Ready Player One – Spielberg, master of the game

 
 
Don’t worry, we are not going to talk about a game adapted from a film, but about a film based on a book about video games. If that isn’t a cultural cocktail, what is?
Cinemas are currently showing Ready Player One by Steven Spielberg, inspired by the book of the same name by Ernest Cline, published in 2011. Its action is set squarely in the world of video games. While the book is meant as a fiery declaration of love to 1980s pop culture, the film looks rather towards the 2000s, so as to appeal to a younger audience too. Wade Watts, the chubby hero, lives in 2047, in a world where overpopulation and an energy crisis have led people to flock to “the OASIS”, a virtual reality that lets them escape their dreary daily lives. Unlike The Matrix, where people are unaware they are in a simulation, here the connection is voluntary. We follow both Wade and his avatar PerZival, on a quest for the Grail: three keys hidden in the OASIS by its creator. Whoever manages to find them will become the undisputed master of the virtual universe.
Beyond the film’s very entertaining qualities, it is its multiple levels of meaning that interest us. The most obvious is, of course, a dizzying dive, at breakneck speed, into the world of video games, cinema, manga and geek culture. Almost too fast, in fact, since the film doesn’t really take the time to set the scene at the start, unlike the book – a pity. Then there is the director’s perspective. Spielberg clearly enjoyed himself, and one can easily imagine him as a kid behind his camera. The whole scene of the second riddle, which we won’t spoil here, is a perfect example (not least because it is totally different from the written version). The film thus takes many liberties and shortcuts compared with the original story, but offers a convincing variation. We have seen a few comments online describing a scathing, even reactionary, critique of video games. Let us move away from this very down-to-earth view. Without glossing over the work’s flaws, it should in fact be understood as an observation of our society. The story explores the REASON why all these players prefer to invest in the OASIS rather than in their “real” lives, in which no prospect of hope remains. The film’s tagline, repeated several times, “You came here to escape something, but you stayed because you found something” is in itself a powerful symbol of present-day gaming.
The message is then not to push players to quit their games, but to glimpse a complementarity, and above all to oppose a vision of their games diverted from their primary purpose: pleasure. The dynamics of the industry today are a perfect expression of a system in which passion very often gives way to profitability. Of course, this can be seen as a naive stance, but it is always the very nature of science fiction to exaggerate a utopian situation in order to make us reflect on the present condition. It is indeed hard to believe that Steven “Indiana Jones-Jurassic Park-E.T.-Transformers” Spielberg would position himself as a critic of this entertainment bubble.
It is interesting to draw a parallel with certain situations of excessive gaming today: players who struggle to feel valued in their daily lives tend to over-invest in the game, where the reward is immediate, but above all visible and identifiable. Let us ask ourselves: why are we so sensitive to this question of recognition? What does this phenomenon say about how we function today? While Ready Player One provides no answers, it does allow us to approach the subject in a way that is admittedly carefree, but optimistic. And sometimes a little “happy ending” does you good! And… the film is exhilarating, for pixel’s sake!
 
 

Wade Watts, alias “PaerZival”, with a “Z” as in the generation through which new values might emerge. When fiction inspires reality?

The film (like the book) is packed with references and cult characters. You almost want to hit “pause” so as not to miss any.

Niels Weber is a psychologist-psychotherapist (FSP) specialising in hyperconnectivity
niels.weber@semperludo.com
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