Easter Eggs and Film in Ready Player One
The following section from Ready Player One introduces the contest that famed, reclusive creator of the OASIS, James Halliday, made available shortly after his death. In the section, the description of the video, Anorak's Invitation, layers references upon references to 1980s pop culture, as reported by the novel's young adult protagonist, Wade Watts. The 1980s band Oingo Boingo, the Atari 2600, John Hughes movies from the 1980s, and most importantly, the Atari game Adventure all combine in a masterful mashup that sets fans and gaming hopefuls searching for the three keys that will bring them to Halliday's secret encoded in the virtual world. The following excerpt includes footnotes by the narrator, signified by asterisks, as well as annotations on some of the richer pop culture references.
Excerpt, introduction, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Wade indicates in the above excerpt that Anorak's Invitation had been parsed, frame by frame, by fellow gunters (hunters for the keys buried in the OASIS), much as the Zapruder film of JFK's assassination has been scrutinized. In a recent scenario in which real life imitates fiction, the trailer for Stephen Spielberg's film adaptation of the novel, below, has been parsed with similar scrutiny by fans of Ready Player One following its unveiling at Comic-Con in July 2017.
Online evidence of this close reading includes numerous fan sites on the trailer alone (see Works Cited below), much less sites such as the expansive Ready Player One wiki. The fan response to Anorak's Invitation in Ready Player One introduces the extent to which fan culture can be seen as research, which is exactly what Wade calls his mass consumption of 1980s pop culture from Anorak's Almanac, painstakingly watched, re-watched, and in many cases, memorized. The following narration comprises only one-third of the material that Wade lists in one section as having found and digested:
Susan Aronstein and Jason Thompson argue that Wade enters the quest for Anorak's egg as "a wounded Fisher King: a overweight, under-excercised recluse" who ultimately needs to succeed, as Halliday never fully could, in the world outside OASIS (60). "It is not enough," they write, for Parzival to memorize Anorak's Almanac, watch every film, and master every game" (59), all of which enable him to succeed on many levels of the quest. Wade can only win "when he understands the dangerous illusive calibre of the OASIS" and "unmediated, engages with the human condition" (59). In short, Wade must grow up. How he masters the game's challenges, scores the real-life "lady," Art3mis, recognizes the power of IOI that costs real lives, and possibly hears the call of his blighted world is the stuff of future chapters.
Aronstein, Susan, and Jason Thompson. "Coding the Grail: Ready Player One's Arthurian Mash-Up." Arthuriana 25 (4): 2015, 51-65.
Atari Adventure playthrough for level one (video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6-zN_eaRd8
Bishop, Brian. "The Stranger Things and Ready Player One Trailers Are the Best and Worst of Nostalgia-Driven Marketing. The Verge. 7/26/2017. https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/26/16029626/stranger-things-ready-player-one-trailer-nostalgia-sdcc-2017.
Elderkin, Beth. "Breakdown of All the Clues, 80's References, and Surprises in the Ready Player One Trailer."
Gizmodo, 7/24/2017. https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-breakdown-of-all-the-clues-80s-references-and-surpr-1797175166
Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party" official video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreTg2Dibl4
Trumbore, Dave. "Ready Player One Trailer Breakdown Explains the Iron Giant and 80's References." Collider, 7/24/2017. http://collider.com/ready-player-one-trailer-breakdown/
Jasper, MaryKate. "The Action-Packed Ready Player One Trailer Wasn't Quite As I Imagined: Mostly Because I Imagined Aech and Art3mis In It." The Mary Sue, 7/22/2017.https://www.themarysue.com/ready-player-one-trailer-sdcc-2017/
Jorgenson, Tom. Ready Player One - 16 Pop Culture Easter Eggs from the Trailer (video). 7/25/2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkLN-dwKOM
The Muppet Show opening song (video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvnHgKkNKR4
Ready Player One wiki. http://readyplayerone.wikia.com/wiki/Ready_Player_One_Wiki
60+ Ready Player One Easter Eggs & References from the Teaser (video). 7/29/2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyV4T_GXqM&t=335s
The Zapruder Film: Capturing When the World Changed in 26 Seconds." CBS News (TV broadcast), 11/21/2016. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-zapruder-film-capturing-when-the-world-changed-in-26-seconds/
Excerpt, introduction, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Wade indicates in the above excerpt that Anorak's Invitation had been parsed, frame by frame, by fellow gunters (hunters for the keys buried in the OASIS), much as the Zapruder film of JFK's assassination has been scrutinized. In a recent scenario in which real life imitates fiction, the trailer for Stephen Spielberg's film adaptation of the novel, below, has been parsed with similar scrutiny by fans of Ready Player One following its unveiling at Comic-Con in July 2017.
Online evidence of this close reading includes numerous fan sites on the trailer alone (see Works Cited below), much less sites such as the expansive Ready Player One wiki. The fan response to Anorak's Invitation in Ready Player One introduces the extent to which fan culture can be seen as research, which is exactly what Wade calls his mass consumption of 1980s pop culture from Anorak's Almanac, painstakingly watched, re-watched, and in many cases, memorized. The following narration comprises only one-third of the material that Wade lists in one section as having found and digested:
To Wade, the research becomes a quest with the elements of a heroic quest romance already woven into the Adventure game. The novel's description of the film Anorak's Invitation sets the stage for how Wade, as a worthy hero, might not only succeed in amassing Halliday's fortune and control of the OASIS, but also return to his origins having somehow learned and become transformed.When it came to my research, I never took any shortcuts. Over the past five years, I’d worked my way down the entire recommended gunter reading list. Douglas Adams. Kurt Vonnegut. Neal Stephenson. Richard K. Morgan. Stephen King. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Terry Brooks. Bester, Bradbury, Haldeman, Heinlein, Tolkien, Vance, Gibson, Gaiman, Sterling, Moorcock, Scalzi, Zelazny....I also watched every single film he referenced in the Almanac. If it was one of Halliday’s favorites, like WarGames, Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, or Revenge of the Nerds, I rewatched it until I knew every scene by heart.
I devoured each of what Halliday referred to as “The Holy Trilogies”: Star Wars (original and prequel trilogies, in that order), Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mad Max, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones. (Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn’t exist. I tended to agree.)
I also absorbed the complete filmographies of each of his favorite directors. Cameron, Gilliam, Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Lucas, Spielberg, Del Toro, Tarantino. And, of course, Kevin Smith.
Susan Aronstein and Jason Thompson argue that Wade enters the quest for Anorak's egg as "a wounded Fisher King: a overweight, under-excercised recluse" who ultimately needs to succeed, as Halliday never fully could, in the world outside OASIS (60). "It is not enough," they write, for Parzival to memorize Anorak's Almanac, watch every film, and master every game" (59), all of which enable him to succeed on many levels of the quest. Wade can only win "when he understands the dangerous illusive calibre of the OASIS" and "unmediated, engages with the human condition" (59). In short, Wade must grow up. How he masters the game's challenges, scores the real-life "lady," Art3mis, recognizes the power of IOI that costs real lives, and possibly hears the call of his blighted world is the stuff of future chapters.
Works Cited
for this page and encoded textAronstein, Susan, and Jason Thompson. "Coding the Grail: Ready Player One's Arthurian Mash-Up." Arthuriana 25 (4): 2015, 51-65.
Atari Adventure playthrough for level one (video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6-zN_eaRd8
Bishop, Brian. "The Stranger Things and Ready Player One Trailers Are the Best and Worst of Nostalgia-Driven Marketing. The Verge. 7/26/2017. https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/26/16029626/stranger-things-ready-player-one-trailer-nostalgia-sdcc-2017.
Elderkin, Beth. "Breakdown of All the Clues, 80's References, and Surprises in the Ready Player One Trailer."
Gizmodo, 7/24/2017. https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-breakdown-of-all-the-clues-80s-references-and-surpr-1797175166
Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party" official video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mreTg2Dibl4
Trumbore, Dave. "Ready Player One Trailer Breakdown Explains the Iron Giant and 80's References." Collider, 7/24/2017. http://collider.com/ready-player-one-trailer-breakdown/
Jasper, MaryKate. "The Action-Packed Ready Player One Trailer Wasn't Quite As I Imagined: Mostly Because I Imagined Aech and Art3mis In It." The Mary Sue, 7/22/2017.https://www.themarysue.com/ready-player-one-trailer-sdcc-2017/
Jorgenson, Tom. Ready Player One - 16 Pop Culture Easter Eggs from the Trailer (video). 7/25/2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkLN-dwKOM
The Muppet Show opening song (video). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvnHgKkNKR4
Ready Player One wiki. http://readyplayerone.wikia.com/wiki/Ready_Player_One_Wiki
60+ Ready Player One Easter Eggs & References from the Teaser (video). 7/29/2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyV4T_GXqM&t=335s
The Zapruder Film: Capturing When the World Changed in 26 Seconds." CBS News (TV broadcast), 11/21/2016. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-zapruder-film-capturing-when-the-world-changed-in-26-seconds/