Gamer - Why its one of my favourite movies of all time...

So I went to see Gamer on Saturday, and boy was it good. For once I sat through something that promised to be a mindless action movie (something I needed at the time), and left with a more meaningful understanding of society's need for control. Now for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, do so.

In a not too far future, billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C Hall) developed nanotechnology that replaces part of a human's brain, making it possible for them to be controlled. This was incorporated into two "games". One is called "Society", where people can control average people in a social setting. Kinda like real life Sims... The other game is called Slayers and lets the player control a deathrow inmate in a First-Person Shooter context. Survive 30 games and you win the inmate's freedom.

The Story revolves around Kable (Gerard Butler), the champion inmate of Slayers, and his quest for survival. But to me the storyline was second to the insights I got from the movie. When looking at the world of Society, you see a world driven by hedonism. And even worse, hedonism by proxy. The "world" of Society is filled with sex, drugs, nudity, parties etc., all experienced vicariously by rich kids and social misfits. The "actors" who willingly participate in "Society" as the contolled people, are the poor, and the outcasts, willing to sacrifice their individuality for money. They literally become slaves to the machine.

Slayers on the other hand is everything that people is worried about in violent video games. The players do not even realise that is real human beings they control. They know it, but its like knowing the sky is blue, who cares? The game has a worldwide following, with cities coming to a standstill when it is aired. Fascinated.

A lot of people will reason that Gamer is a very over the top depiction of modern society, but I ask the question: "Is it really?"

Are we really that different from the characters in the movie? We willingly conform to trends, willingly give ourselves over to the latest fad. Or we desperately seek to be in control of every little detail of our lives. We want fun, without the risk, we want instant pleasure and we want to get as much as we can, by doing as little as possible. Are we really that different from the characters in the movie?

Anyway, that's me for now. I'll be back tomorrow or so with my expectations of the upcoming movies for the summer holiday period as well as my Christmas Wishlist (As if anyone will pay attention...)

Anywho,

Keep it real!