Ready Player One
Directed by Steven Spielberg
(Rated PG-13, 2018)
Editor’s note: The following review contains many spoilers about the content of the film. The podcast conversation also touches on subject matter not covered in the written review.
“Ernest Cline’s 2011 science fiction novel Ready Player One tells the story of a dystopian society in the near future where people spend most of their waking hours inside a virtual reality simulation called the OASIS where they can live out any fantasy they can imagine. After the creator of the OASIS (James Halliday, played by Mark Rylance) dies, it is revealed that he has embedded a series of video game-like puzzles within the OASIS. The first person to solve the puzzles will inherit Halliday’s stock and become an instant billionaire. The trick is that the solution to the puzzles require exhaustive knowledge of 1980s nerd culture.”
Some of the themes discussed in this podcast episode are virtual reality, video gaming, technology, religion in a technology-centered dystopian future, the themes of Spielberg films, and how to use this film as an apologetics tool.
This Postmodern Realities episode is a conversation with Journal author John McAteer about online-exclusive film review called Spielberg’s Nostalgia for Reality in Ready Player One.”
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