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Movie Analysis Paper

The paper analyzes the film 'Ready Player One', focusing on the various forms of communication depicted among characters, particularly Wade Watts and Samantha Cook. It explores their evolving romantic relationship and the friendship between Wade and Aech, highlighting how their interactions shift from friendly to complicated and back to supportive as they navigate the challenges of the OASIS and real life. The analysis emphasizes the importance of clarity in communication and how face-to-face interactions enhance relationships.

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2 views7 pages

Movie Analysis Paper

The paper analyzes the film 'Ready Player One', focusing on the various forms of communication depicted among characters, particularly Wade Watts and Samantha Cook. It explores their evolving romantic relationship and the friendship between Wade and Aech, highlighting how their interactions shift from friendly to complicated and back to supportive as they navigate the challenges of the OASIS and real life. The analysis emphasizes the importance of clarity in communication and how face-to-face interactions enhance relationships.

Uploaded by

derekwalker06
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Movie Analysis Paper

Ready Player One

Derek Walker

Murray State University

COM 131- Interpersonal Communication

Professor Darla Kiem

March 14, 2024


Introduction

Ready Player One, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Ernest Cline’s novel of the

same name, is one of my favorite films of all time. The movie is packed to the brim with action,

drama, and humor, but it is also filled with many examples of communication we have heard in

COM 131. These include verbal, nonverbal, relationship, and mediated communications. In

short, the film follows Wade Watts, Samantha Cook, Aech, and others as they fight the antagonist

corporation IOI in the worldwide VR simulation, the OASIS. Relationships, both romantic and

friendly, are formed several times during the movie, and it is easy to follow along as the

relationships develop and evolve as the movie goes on.


Many times throughout the movie, the characters say and do things that show that they

care for other characters. Often, when this sentiment is expressed, it is in a romantic manner, but

not always. One example of a romantic relationship in the film is that between Wade Watts and

Samantha Cook. Otherwise known as Parzival and Art3mis in the OASIS, this is the main

relationship featured and is prominent from start to finish. As the movie goes on, you can see the

table of interaction stages in the textbook (Luurs, 2002) played out perfectly. At the beginning of

the movie, when they first meet, they are in the “initiating” phase, making small talk and sharing

their goals and passions. Then, almost in the same scene, they go into the “experimenting” phase,

when they find out that they share a disdain for IOI. Later in the movie, when they are trying to

solve a clue related to finding the treasure they are after, Wade and Samantha go on a sort of

“date”, and this enters them into the “intensifying” and “integrating” phases. Before they have

the chance to go into the “bonding” phase, however, Wade makes a huge mistake and reveals

sensitive information, which plunges them straight into the "terminating” phase. Near the end,

however, they make up for their shortcomings and finally enter a true romantic relationship

together. An instance of them expressing the phrase “I care for you” to each other would be at the

end, when Wade has ownership of the OASIS, he decides to permanently close it on Tuesdays

and Thursdays so that he can focus on being with Samantha. This is a huge sacrifice for him and

surely shows his affection for her. A non-romantic example of this same concept is shown

between Wade and Aech. In the OASIS, Wade playing as Parzival is best friends with Aech, who

is portrayed with male characteristics and vocal patterns. However, Wade later finds out in the

real world that Aech is really a young woman named Helen Harris. Although shocked at first,

Wade refuses to let this fact change their relationship and continues to be a very close friend to

Helen in the real world. This shows that Wade cares for Aech no matter what and that Aech cares
for Wade enough to share her secret with him. In both cases, these situations enhanced and

strengthened the relationships, with Samantha and Wade eventually becoming a couple and Wade

and Helen co-owning the OASIS together.


The communication climate between characters changes much over the course of the

plot. At the very beginning of the movie, the only main characters we are introduced to are

Parzival/Wade, Aech, and a few of their other friends. Parzival and Aech are best friends in the

OASIS, but have never met each other in the real world. Once Art3mis is introduced, Parzival is

immediately love-stricken with her and becomes more distant from Aech. The closer that

Parzival and Art3mis grow, the more distant and jealous Aech becomes. This escalates to the

point that Art3mis/Samantha meets Parzival/Wade in the real world before Wade meets

Aech/Helen. Through this subplot, communication between Parzival and Aech goes from a very

friendly and close tone to more of a bitter, resentful tone because of the meeting of Art3mis.

Later on in the movie, once Wade and Helen meet in person, this is amended, and they become

friends again since there is now less of a metaphorical barrier between them. Between Parzival

and Art3mis, they start out having a very awkward communication climate because Parzival is

deeply in love with Art3mis, who does not share these feelings. As the movie progresses,

Art3mis becomes more open to Parzival, even eventually showing affectionate feelings of her

own once they meet outside of the OASIS. This is because while Samantha was insecure about

her real appearance, Parzival continued to be affectionate towards her when they met. Overall,

once the characters met in the real world, face to face, their relationships and communication

climate grew stronger and closer. Luurs (2002) mentions a potential reason for this in the

provided course textbook. In Chapter 5, he talks about clarity, or the simple and understandable

nature of conversation, versus equivocation, which is conversating in a way that may not show

the entire truth. All three main characters are guilty of using equivocation in the OASIS, with

Parzival acting much older than he is, Art3mis hiding behind a much more attractive body, and
Aech using a male avatar online. However, the truths are exposed once they all meet up, and the

communication climate becomes more relaxed and trustworthy due to this newfound clarity.
References

Luurs, G. (2002). Interpersonal Communication for Everyday Life: A Practical Guide to

Improving Your Relationships. Great River Learning.

https://murraystate.grlcontent.com/introinterpersonalcom/page/welcome

Spielberg, S. (Director). (2018). Ready Player One [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.

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