Final Concept Exploration

Summer Wars and Chapter 9

            Out of all the chapters we have read this semester, I feel like I have learned the least from Chapter 9. This is not saying the chapter was not informative—I just already knew almost all of what the author was explaining. Because I am a child of the digital revolution, I have grown up with access to computers, cell phones, and the internet. Some of my earliest memories were of me playing “Frogger” on the computer and “Sypro” on the first Playstation console. My mom has had an Etsy store online for ten-ish years and we have shopped online for Christmas gifts for as long as I can remember. There are still a few concepts that I find interesting regarding Internet usage and the development of technology therein. One of these concepts is the idea of online avatars. Used frequently in the gaming world (and more recently applied to social networking), avatars are masks that we as consumers and users of media wear for the internet world to see. I also find the ever-growing social love for online networking and trading to be interesting. The idea that our society’s love for the internet can spiral out of control is something that perks my interest. There is a really good anime film called Summer Wars that explores the ideas of online buying, playing, business-conducting, and networking becoming pivotal in humanity’s existence. The traffic lights are controlled by a city maintenance system online, every luxury store is located online; even land is exchanged through the internet. Then one day, a virus is created and injected into the network city (called “Oz”). This virus wreaks havoc, crashing city power grids, flattening stock markets, and wiping out company savings, among other things. Summer Wars creates a world reliant on social networking, and then looks at what would happen if it were infiltrated and destroyed. Check it out!

A Sad 3-D World

Hot Topic: 3-D Animation

                Personally, I cannot stand the new phenomena of 3-D films. I believe that the 3-D technology deployed in Avatar has been the only cutting edge development in the genre. Because James Cameron spent so much money and time to create a new system of cameras and filming technology, the digital breakthrough of the 3-D deployment is striking. In theaters, I had never experienced anything quite like that movie experience. 

The special effects were gorgeous, even though the film was tacky, and the technology did help in bringing the story to life. However, I have seen a handful of 3-D films after Avatar’s release and they are nothing noteworthy. I actually dislike the animation style. 3-D technology has not been evolved or researched enough to create an environment worth participating in. 

                The rest of the 3-D movies I have watched have all deployed cheap, predictable uses for the technology. For instance, Resident Evil: Afterlife’s 3-D graphics consisted of weapons flying at the screen and epic shots of rain falling—and don’t forget the cheesy slow motion shots of women in battle. The movie itself was terrible and its use of 3-D was even worse. Yet, movies such as this draw in large crowds because they employ a new style of movie-watching. 

After Avatar’s success, scores of films began releasing in 3-D. Other movies, especially Disney ones, rereleased in the same manner. I believe this is a ploy to draw crowds to the box office. With the rise of Netflix and internet watch-sites, as well as “On Demand,” people have been going to the cinema less and less. So film companies flounder about, grasping for an advantage. Because 3-D instantly caught on (especially with the release of Nintendo’s 3-DS), movies began automatically releasing in this newly developed format. 

While it has been a bit of a success, I know people (including myself) that strickly avoid 3-D movies. They give me a headache and the graphics are not good enough to endure the pain. The technology distracts me from the film itself—and I think that is a crucial error in movie creation. It seems like the films that are released in 3-D are not as rich in plot or dialogue as the ones that retain the normal format.

Exploring the Concept of Opinion

Exploring Concepts: Film Chapter 

On "Avatar" and the Reviews Thereof

                Most film critics tick me off because too often they do not look at the message or ambiance of a film and instead choose to reflect on the budget, acting quality, lead names, and actions of the directors and producers involved. I believe that even if a film is poorly made or underacted but has a great plotline or an original idea, it should still be recognized for its positive qualities instead of being hatefully bashed. The most prevalent cases that come to my mind are some of the reviews about “Avatar.” 

While there were a group of critics that hailed it, loving the imagery, technology, and themes within the picture, there were an equal number of spiteful reviews. These reviews bashed Cameron for his overuse of explosions and his stereotypical, stock characters. Others called it Pocahontas in space.

 In actuality, these criticisms I believe to be true—however, they do not change my mind about the general ambiance of the film and the message (even though regurgitated from previous movies like “Dances with Wolves” and “Pocahontas”) is beautiful. Being one with nature thrills me as a pagan and I loved seeing my spirituality depicted through a gorgeous alien race and their fantastical beasts. It is also a topic that modern society needs to heed more attention to. Speaking of beasts, another aspect of the film that did not get as much attention from the critics as it deserved was the creature designs employed. 

The neon-strung, six-legged monsters were stunning and the, for lack of a better word, coolness of the alien animal designs thrilled me to the core. I actually shed a few tears from the shear awesomeness of the bestial visuals. I believe critics should pay more attention to the artistic aspects of film, like set, dress, and the like, and not just focus on the actors and directors involved.

Fighting Cops and Dinos

On the Radio Shows "Dick Tracy" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth"

I have never taken an ear to older radio shows. When looking through the selection of old programing available, I found two that my interest: “Dick Tracy” (because I love the movie, awful as it is) and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (because I enjoyed the novel). These two programs, like many of the things aired on radio at the time, were episodic in nature and held characters that were portrayed were stereotypical archetypes. Radio then was like television, used to entertain through acting, script, and talk shows. Radio in the modern era is still used for talk shows, but they are pocketed amongst the more frequently consumed music tracks. Modern radio is home to mostly music, stations featuring songs for the majority of their air time, while including blips of talk shows or, in certain cases, live sports reporting. But the episodic series has vanished from modern radio. This is due to the invention of the television and the shows pertained therein. 

Most of the old fashioned radio programs were constructed and acted out much like television shows are today. They consisted of series of short stories (or one long story carried out in parts)—chapters the characters played out each week.  The build in plot and character development is evident in both old time radio shows and modern televised series. It is obvious that television took the framework of radio shows and applied it to their criteria. 

Out of the few shows I peeked at, the ones I have chosen to analyze, “Dick Tracy” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” caught my attention the most. “Dick Tracy” achieved this through merely being Dick Tracy—I loved the tacky 80’s movie, so I was curious as to what the original radio series was like. It turns out that the radio show is just as tacky as the movie. The character of Tracy retains his silly swagger and the bad guys are just as awful with hideous voices and ridiculous names. As for “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” I enjoyed the novel and began the series with a literary eye. Because the shows at the time were auditory and not visual, the scenes and people had to be described by the actors in detail so that the audience could get a feel for what was happening in the scene. This lead to a vary novel-like delivery. I thoroughly enjoyed the character’s descriptions and the old-timey narration of the professor. I felt like I was reading the novel through actors.

As for the popularity of the two shows, both have adventurous, thrilling plots that transport listeners to another time and place. The escapism allowed citizens to get lost in a journey that was not their own—in this case, they were either fighting mobsters to save some dames or plummeting into a fantastic realm hidden beneath the crust of the Earth. In regards to the type of media, I believe that people preferred radio to print because they could hear human voices acting out or otherwise speaking the entertainment that they sought instead of just reading flat words. The likening to radio shows over film may have been caused by the episodic nature of radio. Because the episodes were short enough to catch in between other plans and listened to whilst going about everyday tasks, the appeal of radio prevailed. This also may have been caused by the fact that people did not have to leave their homes to listen to radio shows, as opposed to going out to the movies. Also, going to see films cost money, whereas turning on the radio (after the device was paid for once) did not cause its audience to spend a cent. 

There are some similarities between old school radio shows and modern television. One of these commonalities are the stereotypes (“Dick Tracy” and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” both feature block characters: cops and robbers, Bogart style, and the old-fashioned professor and the young adventurer) portrayed. Another similarity is the use of over-acting. This type of acting is still noticeable among certain shows, like soap operas, cheesy episodic series, and reality television. Television has also done a good job of retaining original style: “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is comparable with the semi-popular television series “Lost Word” based on the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Some differences between TV and radio are that there are fewer stations compared to radio, which provides a better sense of community because more people are watching the same thing. This is less apparent in the modern era, because networks are branching out and the size of the public’s television selection is growing.

Belligerent Stereotypes

On the Reality Show "Cops" and its Use of Stereotypes

                I love any form of art, whether it be drawn, spoken, sung, written, or acted. But if there is a kind of television series I cannot stand, it is reality television. Soap operas can annoy me, but at least they are written to be over the edge and they all follow a classic feeling that is common amongst their kind. But reality shows rub me the wrong way. The script is either all staged or cut apart from a vast amount of footage in order to obtain a desired effect or situation, yet is projected as truth. 

                Some reality shows depict the worst of society again and again, fueling a mean world syndrome that falsifies the truth. One such reality show is the television series “Cops.” “Cops” shows the worst behaved, most uneducated individuals it can find to entertain the public. The types of cases and the people involved tend to repeat, creating negative stereotypes. A few of these include the beer slamming frat boy, the alcoholic and/drug induced redneck, and the uneducated, thieving Black man from the ghetto. These characters, especially the latter two, reoccur so often in “Cops” that they have become staple characters. It is impossible to watch an episode without seeing a giant handful of these stereotypes. 

                These depictions create false stigmas that pigeonhole groups of people, like country folk and Black people. I know these archetypes are untrue based on personal experience. For instants, not every “redneck” I have met is uneducated or a drunkard. It is also true that not every Black person I have met steals and acts a thug. In reality, any person can succeed or fail at life. One of my good friends is Black and makes fifty thousand a year as an IT technician. She also does not do anything illegal and speaks clearly, two things you would never see on “Cops.” So why the stereotypes? The answer lies is in the nature of the show. “Cops” is fueled by illegitimate stereotypes because it requires people of bad taste to commit crimes that are noteworthy enough in intensity and/or behavior to be aired. Once these are selected, “Cops” chooses instances that reflect social stigmas so that the general population can relate through their exposure to such stereotypes. I do not believe this is ethical because it exploits the criminals shown and reinforces false portrayals by making racial/social examples of dysfunctional people.

Concept Exploration - Television

                I am a film buff and a lover of television, so Chapter 8 was pretty intriguing to me. The legalities and happenstance regarding business bored me to tears, but the types of television shows and their evolution I found enjoyable. For instance, I liked the transition of America’s favorite type of comedy from sketch to situational. I enjoyed the analysis of situation comedies (sitcoms) regarding culture—that the characters portrayed are made incompetent so that the audience feels smarter than them. In sitcoms, the characters make many unfortunate mistakes and while problems arise and even out every episode, the characters do not grow and develop. Instead of learning from past mishaps, the people in sitcoms make errors over and over again, building up the viewer’s ego to make he or she feel superior to the apparent idiots being watched on screen. I found this portrayal of characters interesting. There are, in contrast, domestic comedies, where the characters do grow and develop. I also found it neat that episodic series, especially chapter shows, reflect America’s hopes, fears, and other emotions.