Sidney's Media Studies Blog

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

The Blackcoat Rebellion: A Possible Future

In this book series, you are transferred into a not so distant future where the USA is being run by one family that is constantly in control. There isn't a democracy anymore and people are forced to obey the rules of this family or else they may end up being sent to this place called Elsewhere (a place where criminals are sent to work and be hunted), or they are killed on the spot for their crimes. On top of the country being run by one family, the citizens are separated into ranks based on how they score on a test when they turn 17 and up until you turn 17 you are considered the same rank as your parents. Basically what this test determines is how useful you will be for the country and the higher you score on the test, the better the rank that you get, while the lower you score the worse your rank gets, meaning that you get stuck with the worst jobs and have a lot less than the people who have better ranks. The ranks are then tattooed onto the back of your neck so that people know what rank you are. Families are only allowed to have one child and if they have more than one, the child will either be sent to a foster home (if the parents have enough money to pay the fine for having more than one child), or the child is sent to Elsewhere/killed after birth.

The reason the country goes this way is because the country ended up going through a huge depression and everyone was left with absolutely nothing for themselves in the line of food, shelter, etc. as well as the country ended up being under attack through war. The family that was in charge at the time decided that it would be best to turn the country into one run by just the generations of one family and with this, the family in charge ended up coming up with the ranking system to give everybody at least something based on what they could offer the country, even though some people have a lot more than other people.

I would have to say that this future is pretty negative. This is because although during the time of war people were left nothing, doesn't mean that the country should be run under a ranking system that is based off of test results. I understand that a test is the best way to tell how much people understand, but just because someone doesn't do well on a test, it doesn't mean that they are not smart. Also everybody enjoys different things and everyone is better at different things. I don't think that your whole future should be based off of how well you do on one test.

I totally think that this world could be a reflection of our world today. This is because I think that it is completely possible that the USA could be eventually run by just one family. I think that this could happen because nobody votes anymore and eventually if they get the wrong person as president I think that it is possible they could decide to get rid of elections all together and decide to run the country indefinitely.

Also the point where in today's society thinks that people below them deserve a lot less than they already have and I do think that if things were to get much worse in politics than the whole ranking system idea could become true, even if the whole idea seems crazy. Also the part about families only being able to have one child. I think that this could happen in order to stop over population.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Steven Spielberg: Blockbuster Genius?

Steven Spielberg is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Spielberg is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era, as well as being viewed as one of the most popular directors and producers in film history. He is one of the co-founders of DreamWorks Studios.

In a career spanning more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing humanistic issues such as the Holocaust (in Schindler's List), the transatlantic slave trade (in Amistad), war (in Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, War Horse and Bridge of Spies) and terrorism (in Munich). His other films include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones film series, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Three of Spielberg's films Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993) achieved box office records, originated and came to epitomize the blockbuster film. The

unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $9 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing director in history. His personal net worth is estimated to be more than $3 billion. He has been associated with composer John Williams since 1974, who composed music for all save two of Spielberg's feature films.

_____________________________________________________________
For this assignment I have decided to compare a few of Steven Spielberg's movies to see why he is considered such an amazing director and film writer. Some of the films I have decided to analyze are:

Jaws
Indiana Jones Series
Jurassic Park Series
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

_____________________________________________________________

All of these films are films that I have seen from him and I would have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed all of these movies. All of them are extremely original and creative stories, even if they were adaptions from a novel, and all of them have just amazing stories and plotlines to them making them such great movies. Also all of them have a quality to them that makes you never get old of them. I know that I never get old of them and I am constantly rewatching these movies because the quality of the acting, directing, script, and special effects is just something that I never get sick of. It is no wonder so many of his movies are huge box office successes and are considered some of the biggest summer blockbusters.

All of these movies have such complex characters with layers and layers of personality and I think this is also one of the many reasons why his movies are so amazing. Even his villain/anagonists have a very complex story to them and it leaves you not as bored as you would be with very two dimensional villains.

My favourite characters are the ones from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. I don't know if it's just because
it's was one of the first Spielberg movies I ever watched or what, but the characters are simply amazing and the idea of using an alien as one of the main characters is genius making it an easy blockbuster because of the alien. Not only is E.T. an amazing character, but all of the other characters are complex and simple at the same time making it hard not to fall in love with all of the characters.

Not only does E.T. have amazing characters, but all of the movies do and it is always easiest to pick out Indiana Jones because the movies are named after him and the character himself is a character that only Spielberg could bring to life in a good way.

Something that Steven Spielberg is pretty well known for is his use of in camera special effects and I don't know where he would be without the use of some sort of visual effect in all of his movies. All his feature films have included some kind of special effect, from barnstorming showstoppers the across the moon bike sequence in E.T., the rollercoaster ride in Temple Of Doom, the T-Rex attack of Jurassic Park to grace notes the flash of light as the Nagasaki bomb explodes in Empire Of The Sun, the speeded-up cloud effects above the mailbox in The Color Purple, the digital vistas of New Hampton in Amistad that subtly enhance a story or imperceptibly create an environment. If George Lucas has forged the current state of the art, no one has wielded it with more showmanship and finesse than Spielberg. A lot of the time Spielberg also tries to use in camera effects instead of digital effects and because when he first started directed, digital effects weren't as common yet, he decided to use a lot of animatronics to make the ideas in his mind come true. This can be seen with the shark in Jaws, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and E.T. in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. But just because these movies all turned out amazing in the end doesn't mean that there wasn't a lot of issues that happened during the filming with these animatronics.

While all of the films I have decided to analyze have their own styles and stories to them, all of them have incredible special effects throughout them and it is hard to pick which one I think has the best, but although I do enjoy all of the effects in these movies I would have to say the effects in the Jurassic Park series is my all time favourite. I think this is because the dinosaurs look so realistic and all of the things that happen to the cast seems like that is what would actually happen if dinosaurs were to live in the present time with us.

To see the 5 ways to tell you are watching a Spielberg movie, check out this website.

Box Office Success

Name	Year	Domestic	Worldwide	Adjusted Gross
Jurassic Park	1993	$357.1	$983.8	$788,690,400
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial	1982	$3.59.2	$717.0	$1,217,110,200
Jaws	1975	$260.0	$470.7	$1,098,916,300
Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981	$212.2	$354.0	$759,559,800
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	1984	$179.9	$333.1	$459,311,600
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	2008	$317.1	$786.6	$378,931,400
The Lost World: Jurassic Park	1997	$229.1	$618.6	$428,227,400
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	1989	$197.2	$474.2	$423,993,500

*All totals are in millions.

As you can see from the chart above, it is obvious that all of the movies I selected were great successes for Spielberg. The movie that made him the most over time ended up being E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, but Jaws isn't too far behind it. It is also obvious to point out that that first movies were the most successful over time. Even though the fourth Indiana Jones made the most money worldwide and domestically, you still have to put into account the price inflammation that happened between the first and fourth movie and when you do put that into perspective it is easy to see that the first one made the most money, while the fourth one made the least amount of money.

Altogether I would have to say that all of these movies were huge box office successes though. Mainly because they all earn hundreds of millions of dollars just from being in the theater alone and have earned Spielberg a whole lot of recognition for what he is able to do in the film making business.

Steven Spielberg has an amazing legacy behind his back and it is no wonder that so many young film makers look up to him. On top of Spielberg having an amazing legacy behind his back, a lot of his movies do also. All of the movies that I have chosen are very big movies and are still popular today with a lot of them being rebooted or having sequels made to keep adding on to the stories of everyone's favourite characters. Not only are they having reboots and sequels, but they are also known very well around the world. Like if you were to bring up Jaws to someone, they would most likely know what you are talking about. And these movies are still seen on merchandise everywhere, even to this day you can walk into a clothing store and see clothes for all of these characters.

Altogether I would have to say that Spielberg has created this amazing legacy for himself and his

movies and that that legacy will live on well past the days of his death. I also hope that he gets to continue being this legacy for as long as possible and keep bringing us new movies that we will enjoy and love.

Superheroes Across the Media

Spider-Man
Bitten by a radioactive spider, high school student Peter Parker gained the speed, strength and powers of a spider. Adopting the name Spider-Man, Peter hoped to start a career using his new abilities. Taught that with great power comes great responsibility, Spidey has vowed to use his powers to help people.

Real Name

Peter Benjamin Parker

Height

5'10"

Weight

167 lbs.

Powers

Peter can cling to most surfaces, has superhuman strength (able to lift 10 tons optimally) and is roughly 15 times more agile than a regular human. The combination of his acrobatic leaps and web-slinging enables him to travel rapidly from place to place. His spider-sense provides an early warning detection system linked with his superhuman kinesthetics, enabling him the ability to evade most any injury, provided he doesn't cognitively override the autonomic reflexes. Note: his power enhancements through his transformation by the Queen and after battling Morlun - including his organic web glands and stingers - have been undone after Spider-Man's deal with Mephisto.

Abilities

Peter is an accomplished scientist, inventor and photographer.

Group Affiliations

Avengers, formerly the Secret Defenders, "New Fantastic Four", the Outlaws

First Appearance
Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)

Origin

Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)

____________________________________________________________

Iron Man

Wounded, captured and forced to build a weapon by his enemies, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark instead created an advanced suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. Now with a new outlook on life, Tony uses his money and intelligence to make the world a safer, better place as Iron Man.

Real Name

Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark

Height

6'1"; (in armor) 6'6"

Weight

225 lbs.; (in armor) 425 lbs.

Powers

None; Tony's body had been enhanced by the modified techno-organic virus, Extremis, but it is currently inaccessible and inoperable.

Abilities

Tony has a genius level intellect that allows him to invent a wide range of sophisticated devices, specializing in advanced weapons and armor. He possesses a keen business mind.

Group Affiliations

The Avengers, Initiative, Hellfire Club (outer circle), S.H.I.E.L.D., Illuminati, Thunderbolts, Force Works, Queen's Vengeance, Alcoholics Anonymous

First Appearance
Tales of Suspense #39 (1963)

Origin

Tales of Suspense #39 (1963)

____________________________________________________________

Hulk
Caught in a gamma bomb explosion while trying to save the life of a teenager, Dr. Bruce Banner was transformed into the incredibly powerful creature called the Hulk. An all too often misunderstood hero, the angrier the Hulk gets, the stronger the Hulk gets.

Real Name

Robert Bruce Banner

Height

5' 9½" (Banner); 6'6" (gray Hulk); 7' – 8' (green/savage Hulk); 7'6" (green/Professor Hulk)

Weight

128 lbs. (Banner); 900 lbs. (gray Hulk); 1,040 – 1,400 lbs.(green/savage Hulk); 1,150 lbs. (green/Professor Hulk)

Powers

The Hulk possesses an incredible level of superhuman physical ability. His capacity for physical strength is potentially limitless due to the fact that the Hulk's strength increases proportionally with his level of great emotional stress, anger in particular. The Hulk uses his super humanly strong leg muscles to leap great distances. The Hulk has been known to cover hundreds of miles in a single bound and once leaped almost into orbit around the Earth. The Hulk can also use his super humanly leg muscles to run at super speeds, although his legs have limitless strength he does not have limitless speed and once he reaches a certain speed his legs become too strong and destroy the ground giving him no friction to run on, therefore he jumps to travel. The Hulk can slam his hands together creating a shock wave, this shock wave can deafen people, send objects flying and extinguish fires. His thunderclap has been compared to hurricanes and sonic booms. The Hulk has shown a high resistance to physical damage nearly regardless of the cause, and has also shown resistance to extreme temperatures, mind control, nuclear explosions, poisons, and all diseases. In addition to the regeneration of limbs, vital organs, and damaged or destroyed areas of tissue at an amazing rate. The Hulk also has superhuman endurance.The Hulk's body also has a gland that makes an "oxygenated per fluorocarbon emulsion", which creates pressure in the Hulk's lungs and effectively lets him breathe underwater and move quickly between varying depths without concerns about decompression or nitrogen narcosis.

Abilities

Dr. Bruce Banner is a genius in nuclear physics, possessing a mind so brilliant that it cannot be measured on any known intelligence test. When Banner is the Hulk, Banner's consciousness is buried within the Hulk's, and can influence the Hulk's behavior only to a very limited extent.

Group Affiliations

Formerly Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, Pantheon, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Warbound

First Appearance

Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)

Origin

Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)

____________________________________________________________

* All of these facts are based off of the comics and were found at this website

____________________________________________________________

Although all three of these characters have pretty heroic upbringings and have all decided to use the things that have happened to them to do good, I would have to say that Iron Man's origin is the most heroic. Not only does he get wounded and captured by people and forced to create a weapon for the bad guys, he decides to create a suit that will help him escape and then decides to use his money to create a new suit and use it to save the world from evil. He founded The Avengers to bring all of the world's super humans together and help protect the world from anything that can become of threat. And even though all of the characters I picked were a part of The Avengers at one point, Iron man

would still be the most heroic because no matter how much he wants to give up and no matter how much being Iron Man hurts Tony Stark's personal life, he still decides that being Iron Man is the best for him.

To me the definition of a hero is someone who goes above and beyond to make the world a better place. Whether it be saving the world from evil forces or just by saving someone's life. All three of these characters have pretty heroic values and all three of them are heroic in their own ways with different values. All three of these characters have decided to use the things and powers that have happened to them to do good in the world and all three of them try to do their best when using the powers. And because all three of them have such similar values it is hard to pick which one has the strongest values. I don't think that it is fair to say that one has stronger values than the others because all of them try their best at doing whatever they can to save the world from whatever evil they have to fight at the time.

Since all three of these characters are a part of The Avengers, it is easy to say that all three of them deal with a lot of the same villains as well as some of their own villains. While they do deal with some of their own villains it is easiest to say that one of the biggest villains that they all deal with and that comes up the most would be Hydra. Hydra is constantly popping up throughout all of their lives and always seems to be behind everything that happens in the Marvel Universe. This group of people always seem to be there when they don't want them to be or when they least expect them to be part of it.

Although it is hard to pick which one I find the most heroic, I would have to say that it comes down to Spider-Man and Iron Man. This is because both of them had something happen to them and decided to use it to do good for the world and while one of them was created naturally by being bit by a spider, the other was created through the use of mechanics, artificial intelligence and an intelligent man. Both of these superheroes go through their day to day lives and try to help out whenever they can whereas Hulk just tries to stop himself from trying to turn into the Hulk everyday and only turns into the Hulk when it necessary.

Out of the three superheroes above I would have to say that Spider-Man is my favourite. This is because in the comics he is around the same age as I am now and he is already doing so many amazing things. He is a genius teenager and even though he was bitten by a spider and turned into this superhuman, he still finds the best of it and decided the best way to use his abilities was for good. Also he probably has the coolest super suit out of all the superheroes and he probably has the coolest abilities. I mean like how much fun would it be to be able to climb walls and shoot webs.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

The Walking Dead: The Ethics of a Future World

Season 1 Episode 1: The Pilot

1. In The Walking Dead you are thrown into this world that is after a serious disease has hit the world. Rick wakes up about 6 months after it has all started and we aren't given much insight into the world, even though most of us already understand what is going on. In Night of the Living Dead you start off at a graveyard at around dusk and all of a sudden the zombies start to show up. The whole ordeal is done in one night in Night of the Living Dead. Whereas in The Walking Dead we start off 6 months in and so far in the show have made it to two years.

2. The zombies in the TV show are more decayed and they look more "dead". Whereas in the movie the zombies look less decayed and they look more like humans. The things that are the same between them are that both types of zombies are slow, not very smart, not very strong, have to be shot/hit in the head to die and they both turn into zombies within minutes of death.

3. I don't think that Morgan is weak for not being able to kill his wife. This is because although he wants to give her mercy by shooting her in the head, he still can't do it because he thinks there is still a sense of recognition of the house. Also he may think that if a cure were to come one day he could find her and have her back to normal. But instead of letting her wander the streets and being there all of the time doesn't let Morgan and his son move on to more important things in their lives and I think that it would just be easier to kill her or try and lead the herd out of the area.

Season 2 Episode 3: Save The Last One

1. No I personally don't think that Shane's actions were wrong. This is because although he did kill Otis, if he hadn't of both of them would be dead and Carl would also die because it.

2. I think that if Otis had of done the same thing it would have been worse because Shane was going to help and save his best friends son and Otis was most likely just going to make himself feel a little bit better about what he did. Also if Shane had of dies under Otis' watch then Rick would most likely get back at him in his own way.

Issue #61

1. To a certain point I agree with both of them. Abraham's idea would help the group the best and would stop them from all getting hurt in the future, but Andrea is right in saying that they shouldn't be killing a little boy, but in this situation and with what they all have to do to survive I would probably have to go with killing him because it would save more people in the future.

2. I feel that the problem is being solved the right way for the situation because they are right when they say that he could come back and kill any of them at any time and that also none of them has the means of being able to treat him properly if he were to stay alive.

To a certain point I think that the characters in The Walking Dead should follow the morality of our society. This is because there are a lot of things that go on around us in today's society and I think that it would be best to show them as characters in a TV show, but you also have to think about the fact that this is just a TV show and it is meant to be for enjoyment and can usually help people forget about the troubles of the outside world for the short amount of time that it is on.

Night of the Living Dead as a Horror Classic

Is Night Of The Living Dead A Good Horror Movie?

Night of the Living Dead was a pretty good horror movie. Although it doesn't live up to today's standards for a horror film, it was still probably extremely scary back in the time that it was made and it sets up the basis for all of the zombie movies that are made today.

Something that is unique to this horror film is that everybody dies at the end of the film and there isn't even one survivor. Also that the film has an African-American as the "savior" of the film.

Compared to today's horror films I would have to say that Night of the Living Dead is nothing compared to the horror films of today. This is because the special effects makeup that is used today makes everything so much more real and the CGI that is used is literally nothing in compare to Night of the Living Dead. Also because I am so used to seeing all of the special effects and everything it is hard for me to find an older horror movie scary, but like I said back in the 60's this movie was probably at the peak of scaryness because at that point in time these effects were seen as the best. Since the effects and everything are so far advanced in this day in age, I would have to say that it is not fair to compare a horror film from the 60's to one made today because of all of the things that people are exposed to in today's culture.

The Walking Dead would probably be the best for comparing to Night of the Living Dead. This is because the inspiration for the zombies in The Walking Dead came from the zombies in Night of the Living Dead. Both types of zombies are slow walking, not very smart, and have to be killed by hitting/shooting the head. Also both deal with how the humans survive through the zombie apocalypse, even if one is during one night and the other is over the course of years.

Night of the Living Dead as a Work of an Auteur

Who Do You Think Deserves To Be Seen As The True Artist In A Movie?

Although movies take a lot of time and a whole bunch of different people to make the creation come together, I would have to say that the director is most definitely deserves to be seen as the true artist in the movie. This is because the director is usually the one who comes up with the idea and seeks the help of others to make his/her idea become even better and this is almost always overseen in the movie making business.

In Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero wrote and directed the movie making him the person who came up with the idea and ultimately making him the true artist of this movie. Also it was his first feature film and its title has become almost inseparable from its directors name. Altogether I would have to say that the fact that Night of the Living Dead is so popular makes George A. Romero a auteur.

A filmmaker that would be an auteur in modern film would probably be Quentin Tarantino. This is because he is able to show violence in the most gratuitous way. He is also very good at writing scenes rather than stories. On top of that he creates remarkable stand alone characters that have a large complexity and the style is very visible throughout his movies.

Graphics in Video Games

As time goes on, graphics in video games have become better and better. But even today the amazing graphics are usually only seen in video games that have a story and that have a complete concept to them. Like in the video games we played for zombies, dystopian worlds and batman the graphics tend to need to be decent or good because of the type of subject that you are dealing with, but video games that are seen as party games tend to not have the best graphics because they are more for enjoyment and party time. Like Wii Sports doesn't have the greatest graphics, but is still seen as a successful party game for the Wii because it is enjoyable even without amazing graphics.

Also it seems that the more of a story the video game has, the more likely it is to have good graphics. Like when we played Fallout 4, the graphics were just amazing. This is because when you play a game that has a story as detailed as Fallout 4, you need to have the good graphics so that when you play the game you feel like you are actually apart of the story that is being told.

Altogether I would have to say that good graphics are quite important when it comes to video games that have a detailed story, but when it comes to video games that are seen as games for enjoyment and that don't have a true story, then the graphics aren't that important.