Ready Player One: Tapping into Pop Culture

At the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), a film that has been in developmental hell since the book was first released in 2011 made its mark with a debut trailer. With heavyweight personnel behind it including Steven Spielberg as director and Ernest Cline adapting his novel into a screenplay, there is a sense that Ready Player One may become the film that its avid readers hope it can be. The question is, how does Spielberg tap into such devotion to a wealth of popular culture and make it into something that leaves people feeling impressed, as if they are watching something entirely new?

Ready Player One has always been something of a cult classic among science fiction readers, positing a world in which almost of its inhabitants spend their time in a virtual world created by Ogden Morrow and James Halliday known as ‘Oasis’. It is a world that is rife with popular culture references from Halo to Monty Python, from Dungeons and Dragons to Pac-Man. Most of its readers express a sense of nostalgia and affection for a book that lovingly treats their gaming and film heroes with such love and care.

To translate this into a film is a major obstacle, not least of which because of the licensing issues around assets that would be used in the film. Almost all of the popular culture references in the film will be licensed by parent companies and the film-makers will require permission from them to use those assets, most likely increasing the significant cost of the film and running the risk of failing to make a profit on a film that needs to be marketed as a ‘block-buster’.

The trailer seems to have succeeded in giving the impression that asset use should not be an issue. In fact, it is laced with popular culture references with everything from Deadpool to the Iron Giant, from Back to the Future and Halo.

Spielberg and Clyne has positioned this film perfectly to be released at a time where there is a greater interest in virtual reality than ever before. It stimulates interest in the future of the world and how virtual reality can transform people’s lives. More importantly, they are releasing at a time where many of the popular culture references remain fresh in the minds of those who are reading the book or watching the film. If they had released this film five or ten years later, the references may have been lost on some but, as they stand, they are so ingrained in modern culture that it is impossible to ignore them.

For people who have never read the book, this film could easily be (as described in the trailer) as the ‘Holy Grail of Popular Culture’ but for those who have read the book, it needs to be something different, a new take on a book that is warmly received by its readers. Should they succeed in the first, it will likely prove to be a moderate success. Should they succeed in the second, it will draw in a devoted and committed audience that will propel the film to new successes.

Finding Love in Digital Spaces

The world is more connected than it has ever been. The advent of the digital age is upon us and, in doing so, it allows us to unite and connect people in ways that might never have seemed possible or even probable a mere twenty years ago. With this digital information age, it comes with a price that each of us has undoubtedly had to bear at some point: communication. I have spoken before how our memories seem to have diminished by the ease of access to knowledge, queries responded to within milliseconds and our fleeting interests expanded upon by a flourish of knowledge and a sprinkling of digital enhancement.

Communication – our ability to speak with people – has taken a turn for the worst because of our reliance on handheld devices to provide entertainment. I appreciate, of course, that there is a certain irony that I speak of communication in the digital age and use this same advancement to propagate a social theory. Nevertheless, the creation of major social platforms has meant that a part of us – that link with humankind – is less real and more ethereal than it was before. We communicate primarily using applications created by companies with the goal of ‘profit’ in mind, obsess over our appearance using applications that promote negative images of personal beauty and we connect in relationships using applications that give us the option to swipe left or right based on a picture, rather on something real.

I believe that this digital age has made it difficult for us to make conscious and reasonable judgements on people unless we scrutinise their social media, stalking their digital lives to find some trace of weakness that we can use to exploit. We use social media as a tool to promote the version of our lives that we want people to see, rather than the version of our lives that is grounded in reality. People post photographs of their new cars, their new homes, their new pets and their latest exploits. People never see the after-effects, the failed relationships, the abuse, the hard work and effort that comes to achieve these dreams.

In an age where we can all connect very simply at the click of a button, it explains why so many of us are increasingly raising their standards in the search of the ‘perfect person’. We have a seemingly infinite supply of ‘matches’ who can swipe left and right, a game of directions that plays with people’s emotions that has no end goal and no rewards for completion. We post the images we think might best attract the kind of people we want to meet, sending message after message to people with no reply. Women are inundated with messages from men asking for sex, cheaply assuming that they have a shortcut to their bedrooms simply because they have a device and a photo of a six-pack on their biographies.

Men are traditionally hard-wired to see sex as the ‘end goal’ of a relationship and ‘relationship-seeking’ applications are effectively giving the impression that they have a shortcut to accomplishing that goal. Why wouldn’t they try to exploit it? It creates a false impression of men and translates into a ripple effect for relationships where women almost expect this type  of behaviour and ask the simple question: why bother sorting through a hundred messages where only one of those is from someone genuine?

Other applications have created false profiles designed to lure people in, to create an impression of interest that encourages them to part with their money, only to realise that the interest was digitally enhanced like their photos. In this digital age, we are all seeking love in digital spaces and end up finding out that the spaces are already occupied by those we might think are our social betters. For all our advancement into the digital age and a world governed almost entirely by the cyclical nature of technology, our biology remains hardwired to seek the partner that will best succeed in propagating the greatest features of our genes.

Intelligence, wit and charm are secondary in an age where a photograph is the first thing that people see. Our photographs must create the impression that encourages people to swipe right, to like, to ‘super-like’. Conversation is secondary to that initial goal. It is only when we meet our mutual matches that the war begins, fighting against a flood of people who are all seeking the same thing or perhaps disguising the notion that they are seeking the same thing with an ulterior motive in mind.

Travis McCoy famously wrote in ‘New Friend Request’, ‘So click approve, so simple, show me some kind of sign and let me know it’s time to make a move’. This song was released in 2006 and yet its lyrics are as clear now as they were back then, perhaps even more so. We are all seeking the approval of our peers, our partners by posting a continuous stream of updates about the life they only see a small percentage of. Finding love in a digital space can seem like the impossible journey when you are competing against a population swing.

Mental Health: How Shame Cripples

Earlier this week, I posted about the importance of taking care of one’s soul and, in doing so, I neglected to mention the importance of mental health and the mind. Over the past year, I have witnessed my family torn apart by loss and death, seen family members crippled by anxiety and depression and I have been plagued by negativity and depression that stems from an inability to cope with the finer points of relationships – heartache, heartbreak and tragedy. Throughout most of this time, I have pretended that I am coping well with these difficulties. Today, the weight of that responsibility collapsed on my shoulders and the walls fell through.

When people talk about mental health, it is done so in hushed tones as if one ought to be ashamed that our mental health is not at the peak of our physical health or that there is shame in seeking help. Today, I witnessed a generous outpouring of affection in realising that this shame is nothing but another barrier that our mental struggles build to prevent us from ‘getting better’. For weeks, perhaps even months, I have continued to put one foot in front of the other, moving on with my life not because I feel I am capable of doing so but out of sense of duty and responsibility – to my family, to my friends, to my lovers and to my colleagues. The weight of those responsibilities is heavy upon my shoulders and I was ashamed to admit that there have been times where the pervasive darker thoughts have been permitted to creep into my life.

It is a conversation that I have not always been prepared to have with myself or with those around me who, perhaps, should know that I am struggling. It is an invisible illness that has very real and physical permutations. I have struggled with restlessness, exhaustion, sleeplessness, a lack of confidence, physical pain, tremors and trembles. People may not always see those darker parts of my life because I act the joker of the group, conscious that I would rather see people entertained and joyful than allow them to see me at my weakest moments.

Even as I write this, my hands shake with a lack of confidence, unsure of myself. I have always recognised that many people suffer far greater troubles than I do and yet I worry that I diminish the true dangers of ignoring one’s mental health by simply adopting an attitude that ‘someone always has it worse’. Of course I recognise that. By that same token, some people will always ‘have it better’. Mental health is something that can affect anyone and everyone and I have been afraid to accept that fact because I feel like it makes me less of a man, that my masculinity is diminished by the fact that I have shed tears in my weakest moments, shed tears in my exhaustion and tried to carry on when my mind is telling me to stop.

I am in a unique position of being in a role where I feel that my colleagues will genuinely support my struggles, even if they may not fully understand them. I offer an air of confidence and swagger that disguises pain and hurt that does not simply ‘go away’ with time but is instead a looming dagger that swings precariously over my life, ready to cut the cords of happiness at a moment’s notice. Even in my happiest times, there is a risk that it will be tainted by thoughts I am too scared and ashamed to admit that I have. I force myself not to believe the voices in my mind that tell me I’m not ‘good enough’, that I don’t ‘deserve love’ or that the world would be ‘better off without me’.

Some people might not have that luxury. Some people struggle through life in silence, not able to turn to anyone other than themselves. Suffering of this type comes in many forms, whether it is struggling with large crowds or social functions, feeling worthless or that the world is a dark and bleak place to the extremes of self harm and suicide. I have seen every variation and form of mental health in my own family and none of them can be diminished or lessened simply because they are not as extreme. They are as real as any physical condition that a person can be afflicted with.

Shame has stopped me from reaching out for help, stopped me from being honest with myself about the fact that, at some point, I have to stop dragging the rocks of my struggles behind me and cut the threads. Shame has stopped me from being prepared to speak to my colleagues and my friends and ask them to look out for me. I appreciate that, as an invisible illness, it is almost impossible to know when someone is suffering but even reaching out to someone, asking them how they are and being prepared to listen can be enough. I am reminded of the advert in which it reminds people that  those who suffer from cancer are still people. Mental health is no different. It does not change who we are underneath the cloak of depression or anxiety, only makes us vulnerable to negativity.

No person with these problems ever truly wants to burden another person with these concerns but, ultimately, not asking for help is simply a slippery slope towards an end that no person can ever say they truly want. The stigma attached to my problems is perhaps one of my own doing but, by pinning it down in writing, it is a first step towards tackling them. I know that I may never truly get ‘better’, that this is a lifelong battle where the war is never won, the tides always changing with the winds. All I can do is to continue fighting and believe that, at the end of it all, there are more happy memories to create than there are dark ones that taint the experience.

Get help, be prepared to open up. Even if you do it anonymously, the help is available:

Mind Infoline: 0300 123 3393

The Samaritans; 116 123

turn2me: https://turn2me.org

The Improbability of Interconnectivity

Throughout the formative years of my life, I have always believed in the principles of science, logic and reason. They were the three pillars upon which I founded my belief system, preferring rationale and reason to emotion and passion. During one particular relationship, the song ‘Science and Faith’ by The Script aptly described the polar opposite beliefs that we each held. I was Science, believing in the majesty of a universe created by a single chaotic event many billions of years ago. She was Faith, believing in the beauty of people and the power of emotion to link people together.

One would expect that the beliefs one develops as a child and as a young adult tend to be the ones that resonate with us throughout the remainder of our lives. Indeed, children are indoctrinated into religion in the early years and find it very difficult to escape its grasp in adulthood. Our political beliefs are very much formed by the experiences we had as children, the opportunities that were presented to us. The North East is traditionally Labour because it feels excluded from social mobility and opportunity by a government that is focused on its wealthiest parts. The South is primarily Conservative because it caters to the idea that ‘wealth creates wealth’.

Certain experiences and interactions have, over the last few weeks or months, shifted my opinion dramatically on ideas that I would have previously dismissed. One of those is the idea of an ’empath’. An ’empath’ is someone who claims to have a direct emotional connection with the people that they surround themselves with, some being able to experience what someone is feeling through the sensation of touch, others being wildly emotional because they have so much to offer the world through their ‘abilities’. Whilst all evidence and reason would suggest that such people do not exist, it is my personal belief that there are those in this world whose interactions can influence a person, change their perspective, allow them to experience new emotions and develop a bond over an extremely short period of time.

I have started to recognise that the reason why I often feel so ‘alone’ or why I struggle with emotions is because my soul is reaching out to people and trying to connect with them. I love deeply and intimately, thrusting myself into the throes of a relationship without consideration for my own welfare, more concerned with the very rush of adrenaline and endorphin that comes with the early stages of a relationship. Again, this very idea is new to me. I would never before have accepted the idea that the ‘soul’ exists, merely believing it to be a social construct devised by religion to force us into moral choices that fit within their own theological and societal belief system.

Now, however, I believe that the soul is something more existential – a part of our bodies that looks to link and interact with people wherever possible. I believe that our soul thrives on certain interactions and each person’s soul is different. One person might thrive on the physical intimacy of a relationship, others on the sensory pleasure experienced in nature, others on the emotional bond formed in relationships, some on the mental link of conversation. Our souls seek out those that they believe will feed their needs and requirements, just as we buy the food we like to crave our hunger or do things that we enjoy for cognitive stimulation. Our soul is an extension of our five senses, a more metaphysical concept that demands stimulation as much as any other part of us does.

When people talk of introversion and extroversion, there is an element of the ‘soul’ within it. People are drained emotionally and mentally by heavy social interaction – the introverts – because their souls look for something more than just a fleeting link with people, perhaps seeking something with more permanency. Those extroverts in the world thrive on the soul’s link with touch, the sensation of large groups uniting to form a single cohesive ‘hive-mind’. It is what drives people to festivals, to concerts, to rallies and more besides. Some people want to be part of a larger collective body.

These experiences and interactions have opened up an idea that is still forming in my mind. How best do I unlock the potential of my own soul and understand what it wants and needs? Who are the right people to have in my life that will feed and nourish my soul? We are meant to meet people who will have a profound and lasting impact on us, whether it changes how we see the world, how we see ourselves or how we see others. Some people will touch us and give us a fleeting glimpse of the world we want to be in or the life we want to live. Some people are meant to come into our life to warn us that they are not what we are seeking.

From a man that has stood by the pillars of science and reason for so many years, the most frightening element of all of this is realising that perhaps I barely know who I truly am or what I want in life. It is a realisation that, by pinning my belief system on fact and truth, I have closed myself off to experiences that would embolden and enrich my life. To those who have afforded me the opportunity to glimpse into their world and see what could be, thank you. You have opened up a world I did not know existed.

Morality in Business: How Innocent & Co Changed Britain

The moral conundrum of operating a business with the goal of both making a profit and introducing social responsibility in a capitalist society has always proved a task too much for many businesses over the years. Britain, however, is now facing a moral revolution with a wave of companies that promote and pledge that their products offer a social element. The question I ask is whether a business can ever accomplish two goals: first, to maximise profits for its shareholders and two, to maintain an element of social responsibility in how their products are either designed, manufactured or how profits are re-invested.

One need only look at the reaction from social media when users noted that a number of ‘Fair Trade’ products were no longer available from major supermarkets. The promise to avoid those supermarkets is an exercise and test to the limits of businesses that do not take the desires and needs of a changing population into account. A decade ago, the business plans of Ben and Jerrys, Innocent Smoothies and Fair Trade would never have succeeded. It is only through successive generations of growing socialist influence that their products have flourished and brought to market a more socially conscious shopper.

Ben and Jerrys is proud that it sources its products from farmers and pays them fairly for their efforts through the Fair Trade scheme. It pushes it in its advertisements, on its products and, in doing so, makes shoppers aware. Do you pay a premium for a ‘responsible’ product? Of course you do. There are any number of comparable products but we keep returning to the same brands that we trust because we develop a kinship to them, a brand loyalty that  is only broken when our trust in their product is broken.

Innocent Smoothies is no different. The very name is tantalising to the socially conscious shopper who wants a drink that delivers on its promises. Innocent – an appeal to both a more moral world and a product untainted by money-hungry investors who attempt to squeeze more out of a product for less. Again, the premium exists for purchasing such a product but it comes with an acknowledgement that one is doing ‘good’ in the world by buying this type of product.

Why is it then that these socially conscious business ethics not translated into other elements of the business world? One need only look at the energy industry to see that it is ripe with questionable moral ethics, domestic consumers sidelined by growing profit margins at Centrica and National Grid, decisions only ever made when the regulator is forced to intervene. One need only look at the ‘credit industry’ to see that the banking industry continues to plunder its customers with the goal of returning significant dividends for its shareholders. The exorbitant fees, dangerous credit borrowing and questionable investment decisions – all trademarks of a banking industry continuously lacking in proper regulation and scrutiny – continue to pervade. The single reasonable proposal offered was to split up investment banking and retail banking and even that was met with criticism from those in the industry.

There needs to be a change in the mindset of consumers in these industries that we should not permit ourselves to indulge in the immoral and dangerous conquests of shareholders too quick to push their share prices up with artificial stimulation. We should seek to transform those industries like we have with so many others – we should accept that morality in business is as important as a dividend return. We have a responsibility to others to protect them, especially those vulnerable and susceptible to the lures of dangerous business ethics.

The energy industry needs proper scrutiny and regulation by a body that has true determination to make changes, rather than one that has dithered for years on making real and true changes for its most vulnerable customers. The banking industry needs to be split up, allowing those banks that force  through poor investment decisions to fail. The ethos of ‘too big to fail’ allows rampant poor decision making to continue to go unchecked and this has to change, protecting those who rely on credit to make ends meet and ending a crisis in fees that plunges people deeper into debt than they already are.

To end, Britain has seen a transformation in its shopping habits. We have both a more ethical, more moral, socially conscious shopper. Why do we not apply these principles to other areas of our lives, especially those which have such a great impact on our finances, on our quality of life? I suspect it is because we believe that they are too big to fail. The truth is that, when they do fail, it is society that will rebuild these industries in an image we want to see.