June 24- How Face/Off Accidentally Predicted Our Deepfake Future (and Solved It?)
Plus a brand new format for The Retro. Trivia! Recs! Readability!
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
June 24th, 2022 • Issue 105
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How Face/Off Accidentally Predicted Our Deepfake Future (and Solved It?)
On June 27, 1997, Face/Off hit theaters.
Face/Off is a bonkers ‘90s high-concept movie. It's arguably one of the signature action movies of the entire decade.
But today, we're going to focus on how it gave us a look at, and blueprint for, the deepfake future. And did so by accident. At least I've got to believe it was by accident, not prescience.
First, a quick refresher on Face/Off. The movie stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, both riding career peaks. It's obvious why both gravitated toward the script. Not only was it a summer action blockbuster guaranteed to print money — they both got to play two characters. That's a whole lot meatier than your standard action movie.
This wasn't your standard action movie. Because it had two tons of exposition and plot dumped on top of all the chases and explosions.
Travolta plays Sean Archer, an FBI agent. During the opening credits, we see him take a bullet to the back... which passes through his body to take the life of his young son.
That bullet is courtesy of Nicholas Cage's character, Castor Troy. He's a remorseless, perverse terrorist-for-hire. And, due to that murder, Archer's lifelong obsession and enemy.
Archer catches up with Troy to start Act One, and Troy winds up in a coma. But... Archer learns Troy planted a bomb somewhere in Los Angeles. The only way to get the info with Troy knocked out? Extract it from Troy's brother who's locked up in an off-the-books, Geneva Convention-less offshore prison.
An FBI-affiliated surgeon suggests putting Troy's face onto Archer's body. (Also, reshaping his body and putting in a larynx implant to change his voice.) Archer takes very little convincing. He becomes Troy, goes into the prison, learns about the bomb — plan worked.
Only while he's inside, Troy wakes up from his coma to find his face is missing. As one does. He forces the surgeon to turn him into Archer, then destroys the evidence of the swap and murders the witnesses.
The rest of the movie becomes Archer's quest to free himself from prison, stop Troy, save his family, and get his face/name/identity back.
But around all that plot the film is giant action set piece after giant action set piece. It's a John Woo movie doing John Woo things. There are epic shootouts and car chases. The climax involves a speedboat chase that, yes, ends in explosions.
Because of all the time spent on mega action sequences there's not that much time spent on deeper themes. Like identity, or humanity, or what makes a person themselves. There's no moment where Archer finds himself becoming more like Troy or vice versa. There's no exploration on how the external affects the internal.
As I watched Face/Off for the first time since 1997, I found myself thinking about the Apple TV+ show Severance. That's an evolved version of the themes Face/Off could've, but didn't, explore.
Instead, Face/Off tackled the surface level problems endemic to looking like a different person. How people react to you. How easy it is to fool your spouse, family, closest friends, coworkers.
How much we trust our visuals regardless of the evidence.
Throughout the face swapping portion of the movie, other characters often ask both leads if they're "feeling alright." That's because Archer (as Troy) and Troy (as Archer) are not acting like themselves. Their personalities are inconsistent though their appearances and voices are not.
But still, no one independently figures out Archer isn't Archer or Troy isn't Troy. No one. The visual (and larynx-altered voice) evidence is too powerful. We trust it too much.
Which brings us to today, to the world of the deepfake. To the world where we can't 100% trust what we see anymore. And without that immutable faith in the reality of what's in front of us, we grow suspicious of everything. Which blurs the line on the very essence of reality and truth itself. A blurriness upon which budding (or full budded) bad actors all over the world have seized.
It's reductive to say all our answers are in Face/Off. But there are elements of Face/Off that transfer to the modern quest for truth — and shine light on the burdens of proof we need to overcome.
Archer (looking like Troy) spews intimate anecdote after intimate anecdote to his wife to try to get her to believe in his real identity. It's still not enough. It's enough to cast reasonable doubt on what her eyes show her — but not enough to convince her.
Words aren't enough. Facts aren't enough. It's like Archer showed his wife eight billion studies on COVID and testimony from 99% of doctors and scientists... and she responded with, "Good points, but I'm still considering chomping on this horse paste unless you can give me something better."
She's convinced only because of the sole thing unchanged during the face swap procedure. That's the subjects' blood types. She sneaks a drop of blood from Troy (looking like Archer) and tests it. It's Troy's blood type, not Archer's. That was the tipping point piece of evidence she needed. The irrefutable, incontrovertible — and, most important, non-fungible — marker of truth.
As we move deeper into a future where we can't trust what we see — and, as Face/Off reminds us, we very much trust what we see — we need our one inarguable source of truth. The source that allows us to look at something and get an absolute verdict on its veracity. In the absence of that source of truth, instability (and those who thrive off instability) reigns.
So yes, I'm more or less driving at the idea of everything in the future needing NFT authentication. Bet you didn't see that twist coming. Maybe I should've written about an M. Night Shyamalan movie instead of Face/Off.
Other momentous moments from this week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
This section now features highlights rather than every possible event — as those lists were pushing the newsletter over size limits. To see more events from each date, visit one of the event links for that date.
June 24th
1987 - Spaceballs hit theaters.
1990 - New Kids on the Block’s Donnie Wahlberg fell through a trap door on stage during a concert.
1992 - Shaquille O’Neal was the number one pick in the NBA draft.
1997 - The U.S. Air Force released a report unequivocally denying aliens or UFOs at the mysterious Area 51.
1997 - Shawn Colvin’s ultra-successful one hit, Sunny Came Home, was released.
June 25th
1978 - The rainbow flag was flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
1982 - Blade Runner hit theaters.
1993 - Sleepless in Seattle hit theaters.
1993 - Julia Roberts married Lyle Lovett.
1996 - Jay Z’s debut studio album, Reasonable Doubt, was released.
1998 - Windows 98 was released.
1999 - Big Daddy hit theaters.
June 26th
1987 - Full Metal Jacket hit theaters.
1990 - Nelson’s album After the Rain was released.
1993 - The Real World, season 2 (Los Angeles) premiered on MTV.
1996 - Allen Iverson was the 1st pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, Kobe Bryant was 13th.
1997 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the U.K.
1998 - Step by Step aired its series finale.
1999 - Doug aired its series finale.
June 27th
1986 - Labyrinth hit theaters.
1987 - Whitney Houston’s single I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) hit number one.
1989 - The B-52s album Cosmic Thing was released.
1994 - Anna Nicole Smith married an 89-year-old billionaire.
1994 - Aerosmith’s Head First became the first major label song available for digital download.
June 28th
1982 - Microsoft released its new logo.
1985 - St. Elmo’s Fire hit theaters.
1992 - The original Dream Team played its first game, an exhibition against Cuba.
1996 - Demi Moore’s Striptease hit theaters.
1996 - The Nutty Professor hit theaters.
June 29th
1983 - National Lampoon’s Vacation hit theaters.
1984 - Bachelor Party hit theaters.
1987 - Tiffany’s self-titled debut album was released.
1990 - Dave Stewart of the A’s and Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers both threw no hitters on the same day.
1995 - The Canadian Football League came to America as the Memphis Mad Dogs played their first game.
1999 - LFO’s single Summer Girls was released.
June 30th
1989 - Karate Kid III hit theaters.
1989 - Do the Right Thing hit theaters.
1992 - Boyz II Men’s single End of the Road was released.
1995 - Apollo 13 hit theaters.
1997 - There was a leap second added to the calendar.
1999 - South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut hit theaters.
1999 - Wild Wild West hit theaters.
5 ‘80s and ‘90s trivia facts
The Bohemian Rhapsody scene in Wayne’s World almost didn’t happen. In order to use the song, the Wayne’s World team needed permission from the songwriter, Freddie Mercury. Who, sadly, was on his deathbed. He decided to watch the footage of the scene, loved it, and gave the film permission to use the song before he passed away in November of 1991.
The modern colloquial usage of “snowflake” to describe someone fragile and weak comes from Fight Club. In the 1996 book, a line reads, “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone, and we are all part of the same compost pile.” The line is repeated almost verbatim in the film.
Coke and Pepsi both made soda for astronauts in the '80s. Coke and Pepsi tried to stage their own Space Race in the ‘80s. Both (independently?) came up with the idea for aerosol cans with a cap and nozzle resembling whipped cream. Coke and Pepsi’s offerings both made it onto a mission in 1985, where the astronauts gave both mediocre reviews — ending the era of soda in space.
In 1982, someone patented a surgical procedure to “grow unicorns.” The patent describes what sounds like a very unpleasant process of surgically turning newborn two-horned animals into one-horned animals.
Samuel L. Jackson was supposed to have an afro, not a Jheri curl, in Pulp Fiction. But the production assistant tasked with buying the wig didn’t know the difference.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Back to the Future The Musical is headed to Broadway in 2023.
The new Beavis and Butt-Head movie is now out on Paramount+.
Disney is creating a live-action remake of 1997’s Hercules. Guy Ritchie will direct.
Here are the first images from Disney+’s limited series spinoff called The Santa Clauses.
Disney parks are selling top-notch new Indiana Jones merchandise, including the Holy Grail. Probably not the real one. Also the fertility idol from Raiders, something I don’t remember from Temple of Doom, and yeah, the crystal skull.
Here’s Entertainment Weekly’s list of the 24 best horror movies of the ‘80s.
Check out this great collection of images of ‘90s malls and stores.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Lean on Me, with Morgan Freeman as Joe Clark, draconian principal reforming an anarchic high school, just hit Netflix for streaming. With endless quotable lines, a school song many people remember better than their own school songs, and memorable characters, it’s worth revisiting. Be fair warned, though: It will be next to impossible not to compare it to what’s happened in modern schools, from jarring safety measures to the actions of misguided bureaucrats.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
I Know by Dionne Farris — a joyful pop song from 1995 as Dionne Farris broke out from Arrested Development for her solo run. Super random bonus trivia fact: The video was directed by Zack Snyder as his career was just starting — long before he’d become a blockbuster director and/or make his own notable cuts of movies.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pies. The tagline from the commercial was “Fresh from the sewers to you” — and somehow that understates how unappetizing they look.
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-Sam
Wait you don’t remember the “Sankara Stones”? That’s what Indy went to the Temple for. The there were 5 stones and the village where they landed had theirs stolen. And the kidnapped kids where mining to find them all. Indy stole them and dropped all but one in the River while hanging from the bridge. And the one he returned to the village. 😎