Center Jenny

The various Jenny's belong to a caste system in which iterations of the same, basic, archetypal girl differentiate themselves from one another based on how powerfully they have evolved. The notion of being "basic," in fact, is a flattering condemnation the girls hurl back and forth at one another. There is a quantitative basis for self-actualization here, and, as if in a video game or any other kind of entertainment simulation, a level-based logic propels the Jennys as they graduate from nothing—"I don't have a name yet, we're not even on a level"— to level one, to level two, and beyond. This guides the plot as well, which shifts abruptly from one vignette to the next in an arc that escalates without concern for scenes that have been surpassed by evolved ones. The group dynamic recalls previous works like K-Corea.Inc.K, in which a mass of characters in tan business attire arbitrarily compose a sort of model UN of delegates from around the world—USA Korea, Brazil Korea, Canada Korea, etc. However in CENTER JENNY, instead of a superficial heterogeneity spread across the group as a global microcosm, everyone is striving to be as similar as possible. Rather, everyone is mimicking an ideal, and the result among the successful ones is sameness. This ideal has a name, "the source," and one group of Jennys regard its influence as a kind of Icarus drive, ominously cautioning one girl that is she continues in her ways she "might end up in touch with the source." As the title of the movie might imply, proximity to center is an absolute measure of potency. The possibility of being close enough to touch "the source," runs the risk of being consumed by the powers that that shape the world they live in. But any remove from the center connotes vulnerability. Gatekeeper Jennys brand underlings "left of center"—a designation that others wear proudly, seemingly for alternative positions along this otherwise oppressive, concentric continuum. One girl, then another, declares herself Sarah Source— a direct descendent of the humanity all the other vessels idolize. Whether either is truly Sarah Source is as unclear as whether any of the people in the movie are people at all, or if they are post-human simulations emulating constructions of personality and community mythologized as a source code for social behavior.