New Materialism Lens of the OASIS from Ready Player One
New Materialism New Materialism is a complicated concept that can most simply be boiled down to "matter matters." Objects, human or not, have agency, or the ability to perform acts that produce a result or impact (1) regardless of whether we are aware of them or not. Through this lens human, nature, and objects are all equal and constantly shifting tensions to create an "assemblage." In New Materialism, assemblages refer to "modalities of groupings of agencies...which generate different histories, states of affairs, and future possibilities." (2) Overall, this leads to "thing-power," the idea that objects cannot be reduced to human meanings or agendas, as they have their own (3). New Materialism also collapses binaries and hierarchies between humankind and nature. This aspect is very clear in Ready Player One, as the real world and virtual world have become so intertwined the fine line between them has become very blurred. Trailer for