Monday, November 21, 2011

Some things are never final...

For my video game paper I wrote about the content of the game Final Fantasy VII.  It was the highest profitable game due to the players being able to escape in the worlds that is created for entertainment.  The player can be different characters and go on these epic adventures that deal with conquering evil.  The narrative for this particular game dealt with corporate corruption and the characters have to rebel in order to regain peace for the planet. These characters all have different strengths and weaknesses that help each other out through out the game.  The main character is named Cloud Strife though and he is the main focus through out the whole story.  His narrative is what drives the player to go from one stage of the game to another.  His overall victory comes through in the end when he gets help from his friends in order to defeat his enemy. Though his enemy does not die, he still defeats him and assist the corporation to regain control of its company.  The narrative did not correlate well with the themes within the class, though I could expand on the characters itself.  I could compare the male characters to the female characters and discuss even the death of one of the female characters.  It was a huge deal within the story of Final Fantasy VII and fans were definitely heartbroken by this twist of events within the plot. 

So this is why, I thought it would be interesting to further the research of the narrative by comparing the elements of the game to the concepts within our course.  I could expand on the gender roles in the game.  I also found an article that compared Final Fantasy VII to Greek Mythology which I also was intrigued with. I could have looked at the weapons and compared the over-sized swords as a method of overcompensation for something that the game may have been lacking. I also thought it would be interesting to compare the video game with the film that came out. The art in the film is more visually appeasing then the video game and has a more complex story line, plus it would be interesting to see how the character development changed.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

I Live Another Life on the Web

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THM16t5Cm_4
MTV's documentary show series titled, "True Life..." goes over different aspects of peoples lives.  They discuss addiction, mental disorders, birth defects, relationships, careers, and so on. This documentary series is one of my personal favorite shows because it portrays people in a realistic way.  Normally, MTV loves to script their reality shows to make ratings go up and keep there young audience entertained.  They also use only attractive and young actors to attract audiences of all ages and genders.  This television series does not always use attractive people to gain ratings, they just tell these individuals stories and hope to reach out to others that have similar life experiences.

One of there episodes highlighted on participants that lead a different life online.  This particular episode had three young women who were all insecure about themselves and escaped that insecurity by being online.  Two out of the three girls have insecurities with men so they use their sex appeal to attract attention from them via internet.  The other young woman is an aspiring singer who is scared to perform on stage,so she only feels like she can be a star on Second Life.

In the Dines text there is a chapter on Second Life.  It looks the sexual release people may get from using Second Life but they also address the massive appeal to this online community. "Second Life is about personal expression and your avatar is the most personal expression of all. After all, an avatar is your persona in the virtual world...Despite offering almost infinite possibilities, the tool to personalize your avatar is very simple to use and allows you to change anything you like, from the tip of your nose to the tint of your skin." (Linden Research, 2006) This quote explains the main drive to these young woman's need to be a different person online. They want to create a persona that is not themselves. Though the Dines chapter indulges more on the sexual component to Second Life, I was more intrigued by persona of being someone else.

To relate back to the "True Life..." episode the young woman that suffered from stage fright used Second Life as a way to express herself. She never used to expose her sexuality or hurt other members within this online community.  She just wanted to be the singer/songwriter she has always dreamed of.  Second Life acted as a crutch for her she still was able to gain the confidence she needed to perform on a real stage.  I think her story give a positive light on the what Second Life community can be like.  In the Dines text, the authors discussed more so the negative effects of self expression with the harsh emphasis on sex and violence. 

I guess online communities like Second Life can be used in many ways and people may use it to socialize and built on relationships, or make it a negative experience by taking advantage of the members within the community.

Reference:
Dines, G. (2011). Gender, Race, and Class in Media (3rd ed., p. 574). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE publication.

Friday, November 4, 2011

"New Girl"?: Up to Old Tricks?

Fox's new sitcom titled,"New Girl" is about a young woman who got her heartbroken and decided to shack up with three young men.  The show is a comedy about how a fairly eccentric woman can handle living with three men that are each different in their own way.  The first two shows highlighted the differences between these three males by placing an individual focus on the quirks in their respective personalities.  Nick is also a lonely man who lost his girlfriend months before, Schmidt is a wannabe stud who is simultaneously visually appealing and utterly clueless, and the third, Coach is an overly aggressive personal trainer. Coach is the only ethnic character on the show. This character's personality is meant be humorously distancing yet engaging. He longs to be more sensitive, and this is why he is not as initially opposed to the idea of a female roommate for guidance as his fellow cast mates.

After the two first episodes the show replaced Coach who is played by Damon Wayans Jr with Lemorne Morris's Winston.  This individual is a retired basketball player who is trying to find his place in the absence of the only career he has ever known. The circumstances surrounding this new character are inevitably suspect as the writers/producers of "New Girl" choose not to explain what has happened to Coach. The opening of the second episode offers two lines stating that Coach is gone and that Winston will be moving "back" in. Which leaves us, as viewers with several unanswered questions. What, if any, is the relationship between Coach and Winston? Did the other two roommates then elect to duplicate the racial dynamic in the house in Winston's original depature from the apartment by choosing another African-American male? Unlikely. Outside the realm of the show, we know that Daman Wayans Jr. is a character on the ABC sitcom "Happy Endings" which got picked up for a full season thus impeding his sporadic exit from "New Girl". The most likely version of events is that the producers of the show choose to duplicate the racial dynamic of the show without much regard to racial sensitivity, the logic of the storyline, or the intelligence of the viewer. They assume that we will satisfied with the arrival of "another black guy". This is an old approach to a common problem in what should be a more evolved, equality-minded, contemporary society.  While I appreciate the show's attempt at representing more than one ethnic group, they take a more vested interest fully developing all of their characters without prejudice. Even the title of "New Girl" implies a fresh approach to life and its complications, please use the remaining episodes of this season to do just that.