Games; the significance of literature and content within the media

Games represent what may be the most potent example of a media that was established with excellent intentions as an art form and scientific innovation, but has over the last couple decades garnered an ill name as a purveyor of sophomoric violence, wasting the time and minds of our youths across the worlds.  Of course, gaming is not the only entertainment media that has achieved the reputation of being a form less relevant, artistic or mature as the likes of literature (books) or film.  Animation and comics are both substantial forms of media that have established as an innovative, and often times adult media, that has since supposedly turned into the stupid man’s, or children’s media.  It is only within recent years that we begin to see the a wider appreciation for these media, as their popularity rises across all demographics and their content becomes recognized as not only relevant to children.  I find this particularly true of games.  Still to this day, most times I converse with a non gamer, or person not versed in the world of animation, I am met with scoffs and condescension indicative of the widespread view that gaming has never been, or never will be a worthwhile, intrinsically artistic media. 

              It is because of gaming’s defining characteristic, and it greatest strength as a fresh form of media that we can also blame for its almost universally bad rap.  The characteristic that sets gaming apart from film is that it is an extremely immersive and interactive form of art.  While you are playing a protagonist who almost always has a very limited destiny and narrative, it does not change the fact that you are no longer watching a character play the story; you are the story.  It is because of this characteristic, and the fact that gaming is a new art form with not nearly as much recognition or supporters of other media such as film that games have come under fire from opponents who feel that despite much more realistic, graphic, and disturbing violence and sexual content that we see in movies and television, games can blamed for violence in youth.  The high level of immersion can also be blamed for the stereotype of gamers as antisocial basement dwellers wasting their lives away, neglecting to contribute anything worthwhile to society. 

            I would argue however, that these negative views on gaming stem not from their potential to be tools of evil and antisocial tendencies, but are instead indication that games represent an often-heightened sense of potential in comparison to other forms of media.  Large numbers of the population, across many different demographics are being exposed to a maturing art form, and are note simply witnessing the innovations and narratives or the media, but are instead participating in it.  I can say from personal experience that myself and many of my friends hold some memories of games to be just as relevant as experiences we have had in our lives reading books, watching film, or even experiences in the natural world.  It is because of the impacts that gaming has had in my life that I myself want to graduate later this year and find work within the gaming industry, to help create new worlds and experiences that would otherwise never be exposed to the world.

              Whenever I enter into a dialogue about the relevance of gaming as a form of art, the most potent argument of gaming’s lack of, or waste in potential is that a majority of what we see produced in the gaming world a slew of repetitive sequels lacking in emotional content, brimming with nothing but violence, gray desaturated photorealistic environments, and brawny, bald space marines.  When presented with this argument, I must put out the counterargument that within every art form, including music, film and literature, 90% of the content is simply terrible.  Within gaming, this is also true.  This is not so much concerned with the potential or talent of the developers, but instead due to the excess of money and talent put into the development of these games.  Like most Hollywood films, a high budget game that will be exposed to millions of people across the world represents a very high amount of potential, both artistically, but also financially.  As a result, these games represent a very high risk in the developers part, and more often than not, a safe, repetitious game which often supports the stereotype of gaming as nothing more then hedonistic violence will be developed solely for the fact that publisher’s know they will make a good return on their investment

            While there is always exceptions this trends wherein a large studio will make a game that is truly innovative and furthers the medium, the obvious rebuttal is that the greatest potential within the world of game development lies within the indie game scene.  I have played a relatively large volume of high budget games, most which were well designed, fun, and relatively clichés.  I have recently gained a larger appreciation for smaller studios and developers who by and large are in the business not to make money, do not have a billion dollar publisher to censor their content, and are producing content sheerly for the love of it.  I have played games that break every convention of the media, illicit emotional response, and remind me that gaming as an art form is just as relevant as painting, music and film.  Several years ago I played a game where the gameplay is to walk across a low detail corridor, filled with minimal graphics and props.  You walk for several minutes before you notice your character’s low poly model start to deteriorate and age.  As an old man, your character begins to walk slower before you finally stop, and your character dies, replaced by a tombstone.  I remember shedding a tear for the first time in playing a game, partially due to the surprising reminder of mortality, partially due to the idea that this was possible due to the limitations and characteristics of this new art form.

            Shifting gears to talk about gaming as literature, I find myself looking at gaming in a completely new light.  As the only defining characteristic is that it is an interactive, often digital experience, the possibilities in presentation are limitless, expanding greatly every year as graphical potential increases.  We have seen games such as Heavy Rain and LA Noire tell stories through cutting edge animation and facial motion capture technology, telling stories not as a book would, but more as an interactive film.  On the other side, we have also seen text based adventure games tell stories more as traditional literature; a word based experience that unfolds as you interact with the game. 

            To me though, the most interesting aspect of games regarding their relevance as literature is not what the story is, or even how it is told, but instead the absence or presence of any story whatsoever.  Most of the games I have played have had a storyline to the extent that a porno does; the narrative is their only to get you as quickly as possible to the content that you purchased the game for, in most cases the chance to shoot/explode/ninja up aliens/gangsters/nazis/nazi zombies.  Over this last year however I have been playing the game minecraft, which represents to me a departure from this convention.  The game’s graphics are not particularly aesthetically pleasing, particularly by today’s standards.  Literally everything in the world exists on a grid that expands infinitely in the 4 cardinal directions (or along the x and z axis) and 64 units up, and 64 units down (on the y axis).  Most elements in the game are cubes; all elements are comprised of blocks lacking in polygon counts that would allow for the illusion of smoothness.  You start the game born in a random location, in a completely new, randomly generated world.  Not only do you exist in a game lacking in any sort of narrative context, but the random generation of the world deprives the player of any sort of placeholder that would allow for a story to be established.  The only story that exists in the game is what the player chooses to do in the world.

Media is the massage

For this weeks reading I partook in the audio book for the “Media is the Massage”.  I’m an not sure if this completely satisfies the weekly requirement, but at the very least I feel as though I absorbed enough of the concepts presented to be able to discuss the ideas within.  My impression of the work is that the author is trying to convey the idea that with constantly changing media altering not only the ways in which media is presented, but also the way we think.  A tertiary note to this is the proposed notion that content is becoming secondary to the way in which it is being presented.

            While I agree with this idea to a large part, I cannot accept the idea that the stories and literary content being presented is losing significance as the media itself takes precedence.  We are starting to see forms of media such as games wherein the content, from a literary story point is essentially unnecessary, replaced by the experience of the viewer or participant.  While I consider these forms of media no less relevant to books, film, or any other media containing more coherent narrative content, I understand that this is evidence that media can stand alone without strong literary content.  I would argue however that literature in any context losses no relevance or value from this fact.  Still to this day media needn’t contain any of the flash or appeal of a blockbuster movie to be enjoyed by millions, as long as the story, content and strength of the ideas is present.  The best examples of this I can give are the simplest of storytelling form; word of mouth storytelling, paperback literature, and even the immergence of stories in new media such as the Internet.  I am reminded of a story lacking almost completely in content in it’s presentation; A story exists almost completely independent of a strong persuasive presentation but still illicit wonder emotional response;

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."  -Hemingway

Harry Potter; Tran-media cultural phenomena

Harry Potter has been in my lifetime perhaps the most substantial cultural phenomena.  To me it ranks with Star Wars and Lord of The Rings as some of the most significant works of fiction in the numbers of enthusiasts.  What interests me about Harry Potter isn’t necessarily the characters or the story, which, to be blunt are rather generic and conform a bit to much to the cambellian model of a hero’s journey.  What intrigues me about the work is more the world the book creates. 

            The world of harry potter may not be the most innovative or original one, but it nonetheless illustrates a universe with great appeal and wonder.  This wonder is augmented by the notion that the world exists not only in a static vision found on the pages of a novel, but also in a physical attraction at a a theme park, in Hollywood movies, and even in Lego and other toys sold across the world.  The world is created not only by Rowling, movie studios, but also by the fans in fan fiction and even interpretations of the games played in the novels, such as quiditch.             

I have read all 7 books (shortly after each’s release) and seen every movie in theaters.  The actors have been the same age as myself roughly every year the movies are released, so the works have maintained a strong sense of relevance to me, as the series appears to grow up with and a large portion of the fan base.  In this way the series shows innovation as it struggles, and largely succeeds in staying relevant to it’s maturing fan base, instead of dying as an outdated youth fiction.  The draw of the first books was its focus on wonder, coming of age and being a special individual.  As the series progresses we find the books appeal more in a focus on teen angst, sex, and death.    The series has prevented it’s own demise and maintained its relevance by not only unfolding in response to it’s own story line and conventions, but also by evolving based on it’s audience and the media in which it is conveyed.

Oryx and Crake; warnings, satire and pigoons

Oryx and Crake, was written in 2003 by Margaret Atwood, and exhibits a certain level of ambiguity in its classification of genre.  If it had to fall into a particular category, it would most likely be dystopian, but Atwood asserts that the novel might be better classified as “speculative fiction” or “adventure romance”.  For my intents of analyzing the work as a piece of literate and its thematic contents, I will consider the piece a satire, but more importantly a warning.  The novel begins as one of the protagonists is living in a post-apocalyptic world, inhibited by simple, humanlike beings, and strange hybrid animals such as pigoons, wolvogs, and rakunks.  We eerily get the feelings as though we exist in a world with the influences of mankind and natural elements, and yet somehow something is terribly distorted.  As the novel progresses, we see that the true horror of the book is not what happened before the apocalyptic event, but instead the world that existed, and led up to said event. 

            Prior to the shift that led to the demise of all humanity with the exception of the protagonist, snowman, we see a world similar to ours, taking place in the future.  The future we see is one that Atwood speculates could be a possibility if modern trends continue unchecked.  Modern society in the novel is ruled by transnational corporations, who lock their employees in corporate compounds, exacerbating the divide between the rich and the poor.  Entertainment becomes increasingly macabre, and the monetization of sex has become universally acceptable.  Even the natural world becomes distorted and skewed based on the wills of an increasingly greedy humanity; genetic engineering advances to the point where hybrid animals become common. 

            Throughout the novel, the protagonist’s childhood friend Crake slowly transforms from a brilliant student with a morbid fascination of the world that was, to a sort of mad scientist, who, despite his disdain of religion, will eventually become the creator, and God and the world that will come.  Leading up the time of the novel’s opening pages, Crake, now a brilliant scientist, creates a new species to replace humanity, a peaceful, if not duller variety of homo-sapiens, and unleashes a disease that will destroy most of humanity with the exception of the inoculated snowman, who would live on as the protector of the new world’s man.

Player One

Player one is an analysis of identity, time and perception that takes place in a cocktail lounge that exists within the dawn of the apocalypse that is written in a novel which is derived from a series of 5 lecture.  In Canada.  Partially as a result of the intention of the book, and the unconventional means in which the novel was composed and delivered, many have noted that the book contains many elements and characters that are oftentimes lacking in believability.  This is a characteristic that I at time had difficulty dealing with, but eventually began to add some sense of mood and significance to the book.  The premise here is this romantic idea that when the world as we know it is ending, we will not be concerned so much with the fires that lie outside our doors, but instead the state of humanity, identity, and meaning of self worth and value.

            Taking for a moment about identity, I must mention the title of the novel, and it’s significance.  Player one is one of the narrators of the novel, and omnipresent overseer of the novel’s events who contributes at the end of every of the novel’s 5 chapters to summarize and prepare the reader for the next novel.  The character, if you can call it that, is described, or compared to the protagonist of a videogame one of the other narrator plays.  It is by comparing the other (human) narrators of the novel that we are further allowed to analyze the paradigms of the non-omniscient beings. 

            Aside from Player One, Coupland also uses the environment and unfolding situation at the times of the character’s convergence to add meaning to, and delving into the entities, and identity crisis of the characters.  The setting of the novel is a cocktail lounge inside a hotel airport, as riots and explosions begin to unfold as a result of skyrocketing oil prices.  The events preceding the cocktail lounge allude to the events that will come; two character meat in a chatroom called the Peak Oil Apocalypse chat room.   The lounge itself serves as the optimal stage to operate on the identities of these character’s, as it is by nature an environment that suggests transition, and imbues very little inherent identity in any of the characters.  The novel heightens this sense by closing off the outside world, giving this space devoid of identity a prisonlike feel, suggesting a void of nothingness outside the confines of the lounge.  In this way, the characters are forces to look at themselves honestly, knowing that their identities are shaped by their past and outside life, but in the context of a universe that is nonexistent outside the present time and location.

Red Shoes; the horror of self-destruction and achieving one’s dreams

I have to say right off the bat that I quite enjoyed the Red Shoes.  We started watching it in class and immediately after I had to pick it up from the library.  What intrigued me about the film was the fantastical, dreamlike sequence that took place while the ballet was being performed.  I cannot say if this was similar to many other horror films of the time, but in my limited experience it reminded me of black and white horrors such as The Carnival of Lost soles.  The horror is less about the fear of disfigurement and viscera, but more with much more tangible and relatable fears such as the loss of identity, fear of unknown, and terror of the mundane.  The music and execution of the film also presented a fresh viewpoint, as I have watched a very limited selection of films predating the 1970’s.  This, however, made the design and effects of the movie much more relevant and impressive to me.  The set designs was beautiful and imaginative, and reminded me to some extent of the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

            Straying from my praise of the film, I’ll look at the work’s thematic contents, and similarities to modern films such as The Black Swan, and The Wrestler.  The thematic content in which I can most relate to this film is the idea of suffering for your art, or the question of what will one sacrifice to be great.  The film’s protagonist plays a prima ballerina starring in an immensely popular ballet; one who portrays a character who dons ‘the red shoes’, and dances to her death.  Following the initial showings of the ballet, the ballerina takes a hiatus with her love interest, before being beckoned back into the red shoes.  Confronted with the notion that she will have to chose between being happy, and being a great artist, her character consumes her, and she mirrors the girl in the red shoes by dancing to the death of her career, breaking her legs.  She finds herself unable to ever dance again, but relieved of the curse of playing the character, and the price to pay for greatness.

            The self destruction necessary to compete reminded me greatly of both The Black Swan, and the Wrestler, where character’s destroyed their personal lives, their minds and their bodies in the pursuit of fulfilling their potential in their professional endeavors. I am reminded once again, that every day I must make the same choices, and acknowledge that their exists very little consolidation between my what I wish to achieve in my artistic pursuits, and what I wish to experience as a human being over the course of my lifetime.    

Reflection on Auteur theory, related to Akira Kurosawa

Leading up to our discussion on auteur theory, I watched three films by Akira Kurosawa; Rashamon, 7 samurai, and Yojimbo.  As a result of me finding the films via seeded online sources, all but one of the films had any form of subtitles (the film which did offer English subtitles had overdubbed Russian dialogue on top of the original Japanese audio, leading to quite and interesting viewing experience).  I have to note as I begin to discuss auteur theory, that while I have already seen 7 samurai several years ago, and remembered the story, in not having any English dub or subtitles for 7 samurai or Rashamon, I actually had watched more than half of Yojimbo under the impression that I was watching 7 samurai before I realized that I was watching another film.  To me, this is indicative that a director, or at the very least, Kurosawa’s vision in filmmaking outshines influences and the process and pipeline of developing film. 

            In making my own film as we speak for my senior thesis in computer animation, I have say that I am personally offended by the notion that there are people who would not believe the concepts of auteur theory.  To me what this is saying is that there are people who would believe that directors are interchangeable, and that the creative vision of individuals working on a film, or any piece of art for that matter, are of little importance to the process or outcome of creating a work of film.

            I understand criticisms of auteur theory, particularly in regards to animation.  There is the idea that animated film are produced in a formulaic means, wherein every aspect of the pipeline and creative process predetermines the final film, and very little creative vision or stress ends up in the final product.  While I agree that there exists a strictly regimented pipeline, I would assert that it’s presence is not so much to determine the creative result of the film, but to minimize technical errors and stresses, and let the creativity and decisions of those working on the film to shine out.  In my opinion, anyone who would suppose that Pixar films are made by a system of formulas and predetermined processes are holding onto such antiquated thoughts on art and film, similar to the notion that digital painters press a button to paint a building, or computer animators do not actually use any creative talent in doing what we do.  Damn muggles, if they only knew the effort and stress necessary to make the magic of art possible.

Asterios Polyp

David Mazzucchelli’s graphic novel is in the simplest viewpoint, a story of a man, filled with regrets who reinvent himself, learning from his past and unfolding experiences, and manages to get a second chance with the love of his life.  This synopsis does not however do this novel justice, as the near 400 page piece of work is brimming with symbolism, thematic content, and philosophies.  Just a few of the

Themes contained are the truth and fallacies of duality, the shifting of perspective, and how perspective shapes reality, the importance of our relationships and experiences in shaping who we become, the harm that can be caused by hubris, and the importance of forgiveness and patience. 

            Mazzucchelli engages the viewer in a dialogue on perception not only with his prose and the unfolding of the narrative, but more interestingly in the way in which he conveys the characters and environments of the novel.  Environments are displayed using color, contrast and linework that aren’t so much intended to illustrate the environments clearly or realistically, but moreover how the character interprets them in the story.  The same can be said of the character’s themselves.  Asterios tends to be drawn as a rather 2 dimensional, more graphic representation of himself.  At time when he is shown to be conflicting or contrasting with Hanna, however, he is shown as a geometric blueprint of himself, heightening the logical, formulaic nature of the character.  In these sequences Hanna herself takes on a more painterly, less defined style of illustration.  Even the character’s dialogue is represented based on a reflection of their character, and the way they speak.  Voice bubbles and text is individual to all the characters, and the viewer can almost get a sense of the character’s voice based on its graphic representation.  The storyline itself, and the sequences of the book, particularly the metaphorical dream sequences also speak great deals about the perception of the characters.  We see over the span of the novel that the culmination of all of Asterios’ experiences, his life changed drastically as a result of his experiences, and it is because of these changes that he earns himself a second chance.

Screenplay; Jackie Brown

            So for this blog I am supposed to write about how I would personally interpret the screenplay, making decision and costume design, time period, music choices, actors, and shot direction.  In all honesty, I have some difficulty with this assignment.  I thoroughly enjoyed the screenplay I read, Jackie Brown, and if asked to make a movie out of it, I would honestly change very little from what is implied in the screenplay.  What I imagined from the film before I watched it, based on how I interpreted the film, was in all honesty very close to watch the actual film played out.  I enjoyed the cast, and the music choice, which to a large extent decides the era and tone of the piece. 

            If I would have changed anything, I might have selected a different actor for the film’s antagonist.  I did enjoy Jackson’s performance, but I felt as though his physicality was too imposing.  I would have found his character much more frightening if he was less physically capable, playing up his insecurities and power trips.  I cannot think of such an actor that might fit this role however.  Another actor I might have cast differently was Deniro.  I personally envisioned a younger, scrappier actor for accomplish, and I feel as though Edward Norton could be an interesting fit for the ex con.

            As far as Jackie goes, I can’t say another actress would fit her role better.  Perhaps Jenifer Lopez (I’m thinking about her performance in The Cell), but I have serious doubts that J-Lo could handle the level of supercoolness that Pam Grier brings. 

            If I had to be asked to change the film drastically (keeping to the themes and screenplay), I consider shooting the film as a more Noir detectivish film.  The only other actor or actress I could envision taking on Pam Grier’s calm, suave performance is Humphrey Bogart.  While this would drastically change some elements of the film, I’m not 100 positive that the pseudo romantic relationship between Jackie and Max would be missed.  While reading the screenplay I enjoyed the insinuation of a possible romance, built on mutual respect and understanding.  If Bogart was starring as the cool collected pilot (Bogart would not be cast as a flight attendant, not sexy enough), and his relationship with Max, or even Maxette was more platonic, I cannot say for sure that it would drastically affect the film.  At the same time, I can already feel shifts in the direction, as the lead becomes much less vulnerable, almost to the point in which Maxette has nothing to really offer and Jack(ie) is never truly at risk.

            So having watching the film, I would honestly say I would keep the film as is.  In all honesty I felt more of an emotional impact from reading the screenplay however, but I feel as though this has less to do with execution and more to do with differences in the mediums. 

lolita

            While reading Lolita I notice that the reader begins to wonder why Nabokov, I fairly prolific writer would write a 500 plus page novel on such a offensive subject matter.  It could be to some extent Nabokov wishing to allow readers a chance to understand, or even empathize with some of the worlds most despised individuals.  I could also be shearly for the sake of generating tension and controversy, a way for Nabokov to strike a match under his audience and critics, eliciting some degree of response, be it negative or positive.  I feel as though, that if not the primary motivation for writing such a novel, another possibility could at least be one of the most interesting outcomes of this piece of literature. 

This motivation, or outcome is the viewer’s involuntary necessity to acknowledge, and even analyze the presence of manipulation, not only in the character’s manipulation of each other, but also in the author, and the narrator’s manipulation of the viewer.  The best way to successfully force this acknowledgement is to build the most persuasive manipulation in the literature.  At the same time Nabokov is constantly, repeatedly hammering into the viewer’s consciousness the fact that they are being tricked, or persuaded.  He builds a very strong persuasion, but instead of hiding it, he showcases it.

            It could be arguably stated that there exists a potent concentration of manipulation in any decent piece of literature.  Reading books for the classics, to the contemporary fiction that arrives every day, most readers will never acknowledge the presence of the author or character’s manipulation.  This is not to say that such influences are slight by any means; the basic mechanism of any form of entertainment exists in suspending the viewer’s judgment momentarily, and accepting the words, pictures, or motions portrayed as both true and beautiful.  This is not a difficult thing to do reading a beautiful, or insightful novel, even one that contains viewpoints or perspectives not shared by the reader.  Almost all great novels will be remembered because they so successfully suspended their reader’s disbelief. 

            The most striking aspect of Lolita is that if forces the viewer to comprehend a sense of irony and the clash between the author, and his character’s manipulation, and the reader’s own sensibility and morals.  By taking a subject matter that is despised in our day, quite possibly one of our nations greatest fears (aside from terrorism) we are constantly behind forced to comprehend the author’s influences.  Had Nabokov chosen a less controversial subject, I feel the novel would have had significantly less impact as it wouldn’t have forced to clash within the reader.  Nabokov’s writing is eloquent and beautiful enough that I feel Nabokov feels a necessity to interject tension in the experience of interpreting his novels, for without such tension the prose would just go down too smoothly; we as the reader would accept his words and his stories with zero complaints and take it all at face value.

              To quote a passage from Lolita “Please, reader: no matter your exasperation with the tenderhearted, morbidly sensitive, infinitely circumspect hero of my book, do not skip these essential pages!  Imagine me; I shall not exist if you do not imagine me; try to discern the doe in me, trembling in the forest of my own iniquity; let’s even smile a little.  After all, there is no harm in smiling.”

            These passages for me really bring to the forefront the subject at hand right now, manipulation, in both how it is used and it’s very presence in literature, unmasked in this case.  I have had many experiences with family, friends and lovers using their own vulnerabilities as leverage over me; therefore I am no stranger to the social convention that is the guilt trip.  It is partially due to my own experiences that I am extremely self-conscious of guilt tripping.  I found it very interesting therefore when I caught Humbert, the narrator of Lolita guilt tripping me in this passage, portraying himself as the vulnerable hero, who, if I so chose it, could be willed into nonexistence.  Humbert then proceeds to try to grasp power over the viewer by actually giving the viewer the permission to enjoy the novel.  The combination of what Nabokov and Humbert (I do consider there to be a strong distinction between the two entities), are saying, and how I accept their intentions leads to a strong dichotomy between what we as the viewer believes, and what we will refuse to accept.

Metropolis!!!

            The first thing I must mention in beginning to talk about Metropolis is that I found the film aesthetically very impressive.  I was very much expecting to be quite bored with the film, for I had a preconception that all silent films are quite dry.  Interestingly enough, this clashes with everything I know from acting; having worked on numerous animations in which acting is delivered nonverbally, I understand that successful pantomime is much more visually interesting than voice acting and dialogue alone.  For this, I should have anticipated a richer viewing experience from Metropolis.

            This personal insight out of the way, Metropolis is to me a very impressive movie.  I believe that the film is the highest budgeted silent film of all time, and this was very evident.  I was taken aback by not only the impressive set, costume and makeup design, but by the amount of special effects and compositing featured in the film.  To say that this piece is visually stunning is quite frankly a gross understatement.

            As far as the actual thematic content of the film goes, I think it is debatable as to what the general outlook of the film is.  It clearly illustrates the increasingly relevant clash of the classes; the harsh divide between and the thinkers and the workers, the mind and the hand. It shows the evils of upper class, how they are willing to degrade and monetize masses of human being for their own aims, and pervert them with robots (read pop stars…) to generate enough controversy to stomp any insurrection, while keeping the lower class simultaneously entertained and complacent.

            In the same vain, however, the film portrays the working class almost deserving of such harsh treatment.  We see repeated imagery of the workers as subhuman; cattle being herded along, stupid, beaten down, and complacent.  Later when the android is introduced, the workers accept the masquerade without a second’s disbelieve or scrutiny, taking the bait without fail.

            It has been said that the moral of this film is not that the divide between classes should be bridged, rather that the dived should remain, but instead with a mediator to bridge the gap and install communication and ideally understanding between the two parties.  I cannot say this is what I got from the film, but I do understand that the movie has potential to illicit completely different reactions from it’s viewing.

hunger games

            In my reading of hunger games, I began to take notice of some interesting crosses in hunger games between typical youth fiction, and dystopian, more political works of fiction such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451.  My primary experience with youth fiction has been reading through the Harry Potter novels (and later movies), and It is this context that I am deriving some comparison too.  In many ways I found Hunger Games to share similarities in reading level and tone; while hunger games had a dark subject matter, filled with violence and atrocities, It was not nearly as disturbing as soon other works of fiction I have delved into in the past.  This is quite an obvious statement though in that been a piece directed towards youths, there is only a certain amount of violence and degradation that can be included before this becomes a particular point of interest and controversy.  This being said, I felt as though this level of physicality was helpful in making the novel accessible, and generating a level of excitement to balance out political insinuations throughout.

            This brings me the aspects of the novel that I particularly enjoyed, that being the political insinuation and historical references to revolution and cultural struggle.  As I mentioned before, I noticed strong similarities between 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Hunger Games.  This comes largely from the concept of government and powerful organizations controlling the common people.  This aspect of Big brother is watching, and government control has always interested me, as I often find this to be a reflection of our current political system.  I found it more interesting that there were included many references to colonial America; there was the motif of the 13 districts reflecting the 13 states, or colonies being oppressed by the dominant forces in the world.

Genre; dystopian futures

            For this weeks reading, I chose to focus on the genre of dystopian futures.  I cannot say for sure if this could be considered a genre in the most traditional sense, but I did regardless notice many attributes which would help me quantify dystopian criticisms of politics and society a genre in and of itself.  The expectations of the genre are that it delivers a critique of modern society, and distressful prediction of possible outlooks on society in years to come. 

            Having now quantified to some degree, I can discuss my interpretation of Alduous Huxley’s a Brave New World.  Having read Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, this is a piece of fiction that I had been planning on reading for quite a number of years.   I had been heavily influenced by other pieces of ‘fiction’ that would fit into this genre, as they have illustrated to me a clear, if not verrry exaggerated illustration of what is wrong with society and what could go worse if our current situations degrade even further.

            What really resonated with me in Brave New World was the notion that people are not being controlled by oppression anymore.  We don’t live in a cripplingly militarized state, our actions are not being monitored, and we are not being persecuted by our government for unjust reasons…..  well ok, this is not true, there are some thoroughly unconstitutional dealings going on in our nation.  What strikes me, however, is the insight that Brave New World brings.  The novel essentially implies that in the future (read now) we are controlled not by guns, but by sex, drugs and entertainment.  The more I reflect upon this the more I find it to become increasingly true of society in the modern world. 

            This is not to say I believe that such controls are necessarily the ill will of oppressive regimes, more rather I feel as though this is the media’s way of acquiring huge sums of money, and resulting in, or perhaps due to, the notion that most people are lazy, and would rather drink a beer and watch jackass on the tv than step outside and try to improve the world.

           

Wizard of Oz

Reading Wizard of Oz, and then later watching the movie at the end of this summer brought about some interesting realizations.  Being the great iconoclast it is, I was obviously unable to exist without wizard of oz entering my paradigm, regardless of having not read or watched the film.  This being said, comparing my expectations to what I actually witness and read in the Wizard of Oz, I saw great differences between my mind’s version of the text, the actual text, and the movie it was based on. 

I had pictured a production that was more similar to many of the Disney classics; a light novel containing a very linear plot almost entirely lacking in content of underlying themes/values outside of the importance of appearances/beauty. 

The movie itself actually did meet some of these expectations; I saw in it a heavy idealization on beauty (the wicked witch is obviously evil due to her grotesque appearances, and the good witch’s beauty is noted as evidence of her benevolence).  This being said, most of the major differences I noted between the film and the literature were aesthetic; choices being made to glorify the on screen production, and make elements more easily readable (viewable on screen).  One huge change I noticed was shifts in the color palate, noticed both in Dorothy’s iconic footwear and also in the actual lands themselves; we saw in the book a very strong emphasis on different lands and associations made with the people and creatures that inhabited them and the choices they made in color of apparel as a result.  I found this note particularly interesting, as I would have foreseen the movie adopting such strong color decisions, particularly due to the inception of Technicolor and the establishment of color being a valid choice in film.