I Watched 'Ready Player One' The Other Night

Firstly, if you haven’t watched 'Ready Player One' and you plan to watch it, it might be a good idea to read this article at a later date. The reason for this is that I don’t want to give any of the film away or to influence how you perceive it.

I had heard about this film a number of years ago and I even saw a few posters for it when I was in Stockholm, Sweden. So, when a friend asked me if I would like to go and see it, I was happy to take him up on the offer.

The Opening Scene

At the beginning of the film, the main character talks about how, in the future, people no longer try to solve problems; they just try to outlive them. But while just about everywhere looks a mess, this doesn’t mean that these people don’t have anything good to look at.

Firstly, there are people at the top who live differently and secondly, the people at the bottom can escape from reality into virtual reality. This is an option that is, of course, available to the people at the top.

Nothing New

Clearly, there are plenty of ways for someone to escape as it is; virtual reality is not needed. In addition to this, I also thought that there are plenty of people who don’t have the desire to solve their problems, preferring to tolerate them instead.

There is no doubt that if more people had this approach, the world would no longer function in the same way. Just like in the film, the planet would begin to look like a junk yard, and it could be said that this would show that the majority of people on the planet feel completely helpless.

His Family

Shortly after this, the main actor talks about how he lives with his aunt. I think his father died when he was really young and his mother is not around, but I can’t remember why this was.

Yet, even if he didn’t say anything about his father, it doesn’t seem as though he has had a strong masculine figure in his life. He comes across as someone who has been neglected.

A Key Role

For one thing, it is as though he is a bit of a loser in life; he is not someone who knows how to assert himself and he appears to lack direction. When he is in the virtual world, he is more capable, but he still lacks backbone.

However, if his father wasn’t around during his early years to give him the guidance he desperately needed, it is to be expected that he will be more feminine than masculine. At the same time, his early experiences could have caused him to go the other extreme and to disconnect from his feminine aspect.

More Evidence

His lack of development stands out whenever he meets the woman that he likes in the virtual world. When he is around her, he is unable to experience self-control and has the need to please her.

So, instead of acting as though he is the centre of his own world and maintaining his centre, he acts as though the woman is the centre of his world. He is then used to giving his power away.
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Maturation

The challenges that he faces in the virtual world as well as the real world, have a positive effect on him. One thing that shakes him up is when the woman he is attracted to (loves) tells him that what is going on in the virtual world is not a game and goes into what she has been through.

He soon realises how important the game is and gradually develops into a leader. I thought that maybe the reason why he was so fascinated by the creator of virtual reality game was due the fact that he grew up without a father; he was then looking fill the hole that his father  left within him.

The Ending

Once he has received the final key, he ends up meeting the creator of the virtual reality game and finds out that he is not part of the program. It is then as though the creator of the software is also still alive and is, therefore, also plugged in somewhere.

He had a small child with him, too, and I thought this child could have been the main actor when he was younger. This would then mean that the creator of the software was the main actor’s father.

An Entertaining Film

Another part of me thought that this couldn’t be the case, as the main actor would have experienced a strong reaction when he saw the small child. I saw the film in 2D, but I think it would have been far better in 3D.

If was to rate this film, I would give it a seven out of ten. The story is pretty good and the special effects are really impressive. 

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Oliver JR Cooper
http://www.oliverjrcooper.co.uk