Mydriasis is a speculative fiction serial TV series exploring the emerging role of drugs in the tech culture of Silicon Prairie in Omaha, NE. This project was developed for the Story Lab II class at the Center for Emerging Media Arts in Lincoln, NE 2020. The series follows Jacinda Olivella the kingpin of the Platte (Plata) Cartel and her associate, Player Anderton as they expand their empire throughout the Midwest. I hope to use the large appeal of the drug crime drama to shed light on the larger issues of drugs in society. So often, we see depictions of romanticized criminals narrowly avoiding capture by heroic law enforcement agents. I would like to flip this narrative and reveal the corruption and prejudice of power. Jacinda is the hero, albeit a complicated one; her motivation as a crime lord comes from her deep desire to protect her people and allow them access to medical and educational resources typically unavailable to lower class citizens. I want this speculative fiction to demonstrate that drugs are not evil, people are, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This series is a continuation of my exploration of Nebraska and the greater Midwest Silicon Prairie as an emerging hub of culture and technology in the United States. This work is a direct extension of my research from Story Lab 1 as an iteration on the Nebraska 2050 speculative future. This work also comes out of my research for Silicon Prairie, an interactive AR installation developed for the Lincoln Arts Festival in 2019 exploring the interconnected nature of the mixed grass prairie found in the Great Plains and the parallels between internet systems. My Nebraska based works seek to explore the ways in which we can create greater harmony between the real and virtual worlds and retain an awareness of spatial history and presence.
For the Mydriasis project I was particularly interested in exploring the way drug culture shapes society and in particular, the recent resurgence in pharmacotherapy and nootropics amongst tech entrepreneurs seeking to “to find an edge over their competitor.” According to Dr. Vinh Ngo-a hormone therapy specialist in San Francisco-“There is that culture here [in Silicon Valley] that relies on being smarter than your own self.” My research question is what if this mind enhancing drug culture in Silicon Valley became more prevalent in the Silicon Prairie of the Midwest? I am also exploring the effects of the de facto decriminalization of drugs and the effect that has on individual addicts and addiction rates. Omaha, NE today has some of the nation’s highest per capita rates of marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine use. By setting Mydriasis in Omaha, I can explore the way different socioeconomic and racial groups are affected by drugs and the perceptions we have of those groups. Silicon Valley investor Tim Ferriss said that "The billionaires I know, almost without exception, use hallucinogens on a regular basis." Even Steve Jobs took psychedelics. However, a musician of color such as Juice Wrld can be stigmatized because of their own drug use despite being a “an exceptional human being and artist.”
A lot of the inspiration for this work comes from the Netflix Original Series Narcos: Mexico, a historical fiction exploring the incubation of the Cartel wars in Mexico. I also drew inspiration from other drug crime dramas such as Ozark, Breaking Bad, and The Wire. My time-based media asset for the final was modeled after the title sequence of BoJack Horseman which follows the titular character through his day from a single perspective facing him. I found it interesting the way in which this style of approach evoked a feeling of static where-even though the world around BoJack is changing-the character seems stuck in his ways.