Inner Space in Wheatley’s Adaptation (2015) of Ballard’s High-Rise (1975)

Abstract

This paper discusses the effects of Wheatley’s transmedial and transtemporal adaptation of Ballard’s High-Rise on the writer’s notion of inner space. According to Ballard, inner space is an imaginative realm where various dialectics meet and merge. Most relevant to High-Rise is the dialectical set of inner and outer landscapes. The first section concludes that Wheatley to a certain extent ignores the importance of Augé’s concept of non-place and Foucault’s heterotopia in the story, which are both key elements in the experimental realm Ballard creates in the novel. Wheatley also offers a limited representation of inner space as an imagination of the future, but this is mostly related to the complications of the transtemporal dimension of his adaptation. An analysis of the interaction between the outer and inner landscapes points out that Wheatley pictures interpersonal motivations as alternatives for the complex influence of the building on its tenants. However, certain medium specific qualities and alternative plot elements that are used in the film draw attention to the de-civilizing power of the tower in an alternative way. Ultimately, this research argues that the film deviates from the novel’s notion of inner space, and only presents what Luckhurst calls a limited view on this Ballardian concept.