Everything is now easy thanks to technology. You can go shopping, look for nearby cafes, pick up a new skill, or even go on a date. Actually, practically everything, save the quest for a genuine companion. What if, nevertheless, technology also makes this possible? What if technology actually IS your ally? Ron’s Gone Bad investigates what friendship really means in a dystopian society.
The Bubble bot (B-bot), a robotic friend-finder created by Bubble Tech CEO Mark Weidell, aids young people in making friends. B-bots have access to all of the owner’s information. In essence, they allow children to walk around at will and foster lifelong bonds. A bashful middle-schooler called Barney Pudowski is the only child without a B-bot in the town shortly after the launch since B-bots quickly take over the globe.
Warning: major spoilers
Ron s Gone Wrong Plot summary The World Of B-Bots
Every child in Nonsuch, Oklahoma, has a B-bot. B-bots are ovular plastic blobs that can be customised with a wide range of downloadable skins to fit the tastes of their owners. These are internet-based bots that contain the social media accounts, apps, contacts, and other content that belongs to their owners. B-bots use this information to get to know their owners completely and facilitate appropriate social interactions. B-bots can move, speak, and carry out commands. They can seem as anything, such a charming rabbit, an aeroplane, or a villain from a video game.
Barney is the only student without any friends at school, with everyone else either playing video games, watching live streams, learning about new topics, or interacting with B-bots to create pals (either friends or B-bots). He really dislikes having to sit alone at the bench during recess and watch the other students interact. Graham, Barney’s father, and his extremely Bulgarian Donka (grandma), on the other hand, do not want him to develop a technology addiction as the other kids do. They haven’t handed him a B-bot as a result.
Who is Ron?
Graham regrets not getting Barney a B-bot when no friends show up on his birthday. Thus, he and Donka attempt to purchase a B-bot for him at the Bubble shop. Graham has no alternative except to do black market business in a warehouse as the store closes at midnight. He has no idea that the B-bot he bought was already defective.
The following morning, as Barney awakens, his gift is still in the space. When he tries to customise it, the gadget acts strangely and slowly. The B-bot registers Barney’s name as Absalom when he tries to register it and continues to refer to him as such. He avoids bringing his broken B-bot to school after realising that it is broken. While bonding with Donka, the B-bot makes a mess in his home and learns a traditional Bulgarian song.
Barney chooses to return the B-bot to the facility out of frustration. Rich Belcher and his pals taunt Barney and slap his B-bot as they pursue him. Unexpectedly, the B-bot becomes enraged and defends itself while rescuing Barney. After observing this, Barney decides to teach the B-bot to become his friend rather than giving it away.
However, the cops take a loose B-bot to the facility after becoming concerned about it. Barney has surreptitiously saved his B-bot while everyone else thinks it has been sent to the crusher. Barney decides to call the B-bot Ron after learning that his buddies refer to him by his barcode, which reads RONB7NT5CAT5SO.
How To Be A True Friend?
Barney hides Ron in his shed and uses a chart to educate him how to become his friend. Friendship is governed by a few rules: you should always enjoy your friends, be familiar with them, be within 6 feet of them (unless they’re having a terrible day), etc. After a series of humorous mistakes, Ron develops into Barney’s best friend. Over time, Barney and Ron have grown to adore and enjoy one another’s presence.
Savannah, Barney’s classmate, unintentionally witnesses him with Ron one day. She tells Ron that since he isn’t assisting Barney in making new friends, he is a useless B-bot. Even when Barney leaves her house with him, Ron is already visible on Savannah’s live stream. Ron understands that making friends for Barney will help him achieve his goal. As a result, he wanders the town and gathers a variety of oddball companions for Barney, including an elderly woman, a homeless man, an outlandish conspiracy theorist, a parrot, and a baby who has gone missing.
The two pals argue and briefly split off as Ron unwittingly gets Barney into trouble. But, Barney resolves to acknowledge Ron’s feelings because he feels he has been a bad friend by being too self-centered. Later, Barney discovers that Bubble representatives are at his door to take Ron away, which prompts him to grab Ron and go into the forest to save him.
Ron s Gone Wrong Ending Explained: Does Barney Save Ron?
Andrew, a stockholder in Bubble, makes the morally dubious decision to compromise in order to find the rogue bot. Every B-bot in the town has its privacy settings broken, and he uses them to spy on Ron. Barney and Ron assist one another in surviving in the woods in the meantime.
Ron’s battery is presently fast depleting. Ron manages to save the asthmatic Barney and make it to the town despite having a battery that is less than 5% charged. As Barney awakens in the hospital, he finds that Ron has had an algorithmic makeover. Marc tries to get Ron’s previous algorithm from Bubble’s cloud but finds that he is unable to access his own system. Ron will be rescued from Bubble Headquarters by Marc, Graham, Donka, and Barney. Barney accesses the vast cloud system and locates Ron while the others delay the Bubble personnel.
To his amazement, he learns that every B-bot—aside from Ron—is merely serving to increase the youngsters’ sense of isolation. They all need to know Ron’s code in order to be truly happy (which is nothing but Barney s chart on how to be a friend). Once more, Barney is able to recall his function as a B-bot. Instead of staying within 6 feet of his friend, he disappears into the cloud system of all the B-bots. Marc, on the other hand, deftly (and properly) maintains his position as Bubble’s CEO by ensnaring Andrew in his own trap.
All of the Nonsuch schoolchildren still adore their B-bots three months later. And this time, they are all imbued with Ron’s spirit. B-bots assist children in making genuine friends rather than invading their privacy. Barney no longer needs to sit on the bench at break alone himself because he too has some real buddies. And now, he is utterly beloved by all the B-bots!
What Does Ron & Barney s Friendship Symbolize?
Despite its distinct setting and futuristic premise, Ron’s Gone Bad is a movie that everyone can identify with. The movie’s central theme is friendship (a concept that concerns everyone). Every viewer would have wanted their own friend-fetching B-bot at the start of the movie. Yet when you stop to think about it, there are really just two reasons why someone may be in dire need of a cutting-edge chatbot!
The innate dread of being left out is the first factor. As a result, any child who owned a B-bot shared personalities with it! They might then interact with other youngsters who shared their interests during recess. Except, of course, for the youngsters who lacked a B-bot!
Barney was constantly self-conscious and tormented at school because he felt like an outcast. Coincidentally, Barney’s B-bot was ridiculed by other children and felt uncomfortable in his own skin. He also wanted to leave the institution since he wasn’t good enough. Ron’s flaws were responsible for softening Barney. Barney and Ron both identified as misfits. It was lovely to witness how, despite being outsiders, the two would always look out for one another!
The fixation with the concept of the ideal friendship is the second factor. a perfect friend that shares your interests and accepts you for who you are. Oddly, despite having the freedom to customise their B-bots, pick their skin tone, and decide what they say or do, every child nevertheless experienced loneliness.
Barney and Ron, on the other hand, were flawed individuals with distinct viewpoints who occasionally disagreed with each other. They were the only couple, though, whose friendship was genuine. Because Ron was no longer his friend, Barney outright rejected Marc’s algorithm-based redesign of the B-bot. This demonstrated that even while a friendship may not always be ideal, it only counts that you care enough to want to improve it.
In Ron’s Gone Wrong, friendship is described as a selfless two-way process, which broadens one’s view on it.
Jean-Philippe Vine and Sarah Smith are the directors of the animated adventure movie Ron’s Gone Bad from 2021.
