In recent years, videogame culture is finding more and more space in cinema films, attracting a certain interest from fans of both media. Just yesterday it finally debuted in all theaters Ready Player One, a film directed by Steven Spielberg, which will not fail to make us reflect on some issues that are raised during the two exciting hours that we will spend in the company of Parzival and Art3mis.
But let's proceed in order: the latest effort by the American director is taken from the novel of the same name, written by Ernest Cline and published in the now distant 2010. The original author also took part in the screenplay of the film adaptation, thus guaranteeing the creation of a work that came close to one's will, although various elements of the narrative plot were subsequently modified.
What is the plot of Ready Player One? And what does it want to convey to its viewers? In short, we are catapulted into a dystopian future, more precisely in 2045, a historical period in which problems such as pollution and overpopulation have reached catastrophic levels, forcing people to lock themselves up at home, and more precisely in the virtual world of Oasis, an online video game developed by the legendary James Halliday, who following his death has inserted three easter eggs inside his creature, which if identified will allow the player to take possession of the intellectual property. Obviously, it is open war between the players, but also with the multinational IOI, which has hired numerous teams in order to take possession of Oasis, now considered the second home of humanity and an immense source of wealth.
People come to OASIS for all they can do, but they stay there for all they can be.
The idea we have from the very first bars of the film is therefore that in this digital world it is possible shape reality to your liking, and that everyone can show the rest of the community only what they prefer. It is enough to have a good amount of credits to be able to buy that hairstyle we want so much, or that outfit that makes us so fascinating. After all, gamers accustomed to MMOs will find some familiarity with these elements, but undoubtedly the focal point of the film is not to represent the aforementioned videogame genre on screen.
What is amazing is the impact that Oasis has had on the real world, making it take over it: we see people losing their lives and getting into debt up to their necks just to get by in this game, they risk their skin by using their real name within the virtual world, and they prefer to hide behind a nickname that reveals little or nothing of the identity. You realize how much the boundaries between the real and the imaginary can become incredibly blurred and dangerous in certain situations; questions are asked of great importance on how much technological progress is strongly influencing our lives, and if we need to review something of the lifestyles to which we have become accustomed.
After all, it is necessary to analyze the context in which Oasis is published, where the economic difficulties are added to the ecological and demographic ones, which together have made the world more and more unlivable, leading people to find a safe shelter in the creation of Halliday, where it is still possible to be what in real life one can no longer hope to achieve. Wade, the protagonist of the story, will be among the participants who intend to clarify the legacy of the father of Oasis, and in doing this he will meet people of all kinds, without ever actually knowing their features: behind a man a woman can hide, and behind a attractive avatar an overweight person. Emblematic in this sense is the case of Art3mis, of which our protagonist will fall in love from the very first moments, although he cannot even say with absolute certainty that he has a woman in front of him and that - to quote the friend - behind that skin so fascinating could be hidden who knows who.
What will be created between the High Five will highlight how a true relationship is able to overcome any barrier, and to create bonds independent of gender, age or ethnicity: la real strength of Oasis, as well as in online gaming, lies precisely in this incredible possibility of coming into contact first of all with the character of our interlocutors. For my part, in recent years I have met numerous people through the web who have remained by my side until today, although I have physically met them only a long time later, while asking me several times what could change by interfacing with them looking them straight in the eye.
The message of Ready Player One it is exactly that: we love what we have accomplished with the immense technological advances made, but we never forget what it means to live outside our augmented reality viewer. We get the best from what the web is now able to offer us, such as a real virtual family ready to support us in situations as real as they are fictitious. Precisely on the occasion of the first meeting between Wade and Samantha, the latter will say that we have forgotten what it means to be outdoors feeling the air that caresses our face, and this sentence in particular can only represent a summa of the entire film.
Cline's work therefore invites us to reject escapism, although at the same time it leads us to the aforementioned condition by presenting us with a universe full of potential; Halliday's entire hunt is a suggestion to that effect. Moreover, he first of all will prove strongly nostalgic towards his childhood spent in the room playing with an old Atari, and will remind our protagonist that although it can be cruel and difficult, reality remains the only place where you eat a decent meal. . The High Five draw an important lesson from the events that have overwhelmed them, leading Wade to make the controversial decision to shut down the Oasis servers two days a week, so that we can devote ourselves with greater spirit to everything around us, as well as to the people we care about.
Between the lines, clearly, there is no message urging you to stop gambling at all, but rather the one according to which it would be necessary to create the right balance between the various aspects present in our lives. Is it human nature to avoid facing problems and postponing their solution, but shouldn't we roll up our sleeves and face the actual reality of things? Wouldn't the issues weighing on humanity deserve greater attention? Pollution and overpopulation are two of the plagues that have been afflicting the Earth for about a century now, and which certainly will not be resolved without concrete action on our part. So let's roll up our hands, let's not allow the complications our planet is facing to take over us, and let's not hide hoping that things will resolve themselves, because unfortunately this will hardly happen. Ready Player One it is a work that can offer an incredible and astonishing variety of reading, and a source of important teachings from which we should undoubtedly take advantage.
It is a film production that will undoubtedly be appreciated more by fans of the videogame sector, and even more by MMOs thanks to the various citations present, but which, due to the themes that are addressed, will appeal to anyone.
