Ready Player One, the film of the book

I mostly agree, though I will say that I thought Daito and Shoto being cringey was basically the point. They're turbonerds who are obsessed with Japanese pop culture specifically in addition to the general 80s pop culture thing that all of the egg hunters are. I mean, they named themselves after samurai swords. I never took their portrayal to be "this is what Ernest Cline thinks Japanese people are like", which seems to be the main complaint about them. Admittedly, this is a problem of representation (if you only have one member of a group in a work, then people take them as being representative of the group whether you intend them to be or not), but 1) it's a first-person novel and Parzival doesn't have any reason to know anyone else from Japan, and 2) the story has a really minimal cast anyway — there are basically a half-dozen characters in the entire book. (Parzival, Aech, Artemis, Daito + Shoto are essentially one character, Sorrento, and Og. You could make an argument for Halliday as a Posthumous Character too, which would make seven.)

I think that's giving it a bit too much credit since all the other High Five are also turbonerds, but they're also Cool Loser incarnate. Even if you're not saying "all Japanese are like this" you're still treading into uncomfortable territory if you're going "everyone not Japanese isn't like this, and all the Japanese you see are." Especially since as you point out, they're portrayed as The Dividual which not only means that they should serve as two points of reference but don't, and has its own unfortunate implications.

edited 17th Jan '18 10:21:37 AM by Larkmarn

Agreed.

I'm not quite sure how them being 'cringy' is the point. Mostly because my turn back on that would be 'To what end?'. There are a lot of points where there are small moments like the bowing and I think there was something with the dialogue (was it word choice? Or was it the honorifics?I can't remember) that just didn't really serve any purpose or joke except 'These are Japanese people and this is what they do'. I never felt like there was a wink to the audience of 'See how uncomfortable this is'.

Not to mention that they're actual Japanese people. I don't quite get what the joke even IS. 'Oh! Japanese people acting really stereotypical'? I mean, if one of them was a white American teenager who used things improperly to the other's frustration and trying to teach him better, that could have an interesting dynamic and conflict between the two. They genuinely love each other as brothers, even if they get on each other's nerves and try to teach the other better.

Either way, it doesn't change that, should it be 'the point' that they're stereotypical, it does nothing to the criticism that they are in the first place.

I hope this is the official poster they will put into multiplexes.◊

This was done by Paul Shipper, an artist known for emulating Drew Struzan's painted style for movie posters. Since the story is one big love letter to the 80s, it makes sense to get him.

edited 13th Feb '18 9:24:22 PM by DS9guy

Even the poster is pure Memberberries.

Anyone seen this yet?

And yes, that is indeed a remix of the song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which is funny in a meta sense when you realize Willy Wonka himself (the late Gene Wilder) was approached by Spielberg to be in the movie as the maker of the OASIS (IIRC), but he (Gene Wilder) respectfully declined.

EDIT: Made a goof.

edited 17th Feb '18 8:17:37 AM by TargetmasterJoe

Saw the trailer before Black Panther, I am intrigued. I only caught a glimpse of Overwatch's Tracer in it - but let's be honest, if Commander Shepard is there even for only two seconds, I have to see this movie.

Man, Hello Kitty keeps showing up in awesome trailers.

Saw the trailer before Black Panther; did not like it. Seemed like a very paint-by-numbers Special White Boy plot. I wondered why the music seemed familiar; didn’t realize it was the Willy Wonka music.

I think Special Geek plot is more accurate. “I’m a geek! Video games! Non conformity! Schoolhouse Rock!” And then that makes him special and win the day with his otherwise useless geek skills.

To me, the appeal/hook of the book is, "Hey, you know all that totally useless nerd trivia you've accumulated over the years? Well, what if it was actually good for something?"

I think that's pretty benign, as fantasies go.

So they released a ton of spoof posters for the movie which are again, an exercise in nostalgia.

https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/971056818112917505?s=21

Am I the only one who feels like the Iron Giant being treated as a standard war mecha is kinda missing the point of the movie?

“I am not a gun. ...THIS is a gun.”

edited 7th Mar '18 11:13:54 AM by Tuckerscreator

Well, the central focus on reference culture is in making references, not comprehending the context and meaning of what you're referencing. So at least it's true to life.

It would still just be a massive epitome of the film if the Iron Giant shows up and goes full 'Mech Titan' on them. That's so unbelievably out of character.

Though, considering a lot of these properties have contracts wrapped up in their appearence in the film, shouldn't that be stuff in the contract about Iron Giant? That it be faithful to the film?

I think that won't be a concern because WB owns almost all the references present.

Saw the trailer on Annihilation. Looks like one of those things that could be either really good or really stupid with little middle ground.

The Iron Giant in Ready Player One is not the Iron Giant in The Iron Giant. Talking about it acting out of character when it's literally not the same character confuses me.

It’s a point about how shallow and dumb a lot of these references are, that using the Iron Giant for your “pop culture ultimate battle!” with no deeper thought shows how worthless it all is, yanking the nostalgia chain as if it was a checklist.

edited 7th Mar '18 3:51:05 PM by Beatman1

Honestly they should have just replaced him with the Gundam.

Then people would complain about Gundam

You just can't win

It's a book about 80s nostalgia and celebrating it as well as talking about how sometimes it goes too far and people complain about it being a celebration of 80s nostalgia.

If you don't want to see it, don't see it.

Don't complain about that cat not being a dog.

At least that fits thematically.

Mature very mature.