Professor Incognito Apologizes: Response

1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story? If so, what are they and how are they used?

There is a reoccurring character that is mentioned throughout the story, Doctor Kagan, who is a symbol of relationship struggles. He is clearly a couples' counselor and as a symbol he is used to show both the strife that was already prevalent in the couples' relationship and the efforts that Professor Incognito is making to make amends. The whole work is an 'itemized list' of apologies that sound like they would be drafted in a couples therapy session. Doctor Kagan could also symbolize, in some aspect, Professor Incognito's conscience. He believes in what he is doing in regards to everything else in his life, his relationship is the only thing where he has regrets and concerns and is the only thing he is trying to make amends for and change.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.

I personally am currently in a relationship, so this work feels weirdly accurate and true to me. I don't believe that my boyfriend has a secret double life, but the way this text is written so personally makes me feel like I can share in some of the experiences and feelings that Professor Incognito is describing. When in a relationship, one always has a weird sense of closeness and distance to the person they're in a relationship with. At least that's my own personal experience. You're so close with another person that you want to know everything about them and what they think and do, but you also know that they are their own individual with their own lives and thoughts that you will never be privy to. It can be hard to let go of that desire to know someone better, and in a relationship you may know that someone better than anyone else, but you can't possibly know everything. Just like how you can't possibly share everything. And in many situations you shouldn't. People keep secrets and sometimes it's for the best, but there still exists some guilt in keeping secrets from someone you feel like you should be able to tell anything to. There is always a worry that some secrets or feelings are too much or won't be accepted by the other, because no one can know how someone else will react to something. In this way, the struggle Professor Incognito describes with keeping his secret identity and how he both wants to tell but worries about it is very real.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

I think that something that makes this story incredibly personal and powerful is the way that Professor Incognito is talking directly to the viewer; we are Suzanne. If this were adapted simply into a movie or a graphic novel or a play we might lose that personal element of it. I would use virtual reality for this reason, because the story can then remain extremely personal. We can be virtually put into Suzanne's shoes, see the secret lab, and hear Professor Incognito's apology for ourselves. Then, it becomes all about performance. Because the story is told through Professor Incognito's hologram, which we are told is very life-like, the tone and performance of the hologram would be extremely important to push how personal this would feel to us. Eye-contact, so that it looks like the hologram is talking to us is important, as is the emotion behind specific different bits of his apology. Whenever he talks about being a villain, I would imagine he seems more distant and more emotionless, but when he talks specifically about Suzanne or his feelings about her or personal anecdotes about their relationship, he needs to feel like a real person; warm, nostalgic, and a tinge regretful. Those are the moments where the actor or animator (depending on how the VR would be constructed) really needs to convey strong emotion to make the text more powerful than it is on paper.

Ready Player One: A VR Experience

The user stands in an extremely dim, almost pitch black, room. Slowly the user’s eyes adjust to the darkness (light in the scene will be brought up slightly; just enough for the user to be able to see). The user is in an apartment. It is small and basically cubed shaped (ten meters by ten meters), with only one window that seems to have been painted over completely black. The door behind the user is a heavy-duty armor-plated door that is firmly shut and locked.

The user can explore the space, although there is not much to explore. The kitchen area on side of the room is sparse. Exploring the cabinets, drawers, and fridge will reveal only a few microwave meals and frozen dinners. There are no actual cooking utensils aside from the microwave. A clock on the microwave reads 7:18 PM.

There is also a bathroom unit that the user can look at. It is essentially a shower, a toilet, and a mirror, so it is also, not much to look at. If the user looks in the mirror, they will discover that they have the appearance of Max Headroom, a ‘virtual’ talk show host and the interface that Wade set up to be his system agent software. Near by the bathroom, there is a flat-screen monitor mounted on the wall. The monitor is off, but there is faint glowing arrow above it, indicating that the user must interact with it to start the interactive scene.

The main space is dominated by expensive VR equipment. There is a state of the art haptic chair, currently oriented into a bed, near the center of the room. There is a pale, bald figure, sleeping soundly in it. The rest of the set up is equally as state of the art and impressive and feels out of place in such a sparse, sad living space. There is a custom OASIS console by the chair and what is essentially a high-tech treadmill underneath the chair. In the corner of the room there is a smell-tower, and on the other side there is a spare haptic suit along with visor and gloves.

After the user has explored, they must go interact with the monitor, after which they will be placed in the monitor, looking out on the apartment. After a few moments of silence, the dark quietness is interrupted by the computer system integrated into the apartment blasting “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham from the impressive sound system.

COMPUTER:

Jitterbug.

Jitterbug.

Jitterbug.

Jitterbug.

You put the boom-boom into my heart

You send my soul sky high when your lovin’ starts

Jitterbug into my brain

Goes a bang-bang-bang ‘til my feet do the same

But something’s bugging you

Something ain’t right….

The figure in the haptic chair rouses, groaning.

WADE: [shouting] I’m up!

The haptic chair reorients from a bed to a chair and the lights in the apartment slowly come on. The figure, Wade, is now sitting position. He looks groggy and grouchy.

If the user says nothing, text will appear in their view telling them to interact with Wade. Wade will not move from the chair until the user greets him.

USER: G-g-good morning Wade! Rise and sh-sh-shine!

All dialogue said by the user is filtered to sound like Max Headroom and given an electronic stutter and distortion.

Wade will move from his chair to the bathroom module. The user can switch to any view where there is a screen in the apartment to follow Wade.

WADE: Good morning Max.

USER: I think you mean good evening Rumpelstiltskin. It’s 7:18 PM, OASIS Sta-sta-standard Time, Wednesday December thirtieth.

The rest of the scene in Wade’s apartment until he logs in to the OASIS is carried out in this way. The user receives prompts of what dialogue to say, and Wade will not continue his progression if some things aren’t said. The user can deviate a little bit from script and ask Wade personal questions, some of which he will answer, and some of which are too touchy and he will threaten to delete the user. All questions serve to build Wade’s character more for the user if they are jumping in to this scene with no prior knowledge of the story. The user can also tease and insult Wade and he will respond accordingly. Once Wade finishes his work out and logs on to the OASIS, the scene ends and goes to the next scene.

World Building

The world in which I grew up is bizarre and alien in the context of the rest of the world.

In the suburban Northeast, there is a place that has been scrutinized and satirized in media for a long time. Composed of similar, mansion-esque houses all with pristine green lawns long winding driveways. The atmosphere of the town is stuffy, much like the people who inhabit it. There is unspoken competition between all who live here, a competition to succeed. Everyone wants to be more successful (read wealthier) than their neighbor who has a three-car garage occupied by a hybrid, a BMW and a never touched Italian sports car.

This picturesque place full of stressed out workaholics who masquerade as well adjusted, happy nuclear families has often been likened to the fictional town of Stepford (and is actually where the most recent adaptation of the movie was filmed). It is Darien, Connecticut, and being a father here means you work on Wall Street or in some other high paying city job where you commute everyday. Being a mother here means you work from home or are a ‘homemaker’ and you spend your days drinking wine with your “gal-pals” and your evenings drinking wine at the Darien Social. Being a child here means you’re involved in at least one sport, generally field hockey or lacrosse, and a myriad of extra-curricular and you cope with all of this on top of school stress and pressure from your parents by partying, drinking, and experimenting with hard drugs. Or if you don’t do that you just hole yourself up with a computer or a game console and try some alternative way to escape this town and the expectations that come with it.

But you don’t get all this from looking at the surface. It’s hard to complain about a town that looks so lovely. That old colonial feel permeates the streets of Darien. Many buildings are brick and look like they’ve stood for a long time, even if they were just built last year. Many interiors are decorated with nautical themes, to appeal to the families who like to vacation to Martha’s Vineyard (which is most families). Pastels and polos are common fashion tends and all men have to own at least one pair of Nantucket Red shorts.

The town itself is clean; there is little crime here and it presents itself that way. The ‘Darien Bubble’ of safety and cleanliness has lasted many years, and many fight to keep it that way. Most ascribe this safety to Darien’s homogeneity. Darien is full of white people. The diversity in this town is extremely low, and most parents and grandparents who have lived here all their lives are determined to keep it that way. Vague racism and even anti-Semitism permeates the minds of the older generation, and they negatively influence their children thusly.

Darien is a strange place. Those who wish to leave never come back and those who wish to stay never seem to leave. To remain in Darien itself is a status of wealth, and those who subscribe to the values of the town always have likeminded people to compare cars with.