Media Evolution, “Double-edged Sword” Technology and Active Spectatorship: investigating “Desktop Film” from media ecology perspective

Desktop film or computer screen film is a film subgenre with all events and actions taking place on a screen of a computer and using the protagonist’s first-person perspective, exemplified by The Den (2013), Open Windows (2014), Unfriended (2014), Unfriended: Dark Web (2018), Profile (2018) and Searching (2018). This paper mainly focuses on the desktop films with the theoretical framework of “Media Ecology”, aiming to investigate how the desktop film evolves and interacts with new media, digital technology, while influencing communication and spectatorship. Firstly, this paper discusses the evolution of cinema, which evolves through the interaction, co-existence and convergence with other media, as well as corresponds to the anthropotropic trend. Secondly, this paper investigates the digital media and technology in desktop films. “Desktop films” create cyberspaces and reproduce people’s virtual lives, revealing the influences of media technology, which is considered as a double-edged sword. Thirdly, this paper analyzes how desktop film exerts impacts on cinematic communication, while reshaping the spectatorship and audience’s viewing mechanism. “Desktop films” are suitable to be watched on computer, thus making audiences become active and have more autonomy.


Introduction
With the further development of digital technology and media convergence, cinema industry has entered an era of "Post-Cinema" (DENSON; LEYDA, 2016). There are an increasing number of new forms of cinemas such as interactive film, VR film, databases film, desktop film, etc., not only changing the way in which films are produced and distributed, but also influencing the spectatorship and recognition of the film. According to Timur Bekmambetov's (2015) definition, desktop film, or termed as "screen movie", is a new format of cinema in which all the events take place on a protagonist's computer screen with the protagonist's first-person perspective; all the actions take place in real time and are organized through in-frame montage without defined it as "the study of media as environments" (1970, p.16). As Postman (2000) demonstrates, human beings live in both natural environment and media environment, and the latter "consists of language, numbers, images, holograms, and all of the other symbols, techniques, and machinery that make us what we are" ; "a medium is a technology within which a culture grows…it gives form to a culture's politics, social organization, and habitual ways of thinking". Media Ecology mainly focuses on the media environment (including the structure, content and impact on people) and the ways in which media and human beings interact, and it particularly investigates "how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; and who our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival" (POSTMAN, 1970, p. 161 "it seems that the evolution of media does not follow the rules of survival of the fittest and natural selection, but conforms to the principle of interaction, mutual assistance and mutual development" (SHAO, 1996, p.8).
As one of the mass media, cinema has been evolving since its birth, which is not isolated, but interacts with other media to form an ecosystem of co-existence and convergence. In different eras, cinemas continuously integrate the other media and increasingly display new characteristics. Meanwhile, the definition and recognition of film is changing. The invention of film originates from the "mummy complex" of human beings, which is driven by the desire to create and preserve moving images and realistic reproductions (BAZIN, 1967). In the early 20th century, due to underdeveloped technology, films were black and white and silent, whilst the early film theorists such as Rudolf Arnheim (1957)

Cyberspace and Technology in Desktop Films
Media ecology focuses on the relationship between media, technology and human being. McLuhan (1989) argues that all media are extensions of some human faculty (psychic or physical) and influence human by altering the environment. In Neil Postman's (1985, p.9) opinion, the forms of media can dominate the content and take command of a culture. In different eras, media and technology that are doubleedged swords, exert influences on the transformations of people's life and culture. In the information age, "desktop film", that is based on computers, digital technology and Internet, creates a cyberspace, which accurately represents people's lives of digitization, virtualization and mediatization, thus reflecting the influences exerted by the media on the environment and revealing the advantages and disadvantages of media technology towards people and society.
Cyberspace is defined as the virtual reality space created by computer and Internet. In cyberspace, the spatio-temporal distance is no longer an obstacle, resulting in convenience of communication and achieving the "compression of time and space" (Harvey, 1989). People communicate instantly over long distances and human's visual sense and auditory sense have been greatly extended, and the abilities to obtain and transmit information have been enhanced as never before. "Desktop films" exemplified by The Den and the series of Unfriended portray that netizens from different parts of the world chatting together at the same time by video telephony and webcam. The network "shrinks" the space, connects individuals who are difficult to meet in real life, realizes the "synchronization" of time, and establishes a virtual community and a "global village" (McLuhan's terminology).
To some extent, cyberspace creates alienation between human beings, as well as a split within the individual. As McLuhan (1994, p.117) argues, "Our mechanical technologies for extending and separating the functions of our physical beings have brought us near to a state of disintegration by putting us out of touch with ourselves".
On the Internet, individuals use various symbols to construct the virtual images of themselves and their virtual environments, playing different roles in different situations. Interpersonal relationships are not what they appear to be, but become more complicated, and the senses of trust and security between human beings may be reduced due to the virtualization of cyberspace. For instance, in Unfriended, Laura who committed suicide once had some "good friends" when she was alive, but they were actually the ones who bullied and indirectly killed her in the past: they videotaped her getting drunk, posted the video on social media, insulted her and even encouraged her to kill herself. In Searching, David logs in Margot's social media after her disappearance so as to contact her "friends". However, most people respond that they are not Margot's friends or not familiar with Margot and do not know her whereabouts. Social media seems to expand people's social network and make more friends. In fact, it is difficult for people to gain true friendship on social media. What is worse, there are even people pretending or disguising to be someone in order to cheat others. For example, In Searching, in order to get close to Margot, Robert disguises as a girl whose mother is dying of cancer and has a similar life experience with Margot.
They communicate on social media and then become net friends. Margot has a sense of compassion even donates her tuition for piano lessons to this net friend for "her sick mother" to cure illness. However, when Robert and Margot meet in real life, the truth is revealed, Robert even indirectly causes harm to Margot.
In cyberspace, the virtual and the real are mixed together, forming what Baudrillard (1995) terms "simulacra". "Desktop films" showcase the "simulacra" created by cyberspace through replication and simulation, which makes people difficult to distinguish the real from the false or the imaginary, and sometimes the "simulacra" seems more real than reality. For instance, In Unfriended: Dark Web, in order to maliciously victimize Jeff, the criminal fabricates Jeff's identity of a terrorist by intercepting Jeff's online selfie videos and audio clips, re-edits them and adds the sound effects of the gun to make the "terrorist declaration", and then calls 911 via online telephone. Jeff is actually innocent, while the policemen believe the "terrorist Media Evolution, "Double-edged Sword" Technology and Active Spectatorship: investigating "Desktop Film" from media ecology perspective declaration", break into Jeff's house and finally shoot him dead. In Open Windows and The Den, the fake live webcast looks no different from the real one.
From Postman (1996)  and so forth. When people attempt to voyeur, they also become the objects of virtual voyeur and online surveillance, exposed to the public, as if they are located in a "panoramic prison" of Foucault style. For instance, in Unfriended, Blair, Mickey and their friends secretly shoot Laura's drunkenness and upload the video on the Internet. Laura cannot endure network violence and commits suicide. In Unfriended: Dark Web, Matias steals a laptop in the cafe where he works, hacks into the owner's social media and the hidden documents on the computer, and then discovers the evil crimes on the "dark web". While hacking into the other's computer, Matias is actually being spied and manipulated by the criminals. The owner of the computer is actually a criminal on the "dark web", who pretends to lose the computer, secretly monitors Matias and his friends and tempts them into a trap with the aim of scapegoating and murdering them. This kind of murder becomes a live webcast for the outlaws who act as spectators and even pay rewards for this game on the "dark web". The reason why criminals on the "dark web" are so rampant and unscrupulous is that technology and media make their subsistence more convenient. However, it is difficult for the police to track down them.
It is noticeable that technology itself is neutral and not responsible for all the negative effects. When people take advantage of technology, the defects of human nature such as greed, vanity and selfishness are magnified, resulting in self-infliction, which reflects the "Faustian bargain" between people and media technology. It is also attributed to the profound economic and socio-cultural reasons such as the impact of consumerism on people. For example, Unfriended: Dark Web, Matias falls into the abyss by stealing a high-powered laptop, which results from a sense of vainglory and greed driven by the consumerism culture.

Communication and Spectatorship of Desktop Films
Generally, the traditional films are produced with high budget, aiming to be projected in the cinemas or theaters. In the theater system, the content and communication mode of a film is basically determined by the filmmakers, while the audiences lack autonomy. Film is projected on the huge screen and the frame is obvious. Therefore, the difference between the imaginary world in the movie and the real space is obvious. During the film-watching process, audiences are fixed in the auditorium and restricted to the narrative time within the film. In this passive, dreamlike state of movie-watching experiences, audiences seem to enter the Plato's cave and unconsciously accept the ideological interpellation of the cinematic apparatus (Jean Media Evolution, "Double-edged Sword" Technology and Active Spectatorship: investigating "Desktop Film" from media ecology perspective Louis Baudry,1974). Traditional film editing methods, such as Hollywood continuous editing, create a "seamless" cohesive narrative mechanism, thus achieving the classic suture mechanism to realize the ideological interpellation towards spectators.
In contrast, the "desktop film" is featured with low budget, which is mainly Searching, the audience's perspective is the same with David's, therefore, the audience seems to be involved in David's search for his missing daughter and experiences the feelings of anxiety and sorrow.
Different from the ritualization and publicization of traditional viewing experiences in cinemas, watching "desktop films" tends to be more secular, routineoriented and private. Moreover, in "desktop film", the filmic frame resembles the audiences' computer interface and seems to "integrate" into individual lives of the audiences. "Desktop film" creates a "mixed reality" (Zhang, 2019, p.36), therefore, it is easier for the audience to confuse the cinema world with the real space, thus having a sense of immersion and engagement and creating a sense of realism. For instance, in The Den and the series of Unfriended, when the characters are surveillant by the hackers, the audiences seem to be being monitored. The sound effects of the apps in the film may make the audiences think they are running their own programs. A chat window pops up in the filmic cyberspace, while the audiences perhaps mistakenly think it's a message from their own friend in reality.
As Zhang (2019, p.35) indicates, "Desktop film" adopts a "gamification narrative structure": "clear and specific tasks and objectives, timely and valuable information feedback, integration of action and consciousness, sense of participation and control"; and the actions of characters follow the gamification mode: "information discovery → action (get new feedback) → action". The plots of "desktop film" are similar to the ideas of these game with tasks and levels designed. In order to achieve the goal, the characters follow the rules and continuously overcome difficulties. For instances, in Searching, there is a father searching for his missing daughter; in Profile, the female reporter sneaks into the online terrorist organization for investigation; in Unfriended: Dark Web, criminals practice the games of scapegoating and murdering.
When watching these gamification films, spectators identify with the protagonists and seem to play games.
"Desktop films" require a high degree of capabilities from the spectators, and those familiar with digital media and technology, cyberspace, network language can truly understand and appreciate such films. Additionally, it can be argued that such new forms of films as "desktop films" are also changing spectators' recognition and aesthetic perception towards cinemas. In the 20th century, the emergence of film cultivates the spectators' montage thinking, so that people gradually develop the aesthetic ability to appreciate the art of film. In the digital media age, as Friedberg (2006) argues, "graphical user interface" of computer featured with "multiple-screen windows" changes the single-point fixed perspective principle that has long dominated the western visual mechanism. Desktop films resemble the computer window interfaces characterized by hyperlink, decentralization and fragmentation, which reflects and will further cultivate spectators' screen life and Internet thinking in the real world.

Conclusion
Media ecology emphasizes the influences of media form and technology on human beings and their living environment. As one of the most important mass media, film follows the rules of the evolution of media and evolves through the interaction and co-existence and integration with other media. Nowadays, as one of the new cinematic forms, "desktop film" is the product of media evolution, highlighting the characteristics of transmedia and media convergence. "Desktop film" also follows the anthropotropic trend of media evolution, improving the level of representing the real world. Based on computers, digital technologies and the Internet, "desktop films" create cyberspace, accurately reproduce people's living situation of digitization, virtualization and mediatization, and reveal the advantages and disadvantages of media technology on people and society, which is considered as a double-edged sword. Although the media and technology are neutral, the defects of human nature are magnified and result in self-infliction. "Desktop films" also influence the way films are distributed and communicated, and reshape the audiences' viewing behavior and recognition. Different from the traditional cinema-watching experience in theaters, it is more appropriate for spectators to watch "desktop films" on computers.
Therefore, audiences become the liberated and active subjects and have more autonomy. "Desktop films" mainly adopt protagonists' subjective perspective, and are characterized by dailiness, privatization and realism with whose frames resemble audiences' own computers, thus making the audience feel immersed and identify with characters. Audiences also have a gamification experience when watching "desktop films". Moreover, "desktop films" reflect spectator's screen life and Internet thinking, and will further change people's recognition towards cinemas.