Video Games and Violence

The recent Connecticut school killings have brought up the argument about violence in video games once again. Whenever a shooting happens in a school (Columbine, Connecticut), video games are to blame. I completely disagree that video games cause such violent behavior. Why? I think that video games are an evolving form of media, like film or art. Daniel Floyd said in his video Video Games and Facing Controversy that "[Controversy] isn't fun, but it's all part of a medium's journey to respectability".  Most video games on shelves today are about assassinating, fighting, and shooting things. Violence completely crowds the films of today, but are rarely blamed for the violent actions that are ever-present in our society today. " Countless filmmakers, novelists, and artists have tackled many difficult subjects before and have been celebrated for it. Topics like war(Apocalypse Now), genocide(Schindler's List), sexuality(American Beauty), hatred(To Kill a Mockingbird), and many of these pieces are critically acclaimed..They dare to explore humanity's dark side, the ugly realities of the human condition. They venture into uncomfortable territory and find the truth hidden within. This is the stuff art is made from".

Parents who don't understand the medium and won't take the time to become informed believe that violent video games are the cause of such violent events and that video games should stop being made all together. Parents need to take initiative and learn about the games their kids are playing and the ratings that go with them. I don't believe that video games cause people to commit murders, but If they did, then the parents should be to blame, not the kids.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

"Breaking the fourth wall" is when a character speaks directly to the audience in a play or through the camera in a film or television show and is used for comedic purposes. The term "breaking the fourth wall" comes from the fourth imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in theatre. 

Great examples of breaking the fourth wall are present in popular television shows, like How I Met Your Mother, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Scrubs. Films such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off,  Spaceballs, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back are also guilty of having characters break the fourth wall. 

Having a character completely acknowledge the audience is a fun little gag that can be very funny if it's used in the right kind of film or television show.

Why Do We Watch Films?

You've been to the movies with your friends on a Friday night, right? What's better than spending time with your buds with a butt-load a popcorn while you watch an action flick or a comedy? I believe that films are the most entertaining forms of media to date, but to some people films are more than just a form of entertainment. People go to movies to escape reality.

Films are a fantastic way of "escaping" because films put us in the shoes of people extremely different from ourselves. Why do we love Marvel's The Avengers? Because for those two hours we're a god that controls lighting with our mighty hammer and we're a playboy philanthropist with a bad-ass robotic suit. We are also a highly trained spy that doesn't look bad in some spandex. Why do we love the Indiana Jones films? Because we're a charming, handsome every-man who always overcomes the odds while on crazy adventures until we walk out of the spacious, dark room of our local movie theater. 

Films also excel at taking us to new worlds. George Lucas' Star wars and its sequels were such a hit because audiences loved being dropped into the ice and snow covered world of Hoth or the swampy, tree-ridden world of Dagobah. James Cameron's Avatar completely immersed audiences in the epic world of Pandora, so much so that people became depressed after they left theaters! It's clear that films are more than just a source of entertainment! Films have the power to remove audiences from the real world and transport them to epic worlds and meet larger-than-life characters.

Easter Eggs

An Easter Egg is a hidden message or joke purposely inserted into works of media like books, video games, or movies, not to be confused with the brightly-colored eggs that are hidden from children on Easter Sunday. Easter eggs work to test their audience, or are just little jokes inserted so that the more observant people of the audience will get a chuckle.

Alfred Hitchcock, the famous director of classics like The Birds and Psycho, made cameo appearances in 39 of his 52 major films. In Psycho, Hitchcock is seen through Janet Leigh's as she returns to her office. In The Birds, he's leaving a pet shop with his two dogs. These appearances in his films became one of Hitchcock's signatures and fans would make a game out of trying to spot his cameos. 

The Pixar films are famous for their Easter Eggs and inside jokes that they hide in all of their films. For example, the Pizza Planet truck from Toy Story makes an appearance in every single Pixar movie made from that point on. Observant audiences will also notice that Pixar includes parts of future films in their current ones. In Monsters Inc.(2001) there's a scene in the end where Sully is holding a clownfish toy, clearly referencing Finding Nemo, which came out two years later in 2003. In Pixar's 2007 film Ratatouille, Remy runs into a dog who starts barking at him. That dog is the character Dug, a talking dog from Up, another Pixar film that was released two years later.

Easter eggs are great because they show how much the directors care about a film, book, or video game. Making a movie is extremely hard work, and finding the time to insert little jokes or references just for the audiences' sake shows that the filmmakers care.

The Odyssey Conclusion

I was completely disappointed after finishing Homer's The Odyssey. In the end of Book 24, Odysseus and his three men, his father Laertes, Dolius and his six sons prepared for a battle against the parents of the slaughtered suitors led by Eupithes, the father of Antinous. After Eupithes is killed by recieving the business-end of Laertes' spear, Athena, disguised as Mentor, appears and stops the madness in its tracks. Athena demands peace,so the terrified fighters run for their lives and peace is restored.  The end.

This ending sprung out of nowhere! I would've never guessed an epic tale like The Odyssey would end with so much to be desired. I expected such an epic and complex tale to have an ending that left the audience thinking or an ending that could be interpreted in many ways. I thought Homer would deliver a fantastic ending, but instead I was treated with a deus ex machina . A deus ex machina is a plot device where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly solved with an intervention of a an event, object, or character. This plot device is mainly used to move a story along when a writer sees no other way out. I was extremely disappointed with this conclusion, but it does make sense considering that one of The Odyssey's main themes is divine intervention.

That's where the money is

A catchphrase is a phrase recognized by its repeated saying. You know, stuff like, "I pity the fool" and "I'm smarter than the average bear!". Such phrases often originate in pop culture and in films, television, and literature. If a catch phrase is "catchy" enough, you'll hear people quoting movies and t.v. they've never seen. Do you know anyone who's said "You talkin' to me?" but has never seen Taxi Driver? Has this person ever even heard of Martin Scorsese? Catchphrases are great because they do a lot of different things, whether it be an introduction like "This is American Idol!" or a substitute for a swear word, like Homer's "D'oh!". Or, catchphrases can mean literally nothing, like Larry the Cable Guy's "Git-R-Done!" 

Characters are also defined by their catch phrases. In the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper is famous for his catchphrase, "Bazinga!". Sheldon utters this phrase as a way of saying, "Gotcha!" to people he has just one-upped and that shows his smug personality. In the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, the character Barney Stinson has a myriad number of catchphrases that show his adventurous, if not womanizing personality. Barney says "Suit Up!" when he wants a person to dress like him to go out. Barney also uses "Legendary!" to describe stories or schemes he concocts to get with women at the bar.

Catchphrases are cool because people use them in everyday conversations. You can't walk by two people talking without hearing a famous catchphrase from a popular episode of a television or a current film. If you listen close enough, you can maybe hear a catchphrase from an English teacher used to put emphasis on something. The point is, catchphrases are great because they are catchy! If a phrase isn't catchy, it'll never be popular. That's where the money is.

Chronicle

Josh Trank's Chronicle is a film about three Seatlle high-school seniors who become best friends after receiving telekinetic powers from an alien object. The films protagonist is Andrew Detmer, an unpopular and frequently bullied kid who's home life is a wreck. He starts videotaping his life. At home, Andrew faces an alcoholic father and a mother slowly dying of cancer. Andrew's cousin Matt invites him to a club and after a run-in with an angry attendee, Andrew leaves to be alone and cry. Steve, a popular student, persuades Andrew to video tape something strange him and Matt found in the woods. The three teens approach a strange hole in the ground and they gain telekinetic powers. A week later the boys are videotaped displaying their newly found powers. At first, they use their powers for pranks, but later in the film, Andrew almost kills a rude driver by pushing him off the road and into a river with his mind. The three vow to only use their powers on non-living creatures. Later, things get better in Andrew's life because he enters his local high school talent show and uses his abilities for card tricks and balancing acts. He was recognized and praised by his peers, until he threw up on a girl at a house party. Andrew, becoming more hostile, used his powers to fight back against his abusive father. Andrew also uses his powers to kill one of his close friends, Steve by striking him with a bolt of lightning! At school, Andrew uses his powers to rip out the teeth of a bully. Andrew is changing. When his mother runs out of medicine, Andrew becomes desperate and angry enough to rob a couple of thugs for the money. He also robs a gas station and accidentally causes an explosion that lands him in the hospital. While unconscious, Andrew's father informs him that his mother has died and blames him for all of it. Andrew wakes up and blows a hole in the outer wall of the hospital. Sensing something is wrong and seeing a news report of a hospital explosion, Matt travels to the hospital and finds Andrew floating in the air, ready to drop his father from stories I the air. After rescuing Andrews father, Matt tries to reason with Andrew, but he's becoming more insane. Andrew then attacks Matt and they fight and fly across the city, crashing into buildings. As Andrew becomes more hostile, threatening innocent civilians with his destructive abilities, Matt realizes he can't help him anymore. Matt has no choice but to tear a spear from a statue and impale Andrew with it. Matt then escapes the police by flying away.

This film is one of my favorites because it has action and a sci-if element to it, but Andrew's character is what makes the film phenomenal to me. To see a shy and depressed boy morph into a destructive monster is a scary and fantastic ride. I believe a fantastic film needs a fantastic character, one who the audience can relate with and also feel bad for. Transforming the main character into the villain takes a lot of skill, and I believe the writers pulled it off flawlessly.

Antiheroes

An antihero in a work of fiction is the protagonist who is unlikable and villainous, but still is the main focus of the story. A perfect example of an antihero is Travis Bickle from Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver. Taxi Driver is about a discharged marine who takes a job driving taxis in Manhattan to cope with his insomnia. Disgusted with the filthy city filled with underaged hookers and street crime, he decides to buy some weapons and goes through a rigorous workout. In the end of the film, after a failed assassination attempt on the senator, Travis visits a brothel and shoots up the place. Travis was once a brooding, cynical man, but the city transformed him into a psychopathic murderer! This man is clearly the villain of the film, but you can't help but feel for the angry, lonely man. Travis just wanted to make Manhattan a cleaner, safer place. His cause was noble, but his execution was what made him a villain. It takes a truly talented writer to make an audience feel sympathy for a "villain". This "villain" was fed up and just wanted to change a city for the better.

Is Hades Heaven or Hell?

In Homer's The Odyssey, men and woman who die have their souls sent to the underworld called Hades. You're cursed to roam the purgatory-like realm as a doomed soul. In Hades, your form depends on how you perished on the day of your death. Women who died on their wedding day would materialize in Hades with their white wedding dresses. Valiant soldiers who died on the battlefield would show up in the underworld still dressed in armor, possibly with gaping wounds or missing limbs. Men and women who died of old age would wonder Hades as elderly souls. That seems pretty grim right? Imagine if an infant perished and was sent to Hades. The infant soul would wonder around for eternity without the ability to speak or walk. What if it was a pregnant woman who perished? Imagine a woman who was eight months pregnant, having to carry around a baby for eternity! Imagine an extremely battle-scared soldier, without a head, intestines seeping out of his belly button. For others, Hades could be a paradise. Elderly people could just relax, finally free of all responsibility. Some people can't wait for death, so that they can communicate with lost friends or relatives. It's funny how such a horrible place could be heaven for some and hell for others.