Movie Game Night
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the movie Game Night have a lot of unique connections that deal with the plot and the role of free will. In both of these stories, the characters experience similar journeys that involve a game and the real world. The characters are all unaware of reality and they must undergo difficult trials to reach one goal.
The problems that are designed to test their knowledge cause them to act on free will and they have to carefully think about their own actions. Even though they are oblivious to the truth, their decisions are extremely important because it will have a major effect on them later. The characters are greatly impacted by their choices and the role of free will plays a big part in these two texts.
Sir Gawain and the friend group in Game Night do not realize what is actually happening and they do not notice that they are continuously being tricked by the people around them. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain expects to continue the Christmas game once he reaches the Green Chapel; however, he is unknowingly playing the game during his visit at the Lord’s castle. When he met up with the Green Knight, the knight revealed to him that his real name is Lord Bertilak de Hautdesert and that Gawain’s stay at the castle was a trial to test his virtues. Lord Bertilak de Hautdesert, who is disguised as the Green Knight, informs Gawain that it was he who arranged it [himself] and [he sent his wife] to test [him] (296). Gawain then learns that the contract he had with the Lord was meant to reveal his true qualities and their exchanges represented his interaction with the Green Knight. Like Sir Gawain, the characters in Game Night went through a similar experience.
The main characters, Max and Annie, host weekly game nights with their friends Ryan, Michelle, and Kevin. Max’s brother, Brooks, decides that he will host game night when he comes to visit, and planned for the them to participate in a murder mystery game. Brooks explains that they will not know what’s real and what’s fake (Game Night). Unfortunately for Brooks, he is kidnapped by real criminals and no one helps him because they think it is all part of the game that he set up. Throughout the night, they discover that Brooks is actually involved in a dangerous crime and they have to go through difficult tasks to save him. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Game Night both consists of the reversal of a game and actual events, and how the characters are completely blindsided by the truth.
The role of free will is particularly important in these two texts. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain gets to choose his actions and what he got to do for himself as he was on his way to fight the Green Knight. Initially, King Arthur was the one who was supposed to play the Christmas game, but Gawain stepped in because he thought his death would be least loss (246). Gawain volunteered himself to play the dangerous game because he wants to protect the honor of his uncle, King Arthur, and his court. He also chooses to accept the Lord’s agreement in exchanging what he has acquired in the castle to the Lord’s hunting prey for three days. The Lord’s wife, Lady Bertilak, decides to give him a kiss on the first day of the contract and she proceeds to do so on the second and third day. Each day, Gawain exchanged the kisses from Lady Bertilak as the Lord gives him his hunting prey in return.
On the final day, however, she also gives Gawain the green girdle as he leaves the castle to go to the Green Chapel and compete with the Green Knight. Gawain chooses not to give the Lord the green girdle because Lady Bertilak convinced him that it had the power of survival. Gawain thought that the girdle was a godsend for the hazard he must face when he reached the chapel to receive his deserts (283), so he did not return it. He did not trade the girdle because he wanted to live when he went up against the Green Knight, which resulted in the Green Knight to choose to spare Gawain’s life. The role of free will affected Gawain because his actions were responsible for his future, even though he did not know the circumstance.
The characters in Game Night also had the ability to act on free will. They all choose to participate in the murder mystery game because they are highly competitive, which causes them to do anything to win. When they discover that Brooks has actually been kidnapped by real felons, and they go on a long adventure that involves tough challenges to save him. Max assumes that he will go through this mission by himself because he thinks that it’s up to [him] to fix it (Game Night) since he is Brooks’ brother, but everyone decides that he will not go through it alone. No matter how dangerous the situations are, they still continue to risk their lives to save Brooks, placing themselves deeper into crime. They crash a top secret party that is filled with the richest people in the world in attempt to retrieve a jeweled egg that Brooks stole from a criminal. Annie knows that Brooks’ captor wants the egg and the only way to save [Brooks] is to get that egg from[Marlon Freeman] (Game Night), the man who the egg was sold to.
They also choose to get involved in many car chases, fights, and shootings in order to rescue Brooks from the threatening criminals. They all actively work together to figure out how to escape from crime and to think of clever ways to get Brooks back to safety. The way Max and his friends react to these obstacles will determine whether or not Brooks survives.
The unique situation in these texts about the reversal of a game and the real world causes the characters to act on free will. Because of their unfamiliarity with the truth, the decisions they make do not reflect what will actually happen since the truth is kept a secret from them. The role of free will creates a connection between Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Game Night because each character unexpectedly made decisions that will end up affecting them in their future.
