Design Fiction in the Act: Maniac (Ep1) The Chosen One
An investigation and interrogation of background evidence hidden in plain sight.
Design FictionThis post also appears at www.designfictiondaily.com
This week, let's hop into the janky time machine and gather around the newly-installed display screen. Kick up your feet and grab a drink, but whatever you do, don't press the button labeled "Do Not Push - Ever." Let's settle in and watch Episode 1 of Netflix's Maniac (2018), starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. I'm excited to see what Design Fiction artifacts we'll discover today.
Two strangers are drawn to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial for a drug that they're assured will, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, permanently solve all of their problems. Things do not go as planned.
Poster art of Netflix’s Maniac (2018) mini-series.
I've watched the beginning of this episode several times, and it stands out as unique within the series. In the first few minutes, we're presented with a wealth of worldbuilding evidence that suggests an alternate future, past, or timeline where the 80s occur after the 2000s.
Our first clue comes after the animated intro to the universe, when Emma Stone's character enters a bodega. On the separation glass, we see the iconic "No" sign (a red circle with a line through it) which appears to read "AD BUDDY NOT ACCEPTED HERE" in the bottom left corner.
The reverse shot (below) in this scene confirms our suspicions (bottom right corner), and the scene continues with Emma Stone's character attempting to pay with AD BUDDY. However, the clerk remains steadfast in not accepting it, adding to the sense that we're witnessing a different reality altogether.
What's great about this Design Fiction artifact is that it's noticeable without being too obvious. The characters immediately acknowledge it in their dialogue, and it's later hilariously paid off in the first act when we discover what AD BUDDY actually is.
It feels like a deliberate choice to train the viewer's attention to the details early on, setting a perceptive tone. This sets off a chain of worldbuilding Easter eggs that quickly paint a vivid picture of this environment.
Let's take a closer look at some of the ads, articles, signage, and posters that are scattered throughout the first act of this episode. Later, I'll also share some observations I've made about Design Fiction in film.
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Frustrated that the bodega won't accept her Ad Buddy credits, Emma's character storms outside and vandalizes a newspaper box, draining it of its coins.
Newspaper Archetype: New York Post cover story.
On the front page of the newspaper, we see the headline "BLADDERGATE: MILGRIM POOP BOT EMPIRE IN PERIL," accompanied by some floating heads and connected lines. This type of newspaper archetype is effective at sparking story exposition. While there are some science fiction diegetic prototypes that build on this New York Post-style headline, there are fewer incidental Design Fiction examples that emerge from this (more on that later).
Billboard Archetype: Lenticular Sidewalks Billboards
In a fast-paced walking scene, we see some lenticular sidewalk billboards cycling through various advertisements. The first billboard displays the headline "DOXED? SCRUBBED? THEFT? C??????? SWAPPED?"
if anyone can make out what the C word above says, please leave a comment.
This suggests that privacy and identity theft are major concerns in this world, which seems to be an accelerated version of our timeline presented in an ambiguously retro-futuristic way.
The billboard then flips to another ad that reads "Everything tastes better...when you're TOGETHER," signed off with a FRIEND PROXY logo at the bottom. This ad helps to build on the show's theme of loneliness and connection, suggesting the idea of surrogate platonic companions in a world where everyone is too busy to make real friends. Ads like this paint a lighthearted, relatable, and admittedly dystopian picture of our own society.
Maniac (2018) - A simple error on a basic screen acts as an excellent Design Fiction example to help build the world of this show.
Display Screen Archetype: Ticket kiosk Declined alert.
Before we fully understand what Ad Buddy is, we're given another hint at its significance on the display of a subway ticket booth as Jonah Hill's character attempts to purchase a ticket.
Functional screens and displays in shows are excellent archetypes for Design Fiction. While it's common to see them in Fantasy User Interface (FUI) scenarios (think Minority Report's volumetric touch screen), it's often the more mundane, everyday screens that do the heavy lifting in Design Fiction.
Minority Report (2000) - Volumetric touch screen, prototyping gesture controls prior to smartphones, is an excellent Science Fiction diegetic prototype.
Everyday on-screen instructions and alerts, like we see in the ticket booth above, are easily dismissed due to the blindness we've acquired from having to deal with them in our daily lives. But in cinema, it's important to stop and read the letters because a good show will always use them to move the story forward, even if it's just by a tiny bit.
Ad Poster Archetype: Indecipherable Ad.
In this wide shot, we see a few things. On the far right, there's only a glimpse of an ad that says "Don't be a Scr...." by a brand called Autodish. The image is hard to make out, but it looks like it might be an ad for in-vehicle dinnerware. If so, I like how it inspires ideas of a world where everyone is busy and in transit, and basic life tasks don't happen at home. I'm sure there was a more visible take of this ad lying on the cutting room floor. However, in the world of cinema, Design Fiction should play second fiddle to the main storyline.
Recruitment Sign Archetype: Ad Buddies Wanted.
To the far right of Jonah, we see more Ad Buddy build-up with a small recruitment ad that says "Your career starts here, Buddies Wanted." This ultimately leads to the exposition of Ad Buddy, a human that tags along on your travels and reads you ad copy from brochures. As silly as it may seem, it's a great metaphor for how many of us spend our time in liminal spaces, on phones, with ads, and sponsored content.
Ad Poster Archetype: Moonbeam travel services.
On Jonah's immediate right, there's one of my favorites - an ad for Moonbeam, a travel service with a headline that reads "TIRED OF HERE?" next to a picture of a rocket leaving Earth and a call to action of "One-way flights starting at $1799."
I'm not sure what that price would be when adjusted for inflation in our timeline, but it seems relatively affordable. I'm intrigued by this society where people can escape their worries in such a permanent and extreme way.
Warning Sign Archetype: Poop Bot Assault.
This last example is subtle and requires a quick trigger finger on the pause button to catch, but it's clearly in focus and the focus of the scene, despite only lasting for a hot second.
The warning reads:
Assaulting a Poop Bot?
Interfering or tampering with a Poop Bot is a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
At this point in the story, we've seen the Poop Bot in action, and this Design Fiction artifact reinforces the standard of reverence expected by civilians. Throughout this opening scene, we're introduced to Milgrim (the evil mega-corp), the controversy surrounding it (the newspaper artifact mentioned above), and its place in the world embedded in the city's infrastructure. Most of this is expressed through background details, including some Design Fiction artifacts.
Thoughts on the use of Design Fiction in this episode
I'll assume that the art department (or whoever was responsible for creating these ads) wasn't familiar with the concept of Design Fiction as an academic term or a futures design practice, but they clearly understood it intrinsically. Was their intention to thoughtfully help build a story world through a series of archetypal Easter eggs? Or was some of this a last-minute thought to fill the frames with contextual details? Either way, the opening scenes of Episode 1 are chock-full of engaging details that paint a bigger picture, but this approach seems to cease before the end of the first act.
This begs the question: Why didn't they continue to follow through with this approach for the rest of the episode or the rest of the series?
Wrapping up.
While Design Fiction was certainly a great tool to help flesh out the world in its opening scenes, it didn't have to stop there. Part of the fun of watching this series is looking out for the Design Fiction, but that fizzles out quickly. There's so much more that could have been incorporated throughout the film to embellish the story and continue the "I spy" Easter egg hunt.
How much of these ideas were part of the script (obviously, Ad Buddy), and how many were conceived and created in pre-production or closer to actual production? Should Design Fiction be something that is formalized and taught to art directors and their art departments? Or is it something written by the writers or mandated by the director?
In a world of streaming 4K cinema setups at home, there's an argument to be made for more effort and consistency in incorporating Design Fiction in film and television. Design Fiction can increase the watch time of a film beyond 100%. Similar to how director commentary on DVD and Blu-ray made rewatching shows more fun (why doesn't this exist in the streaming world?), I believe that clever and meaningful use of Design Fiction can have a similar impact on the enjoyment of a story upon re-watching.
Thank you paid subscribers. Please feel free to leave a comment and if you want to discuss any of the above with me, one-on-one, drop me a line and let’s coordinate a chat.