ALIENATED
Short Film
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A mother is concerned about her teenage son's addiction to computer games.
Alienated
By
Elisabeth Dubois
Elisabeth Dubois
P.O Box 3114,
Batehaven, NSW.
Australia.
AWG REG.
INT. DOME SHAPE CUBICLE - DINING AREA
White glowing walls light a clinical looking cubicle.
A hovering glass table top reveals two pint size glasses
filled with a green liquid, straw hanging out.
MARCIA, 37, lanky and pale hands, wears a long light blue
free flowing cotton gown, with hood. Only seen from the
back, she sets a third glass on the table.
INT. LARGE DOME CUBICLE - HOLOGRAM RAIN FOREST SURROUNDS
PETER, 40 and lanky, wears a long free flowing light green
cotton gown. He slouches back relaxed on a hovering,
legless, cane woven recliner; only his pale hands, crossed
over the back of his hood, are visible.
He listens to classical music.
Marcia’s voice cuts into the music.
MARCIA (V.O.)
Dinner’s on the table Darling.
I’ll go and get Jonathan.
INT. INFINITE WHITE CORRIDOR
15x15 centimeter golden pads, spaced four metres apart,
continue endlessly down both side of the corridor.
Marcia, seen from the back, touches a pad.
MARCIA
Jonathan. Dinner’s on the table.
INT. UNLIT CUBICLE - HOLOGRAM COMPUTER
Marcia’s voice is clearly transposed into the cubicle.
JONATHAN, lanky, 14, wears a long light purple cotton gown.
Only seen from the back, he sits on a hovering pad.
He stares at a computer generated hologram that displays
game-play images; game sounds filter through an almost nonexistent
set of earphones, placed over his ears, over his
hood.
He types fast and furious on a hovering keyboard.
MARCIA (V.O.)
(transposed)
Jonathan!
The word DINNER appears in a hologram, between Jonathan and
his hologram game. Jonathan weaves his head to see past it.
JONATHAN
Aw mom! Cut it out. You’re making
me lose.
INT. INFINITE WHITE CORRIDOR
Peter stands next to Marcia; both seen from the back.
MARCIA
Arh! He makes my blood boil.
PETER
Let me try.
Peter places his hand on the pad.
INT. UNLIT CUBICLE
PETER (V.O.)
(transposed)
Come on son. It’s family time.
Jonathan plays on, oblivious.
INT. INFINITE WHITE CORRIDOR
MARCIA
He’s locked the cubicle again.
Only seen from the back, Peter and Marcia jointly place
their right hands on the pad.
COMPUTER GENERATED VOICE (V.O.)
Parental lock override.
The golden pad expends until it becomes the size of a door.
It gradually becomes transparent, revealing Jonathan’s
cubicle.
Standing side by side, they peer in.
MARCIA
(seen from the back)
Hmf! Look at him! Doesn’t even
realize we’re here. What’s wrong
with kids nowadays? There are so
many other interesting things
they could be doing.
Jonathan keeps gaming.
2.
PETER
(seen from the back)
Come on Marcia. He’s just your
everyday teenage boy. Gosh, even
in my great-grandfather’s days
teenagers played computer games.
FLASHBACK
SUB: 2007 - John - Peter’s great-grandfather.
INT. JOHN’S BEDROOM.
JOHN, 13, blue jeans and sweat-shirt, sits in front of a
flat screen monitor, wearing earphones, his pale hands
placed on a keyboard.
He plays World of Warcraft.
Filtered game-sounds (O.S.)
JULIE, 35, enters wiping her hands on a tea-towel.
MOM
John. Dinner’s ready.
John does not respond.
Julie walks over and lifts the earphones off his head. John
turns around frowning.
JOHN
Mom!
MOM
Don’t mom me young man. Dinner is
on the table.
JOHN
Just one more minute mom. I’m in
the middle of a raid.
MOM
Now John!
John, upset, types for an instant then stands.
END FLASHBACK
INT. INFINITE WHITE CORRIDOR
Marcia, seen from the back, places her hands on her hips,
irate.
3.
MARCIA
Do something, Peter.
Peter enters the cubicle and claps.
PETER
(seen from the back)
Come on Jonathan. It’s dinner
time.
The clap, gradually brightens the domed cubicle’s wall to a
brilliant white.
JONATHAN
(seen from the back)
Oh come on! Turn the lights off.
I’m in a middle of a raid.
The bright light dissipates the hologram.
Marcia, enters, irate.
MARCIA
(seen from the back)
Now young man!
Jonathan, annoyed, removes the headphones. He stands and
faces them.
His palish grey hands flicks the hood off his head
revealing a pale bald head and an elongated face with
chiselled chick bones.
A small slit replaces each ear and two, the nose. No
eyebrows are visible. His glossy black eyes - size and
shape of a hen’s egg - have no eye lids.
His mouth, almost non existent, disables speech.
Jonathan looks to Marcia. Annoyed, he frowns.
JONATHAN (V.O.)
(telepathically)
You made me lose mom!
As Marcia and Peter look to each other, their facial
features identical to Jonathan’s are revealed.
The only feature that sets them all apart is a unique
symbol tattooed on their forehead.
Marcia is outraged. She shakes her head and steps out into
the...
CORRIDOR
flinging her hands in the air.
4.
MARCIA (V.O.)
(telepathically)
Kids!
Jonathan crosses his arms in frustration and follows her
out, followed by Peter who places a loving hand on Marcia’s
shoulder, chuckling.
Marcia, annoyed, looks to him.
MARCIA (V.O.)
(telepathically)
What?... What’s so funny?
Peter looks to Jonathan then Marcia.
PETER (V.O.)
(telepathically)
And I thought we had evolved!
The end.
5.
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