To say that there are pop culture references in Steven Spielberg’s latest cinematic marvel is an understatement. Ready Player One is a meta smorgasbord sure to thrill fans. It’s a film about finding Easter eggs (a hidden surprise in urban parlance) hidden within one massive virtual playground called The OASIS. And turns out while the characters are on their quest, the audience too is delighted to their own hunt for Easter eggs.
In the near dystopian future, people are living in trailer park high-rises, utter filth and poverty. As an escape, they plug into OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation). The recently deceased James Halliday, who crafted the virtual playground, has programmed in an Easter egg that has granted its finder control of his entire fortune and estates. So understandably this sends the entire world into a frenzy to find the hidden treasure
The upcoming feature film, an adaptation of Ernest Cline’s book of the same name, is a celebration of pop culture with a heavy skew towards the 80s. Though Spielberg has tweaked the formula to include more relevant and contemporary pop culture icons too. Spielberg’s vision spans across gaming, cinema, cartoons and comic books, all happily settled into one place. So let’s play ‘spot the treasures’ in Ready Player One.
Gaming
from the film’s trailer, it’s evident that Spielberg does justice to Cline’s fascination with 80s gaming. There’s everyone from Duke Nukem, gaming action star to Lara Croft, star of Tomb Raider and Master Chief from Halo . As well as characters from the famous fighting game Street Fighter , of which we glimpsed Chun Li. Watch out for today’s gaming icons too, namely Tracer, from the hit e-sports game Overwatch . There were also Gears of War characters. Retro games aren't left out with Joust , Battletoads and more.
Cinema
Several characters from Speilberg’s own repertoire can be spotted (including T-Rex from Jurassic Park) along with others like Gremlins, Chucky ( Child’s Play ), Freddy Kruger ( A Nightmare on Elm Street ) and Jason Voorhees ( Friday the 13th ). There are glimpses of King Kong, Robocop and several smatterings of Star Wars . The biggest references though is the DeLorean Time Machine car from Back to the Future and the motorbike from Akira. Cline’s book had one of their biggest sequences featuring Japanese superhero Ultraman and the mecha Leopardon from the Japanese version of Spider-Man . In the film, we get Iron Giant playing that role. Hopefully, Mechagodzilla might make an appearance.
Television and more
While the book had several obscure and popular Easter eggs, one of the most recognisable ones that Indians will spot is Johnny Socco’s Giant Robo. There’s also Mobile Suit Gundam from Japanese anime.
In the ballroom sequence, you can see Gandalf dancing along with other hat tips to Star Trek . And since Warner Bros. owns the rights to Harry Potter as well as DC comics, there could be some magical or superhero Easter eggs in there. Ready Player One takes place inside a massive multiplayer online virtual reality game. It’s a universe where you can be anything and anyone you like.
