Overworld Pastoral

A dead nightclub should have been expected, given that it was the end of term and much of Exeter's student population had gone home for Easter. Still such things are always a bit of a disappointment even when it was apparent. Seeing the damp mood and trying to salvage a still young night, we decided to go to the cinema. Afterall the hit international sensation the “Minecraft Movie” was on. Dashing through the cold spring night, we soon arrived at the cinema and into a suprisingly packed theatre.

Truth be told, the plot of the movie itself is rather forgettable, just a kids’ movie, although there is something substantive beneath the soulless shield of Warner Brothers. There is always something compelling about Jared Hess and his portrayal of the American Pastoral of middle America. The abandoned decaying mining industry, the mono-industry of the town, the overworked teachers at the public school and the pre-recession home. A potrait of suburbia.

Likewise, perhaps the film's true main character, Garrett (Jason Mamoa), struck me as an archetypical figure we still see occasionally. A sort of Chris Chan-like figure, stuck in the past, living in his glory days of childhood indulgence and victory. Now clashing with the alienating force of modern-day life. Although much more well-adjusted. Still, such figures do exist in real life, found in the last of the physical arcades, where life has caught up to them, but eternally chasing the past. A Sisyphean cycle of nostalgia.

However, what this movie truly pertains to is possibly another cultural shift, a “band kid wave”, much like in the Vulgarwave of two decades prior or the Reddit-Wave of the last decade, the consumer base of zoomer Reddit users has finally matured into consumers. Perhaps already evident by the success of the FNAF movie and, more recently, the Minecraft movie. Such a new cultural movement appears to be much more open to the ridiculousness of their media, with a purposeful ironic enjoyment of the show. Yet behind this mask lies a somewhat earnest love for the show they mock. Even more so, at least for the Minecraft Movie, it also mocks the previous decade of nerd-led consumerism. Especially with the memes of theatre reactions to scenes in the movie (the infamous Chicken Jockey), which is clearly a purposeful contrast to the audience reactions of scenes in movies like Avengers: Endgame.

My final notes are this, the Minecraft movie also shows how media ends up blending into the background radiation of culture. The movie does not really address the rules of the Minecraft video game. Which, at this point, has become so ubiquitous that there isn’t a strong need to worldbuild the rules of the Minecraft world. As in he case of other video game movies. Making certain criticisms of the movie that it is confusing to people who are unfamiliar with the mechanics of Minecraft. But due to its extreme ubiquity throughout the last decade, such criticism falls on deaf ears with my opinion being that its cultural osmosis is so strong it has no need for introduction. In much the same way you do not need to introduce characters like Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader.

Overall a OK movie. 2/5