NERVE: The Movie of Our Generation

*Minor Spoilers Ahead*

Teenagers often struggle with the concept of identity – it is hard to understand ones self, abilities, restraints and worth. Nerve touches upon these subjects of teenage struggles but in a context of the digital era we now live in. The movie depicts Vee (Emma Roberts), an artistic and often overlooked character in the shadow of her adventurous best friend, going through a ‘mid- teen crisis’ of sorts. When she realizes her inability to take risks and live life to the fullest she decided to follow the footsteps of her adrenaline junkie best friend and join a unreliable truth or dare dark web site as a “player”  (who gets money for each dare they complete)  instead of constantly being a “watcher” on the sidelines. The concept looked simple enough, so she gave up her internet privacy to the video game with the primary rules being :’Don’t snitch’ and ‘ All dares must be recorded by the players phone’ or all money earned will be revoked. Skipping to the ending , Vee realizes that the game is getting out of control as watchers dared players to do things that are life threatening , causing her to break the rule and snitch to the authorities. This resulted in her being abducted by the members of the site. In order to regain control of her life, she was placed in a pit with two other members of the game (who were also controlled by the game for snitching the previous year), in which she had to complete one last dare by the watchers to win the game. The anonymous watchers wanted other players to shoot her.

I will not disclose here the finale of the movie, however I do want to highlight the message the filmmakers were trying to convey to the people of our time as I understand it. We are a largely technologically dependent era, our entire attributes as a human is spilled onto the internet – and that includes the negative side. We now live in a time where our opinions, our sorrows, our joys are open to the world to pick on, and our human needs are amplified including that to judge, to hate and to manipulate. Being teenagers of this technological generation, we are often placing the most delicate moments of our life on the internet.

Hiding behind our screens, we have the power to hurt another human being all the way across the world, usually anonymously. The movie brilliantly portrays how all the pent up frustration people face in reality day to day is unleashed on the internet without the confines of societal norms and etiquettes. Just because we can hide behind a screen and not face reciprocations of our actions does not mean we should forget the fact that the words you say are your responsibility. All the watchers in the movie voted to have one of the players shoot Vee  – the outcome of that decision is that each and every individual who suggested the dare will become an accessory to murder. We cannot underestimate the power of our words and must remember at all costs that the same things written on screen are being read by another human being somewhere who may be going through things no one will understand unless in his/her shoes. As my amazing history teacher once said: “The internet has provided a megaphone to idiots…” and I would add to that: “…and armed them with the ability to kill”.

We are the teenagers of this era, so we are the people who must understand the power we hold and educate others to make a change. Despite having potential aggression towards another human being, we must be mindful of the message we are spreading to the world, especially towards the incoming youth of the internet generation who is slowly learning that it is “okay” to treat another human being harmfully on the web. Stay mindful of the messages being sent out to the world and look at multiple aspects of situations before reacting to the immediate instinct to attack and hurt. We have the ability to make a change which we can start with ourselves.