Over-Competent Characters and Ready Player One
- Jules Robinson
- Jan 28, 2019
- 4 min read
I had trouble deciding what bugged me about the 2018 release of effect-heavy, reference-obsessed Ready Player One. Because there was a fair amount.
Just for complete transparency, I haven’t read the Ernest Cline source material or ‘book’ as we’ll soon no longer need to say because adaptations are all that we have THEY’RE ALL WE CAN BANK ON. Me not having read the book means that, for a large part, I’ll have to do a lot of assuming. I’ve no idea how well the story was adapted from the original or if my criticisms should be directed more towards Ernest Cline’s work (I expect so) rather than Steven Speilberg’s (usually does a good flick, seems nice). Should I have read the book? Probably. Will I eventually? No. These reviews aren’t my actual job and my actual job means that I have little time for ‘research’ or ‘trying’.
Back to my original point, I wasn’t big on Ready Player One. It didn’t tickle my fancy. And rather than waffle on, I thought I’d pull out the thing that irked me the most; I had a problem with main character Wade Watts.
Wade is your average guy, doing things in his average, everyday life averagely. The film demonstrates Wade’s averageness in two ways: showing his merge living situation in a world overcrowded with debris and also by not giving him a personality. Wade’s unfortunate and depressing existence contrasts to that of virtual reality dreamscape The Oasis, in which vast numbers of people log into to explore, build, fight and do cool stuff as their avatar. Wade, whilst being just your normal, average Joe also happens to know essentially everything there is to know about The Oasis and also it’s creator James Halliday who’s left a load of Bitcoin in a special secret place that only a true fan will be able to find.
When I said that our main character has no personality, I was being kind of harsh as there are 3 main components to what makes Wade up. (side note: ‘What Makes Wade Up’ would be an excellent name for a band, you can just Paypal me for the copyright). These 3 things are:
1. He’s SUPER into The Oasis and Halliday which means that
2. He’s written as a bit of nerdy shy guy which uh-oh
3. Means lots of awkward interactions which his Avatar crush
Wade’s Wants (1st Album) are limited to finding the fortune and getting a girlfriend. Wade’s Needs are… like… believing in himself? Or something? Wade knows EVERYTHING. Sure, it appears as if he ‘figures things out’ along the way but so much of this movie is Wade going “oh yeah, I remember Halliday loved *insert obscure reference*”. Obviously, continuous rolling footage of him reading books about nerding out wouldn’t have been interesting but Wade can also, conveniently, DO everything too.
Wade never seems to struggle at any point. Sure, he has friends who help out but Wade is, intrinsically, an expert at all games within The Oasis. “But Jules! What about the bad guys, they’re the antagonising force and there’s plenty of films where the hero is good at stuff!” First of all, don’t interrupt me. Second, having only the antagonist get in the way of a character’s needs (which, okay, let’s ASSUME are ‘believe in yourself’) isn’t nearly as effective if the main character isn’t also getting in their own way somehow. Especially if that need is emotional (which a good need should be). Thirdly, there have been plenty of classics in which the protagonist is super-efficient but let’s take a quick look at a couple so I can show you the difference.
In Good Will Hunting, Will Hunting is a certifiable genius. He’s so mega-smart that his life should be subsequently served on a silver platter but instead Will continuously gets in his own way. Will KNOWS a lot but can’t actually DO the hard work needed, he struggles with emotions and can’t push himself to do better. He’s like a boffin who doesn’t know how to Life.
Another example but in reverse is Die Hard in which John McClane can DO just about anything, he’s a street-smart cop who can physically out-perform any crook. The problem is, John is caught unawares and spends most of the movie trying to KNOW more about the villains and their plan. On top of that, at the beginning of the film, John doesn’t know how to connect to his estranged wife, it’s only after some near-death experiences that John can show her his love through a way he knows how- brilliantly choreographed violence.
Each character needs a set of strengths and weaknesses, a yin and a yang, a dialogue of doing over saying, if you will. The problem with Wade Watts (2nd album, badly received) is that he’s privy to too much and struggling with too little. He’s essentially a protagonist Mary Sue (hilariously named Gary Stu for males because GENDER BINARY). This is a character created to effortlessly deploy wisdom unto others and Wade seems to fit that mould well, perhaps with a dash of author-insert thrown in for good measure. Let’s just take a minute to imagine Ready Player One except Wade is only really good at playing video games and needs to find out more about Halliday to succeed. OR he’s learnt everything there is to know but has terrible hand-eye coordination. Wouldn’t it have felt like a more satisfying story if Wade actually overcame something in order to reach his goals? I certainly think so.
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