Primer: An Exploration in Virtual Reality

After the surreal and mind-bending experience that is called Primer, I couldn't help but wonder what it actually all meant. Personally, as someone who watches too much science fiction television shows for their own good, I felt a desperate need to solve the puzzle the plot line presented me with. The only catch was that it was purposely written to be difficult for the audience to understand. Thus, when immediately confronted with highly technical jargon and seemingly random plot twists, I was left overwhelmed by the amount of information I received and was denied of. In fact, I was so confused by the plot that I first gained the impression that the film was about cloning as a result of radioactive from technological manipulation. That theory, of course, became futile as soon as we saw both the doubles and the original characters (Aaron and Abe) within the same frame but performing through different timelines. This is not to say that manipulation of technology does not play it's role in it all because it really does. But Primer was more about self-discovery (as predictable as that may seem) between two friends and their own personalities. The farther the film explores their story, the more complicated it becomes. The audience is ensnared along the way, entranced by the complexities of time travel and victimized by the hopeless consequences of the main characters suffer through. It is this sense of virtual reality that near makes us feel as though we suffer with them as we witness the plot go awry.