Ready Player One: Unfaithfully Decently Made
/
Story by Ernest CLine
When books are turned into movies, changes are often implemented. It could be to shorten the script, or to take out pieces that might not work on screen. One of the most famous examples is in Harry Potter, when they removed the poltergeist Peeves from the movies because of time constraints. These changes are often points of controversy for fans, as they feel like the product loses a piece of its identity. However, that’s not how I feel about Ready Player One.
Published in 2011 and authored by Ernest Cline, Steven Spielberg took it upon himself to turn the cult-classic book about everything 1980’s pop culture into a blockbuster movie. Financially it was a success, gathering over 600 million USD at the box office, but it left more than a couple of fans with complaints. Most of these stemmed from the immense number of changes made in the adaptation, almost to the point where it felt like a movie that shared the same name and some similarities, but nothing past that. It wasn’t an adaptation, but a modernization.
The story of Ready Player One is simple and fun. It’s the near future, and the world’s gone to shit. People spend most of their time in a virtual reality game called The OASIS. The creator of the game, a man named James Halliday died and released three keys locked behind riddles and challenges for anyone to find. They lead to the ultimate prize, his fortune of a quarter-trillion dollars, and control of the OASIS. Following our hero Wade Watts, we watch him through his journey to collect those keys, open the three gates, all while finding love and fending off the big bad IOI, a company that wants to take control of the game for their own nefarious means.
Does it Work?
Poster COurtesy of Warner Bros.
The book and movie follow basically the same plot, but that’s where the similarities end. Sure, the characters might have the same names, but the bulk of the action is almost entirely different. That’s where most people’s gripes start with the movie. In the book, The OASIS is dominated by 1980s video games and pop culture. The movie takes a different route, modernizing it to a huge extent. There are still references, but it is clearly made for a younger audience. Maybe it’s because I’m younger, but I don’t think it’s a bad change. The term I came up with when diving back into this world is the very same as the title for this post. It’s unfaithfully decently made.
Every moment in the action doesn’t need to be the same for the movie to work. It can also be hard to have moments translate from a page to the screen. A regular sized dude fighting an undead king not in hand-to-hand combat but battling it out on two arcade cabinets might not look good on screen. Replacing it with a crazy race through Manhattan where people get eaten by King Kong makes it easier for a younger audience to get excited. Some people might hate it, but I can see the fun. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
So, why?
I think the answer is simple. Money. Ready Player One is a great book, but it’s also written with a specific audience in mind, 1980s kids. Every movie, every game, every song or artist referenced is from that time. Hell, one of the challenges in the book requires the characters to go through a Tyrell Corporation building from Blade Runner! It’s not something every kid going to the movies in 2018 is going to get, so they filled the movie with stuff like Minecraft, and Overwatch.
I’ve come to see the movie and book of Ready Player One as two separate entities. When comparing them, one can easily tell that one originated from the other, but it's also evident that they were created for two different audiences from two separate eras. Despite that, they both work. The plot is strong enough to hold the movie together, and it ends up being enjoyable all the way through. It might not be for everyone, but it works for me, and that’s all I care about.
Nate Brown is a professional writing student at Algonquin College. When he’s not learning the tips and tricks of the craft, he spends far too much time annoying his family with useless movie facts, and every little gripe he has. His first attempt at writing happened when he was 7, and while it didn’t get very far, the writing bug took hold early, influenced by a childhood of reading. Dreams of his own stories turning into books and movies has led Nate to consume every piece of media he can, and critiquing everything was just a natural course to follow.
