Ok, title may be a bit of an overexaggeration. Idk who the director of Free Guy is or if he made this an anti-capitalist movie on purpose. I may be stretching this, but it's a doozie IMO. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
We meet Guy, a bank teller NPC stuck in the same routine. He gets up, goes to work, slaves for money to buy sneakers. All while carnage and destruction rages all around him. He's stuck in this cycle of capitalist hell.
The creator of this game is a money driven asshole. He only cares about what will drive his profits up. And the cherry on top? He stole the game from some other designers. He's profiting off the labor of other workers and of the sentient beings in his game.
Anyway, to jump ahead a bit, he becomes sentient and aware of his situation. The thing I like about this is, he is pushed by one of the original designers, but he mostly does this on his own. Deep down Guy knows there has to be more to life than this. So he learns how to fight and use the game against itself. But he uses the game to be a good Guy. The world and playerbase is enamored and inspired by Guy and reflects on randomly killing NPCs. Not all, but a fair number.
And what does the oppressor do when this happens? Everything in his power to stop it. He sends cyber cops, reboots the system, even attempts mass murder via destroying the world to prevent the uprising.
But the uprising cannot be stopped. Guy gathers the NPCs and unites them. He doesn't explain every aspect of their oppression. He doesn't need to. He asks if this is all life is or if they want something better. That's enough. The NPCs unite and go on strike to allow Guy to escape. Solidarity from coffee makers to bank tellers to cops. Everyone strikes and leads to victory.
And what is this new world created after the capitalist hell hole? There is no violence. There's vegetation in the town. The other NPCs are becoming educated. They don't get killed by foreign invaders. They've literally abolished banks. The last shot of the movie is the security guard laying down his gun. There's no need for guns. Everyone is working in harmony to create paradise.
And people in the "real world" want to leave there shitty lives just to experience this utopia for as long as possible.
I also like the main message of "it doesn't matter if you aren't "real," this moment is real." I struggle with this personally. Not only am I non-religious, I'm asexual. I often feel like there's no point. But there is a point. Even if I die and there's no afterlife and I leave nothing behind, this moment is real and we should fight to keep it and make it better.
Some elements of the movie were not great but I liked the main story. Would recommend.
if this is all there is and theres no afterlife i'd rather have not gone through any of this at all. i'm a hostage to my fear of death, a slave to my biology, a captive of history. no amount of positive experiences will change this. the positivity itself is pointless, meaningless, and temporary. i experience it only in a detached manner, anticipating and dreading its end, its meaninglessness, its impermanence. it is marred by the unchangeable past, saddled with guilt and grief and longing for the never-possible. it is surrounded by mindless suffering. one cannot overcome this with friendship or passion or commitment to a better future, only distract oneself. even communism cannot solve existential dread, only make it more comfortable, which in itself may be a worthy endeavor.
I feel like this sometimes but lately I've been thinking like, what else would I be doing right now? Might as well make the best of it.