Narcissus in the Mirror
2024
Moving image, AI technology
3mins, Composed of multiple video segments
All Images © Lianjiang Zhu
Cultural capital subtly shapes and manipulates individual cognition and behavior through symbolic representations. Dogmatic romantic films guide individuals in forming and sustaining idealized fantasies of intimate relationships, akin to a fetishization of one's own desires.
Viewing the intimate relationships portrayed in romantic films as “objects of fantasy” reveals the falsity and mechanical nature of such deeply ingrained collective narratives when they are deconstructed. By slowing down the phrase “I love you” in these films twenty times, every declaration of love transforms into an echo from the abyss, and the protagonists' images are replaced with fictional representations, creating an uncanny similarity. Technologically generated images thus infiltrate romantic narratives, ultimately replacing human existence.
Viewing the intimate relationships portrayed in romantic films as “objects of fantasy” reveals the falsity and mechanical nature of such deeply ingrained collective narratives when they are deconstructed. By slowing down the phrase “I love you” in these films twenty times, every declaration of love transforms into an echo from the abyss, and the protagonists' images are replaced with fictional representations, creating an uncanny similarity. Technologically generated images thus infiltrate romantic narratives, ultimately replacing human existence.