Ready Player One review

[alobear]

On Friday, we went to see Ready Player One, and I’ve been struggling with this review ever since. I remember enjoying the book when I read it, but not much more, so I dug out my review from May 2012:

“I listened to the audio version of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline this week - read by Wil Wheaton, which is always fun.

I had an interesting, conflicted reaction to it. Objectively, I thought it was very adolescent, incredibly unsubtle wish fulfilment, and very contrived (piling four minorities onto one character to satisfy the diversity aspect - really??). However, having said that, I spent the entire week listening to the book in every free moment (instead of actually reading on the train, for example), so I obviously enjoyed the story and really wanted to find out what happened next.

It was over the top, but fun.”

And conflicted is also very much how I feel about the film, but more because of the wider world response to it, than because of my own. So, before getting into anyone else’s responses to it, here is what I thought while watching the film, and immediately afterwards:

The use of voiceover was heavy handed, repetitive and unnecessary - I would have preferred being immersed in the world and figuring it out on my own, rather than having it explained to me. A lot of what happened in the ‘real world’ didn’t seem very well thought out. For example, how likely is it that all of Wade’s Oasis friends would actually be in the same city? How do the practicalities of virtual reality work - it suggested that physical movement in the real world was translated to avatar movement in the Oasis, but that doesn’t fully track with the wire rigs and multi-directional treadmills they use. Plus, people fighting in the battle at the end are shown running down the street in the real world - how were they not bumping into things and running into traffic?

That said, though, overall I found the film pretty fun, and it certainly didn’t feel two-and-a-half hours long. It was visually stunning, I liked all of Wade’s friends (even if I didn’t find him very appealing in and of himself). I liked that the quest became very much a team effort, with all of them contributing, rather than Wade just doing everything himself. I also liked Art3mis' response to Wade’s declaration of love.

I wasn’t so keen on their real world interactions, though. I didn’t think the film followed through very well on its idea that people should be judged on personality rather than appearance, since the real world Samantha was still really pretty, so Wade’s dismissal of her very faint birth mark rang a bit false.

The good thing about their relationship, though, was that it allowed for important growth of protagonist - he started out with a very self centred view and learned to think more about the bigger picture from interacting with diverse people and acknowledging the importance of social reform.

To me, the film was an enjoyable romp, which made some efforts towards tackling issues of equal opportunities, the threat of corporations, the dangers of escapism, and not making assumptions about people based on incomplete information.

I am well aware, however, that this view is not universal. And I have been struggling with the conflict between my immediate emotional engagement with the film itself, and my intellectual awareness of the issues surrounding its cultural significance, as well as the criticism that has been laid at its door.

The day after seeing the film, I listened to the episode of Feminist Frequency radio, where they discussed it, and their unmitigated hatred of the film and everything it represents really gave me pause. I did think some of the issues they raised were valid (even if they weren’t evident to me while I was actually watching the film), but I certainly didn’t agree with everything they said.

For instance, I disagree that it was completely hollow - I was engaged by the characters and saw some important themes emerging.

Yes, Art3mis was a much more interesting character than Wade, and had a much more admirable opening ethical stance - but part of the point was that Wade learned from her to change his attitudes and pay more attention to the bigger picture. If Art3mis had been the protagonist, she wouldn’t have grown or changed over the course of the story and it would have therefore been weaker.

I do agree that the part about him 'overcoming societal standards of beauty to still find her attractive' was ridiculous, as mentioned above.

It’s also a fair criticism that it's a very narrow viewpoint. Nearly all the media referenced is very white male dominated. In its defence, it's an accurate depiction of the media that the author of the book and the character of Halliday would have consumed in the 1980s - but it presents this as the only body of work that is important or relevant to the whole world in the Oasis. It talks about the Oasis only being limited by your imagination, but it's actually limited by the media Halliday felt was important.

There’s also a whole debate going on about the connection or lack thereof between the attitudes presented in the film (obsessive pop culture knowledge being more important than appreciation and criticism of that pop culture) and Gamergate (which happened after the book came out, but before the film was made). On the spectrum between “it’s just harmless fun” and “it’s a dangerous reinforcement of appalling cultural norms”, I think I fall somewhere in the middle.

I did enjoy the film, but I also think it’s important to be aware of its wider significance, and how it can make people feel excluded, marginalised or outright dismissed as unimportant. I’ve seen good (and less good) arguments on both sides, but I think the more extreme ones (on both sides) don’t allow for any middle ground in which people can discuss their views rationally, and therefore don’t leave any room to move forwards. If all we can do is declare that everything is either good or bad about something, and that anyone who disagrees must be utterly wrong, there will never be any progress towards understanding or inclusion.