Free Guy was released in 2021 and it followed Ryan Reynolds's character, “Guy” who is an NPC in an online video game but he somehow gains consciousness and is no longer an NPC but a character on a mission to save his world and help Millie Rusk, who is on her own mission, played by Jodie Comer.
Free Guy represents a strong female character as one of the main characters who is a videogame player and retired software designer. This movie touches on the harassment faced by women in this field as Millie's character in the game, Molotov Girl, is fighting with another online player in one of the beginning scenes and despite rejecting his advances he does not stop making her uncomfortable and continues harassing her. From Millie's attitude, we can see that she faces this on a daily so this did not phase her and that it is just something she has to deal with, but it did help shed some light on the treatment female online gamers face.
After this moment the toxicity faced by women in this field is never explored again which seems like a waste with a character like Millie. Millie is shown to be an incredibly smart woman who is extremely skilled and tech savvy but we never see her in her element. Instead, she is helped by her friend and love interest Keys. More often than not she is not able to do anything to help herself when it comes to the game which reinforces stereotypes of female incompetence when it comes to gaming and technology. When it comes to Keys he is seen in several instances using his skills in hacking or coding to help Millie which reinstates misogynistic views on how women need saving and can't do something completely without a male helping them out. The movie misses its chance to comment more on this issue of harassment and gender-based discrimination faced by female gamers with such a strong female protagonist. Instead, the focus is more on Guy and Millie's storyline slowly diminishes as the movie progresses.
The movie also reinforces stereotypes with certain characters in the movie. The main characters are all white, Guy, Millie, and Keys. Guy has a black sidekick best friend, Buddy who is just there to provide comedy relief to the movie. Buddy is present only to support Guy, while Buddy's life remains static Stereotypes like these have been happening forever but what they do is reduce the character of the person of colour to supporting roles with no significant character arc or storyline. The lack of strong coloured characters is a missed opportunity on the film's part because the gaming world is so diverse.
To end this, Free Guy is an entertaining movie but if we look at all the missed opportunities in the movie to talk about female harassment in the gaming world and sticking to traditional stereotypes it failed to live up to the challenge. Millie's character had the opportunity to break free from the stereotypical view of women in the gaming world but she was pushed back into the boundaries of relying on a man at the end of the day. If Free Guy had taken more time to tackle these issues it would have been quite an impactful movie.
This movie is reminding me of the recent discussion we had in class about women in STEM fields and this wide-held belief that women are not made for technological or IT fields. I believe this movie is about missed opportunities for meaningful commentary on gender dynamics and diversity in the gaming world. I appreciate how you pointed out Millie's potential as a strong female character, which ultimately feels undercut by the movie's focus on Guy and the reliance on Keys for her success. This is an insightful observation because Millie’s background as a retired software designer and gamer should have given her more agency in driving the plot, especially given the issues of harassment that she faces early on. However,…