Ralph Breaks The Internet Doesn't Want To Demonize Violent Video Games

In Ralph Breaks The Internet, Disney's lovable classic arcade duo of Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) are leaving their cabinets behind and heading to the wild world of--surprise!--the internet In doing so, they're set to meet all sorts of characters--Disney princess, Marvel heroes, wink-nudge personifications of social media sites--you name it, it's probably there. But one such introduction is a totally unique invention for the film, found in her own totally unique game. Shank, voiced by Gal Gadot, is a driver in the ominously titled Slaughter Race, a "wicked dangerous" game that Ralph and Vanellope find themselves having to play once they're officially online.

Slaughter Race has all the hallmarks of your traditional "violent video game" parable waiting to happen. It's brutal and over-the-top in a way that's meant to hark back to games like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row, and full of characters with names like "Felony" and "Butcher Boy." In short, it's really no place for a literally candy coated princess and her dumb-but-lovable sidekick--or is it?

GameSpot sat down with co-directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston alongside producer Clark Spencer to talk a bit more about the idea behind Slaughter Race, the ways it evolved between drafts of the script, and why it was important to not turn Ralph Breaks The Internet into a cautionary tale about the dangers of violent video games.

"We wanted to create something that felt like what people who aren't from big cities think big cities are like. When I moved to New York City from Wisconsin, my parents were like, 'What? It looks gross, it smells like pee, there's graffiti everywhere,' but that was the point for me," Moore laughed. "I loved the grit and the 'weirdos'--like Ralph calls [the Slaughter Race characters] in the movie--but they didn't get it. What we wanted to do was create an arc for Vanellope where she's coming into this cinematic adulthood and she's interested in this thing that's the polar opposite of the candy world she knows from back home...She feels very oppressed by Sugar Rush. There are three tracks. She does the same thing every day. She wants something more."

Of course, the idea of a canonical (albeit defiantly off-kilter) Disney princess wanting to leave the safety of her home behind for something decidedly less family friendly did draw some concern, Johnston explained. "There were early iterations where people would ask 'you really want to do this? You want to let her love this scary game?' And for a while, that's what we did. Slaughter Race was going to be a low road that Vanellope took, a cautionary tale; trouble on the Internet," he said. "But after a while we had to step back and say, 'This isn't us.' It's not what we wanted to do. We're not here to judge games and say that one is bad and one is good. We're all about not judging books by their covers. Slaughter Race is the perfect place for Vanellope."

It may not be the most typical Disney-flavored message, all things considered. Slaughter Race really does live up to its name--there are sharks in the sewers and rabid dogs; there are weapons and explosions and fire--but none of that really matters. The danger of the internet, according to Moore and Johnston, isn't in its actual content. The violence of Slaughter Race is never really the threat. Instead, the threat comes from Ralph and Vanellope's own insecurities in their friendship.

"It would have been really easy for us to make Slaughter Race the message," Moore laughed. "The parents would have loved it. But that's not who we are."

Despite the obvious subversion--and the potential for some parents to leave the theater a little less than pleased--Moore and Johnston didn't need to sneak their intentions by with any degree of subtlety. Producer Clark Spencer endorsed the pivot away from the more traditional Disney approach wholeheartedly.

"That's what I love about these guys," Spencer explained. "The minute you start to go down that road, the audience starts to get ahead of the story. When you become a cautionary tale, especially in a Disney animated film, you know what the ending is going to be. You're always just waiting for that piece to drop."

Ralph Breaks the Internet hits theaters November 21. For more on Wreck-It Ralph 2, check out how the internet works, how it doesn't shy away from the internet's darker side, and how it avoids The Emoji Movie's mistakes.