When Stephen King first wrote The Running Man under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in May 1982, it was clear that his goal was to write a dystopian story that served as a grave warning and hyper-stylized reflection of America’s political climate at the time. Set in 2025, the world of The Running Man is bleak, with America a totalitarian, dystopian state. The citizens are suppressed in a way that feels like it’s of their own free will through the use of Free-Vee and The Games Network, a government-sponsored television network that airs deadly game shows.
Unfortunately, Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the novel is being released at a time when America’s entertainment, though not as overtly suppressive as in the book, remains similarly controversial. People are more attached to screens than ever before, and while they’re smaller than King imagined when he wrote the story, they still serve the same purpose. As provocative and profound as the novel was, the film’s original quote modernizes the story and message in an interesting way.
“Humans Bring That Special, Unpredictable Spark”
Early in the film, Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is forced to submit self-tapes to avoid disqualification from the deadly game show, and he tries to expose the truth about the Network executives. However, he soon discovers that his tapes are being manipulated, with doctored footage of him saying that he enjoys the heinous crimes he commits while on The Running Man. It’s an eerie parallel to today’s social media-driven political climate, where misinformation spreads at an alarming rate. AI has come to the point where footage can be doctored much like it’s shown in the movie.
Richards asks the producer and creator of The Running Man, Killian (Josh Brolin), why they don’t just fake the entire show. Killian responds that humans bring a “special, unpredictable spark” that makes for good television. While this is a morbid quote in the context of the film, from a meta-contextual lens, it provides a clear message: AI can never replicate or take over the work that creatives do to tell stories like The Running Man. This AI angle is also briefly touched upon in the book, where photos of Richards and his family are doctored to make them look more menacing and rile up the audience before the game starts.
Unfortunately for Killian, this special, unpredictable spark that he is so willing to exploit (much like many heads of the film industry) is also what drives those who oppose the regime in the film. The book has a quote that isn’t entirely dissimilar and is also said by Killian in the movie, which he advises Richards to “stay near [his] own people.” The people are what Brolin’s character believes to be the element for an entertaining show, and the class sympathy will lead to Richards lasting longer. However, it works a lot better than either Killian or Richards imagined, which retroactively makes the line ironic in the best way possible.
‘The Running Man’s Philosophy on Human Nature Is More Relevant Than Ever
While these two quotes are mostly disconnected, both represent the human spirit that the games network exploits for entertainment and suppression. Interestingly, this original quote from the film works on multiple levels: it exemplifies the book’s themes and reminds viewers that the human element of (morally acceptable) entertainment is what works, not something artificial or generated by a computer. The result of AI entertainment is a malformed, half-baked concept taken from a handful of other people’s original ideas. It’s the unique and individual experiences of people that make stories in movies and television worth telling in the first place.
That same philosophy of individuality and spontaneity is what fuels the rebellious nature of The Running Man‘s main character. While the novel takes it to a much darker extreme than the film, the spirit of Ben Richard’s disdain for the establishment is ever-present. Killian unknowingly sparked Richards, who Michael Cera’s character in the movie calls the initiator — the one who will help start a movement that could incite change in the oppressive regime in the film’s world. The unpredictability that once benefited the Games Network has turned against them, serving as a powerful political statement in a mainstream blockbuster film.
The screenplay by Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright strikes an interesting balance, providing slick and fast-paced entertainment with a profound message at the center of the absurdity and action. Killian’s original line is in the spirit of King’s novel. It is especially timely, given how much AI has dominated the conversation, not just on social media but across the movie and television landscape, where executives are always looking for ways to cut corners. Brolin’s character even says it himself, letting Richards know they tried to fake everything with their technology, but it never worked.
‘The Running Man’s Subtle Statement on Human Creativity Is Surprisingly Powerful
Overall, Killian’s quote on the human spirit and the quote about staying with your own people from the novel both have an unexpected throughline: people empathize with shared experiences, and that human empathy is what leads to Richards surviving long enough to flip the whole game on its head (something nobody could have predicted, just as Killian ironically wished). Moreover, from a meta-contextual standpoint, the viewers themselves empathize with Richards and his struggles, which are all too real and relatable.
It isn’t just in The Running Man, either — all kinds of stories work because of the human spirit, and the ability we have as viewers to watch a fictional story on screen and become invested. There is almost always something that a character has (or lacks) in their traits that allows people to become engrossed in a story, and that is why movies and television have been able to survive so many changes over the decades. Still, AI in entertainment can threaten its existence if misused, even though the technology isn’t as advanced as many people believe. That makes Killian’s new quote feel especially necessary. The Running Man is now playing in theaters.