A few weeks ago I wrote a blog criticizing Hollywood’s reliance on remakes/old ideas. Well this morning I finally saw the movie Free Guy, which is a movie I’ve been wanting to watch for a while. A movie about a video game character becoming self aware? I mean what the fuck? What a cool, novel idea, and they even have Ryan Reynolds as the lead. What more could I ask for? While this movie appears to be light, fun, and colorful, it also has a variety of meaningful underlying messages. Let’s get into it.
Guy is the main character, he wakes up and does the same exact thing every day. Has the same conversations with the same people. In this world the people with sunglasses are seen as superheroes, they’re the ones that initiate all the violence and chaos in their world, and there’s nothing the regular civilians (the CPU) can do about it. One day during the daily bank robbery, Guy has an epiphany. He takes the sunglasses from the bank robber and becomes awakened. Now the sunglasses of course symbolize the opening of the third eye. There’s a lot of conspiracy theories that say that our existence is a simulation. That all of us are living in a video game basically. Where nothing has any meaning or significance (similar to the Free Guy video game world). So basically the third eye opening (or in this case wearing the sunglasses) is a spiritual awakening that grants wisdom and the ability to see through, and even manipulate the simulation.
The actual world of Free Guy mirrors our world. All of the destruction and chaos that the civilians are eerily desensitized to. The silly little jobs that the civilians work while observing the Sunglass people. In a way the Sunglass people represent the celebrities in the real world. Which I guess means that the sunglasses could also symbolize fame and fortune. The civilians observe them and longingly aspire to be like them even though they feel powerless to be like them. The Sunglass people are busy getting rich in the game, earning tokens and badges, doing whatever they want, but ultimately it amounts to nothing once the creator pulls the plug. Just like in our world.
So what is the meaning of life according to this movie? The civilians are stuck in their little niches, too afraid to take that next step into awareness. Some would argue the meaning of life is to become one of the Sunglass people, awakened, aware, and living life to the fullest. But I would argue that the Sunglass people aren’t that different from the civilians in the game. Everybody is a slave to something. While they’re seemingly free, they’re still stuck in the game. Ultimately their lives and their actions are as meaningless and insignificant as the civilians who observe them.
The message I believe the movie is trying to get across (and the message I believe in my life personally) is that love is the thing that gives life meaning. The interpersonal interactions we experience, the relationships we form. There was a scene in the movie where Guy finds out that his life is fake and he’s distraught. His friend, Buddy, tells him that while his life may be fake, the moments he makes are real. Going on to ask the question “What’s more real than helping a person you love?” Which is pretty much the most existential thing I’ve ever heard. Existentialism is all about creating and asserting your own meaning to your life. So it really doesn’t matter if our life is some sort of simulation. There’s nothing more substantial than the relationships you make and the moments you have with people. Ultimately that’s the only thing that you know is real. It can’t be taken away, it’s real to you, and that’s what really matters. The movie backs up this idea as the only time the characters are fulfilled is when they’re with a friend/someone they love. At the end of the movie after Guy saves the day and is fully awakened, he’s not satisfied until he reconnects with Buddy. The same goes for Mellie who discovers her love for Keys. Maybe real awareness isn’t about being able to see the world for what it is, but rather, discovering your love for someone or something.
I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into this movie but it’s really good. I definitely didn’t expect to have so many philosophical takeaways, but here we are. There’s a lot of clever action sequences, and some solid song choices throughout the movie. Side note, it’s funny how there’s women who are begging for the bare minimum when there’s guys like Keys out here writing whole love letters in the code of a video game. I need to step my game up.
Just some guy on the internet 