participatory culture

I used to be part of that participatory culture of Harry Potter as a child. I read all the books up to Order of the Phoenix and even went online to understand more about the lore of Harry Potter. Eventually I lost interest in it, focusing my interests towards Elder Scrolls and Starwars. It was really only a few week ago I was reintroduced to Harry Potter after watching the Deathly Hollows in the theaters. The culture and influect of Harry Potter is big. An example is our school. We have quidditch, people wear scarf’s similar to the movie, we have a upcoming event call the Yule Ball and many people started using Pottermore around school. it gets much bigger once you leave school. However not being in that culture, I wouldn’t not know the extent of that culture. However I can state examples of other “universes” that took up an almost cult following: Elder Scrolls, Starwars, Star Treck, Stargate and Lord of the Rings. One giant constant in these separate universes is the fact that they all have an entire universe at their disposal. They created an entire universe just for the story. Because of this, you get people creating their own stories that occur within the limits of that universe. It gives people free reign to do as they wish, because all the thinking and planning was set by the creators of the world. 

Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake at first felt like a science fiction genre. But reading through it, the story had more substance to it. It was less about the science and fiction, and more about the characters and their situations. Even the science presented in the book has to deal with morals, ethics, globalization, bio-terrorism and genetics. Snowman describes his past. Living in a utopian-fascist compound where genetic reengineering occurs, and how everything goes down hill, from his personal life to a wider scale and how he was part of it. The story brings up a lot of ethics in science, and culture. From the morals of genetic engineering to bio-terrorism and a little bit of eugenics. The story is pretty simple, but made interesting and complicated because of all the layered elements placed into the book that makes the reader think. 

Skyrim

The video game I played was Skyrim. Which is part of the Elder Scrolls series. Ive been an Elder Scroll fan for a long time. I played Morrowind, oblivion and even Daggerfall for DOS. The biggest feature of Skyrim is the open-world sandbox. Its open enough where you could do anything, but still limits you enough that it’s a comfortable balance. Skyrim has a storyline that you could follow, but it also allows you to follow other quests, or even let you proceed on your own. Essentially once you finish the introduction, you are free to progress as you wish. The biggest element of this game is Role-playing. Because you can determine what your character will look like, what he or she will use for combat, if they are magic focused or fighting focused. I remember there were people in the forums who would create elaborate back stories for their characters and post them as fan fiction.  The second you take control, your life takes on another life, where you can make choices without having to face real life consequence. You can be the opposite of what you are. 

In my case I became a Warrior/Scholar who goes by the name of David Steling. He was an Imperial, Caucasian male, who loved fighting, but also who stop to read every book he encounters in his journeys. I became a person I would never be!  Some players take it a step further to make sure their characters have weaknesses and strengths so their game play would be challenging. Some players even focus on real life needs such as sleeping and eating. They create modifications to make their game more realistic. Immersive games such as Skyrim also creates strong communities of modders. These modders create new worlds and bring in more creative content into the game, weather it follows the concept or not. In Skyrim’s case there is a strong story, and side stories, but the player can explore and create their own stories which they could share online or to friends. Video games are a great story telling medium, but recently its been more about letting the players makes their own choices. 

Asterios Polyp.

Asterios Polyp was given strange reviews for its use of modernism through out the entire book. I read these reviews that seem to focus less on the story and more on questioning his use of modernism. If I had to focus on anything, its conceptual narrative story telling. This book is a piece of illustration, it tells a story. It also uses conceptual design to ferry the story across. He uses modernism as a constant, to explain many ideas. Such as changing the style of the illustration to show different moods. Using different designed word bubbles to show emotions. Juxtaposing two different styles of art to show clashing ideologies. The most successful thing about this graphic novel is that it tells a story, but also shows different moods by different styles. Its also got a great sense of sequence that leads you from one page to another. The focus should be on the story, and his life. While the philosophies should be second, to consider, give an atmosphere to the story and help it along. Atleast in my mind that how it should work. Asterios polyp was one of the most creative books ive read. It’s a creative day in the life story. He steps up the graphic novel media by using elements like modernism to show different styles of drawing, which in turn represent different styles of thoughts. He also uses interesting concepts like a spot light to show people gaining attention or losing it, and each character has a different word bubble to represent their tone and speech. All these help it become a more unique experience. Also realize I am a designer, not a modernist scholar who writes blog posts on the weekends. When I see a graphic novel, I looks at it strictly in context of its design and communication. 

Media/ Body

When I Think of the Media and the Body, I think of information in relation to the human. Or information that a human being takes in. Video games are a simple concept, you rest your body and enter a new one in a virtual world. Of course when you enter the new world you play by those new rules. I picked this image because kids start playing video games at a young age.  Eventually it becomes a habit that leads to a gamer lifestyle (like drugs). Of course it doesn’t apply to all children (like drugs).  The second you hold the controller, your vision is focused onto the screen, and the only information perceived is that of the game in front of you. You take your mind and place it into a second body, and live a different life. Recently video games have become more immersive, from larger worlds, more free roaming, and more realistic graphics. The more immersive a game gets, the more replay value it has, because there is so much to do and finish, it involves you and you body to sit down and play even more.  Human life is simple; most people live a very normal life with the on occasion tragedy, accident or achievement. Video games give us the opportunity to escape into magical worlds, where our actions have no consequences, give us thrills that we normally don’t feel and let us live lives we normally cant because of limits placed in real life. Not only are video games becoming immersive, the television media is also becoming more immersive. HD gives us more detail, 3d tvs give us a sense of depth, making our experiences closer to realism, surround sound creates a more immersive atmosphere and perhaps in the future, experimental technology will let us control more aspects of the game play. Giving us a stronger experience in this storytelling medium. Your body becomes that character, sometimes letting you do things you can never achieve in real life, while the real one wastes its life away.

Player one

Player One was an enjoyable read. It’s a story that seems to place our contemporary era in context. It defines the very things of this era that makes it this era. There are a lot of references to the information age, online dating, fourms, chatrooms, uncertainty of the future and big egos from 12 am infomercials. Of course the entire story takes a turn for the worst with the peak oil situation, exploding gas lines and a sniper out to seek revenge.

The entire story is broken down from person to person. We see things from a variety of views, including one view from player one, who concludes every hour by giving a very relative view on the entire situation at hand. This was a story that kept me interested, because its approach was much more abstract. Each situation was told in different views. Giving us a very universal look to the entire story.  

Akira Kurosawa

Seven Samuari, Dreams and Kagemusha are three movies directed by Akira Kurosawa. All three movies are concerned with their own matters. However all three movies communicate the same emotional state. Regardless of what movie it was. There were reoccurring themes that seemed to relate back to the director/ auteur.

All three movies related to a more traditional Japanese state. Seven Samuari dealt with the poor villages of Japan and their constant fight with the bandits. Kagemusha was about clashing kingdoms and Dreams dealt a lot with Japanese traditions and history.

Kurosawa deals with traditions a lot in this stories. He also deals with the clashing of old and new ideas, usually giving sympathy to the older and more traditional ideas over the newer concepts.

            A good example of this is in Dreams. In some of the stories, traditional ideals are being threatened by some force. Like the child insulting the Kitsune by observing their wedding procession, or the peach trees being cut, and the community that moved away from modern society in order to live a more healthier and traditional life. In Dreams he constantly makes reference to nature, and how modern industry is peeling away what’s left of old Japan. One of the stories involves the destruction of Japan. The characters blatantly attack the government and irresponsibility on their part for this disaster. The conclusion in Dreams shows a lot of Kurosawa’s ideas of going back to a more traditional lifestyle, without poisoning the earth.

            In Seven Samurai, the setting itself takes place in rural Japan. It takes place during the 16^th century, and during a time of conflict. A lot of the movie is about the pressures that this little town has to face. The village is already weak, low on food and completely unguarded. After the samurai decide to help, you see an entire community building itself up for the incoming wave of bandits.             Essentially the story involves the violation of a traditional lifestyle by a disruptive force. In this case the bandits.

            In Kagemusha, the disruptive force was the king’s double, who takes over. Not only as the king, but as a family member too. Through the movie he grows affection for the people around him, eventually making him part of every day court life. When his guise is revealed, the court pushes him away, causing everything to go down hill. When he was King for a while, things went well, the great force that caused him to be banished was doubt and uncertainty of the people after his true guise was revealed.

            All three movies have no true ending, or closure. They leave the audience alone in the end, and forces them to ponder about the consequences of the choices made in each story. Kurosawa did this in all three movies. There is no good or bad, no heroes or villains. He has characters that perform certain actions, and it up to the viewers to determine justification of each choice.