During a recent review of the contents of a couple old USB drives that I had forgotten that I stashed away, I found a handful of articles that I had written for a gaming site that went defunct. Since I hate for words to sit unread (even those in incoherent, rambly sentences), I decided I might as well share them here. Here’s one from around January 2013 in which I mused over some depictions of games and gamers on the big screen.
It’s widely accepted among gamers and movie-goers that movies based on video games are never quite as good as the games themselves. But movies that contain references to video games…well, some of those aren’t that great as well; but many of them are perfectly enjoyable. These references range from large (Tron – the entire movie) to small (remember the NES Advantage controller from Ghostbusters 2?) to everything in between. While it’s unfortunate that Hollywood often invokes typical “gamer” stereotypes (as “they” do with just about any group “they” don’t fully understand), these references are testament to the fact that video games are an integral part of our culture. I love it when games, consoles, or gamers get in a little bit of screen time, so here are a few of my favorite video game references in movies.
WarGames
I know I’m not alone in saying WarGames is a great movie. A mop-headed Matthew Broderick stars as a “hacker” who just wants to get his game on. Little does he realize that his quest to play “Global Thermonuclear War” will end in chaos, bringing the nation to the brink of disaster! As much as I love watching Broderick manipulate his way into the “game,” my favorite character is actually Joshua, the computer program that was created to run simulations of a nuclear attack. The lesson learned, through both repeated simulations (i.e. which nation begins the attack and how the others retaliate) and the game of tic-tac-toe, is that when it comes to (nuclear) war, no one wins. It’s ridiculously simple but still resonates today. As does the phrase, “Shall we play a game?”
The Last Starfighter
In the mid 1980s, there were lots of movies you just couldn’t escape. Return of the Jedi was still fresh in mind, Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ushered in a new movie rating, and some new film about busting ghosts attracted loads of attention. Meanwhile, I became entranced by a little move called The Last Starfighter, a sci-fi feature that involved a video game, a player, and a fantastical interstellar journey. At the heart of the movie was an arcade game called “Starfighter,” a vector graphics game in which the player, from the vantage point of a ship’s cockpit, shoots down alien fighters to save the “Xur and Ko-Dan Armada.” The main character, Alex, proved so adept with the game that he was sought out by the game’s creator to actually (and unbeknownst to him at the time) go in to space to save the actual Xur and Ko-Dan Armada. I can’t even tell you how much I wanted this game as a kid. I loved the movie, and I loved the idea that a video game could take you places you had never been before.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Why am I mentioning a movie that’s not at all about video games? Because it contains my most favorite scene of people playing video games. For some reason (and I’m looking at you The Big Bang Theory), so often in movies and TV, gamers are shown flailing about in the strangest of strange ways when playing games. Arms waving, fingers frantically pushing button in unimaginable combinations, herky-jerky body movements. What IS all that about? Well, in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, there’s a simple scene with Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd playing Mortal Kombat: Deception. Trash-talking aside, they aren’t jumping out of their seats, moving wildly, or looking like they’re about to have seizures. They look like two guys playing a video game like normal people. Why Hollywood feels the need to jazz up gaming with choreography, I’ll never know.
So what are your favorite (or perhaps least favorite) movies/scenes/TV shows involving games? Are you annoyed at how gamers are portrayed on screen? When does Hollywood get it right, or really wrong?
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a movie back when I was young, probably would be a bad film if i re-watched it, bad had fond memories of Surf Ninjas. The kid in the movie had a Game Gear that he loaded with some special game that showed him what was happened in the real world and allowed him to control aspects of it. Of course what he saw was in 2D.
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I have very vague memories of Surf Ninjas…was Chris Farley in it? Hmm, I’m going to have to some YouTubing, looks like. 🙂 I think I’d remember seeing a Game Gear in a movie. The only one I can think of offhand is Rumble in the Bronx. There was a kid in it who had a Game Gear. And somehow he managed to “play” it without a game. (Oops! haha.)
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Haha the one with Chris Farley was Beverly Hills Ninja, that was a funny movie
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Aha! Okay, that one I have seen. Surf Ninjas I’ve not. You mentioned that it probably hadn’t aged well, and from the few video clips I watched, it seems you’re right. Still might give it a go; it doesn’t look *too* terrible. 😀
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Hopefully it’s so bad it’s good
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Yeah, add me to the “does my head in when people aren’t even *holding* the controller correctly” side.
I mean, it’s not exactly asking for De Niro levels of method acting, is it!? Plus, it seems like it’s fairly obvious how you should hold a controller. Like, you’d literally have to have *never* used one in your life to get it wrong!!
Just as an FYI though, if you make those exact (and perfectly valid) observations in the middle of a Movie Theatre, it doesn’t tend to go down too well……
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Well, keeping ones thoughts to oneself in a crowded theatre does seem like a good idea, even if the thoughts are well-intended. 🙂 (It’s one reason I try to avoid that scenario. Being a hermit has its advantages.)
Oh, but how truly irksome it is to see actors manhandling controllers. The only exception I could understand would be the N64 controller, which lead to all sort of weird hand positions. But other than that, no matter the simplicity or complexity, anyone with half a brain should understand how to at least hold one these days.
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Wait….. So, Actor makes massive acting faux pas, distracts me from the film…. but me loudly explaining that to everybody else in the theatre makes *me* the bad guy!?
Jeez, who makes these rules?? 😉
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If the game you’re playing legitimately requires flailing around like they do in movies, it’s not a good testament to its quality.
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Haha, good point! It’s kind of like a “you’re doing it wrong” thing. Only with gaming, it’s a “you’re doing it wrong AND playing a terrible game AND upsetting an entire subset of people” thing.
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The Transformer movie had Anthony Anderson playing DDR in one of the funniest scenes in the movie. And of course Marty McFly in Back to the Future II.
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Oh, that’s right! Marty plays that…was it a Western game?…and it was supposed to be hands-free. Talk about predicting the future, ha!
And you’re right about that DDR scene in Transformers. They legitimately looked like they were playing and having a good time. In fact, it might be one of the best scenes in the entire movie series!
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It always bothers me seeing a person playing video games in movies or TV shows, mashing their control pad and flailing around. I like shows and movies that actually portray games like normal people play them, instead of trying to make it look like the person playing is an octopus being electrocuted.
Also, The Last Starfighter was a great movie!
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“…an octopus being electrocuted” might just be the best description I’ve ever read for over-choreographed gaming scenes! I’d dare say that even in the most intense situations, playing video games with standard controllers never involves wild gesturing, and I really don’t get why it became a thing. Too bad, that.
The Last Starfighter was a great movie! It served as a long-lasting source of inspiration, personally.
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Hollywood might actually be terrified of the game industry. IMO, video games pose the biggest threat to movies.
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Frankly, I think Hollywood is at its knees when it comes to competing with the video game industry. And that’s to say, it can’t. The loads of shit cinema that’s come out of there the past few years is testament to that. (You can tell where my sentiments lies, haha. 🙂 )
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