Communication and Media

 Nerve (2016)

Nerve is not a film to be taken too seriously, for it is too often flashy and informal in its approach to storytelling; it is clearly a relic of popular media, a film designed to be watched and consumed by the masses with little questioning of the concepts behind it. This is a shame, because Jeanne Ryan's original novel crafted a premise that could've served as a powerful commentary of today's world. Still, when one sifts through the (albeit fun) fluff of Nerve, we can begin to see a world that is horrifyingly feasible in the modern era of the Internet. 

Formed as an underground, live-action game of dares, Nerve allows individuals to use their phones to participate as either "players" or "watchers." Watchers pay to access the live footage, and their phones serve as a type of distributed server for the game to run. They are then able to chat in real-time with each other, and they are the ones giving the players the dares. As players complete these dares, the dares become increasingly more challenging, and the players begin to win money and stardom. If a player bails on a dare (or simply fails it), they forfeit their winnings and their time in the game is over. A more sinister aspect of this is the enforcement of the idea of "snitches get stitches." If a player goes to law enforcement, they lose their earnings and are taken in as "prisoners." 

If this concept had been carried to a darker fruition, the film would be fantastic. But for all its tropes, Nerve uses them as well as one could expect. It is natural that teenagers would find the idea of going viral massively appealing, and many of the early dares play into romance and public embarrassment. It is not illogical to imagine that in a network society like ours, such gamification may become commonplace. The gap between the online world and the physical world is one we are constantly trying to bridge, and concepts such as these would be incredibly effective, even if they are horrifying to some degrees.  

Lastly, Nerve touches on the concept of using one's digital reputation against them, most glaringly in the premise of the game itself, but also in the way in which dares are created. Oftentimes, they are pulled from players' worst fears, as indicated by their digital presence: searches, posts, and more. The watchers are always ensuring that the players do not forget that they in a game online, crafting networks of dares that play off one another and planting references to one's history in the real-world, such as Ian reading To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, which Vee had listed online as her favorite book. 

Nerve (Roger Ebert)

Nerve (Variety)