visualized by his construction of Shell Beach as an actual beach, and cue-ing the sun. (Quote from The Truman Show: 'cue the sun!')
