Ready Player One is for nostalgia fans
Book adapation filled with modern references, met with praise
April 19, 2018
Is it better to live in a virtual world or the real world when everything around you is depressing and terrible?
This is the primary question that Ready Player One seeks to answer. This sci-fi film directed by Steven Spielberg is set in the year 2045 in a place where most people live in “Stacks” of piled-up trailer homes. To escape their dreary existences, people strap on headsets and spend their days living in virtual reality.
The book and movie share the base story and setting —a type of dystopian future setting where the world looks barren and dead since everyone only cares about their VR world.
Characters in the story are obsessed with winning a challenge in the VR world called “The Oasis.” The winner of this challenge is promised to win half a trillion dollars and total control of the Oasis, which if looked at in the big picture of this world means power over the real world as well.
The protagonist Wade Watts wants to win this challenge so he can escape his impoverished living conditions in “the stacks” where he lives with his aunt Alice. Along the way, Watts has to wrestle with questions about the dangers of living primarily in a virtual world.
Countering the bleak plot of the movie are all of the not-so subtle throwback references to American pop culture, especially 80’s movies and video games. Pop culture aficionados can spend hours searching for the hidden references to things like the Iron Giant, the DeLorean and Ultraman throughout the film.
I was slightly disappointed the movie strayed far from the book, but it still managed to be amazing. I would recommend the movie to people who are really into gaming and sci-fi movies, or people whose parents or someone older who also loved those older movies.
The movie does a good job of tackling the danger of people getting sucked into VR, making them almost forget the real world and not care about it. The idea of technology having devastating effects on human lives is a common theme in sci-fi films.
It makes Ready Player One interesting and relevant today to explore what people would do if they forget the real world and turn to VR with no worries of real pain, and become anything or any species or gender.
Because general audiences might be mostly attracted to the movie’s nostalgia aspects, Ready Player One, might be most appreciated by those who know about pop culture and play video games.
Otherwise, you may find yourself confused as to why some people in the movie do a mini cheer or get excited when they see something. But besides that I can say the movie was enjoyable and I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars.
