OverwriteXR

Resources and content on everything XR

XR in Pop Culture

Extended reality (XR) has long been a subject of fascination in science fiction and popular media. These cultural stories have not only shaped public imagination but also influenced real-world development of immersive technologies. The following examples show how XR has been envisioned—as liberation, entrapment, escapism, rebellion, augmentation, or existential threat.

Snow Crash (1992)

Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash is often credited with coining the term “Metaverse.” The novel depicts a sprawling, capitalist-dominated virtual world where avatars are used to interact, trade, and socialize. The Metaverse is treated not just as a tech innovation but a mirror for inequality, corporate control, and digital culture.

  • Introduced the concept of persistent virtual identities in a 3D internet
  • Highlighted how avatars, digital real estate, and privatized space could replicate real-world hierarchies
  • Critiqued a fragmented world ruled by corporate-franchise city-states, which eerily resembles some modern web3 fears

The book remains a foundational influence on both XR developers and critics who worry about a fractured, commodified digital future.

The Matrix (1999)

The Wachowskis’ The Matrix presents a dystopian XR scenario: the entire known world is a simulated reality designed to keep humans pacified while machines harvest their energy.

  • Explores perception vs reality, questioning whether experience or physicality defines truth
  • Popularized the red pill / blue pill metaphor for technological awakening
  • Introduced “residual self-image” as a precursor to customizable avatars

This film’s philosophical depth made it a touchstone for debates around simulation theory, agency in digital spaces, and the politics of control.

Sword Art Online (2012–)

This Japanese light novel and anime series explores what happens when players are trapped in a VR MMORPG. If they die in the game, they die in real life.

  • Highlights the risks of full neural immersion and lack of failsafes
  • Explores themes of identity persistence, relationship-building in digital spaces, and trauma carried across real and virtual worlds
  • Introduced the idea that virtual love and death could be as meaningful as in “meatspace”

The series resonated with gamers and developers alike, prompting conversations about psychological safety in immersive experiences.

Ready Player One (2011 novel / 2018 film)

Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One envisions a fully immersive, gamified metaverse called The OASIS, where people work, learn, and socialize.

  • Popularized XR as a form of escapism in dystopian conditions
  • Showcased an open-world system where digital assets and avatars carry economic and personal value
  • Reinforced the idea of virtual lobbies and portals as entry points to different experiences

The IP helped mainstream the idea that XR could be a cultural hub—not just for gaming, but for education, work, and relationships.

Black Mirror (2011–2019)

Charlie Brooker’s anthology series Black Mirror features several episodes centered on XR, often exploring its emotional and ethical implications.

  • “San Junipero” imagines a digital afterlife where elderly minds can upload to a nostalgic virtual paradise
  • “Striking Vipers” questions identity and sexuality through immersive gaming avatars
  • Other episodes address surveillance, consent, and the illusion of choice in digital ecosystems

These stories challenge not just the technology of XR but its emotional and sociocultural impacts.

Pantheon (2022–2023)

Pantheon, an animated sci-fi drama, explores a world where consciousness can be uploaded posthumously into digital servers, creating Uploaded Intelligence (UI).

  • Explores AI as the afterlife—humans living on as data
  • Raises ethical questions about ownership of digital consciousness
  • Introduces conflicts between disembodied superintelligence and physical-world geopolitics

Pantheon takes XR to its philosophical limit: what if digital presence outlives the body—and becomes more powerful than it?

Westworld (2016–2022)

HBO’s Westworld depicts a theme park of AI-driven hosts where guests live out fantasies, but it quickly becomes a meditation on consciousness, control, and rebellion.

  • Blurs the line between immersive experience and sentient simulation
  • Hosts develop self-awareness, challenging human authority and morality
  • Asks whether reality is defined by physicality, memory, or freedom of choice

Westworld is a slow-burning parable on how XR can evolve from mere entertainment into a battleground for autonomy and selfhood.

Upload (2020–)

In Upload, people nearing death can choose to upload their consciousness into a luxurious digital afterlife.

  • Deals with capitalism in XR afterlife design—tiers of service, microtransactions, and class divide
  • Shows how personal data and digital selves are commodified
  • Blends satire with poignant emotional questions about memory, death, and digital identity

It presents a plausible and chilling version of XR’s commercialization of mortality.

The Peripheral (2022–2022)

Based on William Gibson’s novel, The Peripheral features a future where people can interact with alternate timelines via neural XR interfaces.

  • Reality becomes a fragmented interface of possibilities and manipulated futures
  • Raises questions about time travel, agency, and influence through XR
  • Suggests XR isn’t just for escapism—it can be a tool of strategic manipulation and warfare

It explores XR as a geopolitical weapon rather than mere personal extension.

Other Notable Mentions:

  • Tron (1982 / 2010): Early depiction of being “sucked into” a computer, where digital spaces have rules and dangers of their own
  • Surrogates (2009): Humans remotely operate idealized avatars while their real bodies remain hidden and immobile
  • Alita: Battle Angel (2019): Augmented bodies and XR gaming as means of survival and dominance in a cybernetic underworld
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995): Explores what it means to have consciousness in a cybernetic body; blends XR with themes of memory and identity

Cultural Threads Across Them All

Across these narratives, XR is rarely neutral—it’s a mirror for humanity’s deepest fears and aspirations:

  • Control vs Freedom: Who owns your virtual body? Your memories? Your data?
  • Mortality & Legacy: Can we live on digitally? Should we?
  • Intimacy & Identity: What do love, sex, and friendship mean when filtered through avatars?
  • Escapism & Agency: Is XR a path to freedom—or a prison we willingly enter?

These stories help shape how we design XR systems, warn against their excesses, and inspire innovation. As we build our own metaverse, pop culture reminds us: every new layer of reality comes with ethical, social, and emotional consequences.