Humanitarian VR Documentary and its Cinematic Myths

Abstract

As if fulfilling a prophecy, virtual reality (VR) has arrived. In recent years, its most prominent advocates have been championing the emergent medium’s humanitarian potential, as practitioners aim to leverage VR’s unparalleled verisimilitude to restore shock and immediacy to images of distant suffering. Despite this practice’s historical lineages, hysterical discourse around VR today frames it as a prophesied arrival that transcends the limits of representation. This prophetic status evokes what André Bazin called the myth of total cinema: the aspiration to a complete representation of reality that has underlain the entire history of mechanical reproduction. VR’s leading practitioners have embraced this seductive myth, celebrating the deepened empathy and understanding that allegedly ensue from VR’s immersive power. However, the destined quality of total realism circles us back to something primordial—to cinema’s infancy and the myth of credulous spectators deceived by the illusion before them. I consider how these two key film-theoretical myths collide in VR. By unraveling these two myths alongside the interlaced discourses of immersion and empathy, this paper interrogates the politics of virtual witnessing. I argue that cinematic myths continue to enchant discussions around VR in a technologically determinist manner that misrepresents the medium’s humanitarian potential.