(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Film Nerve addresses some very current trends in Internet culture, and gives us a glimpse into a potential and daunting future. The main character is Venus "Vee" Delmonico (played by Emma Roberts), who is a high school student. After being rejected by JP (whom she is in love with) and then being called rescuer by her best friend Sydney, Vee decides to throw herself into an online game everyone is engrossed in. The game Nerve consists of what are called "observers" and "players" respectively. Players can collect a ton of money by performing scales of increasing color, while observers pay to see them complete, withdraw or fail the tasks.
Love History. Nerve Above all, it shows us examples of new technology that can become public domain in the not-too-distant future – apps that require fingerprints to log in, exchange of phone numbers by holding hands against each other, and games that work without a remote server. These forms of technology already exist. You can unlock many phones with a fingerprint, and some apps have also started offering fingerprint sign-in because it's faster than password. "Bump" was – before it was purchased by Google – an app that could transfer contacts, photos and files if the phones were easily knocked apart. And games without the need for an external server, like Nerve, exist as well.
The movie has some futuristic elements, but the story itself is a classic "girl meets boy" tale – including the obligatory ingredients "jealous best friend" and "buddy girl has known all her life and who is secretly in love with her". Vee and new acquaintance Ian join forces to play Nerve, and sweet music ensues.
With such a well-known storyline, the film caters to a wide audience, not just online gaming fans. The romantic plot of the story helps maintain interest as the scale of the scale increases. By combining the familiar with the unlikely in this way, one forgets that you look at a guy who races through New York on a motorcycle with blindfold, thunders past the red light and survives against all odds. Afterwards, they kiss (again), of course.
Privacy and class differences. The screenwriters also write contemporary themes into the narrative, including the issue of privacy boundaries. Players who sign up for Nerve get their history thoroughly reviewed both as Amazon customers and as social media users. Against this backdrop, they receive tasks tailored to them – and adapted to what they are most afraid of. Sydney, which is in dread, must walk on a ladder between two buildings. Vee, for his part, must – with the humiliating rejection of the previous crush fresh in memory – kiss a man.
Companies trying to persuade people to disclose personal data also happen in real life. The purpose, of course, is to make money. For example, insurance companies in the Netherlands have considered offering cheaper health insurance to people who give the company access to their personal and medical information. Experts have expressed concern that low-income people should be more likely to accept such deals, since there is money to be saved. In this way, economic inequalities can also lead to differences in civil rights between rich and poor.
A similar situation arises in the film: Initially, Vee participates in the game to prove to her girlfriend that she is not a boring trigger – but when she later continues to play, it is because she needs the money to pay for the school she is aiming for after high school. People with money are assigned the role of game watchers, and they pay to see unmediated people risk their lives.
Risk Behaviors. Another topical theme woven into history is fame on the internet. Sydney, Vee's best friend, plays because she wants to be famous. She will be as well known as those with the most followers on Instagram, so-called Instabella. Doing stupid, controversial and dangerous things to become famous is not a new phenomenon (remember some Jackass?), but now, thanks to the internet, anyone can film what they do and keep gaining new followers. It would be far less tempting to do something dangerous or forbidden without the idea of followers and fame as a driving force. Those who do this type of high risk just for the sake of the excitement do not have to take video of the actions. Some of the charm of graffiti, for example, is just sneaking around in darkness and illegality – the very few graffiti artists film their nightly businesses. On the other hand, we have vloggers (video bloggers) who jump on trains and set fire to campers. Compared to Jackass'Time is far easier to become famous by doing stupid and dangerous things on the internet today.
People with money are assigned the role of game watchers, and they pay to see unmediated people risk their lives.
The dark sides of the web. It may seem like normal and sensible behavior to some extent weather the web. This also happens in this film, towards the end, when the viewers vote on whether to shoot Vee. Since Nerve is an interactive online democracy, observers must also decide on this final venture. The majority votes for Vee to be shot. Thus, safely hidden behind nicknames, it is easy for people, at least in this film, to expose a human being to real life danger.
I think some in real life would also vote "yes" in such a situation – partly out of curiosity and partly for the sake of entertainment. But it is more than that: Anonymity gives free space to attach itself to the darker sides of humanity. The sense of responsibility becomes less when you are part of a large, anonymous group. Everyone who is on the Internet is, by definition, part of a large, anonymous group with no clear identity or group structure.
This indifference to everything that has to do with it is not made better by the fact that the web is full of videos showing illegal activities. The vlogger who jumped on a train at speed was accused of deliberately endangering the railway, and the vloggers who set fire to the caravan had to pay a fine of 280 euros for a fire. But both of these videos are still available, despite the YouTube policy stating: "Don't post videos that encourage others, especially children, to do things that can seriously hurt them. Videos that show harmful or dangerous acts may be age-restricted or removed depending on severity. " The videos continue to bring in "likes", new viewers and increased fame for the vloggers.
And there is no end to the dumb idiots that unfold online. A vlogger (if he can still be called that) has made it a sport to harass people, beat innocent passers-by and display illegal weapons on YouTube. Ismail Ilgun never completed his education and started the vlog to pay the debt, according to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.
The resort exists. All things considered, there are several technological and social developments in the film that are closely linked to reality. Some of the technology in the film already exists, and there are bloggers who display illegal acts that may be tempting for others to copy. Fortunately, we do not have anonymous masses on the web that push people to do illegal things for money and fame, such as at the end of Nerve. Because even though Vee and Ian think they're trapped in the game, there's always a way out – and it's called the off button.
Nerve currently appearing in cinema.
