Possessor: A Brief Exploration of Violence, Religion, and Efficiency
Brandon Cronenberg’s 2020 film Possessor is a sci-fi horror that speaks to the utilitarian advantage of shedding one’s humanity for profit - or worse: efficiency.
As an individual, to do something for profit belies desire, the driving force behind everything that we do. But to collectively engage in efficiency relies on calculation without ethics, and is only ever for efficiency’s sake. Efficiency is a step away from our core humanity and is the cold hand that pushes Possessor along.
Possessor Summary (Spoilers Included)
Tasya Vos is a corporate assassin. Using brain-implant technology, Vos “possesses” hosts that are close to her target, then forces her hosts to kill while under mind-control. She disconnects from the host by then killing herself, leaving nothing for investigators but a murder-suicide.
Her boss and mentor, a woman known as Girder, coaches Vos to push herself and suggests that Vos distance herself from her husband and young son in order to focus on her job. Vos’ assassinations have been going off-script as she finds new brutal ways to complete her target killings. Her latest job has her target set as the CEO of a tech company, Zoothroo. Her newest host is Collin Tate, the man dating the CEO’s daughter (who is also a target). Unfortunately for Vos, Tate is fighting back. Her dissociative struggles come to a head when she finds that she can’t disconnect from the host after completing her target assassinations. Tate breaks through and is aware of her presence as they merge and interact.
Tate ultimately leads Vos back to her family’s home to try and force her to leave his mind by threatening her family. There, it’s Vos, not Tate, that eliminates her family by killing her husband and son. Girder, having taken possession of Vos’ son, kills Tate, which disconnects Vos. Afterward, Vos is free to pursue her work further without the guilt or distraction that her family caused her.
Nearly three-quarters into Possessor, there’s a brief exchange between two characters, Eddie and Vos. Eddie, who is a “collaborator” with Girder, arrives at an apartment to assist Vos, who is struggling to maintain control over her host:
Eddie: There you go. You’re coming back. I’ve temporarily suppressed the host’s will. You should have near to full control but we need to move quickly before the effects wear off, okay?
Vos: (grabs a gun)
Eddie: Woah - woah woah woah. Let’s be civil. Girder sent me. I’m your lifeline.
Vos: (groans) Girder?
Eddie: I was a plant. You didn’t know? I’m a collaborator. I scouted Tate for the Parse deal. Come on. Come on.
Vos: (lowers gun)
Eddie: There we go. I’ve heard a lot about you, the great Tasya Vos. It’s a real honor. I was a huge fan of the Elio Mazza stabbing.
Vos: Eddie? (puts the gun down) In the head. I can’t seem to pull the trigger.
Eddie: Oh, no no no no no. I’m - I’m a Christian. Besides, Girder says it has to be you: Distraught killer can’t live with the guilt. Something public, no questions. Look, I’m - I’m just here to fix your head.
In the context of Possessor, what does that mean: “I’m a Christian”?
Efficiency’s Relationship with Violence
Cronenberg has said that Possessor focuses on Vos’ relationship with violence, and the way she experiences and processes it. Taking that idea and merging it with comments he makes in the same interview about the pandemic - Vos’ relationship with violence isn’t monogamous. We all have a relationship with violence. Efficiency and consumption make violence a fact of our lives.
Let’s be clear: efficiency is often made possible by and propelled by violence. Whether it’s a bloody massacre perpetrated by the United Fruit Company against its striking workers, or the “bloodless” American coercive violence of the threat of starvation, homelessness, and lack of healthcare if a person loses a job; it’s all violence for the sake of efficiency. And that efficiency has no significant benefit to the average person’s daily life. In all the years of increasing efficiency and productivity, never has our society ever banked that as a way to increase leisure time. Efficiency has only ever worked on a mass scale to reduce downtime for the worker while increasing profits for the owner. Efficiency creates more products for consumption and has influenced culture to become more consumption-driven.
That “I’m a Christian” line isn’t just a quick, throwaway bit. It’s a razor-sharp critique of religious hypocrisy in its relation to violence. It’s delivered at its extreme here; however, it’s a precise interpretation of those who call themselves religious but still support violence, either via passive engagement or active practice.
Cronenberg could have used any religion, but there’s no doubt that Christianity dominates the public sphere of many first-world countries. As an audience member from the southern United States, it was jarring to hear someone say I’m a Christian as a reason to politely decline murder because, despite the New Testament, I generally don’t consciously consider Christianity a religion of nonviolence. If the line had been I’m a Buddhist, the joke would have survived but the critique would have been distanced and therefore less impactful.
So, how does a Christian end up working for an assassination corporation?
Efficiency and Dehumanization
Possessor focuses on a tech company, Zoothroo, that mines data collected from its ubiquitous camera presence in people’s homes, to better sell products. Zoothroo uses human labor to do so, employing people to sit in virtual “offices” and browse footage for hours on end, constantly micromanaged for efficiency. Girder’s assassination corporation considers Zoothroo’s level of surveillance access an efficient tool for its own ends. The client that commissions Girder’s company for the assassinations does so because it’s an efficient way for him to come into his father’s wealth. All of these processes rely on the dehumanization and objectification of anything and everything that stands between point A (the Problem) and point B (the Solution). This is the culture of efficiency.
Religion in this kind of cultural space loses the heft and nuance of its teachings and is reduced to an ultimately arbitrary set of rules. This is exactly the state of things: Wherein individuals lean heavily on a religion of peace to justify evils like slavery, restricting access to healthcare, and book burnings while simultaneously adhering to cherry-picked tenets. A Christian will engage in coercive violence that will cause someone to suffer greatly, even unto death - but to outright kill a person? Oh, no. I’m a Christian.
Religion’s Relationship with Efficiency and Violence
Religion doesn’t hold a monopoly on morality, though it’s often used as shorthand for a moral code. This isn’t a critique only on Christians or the religious, but rather on the moral challenges we face living in a society and consumerist culture that we largely have no control over. Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden back in 1854 about how the average person mentally and morally distances themselves from the violence of efficiency by ignoring the violence that provided that person with coffee and other goods, simply because it happened over there and not right in front of them. It’s only gotten worse.
Pictured: Freedom of Choice
Possessor reveals the kind of violence that we are willing to participate in while shielding ourselves from our own moral failings by clinging to some idea of ourselves as a moral person; when in reality, we are no less immoral for partaking in the goods yielded by violence than if we had done the violence ourselves. In the line of violence from point A to point B, every act is equal but near the end of the line we - the fans, the consumers, the everyday person - we get to say Oh no. I’m a moral person. I’m only here to satisfy my desire, not to hurt or exploit anyone. I love what you’re about, though!
If you liked this, you may be interested in my other article, The First Rule of Walden