Westworld in UPPER CASE refers to the show, and Westworld in Sentence case refers to the theme park within the show.

The remake of the 1973 Western written by Michael Crichton, now headed by JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan is just two episodes in and is already being called the next ‘Game of Thrones’. WESTWORLD is a story of a theme park populated by artificial beings (the hosts) who start to develop consciousness, and the humans (the guests) who pay to visit this Wild West theme park to fulfill their gratifications on these hosts.

Is it just because HBO and the fact that both feature excessive nudity, violence and profanity? Or because for both the shows, beneath that, there is a story of epic proportions in a richly detailed fictional world and universal truths about the human condition?

What I am trying to do here, is try to see how many cinematic themes are applicable to WESTWORLD and not critically analyze the show or make a theory on either the future of the characters or their background and identity.

Therefore, this post contains minimal spoilers.

Below is a list of the characters that might be discussed later on:

Dr. Robert Ford, the co-founder and head scientist of Westworld – played by Anthony Hopkins

Dolores Abernathy, one of the hosts in the park – played by Evan Rachel Wood

The Man in Black, one of the regular guests – played by Ed Harris

Similarities such as those to Terminator 2: Judgement Day or Jurassic Park (also written by Michael Crichton) have not been mentioned here.

1) Blade Runner (1982)

Often considered the most surreal sci-fi film due to detailed sets, a mix of the futuristic cyberpunk genre and the 1940’s noir genres, the plot of this philosophical cult classic is simple: A Blade Runner (a cop, named Deckard) is hired to track down and terminate four Replicants (robots with a 4 year lifespan) who have returned to Earth to meet their creator.

The film encompasses various themes which cannot be explained in just a few words, but I’ll try. Some of these are most prominent in WESTWORLD too.

a) What it means to be human. What seperates us from them? Is it just self-awareness? Sentience, or specifically, the presence of emotions?

In the film, by the end of Roy Batty’s poignant ‘All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain’ monologue, most are left convinced he is more of a human being than those trying to kill him for not being one. On the other hand, Deckard is subtly shown to be as lacking of empathy as the story progresses, with hints that he might be a Replicant himself (although that is under debate, depending on the version you watched and whether you read the book it is based on or not).

Westworld’s programmed robots, the hosts, are shown to not just start being sentient but might almost certainly act on their emotions in later episodes. But is that all it separates us from them? Does being human automatically guarantee that we are above other forms of life?

b) A related theme of Blade Runner was how we subject others to tests we would ourselves fail.

Other than what was mentioned in a), the literal test – the Voight Kampff test is given to determine whether a subject is human or Replicant.

Deckard himself has not taken the test and he is unable to determine, after a 100 questions whether a Replicant is human or not. However, he intends to retire the four Replicants just because they are not human, and in turn ends up being a hypocritical being further from humanity than his prey.

WESTWORLD makes you look at things from the hosts’ POV. We have always imagined the birth of AI and consciousness as something that would lead to robots taking over the world. But what if they could be inherently good, or learn to be?

The guests are the worse of the two, inflicting violence and malice on the hosts just because they can, revealing their darkest sides. So all that the hosts may learn is what they see, which is humans wreaking havoc on them.

c) The basic desire to meet their maker.

In Blade Runner, the Replicants have come to Earth to meet their maker to find a way to increase their short lifespan.

In WESTWORLD, one of the hosts says his itinerary is to meet his maker.

This desire is perhaps as human as the feeling of emotions.

2) The Matrix (1999)

The 1999 Sci-Fi film centers on a character Neo, who is revealed the true nature of his reality; that it a simulation and the real world is a ravaged wasteland where most of humanity have been captured by a race of machines that live off of the humans’ body heat and electro-chemical energy and who imprison their minds within an artificial reality known as the Matrix.

Thinking about it from the point of view of the hosts of Westworld, their lives are meticulously planned, with story lines written by the park’s management with minor improvisations and in such a way that they can be altered by human guests if they interact in the story lines. Which is in essence a simulation.

If the machines were to realize that they don’t really live in the Wild West, but in the 21st century where everything they thought was real was just programmed, it would be the feeling that Neo got when he realized he was in the matrix.

Also, the opening scene of the show goes like this:

Man: Bring her back online. Can you hear me?

Woman, Western accent: Yes. I’m sorry. I’m not feeling quite myself.

Man: You can lose the accent. Do you know where you are?

Woman, standard accent: I’m in a dream.

Man: That’s right, Dolores. You’re in a dream.

Would you like to wake up from this dream?

Dolores: Yes. I’m terrified.

Man: There’s nothing to be afraid of, Dolores, as long as you answer my questions correctly. Understand?

Dolores: Yes.

Man: Good. First… have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?

(fly buzzes)

Dolores: No.

3) The Purge (2013)

This is not Sci-Fi, but a crime/ horror scenario where, in future America, everyone gets a 12 hour pass to commit almost any crime they want, including murder, on Purge night, without any consequences later.

The guests of Westworld have the same opportunity, they are given freedom to be either good, or be bad. They could kill, rape, steal, all without consequences. They also have the added benefit of knowing that they are doing it to robots who supposedly cannot feel it, or remember it as they would be wiped clean after the session.

This would bring out their truest colors. Would you do something really evil if you could get away with it?

4) The Truman Show

The premise of The Truman Show is that Jim Carrey’s character, Truman is a lovable character living an everyday life, going to work with a briefcase, shouting howdy to the neighbors as he leaves his home with a garden surrounded by a white picket fences.

But there’s something: Truman’s whole life, from his birth, is a reality TV show based on him, with everyone else playing roles in it except him. An entire synthetic world exists in Hollywood just for Truman. He is not aware that everything except him is scripted, human but artificial. That the real world is somewhere else. Millions of people tune in to watch Truman every day.

The hosts at Westworld share this with Truman too. Thousands of guests visit the theme park knowing the hosts are artificial, but they do not that this is not the real world, and that they exist just for entertainment.

Fun trivia: Ed Harris, who plays the creator of the show ‘The Truman show’ also stars in Westworld as the Man in Black, a regular guest who pays top money and wants to get to the deepest level of the game.

5) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) or A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Both these films explore the idea of memories, and whether it’s worth it to erase painful memories, which would give the characters a fresh start, but our memories make us who we are, and would we be the same we are if we were to start anew?

The hosts at Westworld are programmed to play out their story lines during the guests’ stay, and at the end of the cycle, their memories are erased and they repeat the same thing, having no idea of what was done to them, hence ignorant and holding no prejudice against the guests, whom they call the newcomers.

“We all love the newcomers”

6) Groundhog Day (1992) or Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Groundhog Day is about one person reliving the same day (Groundhog Day- February 2nd) over and over again as whatever he does in a day, the day resets to 6 am the next morning with everything else the same except him. It is a cheerful uplifting story as he uses it to know more and more about a woman he likes, as she is unaware that he’s lived the same day a hundred times over. Edge of Tomorrow also explores this concept of time resetting every day.

The regular guests at Westworld who either visit often or stay for weeks are in the same position as this. Knowing the hosts’ story lines, the regular guests would, after playing them out a few times, know what would happen when, the girl dropping her can of food, the old man falling in the middle of the street, etc.

The Man in Black also references this during the show.

So, WESTWORLD is much more than a show with mindless violence.

To put it in the words of the fictional founder of the theme park, Dr. Robert Ford, played by Anthony Hopkins: ‘’…. The titillation, horror, elation… They’re parlor tricks. The guests don’t return for the obvious things we do, the garish things. They come back because of the subtleties, the details.’’

I think this is a very sly meta-reference to the show itself.