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freedom from constraint. Monitored a denouement in which the
by her colleague Byron (Clarence protagonist concludes it must
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sport simulations: skydiving, rock
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cornea. The screen dissolves situates it within a cosmopolitan about .SGDQ+HED LV WKDW /XFDV XQ
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a luxurious alpine chalet. We hear concerned with national bodies, hardware and software.
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broader philosophical and
they rest on her legs. In these early serum – so reminiscent of the
ethical concerns.
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reaction shots of her surveying her surroundings with calm fateful accident and rouse him from his coma, is at least
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deliberately oppressive series of POV shots. Byron looms who destroy their ‘real’ intimate relationships in the pursuit of
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ampoule he’s holding, darkening the entire frame. We spend SGD 'TL@M !NCX (URQ 6KHHDQ LQ SDUWLFXODU XVHV LWV
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her legs, touches the prison uniform she now wears, and LFV DQG LQQRYDWLRQ *HQHWLFLVW *HRII %XUWRQ 0LFKDHO (NOXQG
inspects her cell as the camera tilts hesitantly up. As she who lost his baby son to a rare genetic disease, has built
registers its smallness, the camera slowly dollies out so that his entire life around seeking a cure. But when he stumbles
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he devastatingly ends up becoming patient zero.
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tion trope of demonising technology and moving towards !K@BJ ,HQQNQ’s point is that media technologies enable and
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