John C.
Reilly appears as the voice actor of his character, “Wreck it- Ralph,” in the
vintage arcade game, Fix It Felix, Jr. in the motion picture, Wreck It, Ralph. The film tells the story of a well-intentioned arcade-game villain who rebels against his role and dreams of becoming a hero. He
travels between games in the arcade, and ultimately must eliminate a dire
threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph unfortunately may
have inadvertently started. Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Wreck
It, Ralph was geared and directed towards more of an adolescent and kid
type of audience, but don’t let that fool you. It has many innuendos and “adult”
like puns to even keep the children’s parents entertained and occupied during
this film. Knowing that such actors and actresses such as John C. Reilly, Jack
McBrayer, Sarah Silverman, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling, and Jane Lynch provide
voice over work for these iconic and brilliantly created and animated video
game characters, it is easy for any audience member to picture these actors in
this animated film, especially because the animators actually used face
reproduction to make the characters extremely similar to the literal actor’s
faces. This film is guaranteed to make you laugh and maybe even cry a little.
While most probably believe that
this is a typical one dimension story by the highly-regarded Disney production
company featuring a plain story about a video game “bad guy” who longs to be a “good
man,” that is just the skim of the surface of this pretty intellectually
provoking story. This film features a sub-plot about how Ralph truly realizes
that he is a good man when he sacrifices his life for a young girl inside of a
video game who truly believes in him. According to our text by Lunsford, “arguments
have the ability to subtlety or blatantly change the way people think.” I
believe that while this story provides a great, compelling, and heartwarming
lesson for the youngsters about a “bad guy” who wants to be good and change his
fate in the video game world, I think it is much more than that. Ethically, I
believe that this is a story of facades and social norms. Walt Disney
productions might be teaching children to not judge a book by its cover, or
that people have the power and faith to break out of what society thinks of
them, and that people can change. Just because Ralph has been assigned to play
a bad guy in his video game life, doesn’t mean that he is not a good man or has
a good heart.
Emotionally and logically, I truly
think that this film even has a deeper meaning than the previous explanation.
In the film, “Wreck-it, Ralph” is an old (almost antique) game surrounded in
this arcade filled with new and improved games with the highest technological
advances that are offered. I think that this is a beautifully and poignantly
created insight towards what our current society and country is dealing with. This
connects with the loss of bookstores and rise of the Kindle and Nook, as well
as losing personal computers and the rise of Ipads and Macbooks. This story is
trying to tell an older generation that understands that there is still a place
for the “little man” and for the old way of doing things. While Wreck It, Ralph is a light-hearted and
dandy movie for all ages, its depth and moral value give the viewer a chance to
challenge themselves with something deeper than kid’s stories and arcade games.
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