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March 16, 2018 8:25 AM Subscribe
Jenny Nicholson presents: Ready Player One for Girls
The movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, has finally premiered at SXSW to mixed-to-fairly positive reviews.
Nitpick Away, It's Still A Hit
Why the internet is so ready to hate ‘Ready Player One’:
The novel was published in 2011, just on the cusp of the reboot revolution. J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek had already come out, with The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Man of Steel and numerous others on the way. They fed into the culture wars brewing online, where certain (primarily white and male) fans would erupt in fury when any reboot dared to stray from the source material. The ones that inspired the greatest anger were those that welcomed a more diverse audience: Ghostbusters and The Last Jedi.
Tellingly, two movies this audience celebrated for their “originality” were Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy. Both felt fresh compared to, say, Ant-Man, but they also relied heavily on pop culture references. Both star 30-something white guys with a middle school sense of humor, and Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn’t stay upright without its soundtrack of 1980s pop. They press the same button to give us the dopamine kick of comfortable familiarity.
[Previously]
The movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, has finally premiered at SXSW to mixed-to-fairly positive reviews.
Nitpick Away, It's Still A Hit
Why the internet is so ready to hate ‘Ready Player One’:
The novel was published in 2011, just on the cusp of the reboot revolution. J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek had already come out, with The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Man of Steel and numerous others on the way. They fed into the culture wars brewing online, where certain (primarily white and male) fans would erupt in fury when any reboot dared to stray from the source material. The ones that inspired the greatest anger were those that welcomed a more diverse audience: Ghostbusters and The Last Jedi.
Tellingly, two movies this audience celebrated for their “originality” were Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy. Both felt fresh compared to, say, Ant-Man, but they also relied heavily on pop culture references. Both star 30-something white guys with a middle school sense of humor, and Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn’t stay upright without its soundtrack of 1980s pop. They press the same button to give us the dopamine kick of comfortable familiarity.
[Previously]
Why the internet is so ready to hate ‘Ready Player One’
...because it's a terrible book written by a tedious person?
that's why i'm ready
i've been ready to hate it all my life, all of my training has anticipated this moment
posted by halation at 8:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [132 favorites]
...because it's a terrible book written by a tedious person?
that's why i'm ready
i've been ready to hate it all my life, all of my training has anticipated this moment
posted by halation at 8:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [132 favorites]
The first commenter takes the bait so hard. So many men say women aren't funny because they just refuse to believe a woman could possibly be joking.
I kind of want the movie to be good, which is possible; The Godfather and Jaws were terrible books. But it's looking like what the movie does is just to take away the fanboy prose, leave everything else, and add in some new properties. That's an improvement, but not enough. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch in a giant pitched battle is something I would have loved to see at age twelve, in 1991, which it is not and I am not.
The damnedest thing is, I like nostalgia. I love old video games and movies. I would also like to not be insulted. Stranger Things scratches that itch by combining pandering with actual compelling storylines and relationships. It can be done.
(While we're here, don't miss Demi Adejuyigbe's rejected theme song demo for the movie)
posted by Countess Elena at 8:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [27 favorites]
I kind of want the movie to be good, which is possible; The Godfather and Jaws were terrible books. But it's looking like what the movie does is just to take away the fanboy prose, leave everything else, and add in some new properties. That's an improvement, but not enough. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch in a giant pitched battle is something I would have loved to see at age twelve, in 1991, which it is not and I am not.
The damnedest thing is, I like nostalgia. I love old video games and movies. I would also like to not be insulted. Stranger Things scratches that itch by combining pandering with actual compelling storylines and relationships. It can be done.
(While we're here, don't miss Demi Adejuyigbe's rejected theme song demo for the movie)
posted by Countess Elena at 8:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [27 favorites]
Tellingly, two movies this audience celebrated for their “originality” were Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Oh come on. Deadpool works because it's comedy. He, himself, is the joke. His reliance on pop references isn't cool, it's pathetic and balances comically with his deadly, efficient assassin role.
Also, his entire shtick has been that he breaks the fourth wall. Without references to "real life," he's not Deadpool.
Guardians of the Galaxy had a sweet retro soundtrack, but there was also a plot point for that. Peter Quill also was, again, not cool because of his tie to that retro stuff. He was mocked, he was pathetic for a lot of the movie, his Walkman was a personal attachment, not a fashion accessory.
It is fine to like low-culture things. It is fine to like pop-culture things. It is fine to be human and have attachments. Ready Player One takes this too far and tries to make virtue of media consumption.
If it were pandering to anyone, it's pandering to me, but it just reaches so far that it misses entirely.
posted by explosion at 8:45 AM on March 16, 2018 [30 favorites]
Oh come on. Deadpool works because it's comedy. He, himself, is the joke. His reliance on pop references isn't cool, it's pathetic and balances comically with his deadly, efficient assassin role.
Also, his entire shtick has been that he breaks the fourth wall. Without references to "real life," he's not Deadpool.
Guardians of the Galaxy had a sweet retro soundtrack, but there was also a plot point for that. Peter Quill also was, again, not cool because of his tie to that retro stuff. He was mocked, he was pathetic for a lot of the movie, his Walkman was a personal attachment, not a fashion accessory.
It is fine to like low-culture things. It is fine to like pop-culture things. It is fine to be human and have attachments. Ready Player One takes this too far and tries to make virtue of media consumption.
If it were pandering to anyone, it's pandering to me, but it just reaches so far that it misses entirely.
posted by explosion at 8:45 AM on March 16, 2018 [30 favorites]
I was going to say the same thing about Deadpool. The only pop culture Deadpool really references is Deadpool.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:47 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:47 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
It does sound like from the reviews I've read, that they made substantial alterations from the book. Which makes sense because watching some dude inside a computer-generated reality playing an 80'a arcade cabinet or re-enacting the movie Wargames or Rush's 2112 isn't particularly cinematic. And because of course all the weird intellectual property that's spread all over the book and the fact that the world Cline built in the novel really doesn't make much sense.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:52 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:52 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Guardians of the Galaxy wouldn’t stay upright without its soundtrack of 1980s pop.
This is just a super subtle troll, right?
posted by madajb at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [15 favorites]
This is just a super subtle troll, right?
posted by madajb at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [15 favorites]
Ready Player One is a light, fun treasure hunt. Like The DaVinci Code, only with 80s references instead of church stuff.
If you read it as a light book, it's pretty fun. If you think about what you're reading, you quickly get weighed down with the ridiculous awe and wonder every single thing from the 80s is given.
posted by graventy at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [14 favorites]
If you read it as a light book, it's pretty fun. If you think about what you're reading, you quickly get weighed down with the ridiculous awe and wonder every single thing from the 80s is given.
posted by graventy at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [14 favorites]
I'm really tired of all the Ready Player One hate.
I read the book. I enjoyed the book. The book was fun. That's all it was. I'm a child of the 1980s and I read a book in 2016 where Dungeons of Daggorath, an obscure game for an obscure 1980s home computer that I played and loved, was a major plot point. This was fun to me. The book was not great literature. It was The da Vinci Code for insufferable 1980s nerds. But it was fun and I enjoyed it.
I have reservations about the movie but, unless it's universally hated on opening weekend, I will probably see it. I hope the movie is fun. That's all I ask for in a silly special effects movie.
I think what's bugging me about the hate is that people seem just a little too proud of the fact that they hate it. People say it's nothing but pandering to 80s kids, which, sure, whatever, yet most of the people who are hating on it pop a boner every time [obscure super hero from that one issue of that one comic] pops on on the screen of whatever comic book movie was released this week.
Give it a rest. Maybe the movie will be shitty. Maybe it will be fun. Maybe the book wasn't great. The book was fun.
Let people like fun things. Sheesh.
posted by bondcliff at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [44 favorites]
I read the book. I enjoyed the book. The book was fun. That's all it was. I'm a child of the 1980s and I read a book in 2016 where Dungeons of Daggorath, an obscure game for an obscure 1980s home computer that I played and loved, was a major plot point. This was fun to me. The book was not great literature. It was The da Vinci Code for insufferable 1980s nerds. But it was fun and I enjoyed it.
I have reservations about the movie but, unless it's universally hated on opening weekend, I will probably see it. I hope the movie is fun. That's all I ask for in a silly special effects movie.
I think what's bugging me about the hate is that people seem just a little too proud of the fact that they hate it. People say it's nothing but pandering to 80s kids, which, sure, whatever, yet most of the people who are hating on it pop a boner every time [obscure super hero from that one issue of that one comic] pops on on the screen of whatever comic book movie was released this week.
Give it a rest. Maybe the movie will be shitty. Maybe it will be fun. Maybe the book wasn't great. The book was fun.
Let people like fun things. Sheesh.
posted by bondcliff at 8:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [44 favorites]
i have to admit, i held off watching Deadpool for a very long time because all the promos and trailers only elicited a "heh" from me. who knew, the zenith of that compulsion, unmoored from actual storytelling, would be this, and yet, it's got the honour of Spielberg directing it.
posted by cendawanita at 8:55 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by cendawanita at 8:55 AM on March 16, 2018
My best friend and I have agreed to never speak of RPO ever again, mostly because I texted him about two chapters in and said, "WHY IN THE HELL DID YOU GIVE ME THIS SHIT BOOK???" If we speak of it, we fight, and that's not good.
The premise seemed to be exactly my jam. 80s? Check. Sci-fi? Check. But then Cline just bashed us all over the head with the explanations of the references. Like, seriously, if someone doesn't understand the reference, there's this thing? Called the internet? That has all kinds of useful information? DO NOT EXPLAIN ANYTHING ELSE TO ME FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
And then there was the 'white guy saves us all' aspect that I'm just SO tired of.
Omg it just occurred to me that Cline was okay with all the explaining because he's never been explained to because he's a man.
posted by cooker girl at 8:55 AM on March 16, 2018 [43 favorites]
The premise seemed to be exactly my jam. 80s? Check. Sci-fi? Check. But then Cline just bashed us all over the head with the explanations of the references. Like, seriously, if someone doesn't understand the reference, there's this thing? Called the internet? That has all kinds of useful information? DO NOT EXPLAIN ANYTHING ELSE TO ME FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
And then there was the 'white guy saves us all' aspect that I'm just SO tired of.
Omg it just occurred to me that Cline was okay with all the explaining because he's never been explained to because he's a man.
posted by cooker girl at 8:55 AM on March 16, 2018 [43 favorites]
(and i'm right in the middle of that demographic, one gender removed)
posted by cendawanita at 8:55 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 8:55 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I had ignored the book and was ready to ignore this movie because both seemed to me, as TFA implies, to be larded with references to dork-swipple[1] in unearned lieu of actually telling a good story with emotional beats.
But inspired by this article I looked into the movie and found this screenshot and now I am just filled with rage. Now I want the movie to fail.
1. I am a dork. I indeed like some of the things referenced. That's not enough to get me to spend time on a piece of media.
posted by gauche at 8:58 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
But inspired by this article I looked into the movie and found this screenshot and now I am just filled with rage. Now I want the movie to fail.
1. I am a dork. I indeed like some of the things referenced. That's not enough to get me to spend time on a piece of media.
posted by gauche at 8:58 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I think what's bugging me about the hate is that people seem just a little too proud of the fact that they hate it.
I don't dislike the premise of 80's references. I am opposed to the premise of "guy beats the game and gets the girl." We should do better.
posted by turkeybrain at 8:58 AM on March 16, 2018 [33 favorites]
I don't dislike the premise of 80's references. I am opposed to the premise of "guy beats the game and gets the girl." We should do better.
posted by turkeybrain at 8:58 AM on March 16, 2018 [33 favorites]
This Jenny Nicholson... how did she get the power to peer into my soul as I slogged through 1/3 of Ready Player One?
She does make an interesting point. My friends (a hetero couple) and my husband talked about this book just this weekend and both the guys (white guys in their 30s) loved and enjoyed it and both the wife and I (she's white, I'm asian, in our 30s) couldn't finish it.
We both found it extremely tedious and "Reading a list of things I know" is bang on as a description. I just couldn't get into the plot or action with the endless barrage of wink wink (but actually more like smash in your face) pop culture throwbacks.
If I found the cultural nods relevant to my experiences growing up the way our husbands did then maybe I would have enjoyed it? But hearing Jenny's version makes me think maybe not...
posted by like_neon at 8:59 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
She does make an interesting point. My friends (a hetero couple) and my husband talked about this book just this weekend and both the guys (white guys in their 30s) loved and enjoyed it and both the wife and I (she's white, I'm asian, in our 30s) couldn't finish it.
We both found it extremely tedious and "Reading a list of things I know" is bang on as a description. I just couldn't get into the plot or action with the endless barrage of wink wink (but actually more like smash in your face) pop culture throwbacks.
If I found the cultural nods relevant to my experiences growing up the way our husbands did then maybe I would have enjoyed it? But hearing Jenny's version makes me think maybe not...
posted by like_neon at 8:59 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
I watched a documentary about ET for the Atari. They filmed this huge event where people were digging up the landfill where Atari had buried hundreds of copies of the game. During the event, Ernest Cline pulled up in a Delorean full of plush ET dolls and other 80's toys of his favorite pop culture brands, and any possibility that I could ever take him seriously as an adult was extinguished forever.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 8:59 AM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 8:59 AM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
I'm really tired of all the Ready Player One hate.
People I know aren't hating it because of references and nostalgia they're hating it because of the books misogyny.
(and because of the author's issues with women- someone linked a poem of his on another thread and WHOA. Guy has some issues with women)
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:59 AM on March 16, 2018 [64 favorites]
People I know aren't hating it because of references and nostalgia they're hating it because of the books misogyny.
(and because of the author's issues with women- someone linked a poem of his on another thread and WHOA. Guy has some issues with women)
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 8:59 AM on March 16, 2018 [64 favorites]
turkeybrain beat me to it!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:00 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:00 AM on March 16, 2018
But inspired by this article I looked into the movie and found this screenshot and now I am just filled with rage.
SAME! I saw that in the trailer and I was like "Ohhhh hellls no you did not just bring Iron Giant into this! HOW VERY DARE YOU!"
posted by like_neon at 9:01 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
SAME! I saw that in the trailer and I was like "Ohhhh hellls no you did not just bring Iron Giant into this! HOW VERY DARE YOU!"
posted by like_neon at 9:01 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
I am opposed to the premise of "guy beats the game and gets the girl." We should do better.
I'm not arguing that, but then that's a reason to hate, like, 80% of movies. It's not really unique to RPO.
posted by bondcliff at 9:01 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
I'm not arguing that, but then that's a reason to hate, like, 80% of movies. It's not really unique to RPO.
posted by bondcliff at 9:01 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
I freely admit to hating on it for the references and nostalgia. I found that it was done so relentlessly and bluntly that it impeded my ability to engage with the story or characters. I can't say much about the misogyny because I didn't even get that far into the book.
posted by like_neon at 9:05 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by like_neon at 9:05 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Guys, it's possible to really like something but also be willing to admit that it's tedious dogshit.
- signed, a Tool fan
posted by saladin at 9:06 AM on March 16, 2018 [85 favorites]
- signed, a Tool fan
posted by saladin at 9:06 AM on March 16, 2018 [85 favorites]
I'm not arguing that, but then that's a reason to hate, like, 80% of movies. It's not really unique to RPO.
And guess what? I don't watch 80% of movies largely for this reason. Look. Femme of center folks have to endure a ton of misogyny on a daily basis, and when reading a book or watching a movie it's nice if it isn't a shitty reflection of shitty life. So yeah it might not seem like much to you, but I am not here for movies where the girls affection is largely gained by being good at something irrelevant- I'm not here for movies where there is one women who does nothing a sexy lamp couldn't do. I'm not here for movies that shit all over their once competent female leads in order to male a male doofus look good.
I have better media to consume.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:08 AM on March 16, 2018 [75 favorites]
And guess what? I don't watch 80% of movies largely for this reason. Look. Femme of center folks have to endure a ton of misogyny on a daily basis, and when reading a book or watching a movie it's nice if it isn't a shitty reflection of shitty life. So yeah it might not seem like much to you, but I am not here for movies where the girls affection is largely gained by being good at something irrelevant- I'm not here for movies where there is one women who does nothing a sexy lamp couldn't do. I'm not here for movies that shit all over their once competent female leads in order to male a male doofus look good.
I have better media to consume.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:08 AM on March 16, 2018 [75 favorites]
Has Nostalgia Jumped the Shark?
Film at 11.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:11 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
Film at 11.
posted by CynicalKnight at 9:11 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
One Second Before Awakening, that one scene in the Atari documentary where he's planning out his Alamogordo road trip is such a perfect microcosm moment of the (non-gender-related) problems with RPO. "And I thought to myself, I can start at my favourite retro gaming shop and buy a bunch of cartridges to get autographed, drive up to Santa Fe, meet up with my pal George RR Martin, pick up my Delorean with its sweet custom ANORAK plate, put on my sweet red hoodie that's just like Elliot's hoodie from the movie, buckle my life-size ET doll into the front seat of my Delorean (AND HE CAN ALSO WEAR HIS SICK REPLICA HOODIE!) and go on The. Most. Amazing. Epic. Road. Trip. EVARZZZZ!!1one"
It's literally just 385 pages of Nerd Cred Bingo.
posted by halation at 9:13 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
It's literally just 385 pages of Nerd Cred Bingo.
posted by halation at 9:13 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
There's the misogyny of the book but there's also the fact he ignores black culture. People really push this "80s" thing with the book but it is an extremely limited view of 80s culture.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:13 AM on March 16, 2018 [57 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:13 AM on March 16, 2018 [57 favorites]
I'm not arguing that, but then that's a reason to hate, like, 80% of movies. It's not really unique to RPO.
How about the book being supportive of minority identity erasure online? Or the random blatant transphobia? People aren't just hating on it at random, but because it has some serious problems.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:14 AM on March 16, 2018 [51 favorites]
How about the book being supportive of minority identity erasure online? Or the random blatant transphobia? People aren't just hating on it at random, but because it has some serious problems.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:14 AM on March 16, 2018 [51 favorites]
there's also the fact he ignores black culture
Holy crap are you saying there are NO OVERSIZED BOOMBOXES? (not the end-all of black culture, just a big visible thing)
posted by turkeybrain at 9:15 AM on March 16, 2018
Holy crap are you saying there are NO OVERSIZED BOOMBOXES? (not the end-all of black culture, just a big visible thing)
posted by turkeybrain at 9:15 AM on March 16, 2018
Holy crap are you saying there are NO OVERSIZED BOOMBOXES?
Not even a granny rapping the Message.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:18 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Not even a granny rapping the Message.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:18 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's fine to like shitty things. Just don't hype them up like they're awesome.
Tons of people love The Room. The Room doesn't get nearly the hate that RPO does, because its fans let people know what they're getting into.
If more people hyped RPO as a fun Disasterpiece Theatre novel, it wouldn't get the hate.
posted by explosion at 9:20 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
Tons of people love The Room. The Room doesn't get nearly the hate that RPO does, because its fans let people know what they're getting into.
If more people hyped RPO as a fun Disasterpiece Theatre novel, it wouldn't get the hate.
posted by explosion at 9:20 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
but then that's a reason to hate, like, 80% of movies
And I do.
I was watching Jonathan McIntosh's Stalking for Love video, which talks about how media minimizes toxic behavior in men pursuing women. I remembered, of all things, Steve Urkel and his catch phrase to Laura, "I'm wearing you down, baby. I'M WEARIN' YOU DOWN." and how different that line reads to me as an adult. I brought this up with a friend and I'll never forget his reply:
"This shit is everywhere in our culture."
posted by AlSweigart at 9:24 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
And I do.
I was watching Jonathan McIntosh's Stalking for Love video, which talks about how media minimizes toxic behavior in men pursuing women. I remembered, of all things, Steve Urkel and his catch phrase to Laura, "I'm wearing you down, baby. I'M WEARIN' YOU DOWN." and how different that line reads to me as an adult. I brought this up with a friend and I'll never forget his reply:
"This shit is everywhere in our culture."
posted by AlSweigart at 9:24 AM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
The thing that really drives me crazy about this movie is how cynical it is. "Remember all those commoditized pop culture brands we sold you 30 years ago? Well, get ready because now we're commoditizing not just the brands, but your fond memories of those brands too! And now those brands are reinvigorated and ready for us to sell to a new generation."
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 9:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 9:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [17 favorites]
People say it's nothing but pandering to 80s kids, which, sure, whatever, yet most of the people who are hating on it pop a boner every time [obscure super hero from that one issue of that one comic] pops on on the screen of whatever comic book movie was released this week.
I get super excited when Guardians of the Galaxy has 4 frames of a Celestial destroying a planet. But if I were ever to be proud of myself for recognizing the reference, or look down my nose at people who don't get recognize it, or--God help me--start fantasizing about the day when my superior knowledge of obscure Marvel characters saves the day? Just shoot me now.
But the real sin of Ready Player One that drives nerds bonkers is that it wants to mansplain and talk down to you about obscure references like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like, have you ever heard of...Star Wars? It was this epic space opera film about a farmer kid on an obscure planet who finds some droids that have secret plans showing the only weakness to this huge space station that the oppressive "Empire" built which is kind of this ultimate weapon that can destroy planets. And they also have an S.O.S. message from the rebel princess Obi Wan Kenobi, who is a Jedi hermit (Jedi are like these space wizards with supernatural powers derived from an energy called "The Force"). And they hire this super-cool smuggler guy to take them to go rescue the princess, but when they get to her home planet, it's gone! Because it was destroyed by the Death Star (which is what they call that huge space station). They go into the space station, rescue the princess, and then take her to the rebel hideout so they can use the plans to destroy the Death Star. Oh, and there's this really cool villain named Darth Vader...
So as much as I don't want to be that guy, I really don't want to sit next to that guy.
posted by straight at 9:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [35 favorites]
I get super excited when Guardians of the Galaxy has 4 frames of a Celestial destroying a planet. But if I were ever to be proud of myself for recognizing the reference, or look down my nose at people who don't get recognize it, or--God help me--start fantasizing about the day when my superior knowledge of obscure Marvel characters saves the day? Just shoot me now.
But the real sin of Ready Player One that drives nerds bonkers is that it wants to mansplain and talk down to you about obscure references like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Like, have you ever heard of...Star Wars? It was this epic space opera film about a farmer kid on an obscure planet who finds some droids that have secret plans showing the only weakness to this huge space station that the oppressive "Empire" built which is kind of this ultimate weapon that can destroy planets. And they also have an S.O.S. message from the rebel princess Obi Wan Kenobi, who is a Jedi hermit (Jedi are like these space wizards with supernatural powers derived from an energy called "The Force"). And they hire this super-cool smuggler guy to take them to go rescue the princess, but when they get to her home planet, it's gone! Because it was destroyed by the Death Star (which is what they call that huge space station). They go into the space station, rescue the princess, and then take her to the rebel hideout so they can use the plans to destroy the Death Star. Oh, and there's this really cool villain named Darth Vader...
So as much as I don't want to be that guy, I really don't want to sit next to that guy.
posted by straight at 9:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [35 favorites]
Holy crap are you saying there are NO OVERSIZED BOOMBOXES?
Would you believe an oversized boombox the hero holds over his head playing "Your Eyes" (a song by Peter Gabriel) at the girl he's stalking to try to cajoler her to come out and talk with him?
posted by straight at 9:30 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
Would you believe an oversized boombox the hero holds over his head playing "Your Eyes" (a song by Peter Gabriel) at the girl he's stalking to try to cajoler her to come out and talk with him?
posted by straight at 9:30 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
I remember being a teenager and watching the Boomers leverage their control over media to continually suck their own dicks over the frankly insignificant contributions to culture they’d made in their youth, and I prayed that my entire generation would die before we’d ever allow ourselves to become them.
So right now it’s a race between the North Korea missile situation and the release of Ready Player One to see if my prayers get answered.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [55 favorites]
So right now it’s a race between the North Korea missile situation and the release of Ready Player One to see if my prayers get answered.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [55 favorites]
So not Radio Raheem, but John Cusack. Okay.
posted by turkeybrain at 9:36 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by turkeybrain at 9:36 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
I like to joke that nerds love the "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" episode of Star Trek because it's about an alien species that speaks only in tedious references. RPO is little more, and what's more is worse.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:38 AM on March 16, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:38 AM on March 16, 2018 [38 favorites]
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. But I remember a time when I was young, when an older generation bored us stupid with catchphrases from Max "The Cheeky Chappie" Miller, and humming the stupid Sand Dance tune from Wilson, Keppel and Betty. Fear not, young people. Your time will come. Eventually.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
“Reading lists of things I recognize is pretty fun . . .”
This was wonderful.
posted by bibliowench at 9:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
This was wonderful.
posted by bibliowench at 9:39 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
You know what recent movies were loaded to the gills with nostalgia pandering and yet still managed to be entertaining and good-hearted? The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie. I don't expect RPO to reach those heights.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:40 AM on March 16, 2018 [27 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:40 AM on March 16, 2018 [27 favorites]
To think, when i was a kid I wondered why there was so much cliche 60s-70s music on the radio.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:41 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:41 AM on March 16, 2018
You know what recent movies were loaded to the gills with nostalgia pandering and yet still managed to be entertaining and good-hearted? The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie. I don't expect RPO to reach those heights.
That's because those are movies with their own agendas and plots, and not simply the comedian from Metalocalypse getting laughs by yelling, "Hey, remember Transformers? Transformers!"
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:43 AM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
That's because those are movies with their own agendas and plots, and not simply the comedian from Metalocalypse getting laughs by yelling, "Hey, remember Transformers? Transformers!"
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:43 AM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
There's also a distinct undercurrent in the pushback against criticism of RPO that reads something like "you people got Black Panther and Wonder Woman and a SJW Star Wars, let us have our fun now." Y'know, as if (well over) 80% of movies weren't already pandering to them, and that having tolerated these incursions into their fandom space, literal token gestures should be more than enough.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:44 AM on March 16, 2018 [32 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 9:44 AM on March 16, 2018 [32 favorites]
So as much as I don't want to be that guy, I really don't want to sit next to that guy.
I was just at a gathering where I overheard the following conversation:
Guy 1: So, are you going to that thing tonight?
Guy 2: I would have totally gone to that thing when I was 23. I do not now actually want to meet myself, so no, I'm not going.
I've been pretty ignorant of Ready Player One. Like I knew it was a book and it's about video games (I'm a nerd born in 1974, but I'm not that kind of nerd, so this was never a selling point) that people keep talking about and now it's a movie. But I did see that documentary about the E.T. video game cartriges and...
During the event, Ernest Cline pulled up in a Delorean full of plush ET dolls and other 80's toys of his favorite pop culture brands, and any possibility that I could ever take him seriously as an adult was extinguished forever.
OMG this is that guy?! Lol forever and also nope.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:45 AM on March 16, 2018 [32 favorites]
I was just at a gathering where I overheard the following conversation:
Guy 1: So, are you going to that thing tonight?
Guy 2: I would have totally gone to that thing when I was 23. I do not now actually want to meet myself, so no, I'm not going.
I've been pretty ignorant of Ready Player One. Like I knew it was a book and it's about video games (I'm a nerd born in 1974, but I'm not that kind of nerd, so this was never a selling point) that people keep talking about and now it's a movie. But I did see that documentary about the E.T. video game cartriges and...
During the event, Ernest Cline pulled up in a Delorean full of plush ET dolls and other 80's toys of his favorite pop culture brands, and any possibility that I could ever take him seriously as an adult was extinguished forever.
OMG this is that guy?! Lol forever and also nope.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:45 AM on March 16, 2018 [32 favorites]
I read _Ready Player One_ and found it entertaining. I have exactly zero interest in going back to it, because it was essentially sci-fi pulp fluff with 80s pop-culture references... And I felt like that before I found out how horrible Cline was as a human being. One thing I did do was listen to "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back", a podcast where Mike Nelson of MST3k and Conor Lastowka of Rifftrax read and commented on the book. That was entertaining, and even they didn't hate it as much as they expected to... though it gave them plenty of material to work off of. (My word Kline has a hack of a writer, just on the mechanics of it.)
Right now, they're in the middle of Cline's _Armada_, which is everything bad about _Ready Player One_ minus everything that made _Ready Player One_ tolerable.
As for the movie? I don't bloody care enough to revisit _Ready Player One_'s story enough to see it. That it means I'm not enabling more Kline nonsense is a bonus. Cline is a shitty person on top of being a crap writer, so I would love it if this movie bombs and kills his career.
posted by SansPoint at 9:46 AM on March 16, 2018 [12 favorites]
Right now, they're in the middle of Cline's _Armada_, which is everything bad about _Ready Player One_ minus everything that made _Ready Player One_ tolerable.
As for the movie? I don't bloody care enough to revisit _Ready Player One_'s story enough to see it. That it means I'm not enabling more Kline nonsense is a bonus. Cline is a shitty person on top of being a crap writer, so I would love it if this movie bombs and kills his career.
posted by SansPoint at 9:46 AM on March 16, 2018 [12 favorites]
I like the underlying idea behind Ready Player One--the hugely elaborate treasure hunt in a virtual world that will lead to untold riches--but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I enjoyed it well enough as a mindless popcorn-ish book on my first read, but on the second time through I started noticing (for instance) how utterly stereotypical the Japanese characters are, or how pretty much every page is a litany of pop culture references that would make Neal Stephenson say "Get on with it already", or the way the female characters are treated...and so on.
I don't hate it, though. It was okay-ish the first time through, and on a base Skinner-box level I enjoyed having my 80s nostalgia buttons pressed for a while. No, Ready Player One gets only a weary sigh from me at this point.
I reserve my white-hot hate for Cline's second book, Armada, which is so much worse.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:47 AM on March 16, 2018 [14 favorites]
I don't hate it, though. It was okay-ish the first time through, and on a base Skinner-box level I enjoyed having my 80s nostalgia buttons pressed for a while. No, Ready Player One gets only a weary sigh from me at this point.
I reserve my white-hot hate for Cline's second book, Armada, which is so much worse.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 9:47 AM on March 16, 2018 [14 favorites]
amem0ne: Oh, lord, Aech (had to look that up) was one of the few parts of _Ready Player One_ I think Cline didn't completely screw up in terms of characterization. *headdesk*
posted by SansPoint at 9:51 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 9:51 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I watched a documentary about ET for the Atari [...] During the event, Ernest Cline pulled up in a Delorean full of plush ET dolls and other 80's toys of his favorite pop culture brands...
I assumed the author had constructed his book as a 1980s nostalgia wank for purely mercenary reasons—because he knew he could profit off the shallow icon-worship and conspicuous consumerism that defines modern mass Geek Culture. But you're saying this is how the guy actually chooses to live his life?
A blatant cash grab I could respect. This? This just makes me depressed.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
I assumed the author had constructed his book as a 1980s nostalgia wank for purely mercenary reasons—because he knew he could profit off the shallow icon-worship and conspicuous consumerism that defines modern mass Geek Culture. But you're saying this is how the guy actually chooses to live his life?
A blatant cash grab I could respect. This? This just makes me depressed.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
I'm really tired of all the Ready Player One hate.
Let me have this. I've given up so much hate in my life. I've come to understand that different people like different things and that if I don't like something it's OK for someone else to like it.
I played through Tomb of Horrors. I played Joust. I played all these games and saw all these movies when they were new. I resent being sold my childhood for cheap literary pathos.
I read RP1 and liked it, then came to dislike it. And I'm going to hate-watch the movie. And you can't stop me.
posted by GuyZero at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
Let me have this. I've given up so much hate in my life. I've come to understand that different people like different things and that if I don't like something it's OK for someone else to like it.
I played through Tomb of Horrors. I played Joust. I played all these games and saw all these movies when they were new. I resent being sold my childhood for cheap literary pathos.
I read RP1 and liked it, then came to dislike it. And I'm going to hate-watch the movie. And you can't stop me.
posted by GuyZero at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
The author was trying to straddle between a general audience and specialists (gamers) and as a non-gamer it was a fun beach book. The lame element that I can't describe specifically due to spoilers that seemed really lame at this point in time was Aech's reveal. In the 80's it would have been radically explosive, in today's zeitgeist just lame, hopefully in the future an utter non-issue.
It's an excellent book for Speilberg to run with, the visuals should be amazing. In the theater the story should grab general audiences. The depth of meaning will on any reflection be at least as profound as a rubber shark that scares an entire generation.
posted by sammyo at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's an excellent book for Speilberg to run with, the visuals should be amazing. In the theater the story should grab general audiences. The depth of meaning will on any reflection be at least as profound as a rubber shark that scares an entire generation.
posted by sammyo at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I reserve my white-hot hate for Cline's second book, Armada, which is so much worse.
Oh, the book with the PED weed.
Nope, not joking. And that's the high point.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh, the book with the PED weed.
Nope, not joking. And that's the high point.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
anem0ne Thanks! I edited my post after double-checking the character name. That says a lot about Cline's writing. Even the character names are interchangeable, even for the rare interesting ones.
posted by SansPoint at 9:54 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by SansPoint at 9:54 AM on March 16, 2018
> anem0ne:
"for instance, in the book, it's an actual plot point that the protagonist's best friend, who presents in-game as a cishet white dude, turns out to be a lesbian black woman.
the book, of course, does not engage with this at all."
There's a world in which this would be a feature, not a bug. But it's not RPO's world.
posted by chavenet at 9:57 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
"for instance, in the book, it's an actual plot point that the protagonist's best friend, who presents in-game as a cishet white dude, turns out to be a lesbian black woman.
the book, of course, does not engage with this at all."
There's a world in which this would be a feature, not a bug. But it's not RPO's world.
posted by chavenet at 9:57 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Don't have enough contact with either book or movie to hate it. But as a veteran watcher of the GG and Puppy Wars, building a novel around namedropping what you think is the best of some fannish golden age makes me a bit suspicious.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 9:57 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 9:57 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
"Actually, one more thing: the protagonist in the RPO movie looks like M*lo, and now that I've mentioned it you all won't be able to unsee it either."
Not that I will see the movie or even a trailer, but M*lo means nothing to me. Who is that? Google brings up a few people, primarily a rap group or rapper I'm not familiar with.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2018
Not that I will see the movie or even a trailer, but M*lo means nothing to me. Who is that? Google brings up a few people, primarily a rap group or rapper I'm not familiar with.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2018
Right now, they're in the middle of Cline's _Armada_, which is everything bad about _Ready Player One_ minus everything that made _Ready Player One_ tolerable.
YES. There was a scrappy underdog feel to Ready Player One that felt completely lacking in Armada.
posted by redsparkler at 10:02 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
YES. There was a scrappy underdog feel to Ready Player One that felt completely lacking in Armada.
posted by redsparkler at 10:02 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, the book with the PED weed.
Nope, not joking. And that's the high point
I see what you did there.
posted by PMdixon at 10:05 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Nope, not joking. And that's the high point
I see what you did there.
posted by PMdixon at 10:05 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I've no objections to either nostalgia or pandering. Particularly when I'm part of the demographic that's being pandered to, which is absolutely the case with RPO. However, way back when they first announced the release date for the movie, somebody took a picture of one page from the book, and put it up on Twitter.
The page in question was a long of things that the main character liked a lot. I also liked most of the things on that list, but I began to suspect about three items into it that there would be nothing on the list that had been created by anyone other than straight white dudes. And surprise! I was right.
I've been making a concerted effort to broaden my tastes, and to attend to the work of people who don't necessarily look like me or share my biography. So, while I don't mind being pandered to as such, I do have to politely decline in the present circumstances. It's like a recovering alcoholic not being able to drink.
posted by Ipsifendus at 10:07 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
The page in question was a long of things that the main character liked a lot. I also liked most of the things on that list, but I began to suspect about three items into it that there would be nothing on the list that had been created by anyone other than straight white dudes. And surprise! I was right.
I've been making a concerted effort to broaden my tastes, and to attend to the work of people who don't necessarily look like me or share my biography. So, while I don't mind being pandered to as such, I do have to politely decline in the present circumstances. It's like a recovering alcoholic not being able to drink.
posted by Ipsifendus at 10:07 AM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
FWIW my Evel Kneivel action figure and Farrah Fawcett poster could totally beat up all the 80s references in RPO.
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:11 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:11 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
The depth of meaning will on any reflection be at least as profound as a rubber shark that scares an entire generation.
More like the rubber shark jumped by Fonzie.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:11 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
More like the rubber shark jumped by Fonzie.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:11 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Y'know, just like sometimes people eat fast food and actually enjoy it, sometimes people will read RPO and like it. RPO, just like fast food, has a bunch of problems associated with it. And they should be pointed out. But I also don't really judge people for liking either.
posted by FJT at 10:14 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by FJT at 10:14 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Of interest: Spielberg couldn't get the rights to use Star Wars IP.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 10:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was born in '87 and I feel like I've spent my entire life hearing dudes slightly older than me hold up various 80s media properties as artifacts of "everyone's" childhood, as if they truly did not realize that kids didn't just keep watching The Goonies and He-Man every year for the rest of time. It's weird and offputting.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:27 AM on March 16, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:27 AM on March 16, 2018 [33 favorites]
I was born in '87 and I feel like I've spent my entire life hearing dudes slightly older than me hold up various 80s media properties as artifacts of "everyone's" childhood
Only 90's kids will get this reference
posted by GuyZero at 10:28 AM on March 16, 2018 [30 favorites]
Only 90's kids will get this reference
posted by GuyZero at 10:28 AM on March 16, 2018 [30 favorites]
Yes, lots of folks are rightfully criticizing RPO for the aspects of it that are actually problematic. But I think it has also gotten a ton of hate from the casual reddit brosphere, just because it's absolutely the fashionable movie to hate right now.
It doesn't look like a good movie or book to me, but I think maybe someone who has mostly interacted with the latter criticisms might be frustrated and understandably say "sheesh let people like what they like", and it's not necessarily a comment on the validity of the deeper criticisms.
I'd also like to share something an article by Heather on Autostraddle (which is a site by/for queer women) where she wrote briefly about her feelings on the book, acknowledging the problematic elements while also saying how she enjoyed it. There's good discussion in the comments.
posted by Emily's Fist at 10:30 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
It doesn't look like a good movie or book to me, but I think maybe someone who has mostly interacted with the latter criticisms might be frustrated and understandably say "sheesh let people like what they like", and it's not necessarily a comment on the validity of the deeper criticisms.
I'd also like to share something an article by Heather on Autostraddle (which is a site by/for queer women) where she wrote briefly about her feelings on the book, acknowledging the problematic elements while also saying how she enjoyed it. There's good discussion in the comments.
posted by Emily's Fist at 10:30 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
I like the underlying idea behind Ready Player One--the hugely elaborate treasure hunt in a virtual world that will lead to untold riches
I liked this better when it was analog and The Westing Game.
I also have this really strange bitter reaction that this, this, is the property of all properties that Mark Rylance chose to use his Distinguished British Stage Actor Playing the Villain/Mysterious Benefactor of Questionable Motives to Class Up an Action Movie slot for. With that hair. Why. Mr. Rylance, please take a meeting with Mr. McKellen first next time.
posted by praemunire at 10:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
I liked this better when it was analog and The Westing Game.
I also have this really strange bitter reaction that this, this, is the property of all properties that Mark Rylance chose to use his Distinguished British Stage Actor Playing the Villain/Mysterious Benefactor of Questionable Motives to Class Up an Action Movie slot for. With that hair. Why. Mr. Rylance, please take a meeting with Mr. McKellen first next time.
posted by praemunire at 10:35 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
Jenny Nicholson is savage as fuck.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:36 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:36 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
I tried reading this right after it was published. Got about 1/5 through and stopped. I doin't like the tone or the writing, it just rubbed me the wrong way. Never picked it up again.
So I hated it BEFORE ALL OF YOU!!!
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:42 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
So I hated it BEFORE ALL OF YOU!!!
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:42 AM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm totally here for the criticisms about race/gender/other shittiness in RPO, but not for the fandom-trashing. If you gave me a brand new show/movie/book/webcomic/whatever about a teenage girl in the not-too-distant future with a bunch of interest in "retro" fandoms who got transformed into a magical girl and had to save the world from a bunch of villains taken from popular media of the 80s and 90s or something appropriately updated for modern tastes in inclusivity and an appropriate level of references to media that had been deliberately aimed at girls at the time, I'd be over the moon. I don't totally hate RPO--I'm not sure if I'm going to see the movie yet but it's more in the realm of "how much free time do I have"--but these "girl equivalent" jokes make me wistful for something that doesn't exist. Fandom has actually meant a lot to me and it's weird how bad the media is at celebrating the good that people actually get out of media.
posted by Sequence at 10:51 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Sequence at 10:51 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
I was born in '87 and I feel like I've spent my entire life hearing dudes slightly older than me hold up various 80s media properties as artifacts of "everyone's" childhood, as if they truly did not realize that kids didn't just keep watching The Goonies and He-Man every year for the rest of time. It's weird and offputting.
this is actually the thing that stopped me dead in my attempt to read RPO. kline wrote himself into an inescapable corner, because his reader is going to either be the right age to get the references, or he has to explain each one. if he relied on the former, the book would have extremely narrow appeal, so he did the latter, and the result was an extremely thin plot stretched over pages and pages of someone younger than me over-explaining the media environment that i was immersed in growing up.
it's like if you're the demographic that he's targeting for nostalgia, the book is teaching its grandmother to suck eggs, and if you're not, it's like being trapped in a room with a guy explaining his D&D campaign to you.
either you were there, or you had to be there, and in either case the book is pointless.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:01 AM on March 16, 2018 [29 favorites]
this is actually the thing that stopped me dead in my attempt to read RPO. kline wrote himself into an inescapable corner, because his reader is going to either be the right age to get the references, or he has to explain each one. if he relied on the former, the book would have extremely narrow appeal, so he did the latter, and the result was an extremely thin plot stretched over pages and pages of someone younger than me over-explaining the media environment that i was immersed in growing up.
it's like if you're the demographic that he's targeting for nostalgia, the book is teaching its grandmother to suck eggs, and if you're not, it's like being trapped in a room with a guy explaining his D&D campaign to you.
either you were there, or you had to be there, and in either case the book is pointless.
posted by murphy slaw at 11:01 AM on March 16, 2018 [29 favorites]
Fandom has actually meant a lot to me and it's weird how bad the media is at celebrating the good that people actually get out of media.
The problem with RPO isn't fandom, but how it abuses fandom. It completely misunderstands what fandom is, and creates a false image of geeky 80s references as a disturbing mockery of fandom. As people have pointed out, there are other films that embrace fandom completely that are adored, because they respect it.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:06 AM on March 16, 2018 [20 favorites]
The problem with RPO isn't fandom, but how it abuses fandom. It completely misunderstands what fandom is, and creates a false image of geeky 80s references as a disturbing mockery of fandom. As people have pointed out, there are other films that embrace fandom completely that are adored, because they respect it.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:06 AM on March 16, 2018 [20 favorites]
The marketing for this film has been particularly clumsy and pandering, which this single Dan Sheehan tweet pilloried to perfection.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:16 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:16 AM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Fandom has actually meant a lot to me and it's weird how bad the media is at celebrating the good that people actually get out of media.
I'd give Ready Player One more slack if it actually tried to do that at all. For all the talk about how it's an unapologetic celebration of geek culture, the actual text doesn't do much celebrating. It's got a lot of references to and facts about a canon that the reader is assumed to already appreciate, but it doesn't care at all about what those works mean to its characters. The book contrives a world where memorizing enough discrete factoids about the media its author enjoys gives its hero wealth, respect and a girlfriend. Its vision of fandom is one based on dominance, on proving that you're the biggest fan because you know the most.
posted by skymt at 11:22 AM on March 16, 2018 [23 favorites]
I'd give Ready Player One more slack if it actually tried to do that at all. For all the talk about how it's an unapologetic celebration of geek culture, the actual text doesn't do much celebrating. It's got a lot of references to and facts about a canon that the reader is assumed to already appreciate, but it doesn't care at all about what those works mean to its characters. The book contrives a world where memorizing enough discrete factoids about the media its author enjoys gives its hero wealth, respect and a girlfriend. Its vision of fandom is one based on dominance, on proving that you're the biggest fan because you know the most.
posted by skymt at 11:22 AM on March 16, 2018 [23 favorites]
Its vision of fandom is one based on dominance, on proving that you're the biggest fan because you know the most.
It's not even that. It's just author-insertion wish fulfillment where he wins a prize because he knows obscure stuff everyone else thinks is dumb.
I'LL SHOW THEM! SOMEDAY KNOWING HOW TO PLAY JOUST WILL LET ME RULE THE WORLD
posted by GuyZero at 11:25 AM on March 16, 2018 [17 favorites]
It's not even that. It's just author-insertion wish fulfillment where he wins a prize because he knows obscure stuff everyone else thinks is dumb.
I'LL SHOW THEM! SOMEDAY KNOWING HOW TO PLAY JOUST WILL LET ME RULE THE WORLD
posted by GuyZero at 11:25 AM on March 16, 2018 [17 favorites]
this sums up RPO for me
I'm a bit confused why they chose Iron Giant here, especially since the movie is from 1999 and he's a pacifist robot. In the book, don't they use Ultraman (not from the 80s) and Japanese Spider-man's giant robot Leopardon (also not from the 80's)?
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:25 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm a bit confused why they chose Iron Giant here, especially since the movie is from 1999 and he's a pacifist robot. In the book, don't they use Ultraman (not from the 80s) and Japanese Spider-man's giant robot Leopardon (also not from the 80's)?
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:25 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
They got the IG rights and not the Ultraman rights.
It's all about the clearances, baby
posted by GuyZero at 11:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's all about the clearances, baby
posted by GuyZero at 11:26 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
I guess for me it wasn't so much all the references as the idea that the 80s were so great. I was there. They weren't. I don't miss them nor want them back. Especially in terms of entertainment quality, we live in a comparative golden age now. There is so much more, and better, movies, TV shows, music, than there was then.
posted by emjaybee at 11:27 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 11:27 AM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
There is so much more, and better, movies, TV shows, music, than there was then.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on there...
;)
posted by cooker girl at 11:28 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on there...
;)
posted by cooker girl at 11:28 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
There is so much more, and better, movies, TV shows, music, than there was then.
the 80s is an answer to the question "what does it mean for an entire decade to be a problematic fav?"
posted by murphy slaw at 11:31 AM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
the 80s is an answer to the question "what does it mean for an entire decade to be a problematic fav?"
posted by murphy slaw at 11:31 AM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
It does sound like from the reviews I've read, that they made substantial alterations from the book.
no great lover of the book (in fact, I didn't make it through the first chapter), but it is to some degree conventional wisdom in screenwriting circles that great novels do not necessarily make great movies, and oft vice versa. Here's hoping that Ready Player One is one of those counterexamples, because there are never enough great or even good movies.
posted by philip-random at 11:31 AM on March 16, 2018
There's a bit of annoyance in having RPO shoved at me with, "See this [thing]. We made this [thing]. It's your [thing] because it's made from [stuff] you cared about 30 years ago." But in those 30 years, I've grown into [new stuff]. The Reagan era sucked for a lot of us, and frankly, I'm just not into a lot of SFF that doesn't have queer, feminist, or multicultural hooks these days. And [stuff] is usually only a few clicks away.
I'm mildly interested in whether it might be a successful movie derivative of electronic gaming, an area where there's been few successes so far. Wreck-It Ralph stands out as a film that understood both the gaming and nostalgia for the period without being cloying.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:33 AM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm mildly interested in whether it might be a successful movie derivative of electronic gaming, an area where there's been few successes so far. Wreck-It Ralph stands out as a film that understood both the gaming and nostalgia for the period without being cloying.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:33 AM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
And guess what? I don't watch 80% of movies largely for this reason. Look. Femme of center folks have to endure a ton of misogyny on a daily basis, and when reading a book or watching a movie it's nice if it isn't a shitty reflection of shitty life.
People look at me agog when I say that I try to stay away from "straight people drama" media, so I feel you extremely hard. I would frankly be fine never reading another book, watching another movie, seeing another play, etc etc etc written by a white cishet dude.
posted by Automocar at 11:33 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
People look at me agog when I say that I try to stay away from "straight people drama" media, so I feel you extremely hard. I would frankly be fine never reading another book, watching another movie, seeing another play, etc etc etc written by a white cishet dude.
posted by Automocar at 11:33 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
It's not even that. It's just author-insertion wish fulfillment ...
I stand by my original assessment of Ready Player One.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:36 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
I stand by my original assessment of Ready Player One.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:36 AM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
cooker girl: But then Cline just bashed us all over the head with the explanations of the references.
QFT. I found the first few chapters exhausting and had to stop. Oh yes that thing! I love it too- oh god why are you explaining it in this tedious way, please stop, no really stop, STAAAAHP.
WHY IS THIS AUTHOR TALKING TO ME LIKE I'M STUPID?
Compare that with the delicious experience of reading through a William Gibson novel way too fast just to enjoy the ride the first time and then reading it 60 more times to immerse in the world and catch all the little subtle references and cleverness and call-outs? (Oh my god, can we just have Gibson rewrite this book and make it awesome please?)
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 11:41 AM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
QFT. I found the first few chapters exhausting and had to stop. Oh yes that thing! I love it too- oh god why are you explaining it in this tedious way, please stop, no really stop, STAAAAHP.
WHY IS THIS AUTHOR TALKING TO ME LIKE I'M STUPID?
Compare that with the delicious experience of reading through a William Gibson novel way too fast just to enjoy the ride the first time and then reading it 60 more times to immerse in the world and catch all the little subtle references and cleverness and call-outs? (Oh my god, can we just have Gibson rewrite this book and make it awesome please?)
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 11:41 AM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
It's just author-insertion wish fulfillment where he wins a prize because he knows obscure stuff everyone else thinks is dumb.
This really is the crux of it. The most important man in the book's world was obsessed with pop culture references so now everyone else has to be too, and the person with the most pop culture references wins the big prize. It's like Cline started from "The hero wins because he knows the most obscure shit imaginable just like I do" and worked his way back from there. The whole thing is basically Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but instead of trying to find a boy with a pure heart to take over he tried to find a heir who is as big a dweeb as he was.
And I don't even particularly dislike the book, as was already said it's light summer fare that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. ? The second time I read it I will say early in the book I found the teenage boy tone offputting, but I do think there is some level of character arc and the protagonist comes out at the end seeming more mature. Does that make the earlier parts of the book more acceptable? Does this arc satisfy based on the author's actual unpleasant ideas regarding women? Probably not, but I still don't think the book deserves the gleefully hostile dunking it gets every time it comes up.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:43 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
This really is the crux of it. The most important man in the book's world was obsessed with pop culture references so now everyone else has to be too, and the person with the most pop culture references wins the big prize. It's like Cline started from "The hero wins because he knows the most obscure shit imaginable just like I do" and worked his way back from there. The whole thing is basically Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but instead of trying to find a boy with a pure heart to take over he tried to find a heir who is as big a dweeb as he was.
And I don't even particularly dislike the book, as was already said it's light summer fare that doesn't stand up to scrutiny. ? The second time I read it I will say early in the book I found the teenage boy tone offputting, but I do think there is some level of character arc and the protagonist comes out at the end seeming more mature. Does that make the earlier parts of the book more acceptable? Does this arc satisfy based on the author's actual unpleasant ideas regarding women? Probably not, but I still don't think the book deserves the gleefully hostile dunking it gets every time it comes up.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 11:43 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
I have no interest in the book but Speilberg has been so serious and ponderous lately that I'm interested in seeing him direct an action film again.
posted by octothorpe at 11:46 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by octothorpe at 11:46 AM on March 16, 2018
The Shape of Water is an example of a fanwork created so skillfully that many people don't notice or care that it's a fanwork.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:52 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:52 AM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
QFT. I found the first few chapters exhausting and had to stop. Oh yes that thing! I love it too- oh god why are you explaining it in this tedious way, please stop, no really stop, STAAAAHP.
I had no expectations about RPO when I read it several years ago, but looking at my Goodreads review, this was basically my early take. One, that I thought I had inadvertently read a young-YA novel (like, for middle schoolers), and two, that the laundry-list over-explanation in the early chapters was brutal. I wish that I had stopped reading when the going got tough.
I really enjoyed the linked video. There was a thread last week (earlier this week, maybe?) about the shitting-upon that feminine-coded media gets compared to masculine-coded media of equal quality (which is to say: poor), and this is a great send-up of that idea.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I had no expectations about RPO when I read it several years ago, but looking at my Goodreads review, this was basically my early take. One, that I thought I had inadvertently read a young-YA novel (like, for middle schoolers), and two, that the laundry-list over-explanation in the early chapters was brutal. I wish that I had stopped reading when the going got tough.
I really enjoyed the linked video. There was a thread last week (earlier this week, maybe?) about the shitting-upon that feminine-coded media gets compared to masculine-coded media of equal quality (which is to say: poor), and this is a great send-up of that idea.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:53 AM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Cline’s references are all super surface level stuff that could never be called obscure.
posted by Artw at 11:54 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:54 AM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
the 80s is an answer to the question "what does it mean for an entire decade to be a problematic fav?"
I grew up in the 60s which was even more problematic, but after Kent State, the MLK assassination and the Manson murders,mostmany of us realized just how problematic. But instead of video games, at least we had board games: Mousetrap forever!
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:59 AM on March 16, 2018
I grew up in the 60s which was even more problematic, but after Kent State, the MLK assassination and the Manson murders,
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:59 AM on March 16, 2018
Also, del Toro's previous two feature films: Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim were unabashedly fanworks as well.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:59 AM on March 16, 2018
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:59 AM on March 16, 2018
Ehhh... Del Toro doesn’t yell “Look everybody! It’s Godzilla!” as he slaps you around the head with a Kaiju. It’s certainly fannish, but it’s a different kind of thing than RP1.
posted by Artw at 12:07 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:07 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
RPO is like the anti-Venture Bros. Never has there been a greater example of how to implement a nostalgic review of media and tropes into a new creation of brilliant depth. RPO is like the evil mirror dimension version of that, a bizarro universe creation of joyless grinding anti-quality with malevolent goatee in place and also made entirely of shit
posted by FatherDagon at 12:07 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 12:07 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
I’ve heard it compared with one of those tee shirt sites where the shirts all combine two things, except really it doesn’t combine them so much as list them so it would just be a t-shirt with a picture of two different things on it.
posted by Artw at 12:12 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:12 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
Saw the trailer. What crap. At least the trailer.
I am the exact target for this movie, white male straight 47 and educated, USA. When I remember Tomb of Horrors from AD&D, I don't picture epic battle scenes and things exploding, I remember the awkward black and white (and blue and white to prevent photocopying!) illustrations and the goofy riddle poem. I remember Michael Jackson videos as something I watched on a Sony Trinitron CRTV, I don't remember it as myself actually in the graveyard during the Thriller video in loud surround-sound. No one cares about the FBI chase scene at the end of E.T., I remember ET dressed as what the boys thought a girls should be dressed as, and the bland suburban backdrop, and Drew Barrymore. And then all us kids talking about it at school, in real life. These are just a few examples of my point.
The trailer was an ear-pounding fast-cut of explosions and yelling and SFX. I don't remember much of it as I saw it months ago and thought it sucked. Anyway, I have not seen the movie. I might rent it next year or wait 'till Netflix. But at least the trailer was so very, very far off as far as nostalgia goes. Stranger Things (though I am not as big a fan as many are) nailed the concept of nostalgia for the 80s.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
I am the exact target for this movie, white male straight 47 and educated, USA. When I remember Tomb of Horrors from AD&D, I don't picture epic battle scenes and things exploding, I remember the awkward black and white (and blue and white to prevent photocopying!) illustrations and the goofy riddle poem. I remember Michael Jackson videos as something I watched on a Sony Trinitron CRTV, I don't remember it as myself actually in the graveyard during the Thriller video in loud surround-sound. No one cares about the FBI chase scene at the end of E.T., I remember ET dressed as what the boys thought a girls should be dressed as, and the bland suburban backdrop, and Drew Barrymore. And then all us kids talking about it at school, in real life. These are just a few examples of my point.
The trailer was an ear-pounding fast-cut of explosions and yelling and SFX. I don't remember much of it as I saw it months ago and thought it sucked. Anyway, I have not seen the movie. I might rent it next year or wait 'till Netflix. But at least the trailer was so very, very far off as far as nostalgia goes. Stranger Things (though I am not as big a fan as many are) nailed the concept of nostalgia for the 80s.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
RPO is like the anti-Venture Bros.
This is quoted for fucking truth- and isn’t the next season of VB due later this year? *squee*
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:18 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is quoted for fucking truth- and isn’t the next season of VB due later this year? *squee*
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 12:18 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ehhh... Del Toro doesn’t yell “Look everybody! It’s Godzilla!” as he slaps you around the head with a Kaiju. It’s certainly fannish, but it’s a different kind of thing than RP1.
Sure, that's kind of my point. Good fannish derivative work uses the familiar structures as a starting point for developing a relationship between the audience and the characters. RPO just says that we must have a relationship because we've both seen the same things.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:19 PM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
Sure, that's kind of my point. Good fannish derivative work uses the familiar structures as a starting point for developing a relationship between the audience and the characters. RPO just says that we must have a relationship because we've both seen the same things.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:19 PM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
even worse when you find out about his slam poetry.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:21 PM on March 16, 2018 [12 favorites]
If you're an intelligent woman is interested in breaking into the adult film industry,Sweet Christmas.
and if you can tell me the name of Luke Skywalker's home planet,
then you are hired.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:21 PM on March 16, 2018 [12 favorites]
Despite the terrible prose and wish-fulfillment sexism, I can’t hate on it too much because my favourite book this year, The Seventh Function of Language, is basically Ready Player One with linguists instead of video games.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:21 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 12:21 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
without the terrible prose and wish-fulfillment sexism, I hope
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:24 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:24 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
the 80s is an answer to the question "what does it mean for an entire decade to be a problematic fav?"
Also, I feel like I say this every time Ready Player One etc comes around, but, like, I really don't understand the 80s love. I lived through the 80s. I get most of the references. I liked The Goonies (Martha Plimpton was the best part, fyi) and New Order too. But seriously . . . we're still doing the 80s? Really?
posted by thivaia at 12:25 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
without the terrible prose and wish-fulfillment sexism, I hope
The prose is more readable than other translated novels I’ve encountered this year.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:29 PM on March 16, 2018
The prose is more readable than other translated novels I’ve encountered this year.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:29 PM on March 16, 2018
Expanding on that: Turning nostalgia into a wild and crazy thrill ride mash-up blenderized and supercut kills the nostalgia. I was there in the 80s. We didn't even have cable TV until 88 or so because of a weird legal issue in the city). There were maybe 8 channels on TV in Chicago. And then we had a VHS player. We rented movies from the public library before Blockbuster etc. We finally got a small rental shop a few years later. The sound on these TVs sucked. You had to adjust tracking on the VCR and even then the picture and sound was crap.
So I watched a lot of reruns. I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, Brady Bunch, etc. Network TV was an event type thing, for instance, everyone in my school was watching "V" and the premier of Knight Rider. And then it was all discussed the next day. If I wanted loud music by brother's stereo was awesome, and we'd listen to it all the time and record songs off the radio on cassette tapes. Sometimes putting on a station with the tape machine set to pause & record, waiting for the song we wanted to play. As kids we had the D&D books and dice and that's it. You couldn't look up rule explanations or ask anyone except the people in the room.
I'm sharing all these old man stories because my point is: it was a much quieter time, media-wise. There was just less BANDWIDTH. No one will ever be as famous as Micael Jackson was —in his time— because there was a tiny fraction of the media choices we have today. He was A#!+... A HUGE fish in a tiny pond. He was everywhere, not siloed to dance, urban, black, funk, disco, or whatever other million classifications.
Taking these elements and mashing them into an eye-popping 100 million dollar movie with Atmos Sound™ just makes the references into confetti. Not saying only a documentary can portray nostalgia well, but stripping them of context just makes it all into a bunch of sight gags. Which is fine, I guess, but then... what's the point?
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:30 PM on March 16, 2018 [17 favorites]
So I watched a lot of reruns. I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, Brady Bunch, etc. Network TV was an event type thing, for instance, everyone in my school was watching "V" and the premier of Knight Rider. And then it was all discussed the next day. If I wanted loud music by brother's stereo was awesome, and we'd listen to it all the time and record songs off the radio on cassette tapes. Sometimes putting on a station with the tape machine set to pause & record, waiting for the song we wanted to play. As kids we had the D&D books and dice and that's it. You couldn't look up rule explanations or ask anyone except the people in the room.
I'm sharing all these old man stories because my point is: it was a much quieter time, media-wise. There was just less BANDWIDTH. No one will ever be as famous as Micael Jackson was —in his time— because there was a tiny fraction of the media choices we have today. He was A#!+... A HUGE fish in a tiny pond. He was everywhere, not siloed to dance, urban, black, funk, disco, or whatever other million classifications.
Taking these elements and mashing them into an eye-popping 100 million dollar movie with Atmos Sound™ just makes the references into confetti. Not saying only a documentary can portray nostalgia well, but stripping them of context just makes it all into a bunch of sight gags. Which is fine, I guess, but then... what's the point?
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:30 PM on March 16, 2018 [17 favorites]
Also, I feel like I say this every time Ready Player One etc comes around, but, like, I really don't understand the 80s love. I lived through the 80s. I get most of the references. I liked The Goonies (Martha Plimpton was the best part, fyi) and New Order too. But seriously . . . we're still doing the 80s? Really?
i think over time people have forgotten that most of the good things about the 80s were created as a horrified reaction to something else in the 80s
posted by murphy slaw at 12:32 PM on March 16, 2018 [23 favorites]
i think over time people have forgotten that most of the good things about the 80s were created as a horrified reaction to something else in the 80s
posted by murphy slaw at 12:32 PM on March 16, 2018 [23 favorites]
i think over time people have forgotten that most of the good things about the 60s were created as a horrified reaction to something else in the 60s
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:33 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:33 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
I think everyone knows that the 70s were also created in reaction to the 60s and people just generally went for it without any concern for the consequences.
posted by GuyZero at 12:44 PM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 12:44 PM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
Metafilter: created as a horrified reaction to something else
posted by Enemy of Joy at 12:44 PM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Enemy of Joy at 12:44 PM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
I understand that my fondness for the '80s is that I was a kid then -- and a particular kind of kid, a very lucky one. Even if I was lonely and nerdy, I lived in a comfortable home and I could play with my toys in peace. What I miss isn't Merry-Go-Round or She-Ra, it's hope.
I sometimes express this through odd behaviors, like watching a 40-minute playthrough of Athena, the world's worst Nintendo game, just because I never got to finish it as a kid. But as long as I don't confuse this with an expression of some kind of ancient geek heritage, I suppose I should be fine.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:47 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
I sometimes express this through odd behaviors, like watching a 40-minute playthrough of Athena, the world's worst Nintendo game, just because I never got to finish it as a kid. But as long as I don't confuse this with an expression of some kind of ancient geek heritage, I suppose I should be fine.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:47 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
i think over time people have forgotten that most of the good things about the 60s were created as a horrified reaction to something else in the 60s
I think everyone knows that the 70s were also created in reaction to the 60s and people just generally went for it without any concern for the consequences.
Fucking boomers.
posted by Artw at 12:51 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
I think everyone knows that the 70s were also created in reaction to the 60s and people just generally went for it without any concern for the consequences.
Fucking boomers.
posted by Artw at 12:51 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
Fandom's important to me too, and I hate and resent Ready Player One's take on it, because this is not how I have ever done or will ever do fandom, and yet this is is the shit that gets elevated to having a huge big-budget movie made out of it.
I am profoundly, deeply bored of and annoyed with the strain of fandom that's just collection and hoarding and pointless consumption, whether that hoarding is of trivia or physical merch, and Ready Player One exemplifies all that. Like, goddamn, talk to me when your variety of fandom means you can have an in-depth conversation about themes and character, not just recite pointless minutia that has nothing to do with why this thing we love matters at all. Talk to me when your variety of fandom means you make something new and meaningful out of the parts we loved about the original thing. I don't care for or about this shallow, referential cash grab shit.
posted by yasaman at 12:52 PM on March 16, 2018 [25 favorites]
I am profoundly, deeply bored of and annoyed with the strain of fandom that's just collection and hoarding and pointless consumption, whether that hoarding is of trivia or physical merch, and Ready Player One exemplifies all that. Like, goddamn, talk to me when your variety of fandom means you can have an in-depth conversation about themes and character, not just recite pointless minutia that has nothing to do with why this thing we love matters at all. Talk to me when your variety of fandom means you make something new and meaningful out of the parts we loved about the original thing. I don't care for or about this shallow, referential cash grab shit.
posted by yasaman at 12:52 PM on March 16, 2018 [25 favorites]
I don't care for or about this shallow, referential cash grab shit.
This is why I have always HATED "Family Guy" and "Big Bang Theory"
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:54 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
This is why I have always HATED "Family Guy" and "Big Bang Theory"
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:54 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
, talk to me when your variety of fandom means you can have an in-depth conversation about themes and character
I think you're going to need a pretty big apocrypha to get into the themes and characters in Joust.
posted by GuyZero at 12:55 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think you're going to need a pretty big apocrypha to get into the themes and characters in Joust.
posted by GuyZero at 12:55 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
the property of all properties that Mark Rylance chose
Hello yes I have completely unrelated Mark Rylance hate is this the thread
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:56 PM on March 16, 2018
Hello yes I have completely unrelated Mark Rylance hate is this the thread
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 12:56 PM on March 16, 2018
One big tip-off that the Ready Player One film isn't just a nostalgia exercise but rather one big commercial for popular media properties is that Tracer from Overwatch shows up in the trailer.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 1:04 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 1:04 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm not gonna lie—I'd totally read Ready Player One for Girls based on the "excerpt" read in the video.
posted by No One Ever Does at 1:20 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by No One Ever Does at 1:20 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I went into Ready Player One prepared to hate it based on metafilter's hot take, but it turned out to be a quick and enjoyable read.
The book has t has a cinematic sebse of pacing, where we spend the first half hour getting to know the characters in a small setting, then there is a twist, then the character overextends and learns a lesson & works toward reedeption. I thought the pop culture explanations were interesting because I like my reading to contain information even if it's useless information. I'm not a visual person so long visual descriptions bore me, and a lot of psychological insights in literary novels are banal.
Finally, the world building while silly does hit on something important about what happens to reality when we increasingly ignore it in favor of virtual worlds. That's an important issue and I was happy to read a novel length exploration of that idea, even one that had a silly videogame collect em all plot and 2D characters.
posted by subdee at 1:38 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
The book has t has a cinematic sebse of pacing, where we spend the first half hour getting to know the characters in a small setting, then there is a twist, then the character overextends and learns a lesson & works toward reedeption. I thought the pop culture explanations were interesting because I like my reading to contain information even if it's useless information. I'm not a visual person so long visual descriptions bore me, and a lot of psychological insights in literary novels are banal.
Finally, the world building while silly does hit on something important about what happens to reality when we increasingly ignore it in favor of virtual worlds. That's an important issue and I was happy to read a novel length exploration of that idea, even one that had a silly videogame collect em all plot and 2D characters.
posted by subdee at 1:38 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
This is why I have always HATED "Family Guy" and "Big Bang Theory"
Weirdly, I felt that the first couple of seasons of BBT actually had a fair number of references that at least made sense within the characters' world, rather than just being references for the sake of references. But that...sure stopped. Later-season Buffy got bad about this, too. You could just see the writers being so proud that they'd referenced something, without any apparent awareness that the usual point of a reference is to build some meaning.
On the non-geek front, apparently-newly-rediscovered-and-loved Frasier was just terrible about this. 90% of their "high culture" (let's be real, jumped-up-middlebrow) references were entirely empty. A joke about a chair doesn't become funny just because you mention it's a Biedermeier chair. (The occasional exceptions could be hilarious, though: "“‘The best revenge is living well.’ It's a wonderful expression. I just don't know how true it is. You don't see it turning up in a lot of opera plots. ‘Ludwig, maddened by the poisoning of his entire family, wreaks vengeance on Gunther in the third act by living well. Whereupon Wotan, upon discovering his deception, wreaks vengeance on Gunther in the third act again by living even better than the Duke.'”)
And Ocean's 13: nothing but a series of gestures to other, much better movies.
I like Mark Rylance (his Cromwell was inferior to Ben Miles's, but what can you do). His turning up here just puts a bad taste in my mouth.
posted by praemunire at 1:58 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Weirdly, I felt that the first couple of seasons of BBT actually had a fair number of references that at least made sense within the characters' world, rather than just being references for the sake of references. But that...sure stopped. Later-season Buffy got bad about this, too. You could just see the writers being so proud that they'd referenced something, without any apparent awareness that the usual point of a reference is to build some meaning.
On the non-geek front, apparently-newly-rediscovered-and-loved Frasier was just terrible about this. 90% of their "high culture" (let's be real, jumped-up-middlebrow) references were entirely empty. A joke about a chair doesn't become funny just because you mention it's a Biedermeier chair. (The occasional exceptions could be hilarious, though: "“‘The best revenge is living well.’ It's a wonderful expression. I just don't know how true it is. You don't see it turning up in a lot of opera plots. ‘Ludwig, maddened by the poisoning of his entire family, wreaks vengeance on Gunther in the third act by living well. Whereupon Wotan, upon discovering his deception, wreaks vengeance on Gunther in the third act again by living even better than the Duke.'”)
And Ocean's 13: nothing but a series of gestures to other, much better movies.
I like Mark Rylance (his Cromwell was inferior to Ben Miles's, but what can you do). His turning up here just puts a bad taste in my mouth.
posted by praemunire at 1:58 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Oh, and my personal Ready Player One for Girls wouldn't necessarily involve a radically different set of texts, but it sure would involve way more male characters making out with each other, albeit rather chastely. Not sure how you'd fit that in.
posted by praemunire at 2:01 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 2:01 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
Initial impression of RPO was — ha, yeah, it’s an okay popcorn book. Then I read it and the shine wore off. See, I listened to the audiobook first. Wil Wheaton’s charm and matching style with the hero worked so well that it managed to glide over the truly horrible aspects of the writing and plot points. Reading it in print, with no affect, and the prose left standing on its own? I got halfway thru then gave the book away.
posted by lemon_icing at 2:02 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by lemon_icing at 2:02 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
albeit rather chastely
Erm... not so much, based on my Survey Of The Material
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Erm... not so much, based on my Survey Of The Material
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I liked the book, but it had the wrong ending. If the movie gets to dip a little into the further implications of virtual people in a virtual world, I will be grateful.
posted by persona at 2:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by persona at 2:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
I think I started out, like you say, enjoying it as an okay popcorn book and the hate only began to hate it about half way in, but by the time I finished it I really fucking hated it. A curse on whatever fucker told me it was good.
Also I think I was waiting for some kind of shoe drop where the protagonist realizes retreating from the word into VR is maybe a bad thing or that new culture apparently ceased being produced at some point so that all that is left is endless recycling of corporate properties is maybe a problem, or, you know, amy kind of acknowledgement of how horrible and creepy any aspect of the premise is. It never came.
All of this is supposed to be unironically great, it’s horrifying.
posted by Artw at 2:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
Also I think I was waiting for some kind of shoe drop where the protagonist realizes retreating from the word into VR is maybe a bad thing or that new culture apparently ceased being produced at some point so that all that is left is endless recycling of corporate properties is maybe a problem, or, you know, amy kind of acknowledgement of how horrible and creepy any aspect of the premise is. It never came.
All of this is supposed to be unironically great, it’s horrifying.
posted by Artw at 2:13 PM on March 16, 2018 [18 favorites]
Oh, also that bit where the book “invents” quoting from movies as an “artform”? Fuck that bit in particular.
posted by Artw at 2:16 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Artw at 2:16 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
Oh, also that bit where the book “invents” quoting from movies as an “artform”? Fuck that bit in particular.
Yeah, us cool kids were doing that competitively in the 80's!
posted by GuyZero at 2:18 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah, us cool kids were doing that competitively in the 80's!
posted by GuyZero at 2:18 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
Erm... not so much, based on my Survey Of The Material
I am referring to what the '80s praemunire might most respond to. 21st-century, post-pubescent praemunire has a somewhat different set of desires.
posted by praemunire at 2:20 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I am referring to what the '80s praemunire might most respond to. 21st-century, post-pubescent praemunire has a somewhat different set of desires.
posted by praemunire at 2:20 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
the people who really hate the book are the ones who got all the references, i think. it’s just too much, it makes you feel embarrassed about yourself.
posted by vogon_poet at 2:24 PM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by vogon_poet at 2:24 PM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
It certainly wants to slap you on the back a lot for knowing things anyone even slightly nerdy who grew up during the 80s would know.
That’s the other weird thing about it - it’s essentially a YA book for 40 year olds.
posted by Artw at 2:36 PM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
That’s the other weird thing about it - it’s essentially a YA book for 40 year olds.
posted by Artw at 2:36 PM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
Oh, I should plug You by Austin Grossman if you want a novel full of 80's video game and D&D references that delivers slightly better. It's a much better example of how to make nostalgia work in a story. I think the Tor review is pretty accurate.
posted by GuyZero at 2:37 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 2:37 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
fluttering hellfire hot take: I am so tired of manchild stuff getting massive attention and budgets.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:41 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:41 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
I haven't read RPO, but my wife read it back around when it came out and enjoyed it. So I can't speak to the actual content of RPO, but I really liked this take from the Mary Sue, comparing it with "Jupiter Ascending" in terms of cultural expectations around male-focused low culture and women-focused low culture: Ready Player One, Jupiter Ascending, and Whose Derivative Trash Fire Is Allowed to Burn in Glory
posted by rmd1023 at 2:50 PM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 2:50 PM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
fluttering hellfire hot take: I am so tired of manchild stuff getting massive attention and budgets.
You think you're tired now
Ready Player One
2 Ready: Player 2
Ready Player One: Harajuku Drift
Readier and Playerer
Ready Five
Ready Player 6 (Super Smash edition)
Player 7 (PUBG edition)
The F8 of the PL8
posted by GuyZero at 2:53 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
You think you're tired now
Ready Player One
2 Ready: Player 2
Ready Player One: Harajuku Drift
Readier and Playerer
Ready Five
Ready Player 6 (Super Smash edition)
Player 7 (PUBG edition)
The F8 of the PL8
posted by GuyZero at 2:53 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
I vaguely recall some point in RPO where our hero saves the day by recalling in detail some detailed plot from an episode of Family Ties, and it struck me that this information about the character--who was not born in the 80s, did not grow up in the 80s, and yet spent enough time watching Family Ties that he was intimately familiar with specific details of specific episodes--was so fucking depressing, like the whole premise of this world of wankcraft I'm reading about is that the long media tail has curled in on itself sufficiently that you can dip into virtual reality and observe/consume/participate in basically anything--and you're close-watching reruns of Family motherfucking Ties?
and now it's a movie with floppy-haired anime clown avatars. I don't ever want to be nostalgic about anything ever again.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:03 PM on March 16, 2018 [25 favorites]
and now it's a movie with floppy-haired anime clown avatars. I don't ever want to be nostalgic about anything ever again.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:03 PM on March 16, 2018 [25 favorites]
I am so tired of manchild stuff getting massive attention and budgets.
Hey, the politics thread is that-a-way!
posted by FJT at 3:07 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Hey, the politics thread is that-a-way!
posted by FJT at 3:07 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
vogon_poet: the people who really hate the book are the ones who got all the references, i think. it’s just too much, it makes you feel embarrassed about yourself.
No. I get all the references, and they are tedious, and they are boring, but they are not why I hate the book (other than that the prose is incredibly badly written, and it's non-stop listing exposition for the first third and then bullshit casual every -ism you can think of stuffed into a shitty D&D campaign for the rest).
No, I really, really hate the book because it is a sexist, transphobic, fatphobic (boy howdy is it fatphobic), race-erasing, single-white-twelve-year-old-nerd-boy fantasy, with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who's "cool" because she's "not like other girls" (her avatar in the virtual reality isn't a super-skinny blonde with huge bazongas! She's so *different*!), and who (oh, spoiler, whatever, if you've read this far you have either read the book or don't care) is revealed to be afraid that Our Hero won't think she's pretty in Real Life because *drumroll* she has a birthmark on her face. Don't get me started about the bullshit "Asian gamer boys" tropes either.
But most of all, I hate it because Halliday's (the guy who created the virtual universe) entire motivation for creating OASIS was that THE GIRL HE LOVED MARRIED HIS BEST FRIEND, AND THEN SHE DIED.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your whole book is built on a friend-zone and a fridge.
Cline can get fucked, and anyone who thinks I hate the book because I'm somehow embarrassed that I remember the name of the computer from WarGames can get fucked too.
posted by tzikeh at 3:19 PM on March 16, 2018 [38 favorites]
No. I get all the references, and they are tedious, and they are boring, but they are not why I hate the book (other than that the prose is incredibly badly written, and it's non-stop listing exposition for the first third and then bullshit casual every -ism you can think of stuffed into a shitty D&D campaign for the rest).
No, I really, really hate the book because it is a sexist, transphobic, fatphobic (boy howdy is it fatphobic), race-erasing, single-white-twelve-year-old-nerd-boy fantasy, with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who's "cool" because she's "not like other girls" (her avatar in the virtual reality isn't a super-skinny blonde with huge bazongas! She's so *different*!), and who (oh, spoiler, whatever, if you've read this far you have either read the book or don't care) is revealed to be afraid that Our Hero won't think she's pretty in Real Life because *drumroll* she has a birthmark on her face. Don't get me started about the bullshit "Asian gamer boys" tropes either.
But most of all, I hate it because Halliday's (the guy who created the virtual universe) entire motivation for creating OASIS was that THE GIRL HE LOVED MARRIED HIS BEST FRIEND, AND THEN SHE DIED.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your whole book is built on a friend-zone and a fridge.
Cline can get fucked, and anyone who thinks I hate the book because I'm somehow embarrassed that I remember the name of the computer from WarGames can get fucked too.
posted by tzikeh at 3:19 PM on March 16, 2018 [38 favorites]
prize bull octorok, "world of wankcraft" is both a perfect descriptor and made me laugh like a banshee
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:21 PM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:21 PM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'd defend it as being vaguely pro net neutrality but yeah, must be remembered that in the world of this book literally one guy is kind of the internet, has refashioned the whole thing to suit his whimsical 80s bullshit, and as a final act of nonsense wants to appoint whoever is best at whimsical 80s bullshit as his successor as king of the internet.
posted by Artw at 3:23 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 3:23 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I knew nothing of the book till the movie chat came up and having not grown up in the US, I am not steeped in American pop culture so a lot of this commodification of nostalgia is just weird to me.
I did find this thread on Twitter about the book though and it is something.
Masturbation manifesto
And this transphobic bit. Charming.
posted by viramamunivar at 3:25 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I did find this thread on Twitter about the book though and it is something.
Masturbation manifesto
And this transphobic bit. Charming.
posted by viramamunivar at 3:25 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
WOPR or Joshua?
posted by praemunire at 3:33 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 3:33 PM on March 16, 2018 [4 favorites]
Not defending RP1 but
the character--who was not born in the 80s, did not grow up in the 80s, and yet spent enough time watching Family Ties that he was intimately familiar with specific details of specific episodes--was so fucking depressing
It's sort of supposed to be depressing? He didn't just randomly decide to pursue being an 80s maven, or fall in love with 80s crap. He pursued it to try to find that egg thing and become richer than God. Endlessly watching Family Ties, and endlessly playing Joust and Defender and Daggorath, all in the hopes of Winning, is pretty much the only career opportunity open to him.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:35 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
the character--who was not born in the 80s, did not grow up in the 80s, and yet spent enough time watching Family Ties that he was intimately familiar with specific details of specific episodes--was so fucking depressing
It's sort of supposed to be depressing? He didn't just randomly decide to pursue being an 80s maven, or fall in love with 80s crap. He pursued it to try to find that egg thing and become richer than God. Endlessly watching Family Ties, and endlessly playing Joust and Defender and Daggorath, all in the hopes of Winning, is pretty much the only career opportunity open to him.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:35 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
WOPR or Joshua?
I had assumed tzikeh meant the Imsai 8080...
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:36 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I had assumed tzikeh meant the Imsai 8080...
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:36 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
WOPR or Joshua?
you can't trick me I know Falken calls WOPR by his dead son's name and that it's also the password
So I'm an 80's nerd and you're an 80's nerd
WINNER: NONE
posted by tzikeh at 4:00 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
you can't trick me I know Falken calls WOPR by his dead son's name and that it's also the password
So I'm an 80's nerd and you're an 80's nerd
WINNER: NONE
posted by tzikeh at 4:00 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's sort of supposed to be depressing?
Is it though? I kept expecting that to be the point and other than the briefest of nods it really just isn’t.
posted by Artw at 4:02 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Is it though? I kept expecting that to be the point and other than the briefest of nods it really just isn’t.
posted by Artw at 4:02 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's the kind of thing that's kind of obvious looking around the book, like looking next to a dim star to see it, but isn't in it because Cline isn't a great author.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:15 PM on March 16, 2018
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:15 PM on March 16, 2018
Honestly I suspect you're imagining it's there because it's so weird that it isn't. Or maybe he makes greater handwaves towards it than I remember but all that WOOOHOO! RUSH ALBUM AS A VR SIM!!!! WOOGAH-WOOGAH!!!! shit drowns it out or makes me unwilling to give him the benefit of the doubt.
posted by Artw at 4:17 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 4:17 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
If this movie were made for an audience of women, it'd be excoriated and hated. It's little better than Fifty Shades or Twilight for boys, and it's getting a lot more respect.
I thought RPO was a fun beach read. Reading this point gives me a bit more understanding of the hate. (Funny thing is - I'm a woman and I was meh on Twilight and hated Fifty Shades and Jupiter Ascending. Not sure what that says about me...)
posted by rednikki at 5:06 PM on March 16, 2018
I thought RPO was a fun beach read. Reading this point gives me a bit more understanding of the hate. (Funny thing is - I'm a woman and I was meh on Twilight and hated Fifty Shades and Jupiter Ascending. Not sure what that says about me...)
posted by rednikki at 5:06 PM on March 16, 2018
Hot take: It would be good for Ready Player One to do well at the box office, because that would increase the chances of the adaptation of Snow Crash of ever getting made
posted by Apocryphon at 5:22 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 5:22 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
...or reduce it.
Maybe, like Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice being made getting the looming specter of a Batman vs Superman movie out of the way so people can move on to other things, this movie will be a net cultural good in that the ultimate referency reference movie will have been made and nobody will feel the need to repeat the excercise?
posted by Artw at 5:33 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Maybe, like Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice being made getting the looming specter of a Batman vs Superman movie out of the way so people can move on to other things, this movie will be a net cultural good in that the ultimate referency reference movie will have been made and nobody will feel the need to repeat the excercise?
posted by Artw at 5:33 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Snow Crash wasn't overly referential. We're not talking about Cory Doctorow's fiction here.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:39 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 5:39 PM on March 16, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am likewise against all films with Virtual Reality, on the grounds that it is boring.
posted by Artw at 5:45 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 5:45 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
A Snow Crash movie doing well at the box office would increase the chances for an adaptation of The Diamond Age ever getting made
posted by Apocryphon at 5:49 PM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 5:49 PM on March 16, 2018 [8 favorites]
Look I know you’re all building up to Neuromancer but it’s a canonical hell-freezes-over situation and never happening.
posted by Artw at 5:51 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:51 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
vogon_poet: "the people who really hate the book are the ones who got all the references, i think. it’s just too much, it makes you feel embarrassed about yourself."
This, exactly. Like, I seriously think Wargames is a solid film - I still enjoy it.. And after reading RPO, I feel ashamed for liking Wargames.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:56 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
This, exactly. Like, I seriously think Wargames is a solid film - I still enjoy it.. And after reading RPO, I feel ashamed for liking Wargames.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:56 PM on March 16, 2018 [5 favorites]
The prose in RPO was so insultingly bad that I didn't even get far enough into it to find out how fucking terrible it is on a moral axis, but wow that poetry linked above really clarifies the shape of the bullet I dodged in tossing it into the trash after twenty pages.
posted by invitapriore at 6:17 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by invitapriore at 6:17 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Look I know you’re all building up to Neuromancer but it’s a canonical hell-freezes-over situation and never happening.
Villaneuve will do it, and it will be unsatisfying in a way that is hard to articulate, but you'll be sure that it makes you feel dirty.
posted by invitapriore at 6:18 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Villaneuve will do it, and it will be unsatisfying in a way that is hard to articulate, but you'll be sure that it makes you feel dirty.
posted by invitapriore at 6:18 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ghost in the Shell has an American live-action treatment, Neuromancer is already assured. A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer deserves a prestige cable miniseries for its own sake.
posted by Apocryphon at 6:20 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Apocryphon at 6:20 PM on March 16, 2018 [10 favorites]
A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer deserves a prestige cable miniseries for its own sake.
...oh holy shit yes it does
posted by tzikeh at 6:30 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
...oh holy shit yes it does
posted by tzikeh at 6:30 PM on March 16, 2018 [7 favorites]
"Alex turned to Gertrude, in much the same way Martin Landau turned to Barbara Bain in the opening of Space: 1999."
posted by Navelgazer at 6:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 6:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I've just recently discovered Jenny and find a lot of her videos really funny, but I didn't get this. It was clear to me that she did get the references in the original book, but I didn't get why it was funny to swap out all the "boy" geek stuff with "girl" geek stuff. Can somebody please spell out what the joke is supposed to be? I haven't read the original book, although my girlfriend did and she liked it.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:28 PM on March 16, 2018
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:28 PM on March 16, 2018
Oh, I should plug You by Austin Grossman if you want a novel full of 80's video game and D&D references that delivers slightly better.
Or if the plot and VR stuff is more appealing to you, there's always Vernor Vinge's True Names.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:37 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
Or if the plot and VR stuff is more appealing to you, there's always Vernor Vinge's True Names.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:37 PM on March 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
> "I am likewise against all films with Virtual Reality, on the grounds that it is boring."
Wouldn't that essentially mean you are against all film that is film?
posted by kyrademon at 7:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wouldn't that essentially mean you are against all film that is film?
posted by kyrademon at 7:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ursula Hitler: I think it's just that the touchstones of culture that are typically "girl-targeted" from that era aren't given the sort of vaunted cred that the boys' stuff is, and so reading out a list of them (which is what RPO is like a whole lost of the time) both points out the misogyny inherent in that sort of this, as well as how empty's RPO's storytelling ultimately is. Like the post title says, "Reading lists of things I really like is really fun." That's the joke, because that's what a lot of RPO is.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 7:42 PM on March 16, 2018 [6 favorites]
Navelgazer, maybe I would have guessed that if it came from somebody else, but she seems really invested in a lot of "boy" geek pop culture stuff. (And note that I'm putting "boy" in quotes. I don't think Star Wars, etc., is exclusively for boys!) I get the feeling she'd be a lot more into Monty Python than Punky Brewster, you know? A lot of the stuff she was mentioning in the "girl version" seemed extra goofy, like things she might actually be snarking on because it annoyed her they'd be considered innately "girl". It sort of seemed like this was a slap at needlessly female-branded stuff in general, like "Legos for girls" and things like that, but if so RPO seemed like a strange thing to hang it on.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:00 PM on March 16, 2018
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:00 PM on March 16, 2018
(Funny thing is - I'm a woman and I was meh on Twilight and hated Fifty Shades and Jupiter Ascending. Not sure what that says about me...)
It means you grew up in a culture steeped in misogyny, like most of us, and couldn't avoid internalizing the idea that things aimed at women are frivolous and stupid. I don't say this as an insult - I was right there not that long ago. I'm also not saying Twilight and Jupiter Ascending etc. are good - the point is that that they're not good and aimed at women, so they are seen as deserving of hate and ridicule, whereas things that are not good in the same bland, author-insert-fantasy way but are aimed at men tend to get a pass. This is such an unquestioned reality, so much a part of the cultural water we swim in, that it's hard to even notice when we just roll with it.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 8:10 PM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
It means you grew up in a culture steeped in misogyny, like most of us, and couldn't avoid internalizing the idea that things aimed at women are frivolous and stupid. I don't say this as an insult - I was right there not that long ago. I'm also not saying Twilight and Jupiter Ascending etc. are good - the point is that that they're not good and aimed at women, so they are seen as deserving of hate and ridicule, whereas things that are not good in the same bland, author-insert-fantasy way but are aimed at men tend to get a pass. This is such an unquestioned reality, so much a part of the cultural water we swim in, that it's hard to even notice when we just roll with it.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 8:10 PM on March 16, 2018 [9 favorites]
It means you grew up in a culture steeped in misogyny, like most of us, and couldn't avoid internalizing the idea that things aimed at women are frivolous and stupid.
This.
Back in the '90s, fantasy coded as feminine, so I didn't read it. I read science fiction, which was coded male and (conveniently) cool and exciting.
So I'm reading some of that stuff now. And it's still ridiculous. But it's fun, and a lot of it is far more female-centric (even when it's still sexist) than the stuff I was reading at the time.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 8:33 PM on March 16, 2018
This.
Back in the '90s, fantasy coded as feminine, so I didn't read it. I read science fiction, which was coded male and (conveniently) cool and exciting.
So I'm reading some of that stuff now. And it's still ridiculous. But it's fun, and a lot of it is far more female-centric (even when it's still sexist) than the stuff I was reading at the time.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 8:33 PM on March 16, 2018
The hype for RPO bothers me mostly because I've always been leery of Gen-X nostalgia. I'm leery of it because I grew up Gen-X, which means I grew up swimming in baby boomer nostalgia, and I was fucking sick of it. Naturally I love our Gen-X shit, but do we have to shove it down the throats of younger generations like we had to constantly hear how great the '60s and '70s were? Why, God, why would we want to pull the same nauseating shit our parents pulled on us?
"Hey, man! Is that Freedom Rock?"
"Yeah, man!"
"Well turn it off."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:53 PM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
"Hey, man! Is that Freedom Rock?"
"Yeah, man!"
"Well turn it off."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:53 PM on March 16, 2018 [13 favorites]
It means you grew up in a culture steeped in misogyny, like most of us, and couldn't avoid internalizing the idea that things aimed at women are frivolous and stupid.
This isn't the first time I've heard a woman being told that the real reason she didn't like Twilight was because of internalized misogyny, but people (of all genders) can dislike a work of art for reasons that have nothing to do with sexism. Sure, sometimes people are unfairly harsh about a creator or a genre for sexist reasons... but maybe Rednikki just didn't like the book, and the gender of the author wasn't the real problem.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:28 AM on March 17, 2018
This isn't the first time I've heard a woman being told that the real reason she didn't like Twilight was because of internalized misogyny, but people (of all genders) can dislike a work of art for reasons that have nothing to do with sexism. Sure, sometimes people are unfairly harsh about a creator or a genre for sexist reasons... but maybe Rednikki just didn't like the book, and the gender of the author wasn't the real problem.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:28 AM on March 17, 2018
You can totally not like Twilight or any of the other stuff without it inherently being misogynistic. But I think there is the difference between "yeah, no, that thing is not my thing. didn't like it." and some of the "THIS IS THE TERRIBLE-EST THING TO EVER TERRIBLE" that's been thrown at things like Twilight. Frequently, that difference is sexism/misogyny.
I haven't seen "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", but everything I've heard makes it sound like it's pretty to look at but very mediocre. But that space opera doesn't get the spitting hate that "Jupiter Ascending" does. Both are disappointing-to-some big-budget space opera movies from the directors of much-loved action movies, but their reception is very different, and I think part of it is because who who the film resonates for.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:57 AM on March 17, 2018 [12 favorites]
I haven't seen "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", but everything I've heard makes it sound like it's pretty to look at but very mediocre. But that space opera doesn't get the spitting hate that "Jupiter Ascending" does. Both are disappointing-to-some big-budget space opera movies from the directors of much-loved action movies, but their reception is very different, and I think part of it is because who who the film resonates for.
posted by rmd1023 at 3:57 AM on March 17, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'm looking forward to the Millennial Ready Player One, with its dramatic race to gain control of PlayerUnknown's fortune and the future of Battlegrounds, and the climactic battle royale between teams of characters from Ninjago, Paw Patrol, Adventure Time, and... I dunno, emojis?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:11 AM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:11 AM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
I find it a little amusing that this blob of gen-x nostalgia is being made by the most boomer of boomer movie directors who created a lot of this ephemera in the first place.
posted by octothorpe at 5:40 AM on March 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 5:40 AM on March 17, 2018 [7 favorites]
Ninjago, Paw Patrol, Adventure Time, and... I dunno, emojis?
Minions. Minions everywhere.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:41 AM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
Minions. Minions everywhere.
posted by tobascodagama at 5:41 AM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
@starhound:
RIDDLE ME THIS
Where are all the Furries in Ready Player One?
You cannot for one second expect me to believe the Oasis wouldn't be, AT MINIMUM, 1/3 fursonas, chakats, wolftaurs, dragons, hybrids, ferals, and 6 dicked-84 nippled hyper furs
posted by Artw at 7:10 AM on March 17, 2018 [15 favorites]
RIDDLE ME THIS
Where are all the Furries in Ready Player One?
You cannot for one second expect me to believe the Oasis wouldn't be, AT MINIMUM, 1/3 fursonas, chakats, wolftaurs, dragons, hybrids, ferals, and 6 dicked-84 nippled hyper furs
posted by Artw at 7:10 AM on March 17, 2018 [15 favorites]
oh god, i just realised, this is the nerd version of slumdog millionaire.
posted by cendawanita at 10:48 AM on March 17, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 10:48 AM on March 17, 2018 [6 favorites]
I gave my friend the first two Laundry books by mefi's own cstross. She gave me a copy of RPO a year later. I don't know whether to be offended for Mr. Stross (his early Laundry books are a little popcornish, but still a great deal of fun and he is far superior writer) or myself (does she really think my taste is that bad?). I'm a late 80s, early 90s kid. I remember watching GI Joe and Thundercats, but barely. And my god, those properties have aged poorly. ET and the Goonies were ok. There were eight Friday the 13th movies. Sturgeon's law more than applies to 80's nostalgia.
posted by Hactar at 11:20 AM on March 17, 2018
posted by Hactar at 11:20 AM on March 17, 2018
But I think there is the difference between "yeah, no, that thing is not my thing. didn't like it." and some of the "THIS IS THE TERRIBLE-EST THING TO EVER TERRIBLE" that's been thrown at things like Twilight. Frequently, that difference is sexism/misogyny.
Except Rednikki wasn't exactly going off on a vitriolic rant. She was actually saying "yeah, no, that thing is not my thing. didn't like it" to Twilight, she literally went meh at it, and you were telling her that the reason she didn't care for it was because she grew up in a misogynistic culture. People can "hate" a movie for their own reasons, and those reasons aren't inevitably sexist.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:46 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Except Rednikki wasn't exactly going off on a vitriolic rant. She was actually saying "yeah, no, that thing is not my thing. didn't like it" to Twilight, she literally went meh at it, and you were telling her that the reason she didn't care for it was because she grew up in a misogynistic culture. People can "hate" a movie for their own reasons, and those reasons aren't inevitably sexist.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:46 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
RIDDLE ME THIS
Where are all the Furries in Ready Player One?
You cannot for one second expect me to believe the Oasis wouldn't be, AT MINIMUM, 1/3 fursonas, chakats, wolftaurs, dragons, hybrids, ferals, and 6 dicked-84 nippled hyper furs
Right?
Leaving aside all other, (far more important), problems with RP1... I've been to SL. I know what a freeform VR space looks like when people start picking their own avatars, and honestly, this'd be the least of it.
posted by mordax at 8:49 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Where are all the Furries in Ready Player One?
You cannot for one second expect me to believe the Oasis wouldn't be, AT MINIMUM, 1/3 fursonas, chakats, wolftaurs, dragons, hybrids, ferals, and 6 dicked-84 nippled hyper furs
Right?
Leaving aside all other, (far more important), problems with RP1... I've been to SL. I know what a freeform VR space looks like when people start picking their own avatars, and honestly, this'd be the least of it.
posted by mordax at 8:49 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
There were eight Friday the 13th movies.
Wait are you trying to do a "Shame they never made a sequel to Highlander" to Jason X? I won't have it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:57 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wait are you trying to do a "Shame they never made a sequel to Highlander" to Jason X? I won't have it.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:57 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
the point is that that they're not good and aimed at women, so they are seen as deserving of hate and ridicule,
Yeah, and that's kind of why I've been pulling back on making fun of anyone's media, regardless of who it's for. I feel if someone like's something, it's more important to be positive and find out more about it. But not everyone share's that view, because the internet rewards being snarky and ridiculing things people like. "Hate"-watching (or reading, etc.) is a thing.
posted by FJT at 9:13 PM on March 17, 2018
Yeah, and that's kind of why I've been pulling back on making fun of anyone's media, regardless of who it's for. I feel if someone like's something, it's more important to be positive and find out more about it. But not everyone share's that view, because the internet rewards being snarky and ridiculing things people like. "Hate"-watching (or reading, etc.) is a thing.
posted by FJT at 9:13 PM on March 17, 2018
So delighted by this video, she's just spot on and hilarious.
I'm firmly in the "meh" camp on RPO.
But this is reminding me of one other thing, tangentially related: after reading J.G. Ballard's "Crash", I thought: "Hmm, I just read a whole novel that assumes you can be titillated by something I find boring or awful. This must be what it's like for women or minorities to read some of the cheesy white-American-man-conquers-the-galaxy sci-fi I grew up on." Which at some level I took to be Ballard's point. (I'm probably wrong about that, but that's what I got from it.)
posted by otherthings_ at 11:58 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm firmly in the "meh" camp on RPO.
But this is reminding me of one other thing, tangentially related: after reading J.G. Ballard's "Crash", I thought: "Hmm, I just read a whole novel that assumes you can be titillated by something I find boring or awful. This must be what it's like for women or minorities to read some of the cheesy white-American-man-conquers-the-galaxy sci-fi I grew up on." Which at some level I took to be Ballard's point. (I'm probably wrong about that, but that's what I got from it.)
posted by otherthings_ at 11:58 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
RP1 was recommended to me on askMefi so I’m somewhat surprised at all the vitriol here. I enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed Da Vinci Code - scavenger hunts!!! The transphobia did bother me though and I’m not going to defendyhr book. Just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also Millenial/Gen Z RP1 is basically Homestuck.
posted by divabat at 1:41 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also Millenial/Gen Z RP1 is basically Homestuck.
posted by divabat at 1:41 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also Millenial/Gen Z RP1 is basically Homestuck.
Shit, you're right.
posted by tobascodagama at 6:58 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Shit, you're right.
posted by tobascodagama at 6:58 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Ursula Hitler: you were telling her that the reason she didn't care for it was because she grew up in a misogynistic culture.
Are you misattributing my comment? I most explicitly did not tell her that. The bit you quoted from me above comes after the very first sentence of my comment, which was You can totally not like Twilight or any of the other stuff without it inherently being misogynistic, so please do not attribute to me a position that I didn't advocate and that I led off my comment by explicitly disagreeing with.
My intent was to support the idea that someone could not enjoy Twilight without it being due to sexism, but then also point out that some of the criticism of it - in particular the more vehement vitriolic criticism - often does stem from that.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:59 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Are you misattributing my comment? I most explicitly did not tell her that. The bit you quoted from me above comes after the very first sentence of my comment, which was You can totally not like Twilight or any of the other stuff without it inherently being misogynistic, so please do not attribute to me a position that I didn't advocate and that I led off my comment by explicitly disagreeing with.
My intent was to support the idea that someone could not enjoy Twilight without it being due to sexism, but then also point out that some of the criticism of it - in particular the more vehement vitriolic criticism - often does stem from that.
posted by rmd1023 at 9:59 AM on March 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
Are you misattributing my comment?
Sorry, I was. I thought your comment was a follow-up from gloriouslyincandescent.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:47 PM on March 18, 2018
Sorry, I was. I thought your comment was a follow-up from gloriouslyincandescent.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:47 PM on March 18, 2018
Commenters at ILX get it exactly right:
god how amazing would it be if the Dukes of Hazzard and Clyde out of Every Which Way But Loose were in thisposted by octobersurprise at 11:08 AM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
― as the crows around me grows (Noodle Vague), Friday, 16 March 2018 13:42 (three days ago) Permalink
giant Arnold Jackson battlebot
― as the crows around me grows (Noodle Vague), Friday, 16 March 2018 13:43 (three days ago) Permalink
the duke boys and clyde team up to impregnate sonic the hedgehog as battlecat looks on
― in conclusion, it is good to peel the sheeps (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 16 March 2018 13:45 (three days ago) Permalink
some Dino Riders, Snorks, and Skeletor all part of gun-running venture
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Friday, 16 March 2018 13:45 (three days ago) Permalink
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. But I remember a time when I was young, when an older generation bored us stupid with catchphrases from Max "The Cheeky Chappie" Miller, and humming the stupid Sand Dance tune from Wilson, Keppel and Betty. Fear not, young people. Your time will come. Eventually.
You are in luck, Stephen Toast and Ray Bloody Purchase performed the Sand Dance for all of your Wilson, Keppel and Betty nostalgia needs.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:53 PM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
You are in luck, Stephen Toast and Ray Bloody Purchase performed the Sand Dance for all of your Wilson, Keppel and Betty nostalgia needs.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:53 PM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Well, well, well...
posted by Artw at 6:56 PM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:56 PM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Vox has a good piece about why the movie version of Ready Player One is landing with a thud when the book was lauded. (TL;DR: GamerGate changed how we look at geek identity and nostalgia, and caused us to better see the toxicity in the book.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:45 AM on March 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:45 AM on March 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
Thought I had on that:
There are people who play games.
Gamers play games and have a subcultural identity around playing games.
Gamer Gate folk play games, have a subcultural identity, and believe their subculture is being destroyed by SJWs and normies.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 10:25 AM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are people who play games.
Gamers play games and have a subcultural identity around playing games.
Gamer Gate folk play games, have a subcultural identity, and believe their subculture is being destroyed by SJWs and normies.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 10:25 AM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
They are people for whom gatekeeping is the most important piece of fandom and because of the psychological vulnerabilities inherent in such a worldview are all very easily gameable.
So the name fits.
posted by Artw at 10:28 AM on March 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
So the name fits.
posted by Artw at 10:28 AM on March 27, 2018 [5 favorites]
Regarding 372 Pages: I was surprised when watching the final episode of the newest season of MST3K to discover that Cline was credited as a writer. I reached out on Twitter to Mike Nelson and 372 Pages about it, but haven't heard back. I feel like I'm the only person in the world to find this out and be baffled by it. Is there some history there?
posted by subocoyne at 12:48 PM on March 27, 2018
posted by subocoyne at 12:48 PM on March 27, 2018
subocoyne: Mike Nelson isn't involved at all with the new MST3k, except for the occasional bit of RiffTrax cross-promotion.
posted by SansPoint at 12:50 PM on March 27, 2018
posted by SansPoint at 12:50 PM on March 27, 2018
I'm aware of that, but it just seems really strange to me that on his podcast, Mike hasn't acknowledged that he and Cline both wrote for the same show (even if they were different versions). I feel it must be that he's unaware of it, since it was a credit for just one episode, but still. Also I'm not sure if Cline is someone who I should definitely expect or not expect to be credited in MST3K and how much to obsess about it.
posted by subocoyne at 12:56 PM on March 27, 2018
posted by subocoyne at 12:56 PM on March 27, 2018
One of the Kickstarter rewards was to join as a writer and get credit for one episode. I don't doubt Cline could have dropped $10k for that, especially after selling the movie rights for RPO.
posted by SansPoint at 1:27 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 1:27 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
That totally explains it! Thank you, SansPoint!
posted by subocoyne at 1:36 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by subocoyne at 1:36 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Excerpts from My Upcoming Novel, Ready Player Two: Girl Stuff
“You villain!” I shouted, as I swung my keyblade. “You’re just as bad as Evil Willow in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!”posted by jeather at 10:15 AM on March 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
“Please,” my arch-nemesis, Sephiroth But Also A Wolf, rolled her eyes. “The real villain of season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was Buffy.”
I gasped. Could she be using subjective thematic analysis against me, instead of just knowledge of trivia? Unthinkable.
I ran a proud hand over the side of my spaceship that was shaped like a Lisa Frank dolphin. I had won it in a bet with my friend Snapewife over how many Pirates of the Caribbean movies there were. Back then, she had called it the Sparkleship, but I wanted a more intellectual, literary name. So I re-named it Astolat, after my favorite fan-fiction author.—EXCERPTS FROM MY UPCOMING NOVEL, READY PLAYER TWO: GIRL STUFF by NAT SILVERMAN
Single link McSweeney's. Sorry if it's been posted here, god this thread is long
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:10 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
omfg just kill me now, I started at the top and did find it. Jeather, you take the first blow
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:11 PM on March 29, 2018
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:11 PM on March 29, 2018
‘Ready Player One’ seems like a celebration of fandom. It’s actually a dire warning.
(It’s also true that “Ready Player One” quietly rebukes the idea that giving women and people of color the opportunity to tell their own stories would automatically result in very different stories getting told. Aech’s race and gender don’t mean that she plays as a version of Audre Lorde; rather, her avatar is a formidable, orc-like brawler and engineer, and Wade spends much of the movie assuming she’s a man. Art3mis isn’t just a woman; her avatar is the Oasis’s version of a Cool Girl, an expert gamer who looks equally good in leather motorcycle gear or a ballgown, drives a motorcycle and is lethal with a gun.)posted by jeather at 1:05 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
READY PLAYER TWO: GIRL STUFF
Ready Player One but make it fashion—
Ready Player One but make it Theory—
Ready Player One but make it surfer—
Ready Player One but make it Hanna-Barbera—
Ready Player One but make it Post-Colonial—
Ready Player One but make it just intonation—
Ready Player One but make it "Condition of England" novels—
Ready Player One but make it tentacle porn—
Ready Player One but make it silly putty newspaper lift-offs—
Ready Player One but make it Bible—
Ready Player One but make it Tudors—
Ready Player One but make it proletariat—
Ready Player One but make it Dada—
Ready Player One but make it Viking—
Ready Player One but make it Fifty Shades of Ready Player One—
Ready Player One but make it single-celled organisms—
Ready Player One but make it the Harlem Renaissance—
Ready Player One but make it 志怪小说—
Ready Player One but make it Pantone—
Ready Player One but make it Châtelperronian—
Ready Player One but make it legumes—
Ready Player One but make it Apichatpong Weerasethakul—
Ready Player One but make it 🥓🦄🐦🎅🏽💃🏻👻🤡💅—
....
posted by octobersurprise at 6:37 AM on March 30, 2018
Ready Player One but make it fashion—
Ready Player One but make it Theory—
Ready Player One but make it surfer—
Ready Player One but make it Hanna-Barbera—
Ready Player One but make it Post-Colonial—
Ready Player One but make it just intonation—
Ready Player One but make it "Condition of England" novels—
Ready Player One but make it tentacle porn—
Ready Player One but make it silly putty newspaper lift-offs—
Ready Player One but make it Bible—
Ready Player One but make it Tudors—
Ready Player One but make it proletariat—
Ready Player One but make it Dada—
Ready Player One but make it Viking—
Ready Player One but make it Fifty Shades of Ready Player One—
Ready Player One but make it single-celled organisms—
Ready Player One but make it the Harlem Renaissance—
Ready Player One but make it 志怪小说—
Ready Player One but make it Pantone—
Ready Player One but make it Châtelperronian—
Ready Player One but make it legumes—
Ready Player One but make it Apichatpong Weerasethakul—
Ready Player One but make it 🥓🦄🐦🎅🏽💃🏻👻🤡💅—
....
posted by octobersurprise at 6:37 AM on March 30, 2018
Moviebob: How Ready Player One fixes Ready Player One
posted by cendawanita at 10:18 PM on April 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by cendawanita at 10:18 PM on April 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Jenny Nicholson's back again with a list of things that made her go "hmmm."
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:14 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:14 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
« Older This lightweight shield provides backing vocals | Gripping music, ain't it. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Actually, one more thing: the protagonist in the RPO movie looks like M*lo, and now that I've mentioned it you all won't be able to unsee it either.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:29 AM on March 16, 2018 [11 favorites]