Ready Player 1 Industrial Light & Magic
narrative
It also became easier to get educated in the OASIS' top-of-the-line public schools. The OASIS raised children and shielded them from the dark world they were born into. OASIS also stored catalogs of all of the information in recorded history. Anyone could learn anything in the OASIS, barred by nothing, not even each other, as the schools were non-PvP zones.
to find the First Key, and his life is changed overnight. He must face evil, embodied in the company IOI and its corporate soldiers, the Sixers
he novel satirizes modern society and culture and gives a chilling image of what the world could become as we withdraw further and further into our technologies to escape an increasingly depressing reality
The protagonist, Wade, is set on finding three keys left behind by the deceased creator of OASIS, James Donovan Halliday, to gain access to Halliday's vast fortune in the real world.
near-future dystopia where an internet-like virtual simulation called the OASIS has become an integral part of society
Furthermore, this sense of dystopia is perhaps more inflicted by the IOI Corporation, who seek to gain power by solving Halliday’s riddles and finding the Easter egg. Seemingly, the only character that airs concerns about the world outside the OASIS is Art3mis. She claims that if she inherits Halliday’s fortune, she would use it to save the planet
after creating an environmentally degraded planet, the human race does not attempt to save the planet. Instead, they escape from it through the OASIS
there are those who suffer and those who do not. Wade is included in the former group and spends the first part of the novel in a "stack," where renters pay extraordinary amounts to inhabit tiny spaces.
As a novel set in 2045 while the world contends with fossil fuel and global warming crises
technical production & process
ILM VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISING PRODUCER
Luke O'Byrne
ILM SENIOR VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCER
Ann Podlozny
ILM VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCER
Abbigail Keller
ILM VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISORS
Daniele Bigi
Dave Dally
Themes
80s
Game references.
The eighties are not only a cultural era, but the key to understanding Halliday, and therefore his Easter egg.
In '80s films, these misunderstood warriors with hearts of gold achieve feats of heroism against all odds, beat back the bullies and save the day.
Dungeons & Dragons to Pacman.
Popular entertainment-movies, comics, and song lyrics of the eighties act as the cipher to cracking Halliday’s code.
Many of the characters are directly lifted from '80s films and video games, with everyone from Freddy Krueger to Duke Nukem to Hello Kitty making an appearance
Relationships
Wade finds himself falling in love with Art3mis, but she doubts his judgment, deeming a relationship in the OASIS insincere. It is only at this point that Wade begins to question the sustainability of the OASIS.
Since Wade's only family is an aunt who sells his possessions,
It can be seen as a pivotal point in the novel when Wade meets Aech in reality and discovers he is not a white boy but an African-American girl. While there is much to say about this scene, Wade seems to gloss over its importance. He acknowledges that despite the difference in gender, Aech is still his friend.
Perhaps the strangest part of this friendship is very easily overlooked: they only know each other’s avatars and have never met. (this i can explain)
The novel opens with a strong emphasis on Wade’s friendship with Aech. Since Wade's only family is an aunt who sells his possessions, this sense of friendship is important to him
Political
he Contest itself can be understood as an allegory for labor in our society, where the dwindling middle class stays complicit with the system because it has been convinced that its struggles are only a temporary embarrassment. But even though the contest could be accessed by anyone, it is only a select number of people who end up truly competing for the egg
late-stage capitalism, and how a few become very rich while the majority suffer in poverty
