Bosch VR

Also on Wednesday I attended my first of two virtual reality events – VR 1: Electric Relaxation. This
event consisted of four short films created with virtual reality in mind. My favourite of these films
was called “Bosch VR” (2016; Director: John Durrant). The film was based on the famous 16th
century painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. The film took you on a journey through the
garden, showing you three different areas – the first was very much showing the beauty of nature
with an abundance of wild animals, the second showed groups of naked people causing mayhem
and partaking in orgies, and the third felt like hell, with depressing grey colours and dark imagery.



The reason why I liked the film was because it felt like it took me on a story through the use of
imagery and sounds. The way that the garden was separated into three different areas meant that it
felt like there was a very distinct beginning, middle and end, i.e. the three act structure. The first
area showed how beautiful nature is, and how animals lived in peace before humans came around.
The second act showed people abusing the world around them, and although the garden was just as
green and luscious as it was in the first act, it felt like the humans were spoiling it somewhat. The
third act, which largely resembles hell, shows what may happen to the world if we keep abusing it.

The film obviously has very prominent religious undertones. The first act resembles the Garden of
Eden, and the third act resembles the Final Judgement and shows people being punished and
tortured. I like these religious undertones because it makes the film more intriguing to me, and even
if someone isn’t religious like myself, it can still make you think about your life, etc. and analyse
yourself and the world around you on a deeper level.

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