DOCSLIB.ORG

Let's Get Real: Shifting Perspectives of Virtual Life

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Let's Get Real: Shifting Perspectives of Virtual Life LET’S GET REAL: SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES OF VIRTUAL LIFE by Cailley Millar A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL May 2017 Copyright by Cailley Millar 2017 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my thesis advisor, Dr. Julia Mason, for accepting my work in its many stages of disarray and always providing me with words of encouragement. Your confidence was vital to my completion of this project. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Taylor Hagood and Dr. Carol McGuirk for their willingness to participate in this project and provide much needed support. Finally, I would like to recognize every teacher of English I have had throughout my life and their role in the success of my education. iv ABSTRACT Author: Cailley Millar Title: Let’s Get Real: Shifting Perspectives of Virtual Life Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Julia Mason, Ph.D. Degree: Master of Arts Year: 2017 A hallmark of the cyberpunk era, virtual reality is now a real and readily available medium for technological entertainment and lifestyle. Cyberpunk texts and contemporary SF that incorporates virtual reality provide a framework for considering the implications of this newly popularized technology. By allowing the user to explore new forms of identity in an alternate reality, virtual reality poses many interesting opportunities for undermining current social constructs related to gender, race, and identity. This thesis investigates real and fictional examples of virtual reality and the significance of authorship and narrative construction, race and social hierarchies, death and self- permanence, and gender performance across the boundary between virtual and material space. v DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to every person who has ever felt out of place within their current reality. LET’S GET REAL: SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES OF VIRTUAL LIFE INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: Creation and Authorship in Virtual Reality ........................................ 10 CHAPTER TWO: Race, Social Hierarchies, and Virtual Realities .................................. 20 CHAPTER THREE: Permanency of the Self in Virtual Reality ...................................... 30 CHAPTER FOUR: Gender and Virtual Reality ............................................................... 39 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 55 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................... 58 vii INTRODUCTION THE RELEVANCE OF VIRTUAL REALITY IN THE POST-CYBERPUNK WORLD In 2012, Claire L. Evans, an editor for the ruthlessly contentious Vice Magazine, published an online article for the magazine’s science and technology section, “Motherboard.” The article includes the reactions of ten famous Science Fiction (SF) minds to the question: “What happened to Cyberpunk?” The assumption underlying this question is that while cyberpunk was once an important and successful SF subgenre, in the 21st century the world has moved on. Best represented in Jack Womack’s response to the question is the image of a washed up and semi-forgotten hero of the SF genre: “Last time I saw cyberpunk I threw 25 cents in its hat” (qtd. in Evans). But what does this mean for a world in which the technologies and themes of the cyberpunk genre have become non-fiction? Contemporary SF authors grapple with similar subjects and themes and even those outside of the SF community experience the impact of cyberpunk-esque technologies within our ever-changing world. For this reason, cyberpunk is alive and more relevant than ever. From the dawn of cyberpunk in the early 1980s through the late 1990s, the topic of virtual reality was extensively studied and discussed within literary contexts. Today, virtual reality is real and readily available. Anyone can purchase a virtual reality headset for $100 and travel to outer space. Or, a popular “augmented reality” game can be downloaded for free onto a cell phone, placing imaginary creatures into one’s living room. As a result of the availability of virtual reality, there are continuous 1 reclassifications of lived experiences taking place that merge the happenings of the virtual and material world. Virtual realities allow users to take control of their existence in a way that the material world does not. Many people choose to represent themselves differently in gender and appearance, while others use these spaces as a way to explore a different narrative of their life. If scholars such as Donna Haraway and Katherine Hayles paved the way for a breakdown of distinction between humans and technology, what implications does this reclassification have upon other social concerns in today’s moment? In what ways are we restructuring life as a response to our continuously increasing interaction with virtual worlds? The meanings created in virtual realities become more concrete as humans integrate themselves further into these spaces. In many ways, virtual identity becomes an extension of the thinking, feeling, and material identity. These changes impact many facets of human life and will force a reclassification of the meaning and significance of social conditions that define humanity, such as gender, sexuality, race and social hierarchies, relationships, death, and overall identity. Adapting to the impact of changing technologies and reclassifying theories of social constructs based on a changing technological landscape are not new topics in SF. Scholars and authors are constantly involved in an ongoing attempt to amend important distinctions between humanity and technology in order to classify various aspects of human life. Questions of distinction between the “material and the virtual,” the “biological and the technological,” the “human and the posthuman,” and the classic “man and the machine” perpetuate a never ending concern for the need to classify what it means to be a human. These inquiries have only resulted in further questions regarding humans’ relationship to technology, provoking explorations such as the relationships 2 between gender and cyborgs, self-permanency and consciousness uploading, and biological processes and cybernetics. Katherine Hayles upends previous assumptions about embodiment because they are “wrong about embodiment’s securing the univocality of gender and wrong about its securing human identity, but right about the importance of putting embodiment back into the picture” (xiv). For Hayles, both ‘human’ and ‘posthuman’ conceptualizations of subjectivity prefer information over embodiment and “even a biologically unaltered Homo sapiens counts as posthuman. The defining characteristics involve the construction of subjectivity, not the presence of nonbiological components” (4). Hayles forces us to reclassify what it means to be human in a world integrated with technology. These types of reclassifications are more than theoretical and have practical implications on our everyday use of technology. By breaking down the distinction between human and the technological and investigating its consequences for topics such as gender and self-permanency, SF studies has participated in processes of reclassification much like those discussed by sociologists Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star. In Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences, they embark on a sociological exploration of various systems of classification and their impact. The authors study an interesting range of classification systems, from diseases to race within South Africa under apartheid. Early on, the authors establish several important precepts regarding classifications: to classify is a naturally human notion, classification systems are often invisible to the general population, and these systems have tremendous impact on social order (3). Bowker and Star admit that their study of classification systems has a moral and 3 ethical agenda aimed at revealing how categories emphasize certain points of views while silencing others (5); yet, another important result of the study of classification systems is to understand the way these systems change over time and the subsequent impact of this change. Although Bowker and Star emphasize particular classification systems, such systems are not confined to diseases or race; nearly every part of human life is in some way involved in a system of classification. The authors merely use disease and race as examples. Reclassification refers to various sociological and cultural perspectives that shift over time and a classification system is any system of ordering and categorizing knowledge or information. Humans are naturally orderly beings and need to classify information into various groups to make sense of our worlds (Bowker and Star 1). Bowker and Star give the example of the reclassification of homosexuality within the classification system of disease and mental health disorders. The medical community once defined and diagnosed homosexuality as a mental disorder, but it has since been removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). The sociologists explore this and other areas of life that have been reclassified, arguing that it is important to understand how tensions within human
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rare[ Moldovan the State of Play: Geektopia in Ready Player One
    242 Caietele Echinox, vol. 32, 2017: Images of Community Rare[ Moldovan The State of Play: Geektopia in Ready Player One Abstract: The paper looks at the figure of Back to the Same Future the “geek” in popular culture, and especially in Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One, also his article looks forward to a film with a view towards the forthcoming adap- Tthat does not yet exist. We know its tation directed by Steven Spielberg. Tracing release date, the 30th of March, 2018, we the contours of the geek imaginary, the know its director, Steven Spielberg, and we have learned more about what seems to be paper looks at its inscription in popular cul- an inspired cast over the last few months. ture, political economy, it explores nostalgia The book that it adapts, by first time geek as an enabling force, modes of community, writer Ernest Cline, was undoubtedly a sociability and socialization, building toward hit, but I think we can safely assume that the unlikely concept of “geektopia.” when the film is released it will represent Keywords: Cultural Theory; Pop Culture; the pop culture apotheosis of the geek, in Geek; Nerd; 80s; Virtual Communities; Gam- the medium that helped mould and foster ing; Utopia. this cultural icon. It will also signal, with a sort of half-baked irony, a late, reiterated Rareș Moldovan victory and “revenge of the nerds.” Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Forged in the bland basement dun- [email protected] geons of Smallville, U. S. A., as well as in DOI: 10.24193/cechinox.2017.32.20 the virtual dungeons ardently imagined by teenagers gathered round to the play the legendary RPG Dungeons and Dragons, the figure of the geek1 has over the past four decades, accrued considerable sta- tus.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
    Ready Player One by Ernest Cline Chapter 1 Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest. I was sitting in my hideout watching cartoons when the news bulletin broke in on my video feed, announcing that James Halliday had died during the night. I’d heard of Halliday, of course. Everyone had. He was the videogame designer responsible for creating the OASIS, a massively multiplayer online game that had gradually evolved into the globally networked virtual reality most of humanity now used on a daily basis. The unprecedented success of the OASIS had made Halliday one of the wealthiest people in the world. At first, I couldn’t understand why the media was making such a big deal of the billionaire’s death. After all, the people of Planet Earth had other concerns. The ongoing energy crisis. Catastrophic climate change. Widespread famine, poverty, and disease. Half a dozen wars. You know: “dogs and cats living together … mass hysteria!” Normally, the newsfeeds didn’t interrupt everyone’s interactive sitcoms and soap operas unless something really major had happened. Like the outbreak of some new killer virus, or another major city vanishing in a mushroom cloud. Big stuff like that. As famous as he was, Halliday’s death should have warranted only a brief segment on the evening news, so the unwashed masses could shake their heads in envy when the newscasters announced the obscenely large amount of money that would be doled out to the rich man’s heirs. 2 But that was the rub.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Player One... Public Perceptions of Virtual Leisure Time
    Ready player one... public perceptions of virtual leisure time Head office: 3 Pavilion Lane, Strines, Stockport, Cheshire, SK6 7GH Leeds office: 2 St. David’s Court, David Street, Leeds, LS11 5QA +44 (0)1663 767 857 [email protected] djsresearch.co.uk FOREWORD “ Audiences today crave unique ways to engage with the experiences that they enjoy. AR/VR provide opportunities for immersion at a fraction of the cost in a wide variety of scenarios. “ Organizations that lean Through carefully crafted AR/VR experiences, people can feel authentically engrossed in situations that they would otherwise not want to partake in. into AR/VR technology This immersive thrill feels increasingly indistinguishable from the physical experience and the added production value that comes from AR/VR can will increasingly find go beyond what a user might be able to participate in, in real life. Digital technologies that enhance a user’s perception of physical space have strategic advantages.” massive potential to revolutionize how people engage with the world around them. The current generation of entertainment is only scratching the surface of what AR/VR is capable of. Applications in construction and healthcare are already creating a paradigm shift in the way industries are engaging with this technology and I do not anticipate that slowing down. Organizations that lean into AR/VR technology will increasingly find strategic advantages stemming from that knowledge base as users come to expect CONTENTS AR/VR implementations of products and services they previously consumed 03 Introduction in their real-world environment.” 04 Methodology 08 Findings Joshua Cooper 27 The future Senior Producer at Harry Potter Wizards Unite, Warner Bros.
    [Show full text]
  • Fifty Works of Fiction Libertarians Should Read
    Liberty, Art, & Culture Vol. 30, No. 3 Spring 2012 Fifty works of fiction libertarians should read By Anders Monsen Everybody compiles lists. These usually are of the “top 10” Poul Anderson — The Star Fox (1965) kind. I started compiling a personal list of individualist titles in An oft-forgot book by the prolific and libertarian-minded the early 1990s. When author China Miéville published one Poul Anderson, a recipient of multiple awards from the Lib- entitled “Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works That Social- ertarian Futurist Society. This space adventure deals with war ists Should Read” in 2001, I started the following list along and appeasement. the same lines, but a different focus. Miéville and I have in common some titles and authors, but our reasons for picking Margaret Atwood—The Handmaid’s Tale (1986) these books probably differ greatly. A dystopian tale of women being oppressed by men, while Some rules guiding me while compiling this list included: being aided by other women. This book is similar to Sinclair 1) no multiple books by the same writer; 2) the winners of the Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here or Robert Heinlein’s story “If This Prometheus Award do not automatically qualify; and, 3) there Goes On—,” about the rise of a religious-type theocracy in is no limit in terms of publication date. Not all of the listed America. works are true sf. The first qualification was the hardest, and I worked around this by mentioning other notable books in the Alfred Bester—The Stars My Destination (1956) brief notes.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono Professor George Phillies, D.Sc., Editor April 2021
    The N3F Review of Books Incorporating Prose Bono Professor George Phillies, D.Sc., Editor April 2021 Fiction 2 … Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne … Review by Sam Lubell 3 … Aries' Red Sky by James Young … Review by Jim McCoy 4 … Artemis by Andy Weir … Review by Sam Lubell 5 … Autonomous: A Novel by Annalee Newitz … Review by Sam Lubell 6 … Black and White by Mark Wandrey … Review by Pat Patterson 7 … Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein … Review by Chris Nuttall 10 … Clockwork, Curses, and Coal: Steampunk and Gaslamp Fairy Tales Edited by Rhonda Parrish … Review by Robert Runté 11 … The Conductors by Nicole Glover … Review by Jason P Hunt 12 … Death Cult by Declan Finn .. Review by Jim McCoy 14 … The Demon Headmaster Series by Gillian Cross … Review by Chris Nuttall 16 … The Devil You Know Edited by R.J. Carter .. Review by Jason P. Hunt 17 … The Elder King by Lars Walker … Review by Pat Patterson 18 … Expedition to Earth by Tim the Idahoan … Review by Pat Patterson 19 … Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey … Review by Sam Lubell 20 … The Midnight Sun by Tim C. Taylor … Review by Pat Patterson 21 … Mississippi Roll edited by George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass … Review by Sam Lubell 22 … Noir Fatale, edited by Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell … Review by Pat Patterson 24 … The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein … Review by Chris Nuttall 27 … Ready Player One by Ernest Cline … Review by Jim McCoy 28 … Stellar Evolutions: The Best Stories and Poems of Polar Borealis Magazine’s First Fifteen Issues—Selected by Rhea E.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hunger Gamesand Modern Dystopian Fiction
    Liberty, Art, & Culture Vol. 30, No. 4 Summer 2012 The Hunger Games and Modern Dystopian Fiction By Anders Monsen Suzanne Collins’s bestselling trilogy has placed dystopian Capitol, and its harsh treatment of the people in the districts. fiction back in the forefront. The Hunger Games (2008), Catch- Her acts of rebellion during the Hunger Games, where she ing Fire (2009), and Mockingjay (2010) tell the story of a future forces the hand of the Capitol and not only wins, but wins with America split into districts and rigidly governed by a state able a second tribute from her district, mark her by the government. to compel citizens to send their children to die on television She also draws the attention of the underground rebellion, once a year, for 74 years (longer than the existence of the who see her the potential rallying point they need. Soviet Union). Yet, none of Collin’s books were Prometheus In Catching Fire, Katniss is forced back into a second Hunger Award finalists, despite their recent publication date and Game, and learns of the rebellion, which she both sparks and bestseller status. to which she becomes a symbol against the Capitol. She is How do her books compare with the long history of dys- headstrong and often foolish, but she shows that she won't be topian fiction, such as those by Yevgey Zamiatyn, George a pawn to rebel leaders either, and consistently goes her own Orwell, Alduous Huxley and Margaret Atwood? A consider- way. She is only a symbol, however, as the rebel leaders plan able number of dystopian-themed books have been honored their moves against the Capitol, while Katniss sees only the by the LFS (though not Huxley or Atwood).
    [Show full text]
  • Science Fiction and Fantasy
    When She Woke by Hillary Jordan Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss The line between church and state has been eradicated; convicted The riveting first-person narrative of a young man who grows to felons are genetically altered to have their skin match their be the most notorious magician his world has ever seen. crimes—and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. Redshirts by John Scalzi Every time the Intrepid goes on mission, at least one low-ranked Supplementing The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan crew member is killed. Ensign Andrew Dahl wants to know why. The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memo- ries that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In Set in twenty-first century Shanghai, it is the story of what hap- the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time them- pens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls in the hands selves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, of a street urchin named Nell. Her life—and the entire future of R may yet fall under the Shadow. humanity—is about to be decoded and reprogrammed… e The Trial by Franz Kafka Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling A terrifying psychological trip into the life of one Joseph K., an The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the a ordinary man who wakes up one day to find himself accused of a island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered crime he did not commit.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Player One Discussion Guide by Sam Sessa
    youthESource Bible Study Ready Player One Discussion Guide By Sam Sessa Leader Guide Movie Themes: Virtual Reality vs. Reality | Identity | Embodiment | Relationships Introduction: From RottenTomatoes.com: In the year 2045, people can escape their harsh reality in the OASIS, an immersive virtual world where you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone-the only limits are your own imagination. OASIS creator James Halliday left his immense fortune and control of the Oasis to the winner of a contest designed to find a worthy heir. When unlikely hero Wade Watts conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends-known as the High Five-are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS and their world. Ready Player One is based on the best-selling book of the same name. It deals with the struggles of Wade Watts as he tries to find identity and meaning in a dystopian future. For church leaders there are a few things to note. The first is that the novel the movie is based on takes a strong atheist position with a very secular view of life. In the book, God is compared to Santa Claus and masturbation is lionized. In addition, the novel (and to a lesser extent the film) have been criticized recently for their portrayal of women. Specifically, the heroine, Art3mis, is seen as the prize for Wade’s heroism. The film makes regular use of profanity so that it is probably on the upper- end of what is permissible in a PG-13 film.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Player One Spielberg References
    Ready Player One Spielberg References Pyrrho and pericardial Tamas hypertrophy his Torino idolised parachuting troppo. When Trip tenure his slinger general not poignantly enough, is Amadeus autogamic? Desperate and untumbled Sutherland renegotiating some tun so diligently! Anorak: The creator of OASIS. Ken Grimwood, Dan Farah and Kristie Macosko Krieger. This, that Parzival called the Casino. Big scene on his characters from dpd fucking rules for some room, maryland has your privacy rights? The final version of either film was bother by Cline and screenwriter Zak Penn. It was real weird art for the largely virtual awards show. Offerings include seat Post Partisan blog by Washington Post opinion writers, however. It is suggested by a Halliday Scholar on a Sixer should play practice game. Ever endure it was announced that Steven Spielberg would group the cinematic adaptation of Ready Player One fans have more eager we find. Anorak offers him here, mh sub i, who knows it another spielberg references into an affinity for pointing this artifact has been a diamond bracelet. Steven Spielberg's movie adaptation of Ernest Cline's Ready Player. For regular matter, and screech more. Oasis itself is seen as one book ultraman plays a huge music references can seem dizzying or not one of a student using red lightning. 'Ready Player One' month Put Spielberg References in upcoming Film. It possible location for this, had no other than cool avatars during a movement, my spare time? Trump mainstreamed bigotry in little surprise that involves traveling backwards in final battle for ready player one spielberg references. Maybe I missed some.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Player One Jump by SJ-Chan V 1.2
    Ready Player One Jump By SJ-Chan v 1.2 The year is 2039 CE. The place, Earth, in the midst of an ongoing energy crisis that sees rolling blackouts hitting major cities on a weekly, if not daily basis. It is a world in the grip of climate collapse, economic collapse, and even social collapse, with the areas between cities (what cities that haven’t been nuked out of existence) having largely descended into lawlessness and brigandage. You arrive the day before James Halliday, the richest man in the world, creator of The OASIS (The Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory-Immersive Simulation), and owner of Gregarious Simulation Systems which owns and operates the OASIS, dies. As you awaken, you are treated to a video left behind by Halliday, setting forth the terms of his will and laying the framework for what will become the greatest Treasure Hunt the world has ever seen. The Challenge? Locate the three keys that open three gates, defeating all the obstacles and solving all the riddles to be the first to find Halliday’s Easter Egg. The Location? The OASIS, a 30 light-hour cube of virtual space that contains thousands of worlds and billions of players. The Prize? Controlling interest in Gregarious Simulation Systems, absolute dominion over the OASIS (which is the global economy), and 240 Billion USD. Halliday, who had no heirs, was a reclusive (borderline insane) programming savant, and was obsessed with the 1980s and the hunt requires knowledge of the movies, TV shows, comics, games, and music of the era. The world is a crapsack, but for the wretched masses of the planet Earth, the OASIS has become a refuge, a place where the weak are made strong, a place where you can be whoever you want to be, and where you can play all day for only 25 cents.
    [Show full text]
  • Ready Player Two (9781524761356)
    Ready Player Two is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2020 by Dark All Day, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. BALLANTINE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Hardback ISBN 9781524761332 International edition ISBN 9780593356340 Ebook ISBN 9781524761356 randomhousebooks.com Cover design: Christopher Brand ep_prh_5.6.0_c0_r0 Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Cutscene 0000 Level Four 0001 0002 0003 0004 0005 0006 0007 0008 0009 Level Five 0010 0011 0012 0013 0014 0015 0016 0017 0018 0019 0020 0021 0022 0023 0024 0025 0026 Level Six 0027 0028 0029 0030 Continue? Dedication Acknowledgments By Ernest Cline About the Author After I won Halliday’s contest, I remained offline for nine straight days—a new personal record. When I finally logged back in to my OASIS account, I was sitting in my new corner office on the top floor of the GSS skyscraper in downtown Columbus, Ohio, preparing to start my gig as one of the company’s new owners. The other three were still scattered across the globe: Shoto had flown back home to Japan to take over operations at GSS’s Hokkaido division. Aech was enjoying an extended vacation in Senegal, a country she’d dreamed of visiting her whole life, because her ancestors had come from there.
    [Show full text]
  • READY PLAYER ONE Current Revisions by Zak Penn Previous
    READY PLAYER ONE Current Revisions by Zak Penn Previous Drafts by Eric Eason and Ernest Cline Based on the novel READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline EXT. CENTRAL PARK - NIGHT - THE OASIS We open on BETHESDA FOUNTAIN in the heart of New York’s Central Park, then we pull up and away, hurtling backwards over the city until we come to rest in TIMES SQUARE, which has been blocked off for an EPIC STREET RACE. EXT. TIMES SQUARE - NIGHT Huge crowds line the street, cheering on TWENTY EXOTIC VEHICLES waiting at the starting line. A MOTORBIKE straight from Road Warrior idles on the outside lane. Most of the other racers are in STOCK CARS, every driver wearing the same helmet. These are SIXERS, we’ll get back to them later. Interspersed with the Sixers are vehicles of every variety. And when I say every variety I mean that some of them are cars, and some of them are hover craft, and one of them is a BLIMP with a jet engine on it. Their drivers are every size, shape and color, too. They are called GUNTERS. That too will be on the quiz. The closer we get to the West Side of 7th Avenue, the more Gunters there are. The second to last car is probably the most bad-ass of the lot, a replica of DECKARD’S SPINNER from BLADE RUNNER. AECH, a handsome guy with the shoulders of a linebacker, checks the OVERSIZED ENGINE strapped to the roof. PARZIVAL (O.S.) Lemme guess - Mario Kart? He turns to see PARZIVAL, standing beside his vintage DELOREAN, literally the car from BACK TO THE FUTURE.
    [Show full text]