Like many people, the film kept Paul Beentjes thinking for some while after seeing it – he writes…
Compliments on the site. I had never heard of this film Avalon until I sort of watched it by accident. This movie did what very few others could: keep me thinking about it for days to come. Here are some of my thoughts.
Stuart Bray thinks the names Bishop and Ash are taken from the Alien films and speculates on Murphy and Stunner. Not only is Murphy the alter ego of Robocop he is also a minor character in Alien3. As for Stunner there is a character in the Spiderman comics called that. She is the result of an experiment and is the enhanced virtual body of herself. Bishop and Game Master are also comic book characters but there is nothing relevant about their stories though.
I truly believe all three realities presented are not real. The prize after completion of Class Real is the real Avalon, is being brought (back?) to reality. (Hold that thought!) One of the reasons for this is that no-one has a real name. Ash is called that because of the streak in her hair, Bishop is simply his character class, Stunner and Game Master are clearly not real names. The names of the other three remaining Wizard members are Cuisinart, Copper and Masher. Sounds like kitchen appliances to me.
Alex Seltsikas sees numeral links to the game Wizardry. I have found one more: The party during the attempt to get to SA consists of Ash, Bishop, Stunner and three other characters. They are Makanito, Zilwan and Badi which all three happen to be spells in Wizardry.
The only name that keeps puzzling me is Murphy… I do believe he is somehow the key to all this. Here is my first theory: All three realities in the movie are virtual and part of the game. The real reality IS Avalon and can be entered after completion of SA. When Ash enters Class SA it is suggested there is only 1 unreturned left but the hospitals in “reality” are filled with them. Murphy was a level 12 bishop so he could fulfill the requirements to enter Class SA all on his own. Perhaps Murphy is the first unreturned (the “one” – if you will) and discovered that dying in SA will end the game for that person. In other words: return to the real reality of Avalon where heroes are taken after they die (in the game). Dying could be a problem since SA is so much better and more “alive”. It becomes a personal heaven to whoever enters it. This takes away the wish to complete the final level. Somehow Murphy figured all this out and has taken it upon himself to “liberate” as many people as possible. He caused Wizard to break up and went after the ghost on his own. Once in SA he can help others fulfill the requirements to transcend into SA. He can do this by descending to the game world using a disguise as, say, another Bishop. So Murphy IS Bishop. Bear with me on that. Clearly has Bishop been manipulating Ash, Stunner and other characters to guide Ash to where she is. I see no other motive for him to do this: Once a person is inside Class SA Murphy would complete the “liberation” by killing them thus erasing their character data leaving them catatonic in the game-reality. I can imagine his yearning for liberation would eventually cause him to find someone to take his place. Someone who is one of the best. Someone who could resist the temptation of staying inside SA. Ash. Ash is no Bishop and changing class would cost her much more experience points. This doesn’t have to be a problem since it is stated that inside Class SA there are a lot of experience points to be earned. This theory has many holes and is far from complete. It does, however, raise a lot more different questions. Which is exactly why we like this movie so much. It does still leave the ghost… Have to think about that some more….
And on to my second theory: Another way to look at this is to perceive the world as it is presented in the movie: A bleak world where some are involved in an illegal game called Avalon. After the unexpected reset of a game an entire party is “unreturned” and hospitalized. However one member is still playing out her life in her mind. This would explain the unrealities in Ash’s real world. The only place she felt some joy was inside the game with her lover Murphy so that’s where her exit must lie. Apparently the thing with Murphy didn’t work out causing her to deal with some issues regarding this Bishop guy. She conjures up a hidden level which leads to some sort of heaven (exit out of her coma). Entering this level her mind transcends closer to the surface of her consciousness. In the end she manages to recognize her private heaven for what it is, rejects it and by shooting Murphy and the ghost once more she not only makes her peace with the breakup of herself and Murphy she also comes out of her coma. All worlds portrayed are Ash’s memories of the real, real and virtual worlds. Sounds rather good too huh?
[Alan: There is a possible problem with the theories around returning from coma after a long time – the unreturned we see at the hospital have been detached from the VR equipment so there is no longer a route back. Of course as usual we cannot be sure that what see through Ash’s eyes is true for outer levels of reality anyway!]