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Rain

(Please play this whilst reading the poem: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guo8CHurCpY)

The rain can comfort

When it’s cold

A cup of tea, warm sweater

Natures music to make you feel better

The rain can destroy

Wash memories and lives away

Leaving many to hope for a better day

The rain can mimic

When he tells you “we’re done”

A salty tear falls down your face

Rain falls too, from grace

The rain can be fun

Little kids run free

Splash, splash, splashing

                          splashing

                           my rain is shed too often... 

[yesitreallydobelikethat-blog]

When does a game narrative go too far?

“Long, thick narratives are common in role-playing games, while in other game genres story lines are simply expositional, with the emphasis placed far more on ratcheting-up scores or kills”. - Tanya Krywinska, ‘Arachne Challenges Minerva: The Spinning Out of Long Narrative in World of Warcraft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

Game narratives are made to create the sense that the player is immersed into the game, like a reader would be in a good book. But when do narratives go too far? Where is the moral line?

As Krywinska claims, some games do merely focus on gaining points in order to move onto the next level, with a very poor narrative. Mario for example, follows the simple storyline of overcoming obstacles to rescue Princess Peach, winning coins along the way. A harmless storyline that can be translated to in order to get the good things in life you need to work hard and overcome obstacles. On the other hand, you have a “thick narrative[s]” which is the the role-playing game GTA (Grand Theft Auto). A game where the player takes control of the character and makes choices, which is usually to help the character commit crime. The player has access to multiple weapons that can be used to kill innocent civilians. If children or even developing teenagers have access to these type of games, wouldn’t it affect them psychologically? In 1999, thirteen people tragically lost their lives due to a school shooting in Columbine, U.S. The victims families went on to sue over 25 video game companies, for producing violent video games, that the shooters reportedly used to help conduct their terrible act. Despite many controversies surrounding violent video games, to this day there has been very little to tackle it. 

http://fortune.com/2018/10/02/violent-video-games-study/

(Here’s a link to a study exploring the link between violence and violent video games)

[yesitreallydobelikethat-blog]

The Circle

The new show that recently hit our TV screens, The Circle, is leaving the line between real and fake ever so blurred. Contestants have their own flat in an apartment block, and only communicate with others through the Circles version of Social Media. Their face cannot be shown, with only the way they describe themselves being available. Men are allowed to pretend to be women and vice versa. A show full of deception, but is it that far from reality? The film Ready Player One directed by Steven Spielberg plays with the idea of deception through technology. Characters present themselves the way they would like to be seen. With the biggest shock being the protagonist’s best online friend Aech, who is presented in the game as a big muscly man, but is a woman in reality. With a lot of power given freely to us at our fingertips, potentially dangerous situations can arise. The popular MTV show Catfish is a big example of the extremes people are willing to go to either gain some extra cash, or just to play with people’s lives. As technology develops, the world suddenly becomes increasingly unsafe. With big name channels investing into these ideas, it leaves a question mark above the scale this could have on society. 

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Did Orwell predict Brexit?

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on the human face - forever” George Orwell, 1984

It is not false to claim that the Brexit campaign was built on a tower of lies, with the man proposing the idea being a ‘supposed’ racist whose only major concern was of immigrants. 

“I was asked if a group of Romanian men moved in next to you, would you be concerned? And if you lived in London, I think you would be” - Nigel Farage, LBC radio interview in May 2014

With unemployment rates on a deep decline, especially within the working class (5.0% in October 2015), frustration was building up as the richer got richer and the poorer got poorer. The Brexit campaign created an ‘answer’ to why things were the way they were, with the answer being immigrants. Due to being part of the EU, the UK had to accept EU citizens into their country without question, this led to an influx of workers from Eastern European who, according to Brexit, were here to steal our jobs. The propaganda surrounding this was aimed at vulnerable citizens within our society, it falsely created a shoulder to lean on for these people. However, they used this anger to blame others rather than the education system for failing to teach young people the skills they need for these jobs. By using the vulnerable as their target audience, the Brexit campaign managed to successfully manipulate the ‘uneducated’ into believing lies based on weak factual information. The biggest and most famous lie surrounding the ‘fact’ that was paraded around on the side of a bus:

“We send the EU £350 million a week, let’s fund our NHS instead”

A quick google search reveals that statistically the UK pays closer to £250 million a week instead. And when we finally (it’s March 20th and we are no closer to leaving the EU!) leave, we will have to pay a rather large sum, estimated to be around £39 billion. Once the Leave campaign won the Brexit referendum, the lies began to unravel and the propaganda began to lose it’s effectiveness. The media was revealed to manipulate and push certain agenders by attacking the opposite side, which led to readers disliking politicians on personal levels rather than political. Like in 1984, the vulnerable were left no choice but to follow blindly, with no other option. 

[yesitreallydobelikethat-blog]

The Magical World of Misogynistic Media!

“Being a kind of famous woman who expressed unpopular opinions in a culture that hated women” (Jarett Kobek, I hate the internet)

In 1911 the world celebrated its first ever International Women’s Day. Nearly 110 years later, women are still treated as dumb, insecure, sexualised beings on the internet. Despite celebrating how great women’s achievements are, they are still belittled, with men thinking they need to explain things. For example, a man from the UK sent out these following tweets:

Tampons should not be free, why does everyone keep saying they should be??? if u can’t control your bladder then that’s not taxpayers problem! - Ryan (@ryanwilliams97) October 16, 2016

If your bladder is too weak...which clearly it is for most of you, then see a doctor and have the same procedure. - Ryan (@ryanwilliams97) October 18, 2016

You can probably imagine the reaction of women reading those tweets...

This is a common case of Mansplaining, where men think they know and understand things better than women. It is not uncommon for women to be a victim on Mansplaining on the internet. Just last week, a close friend of mine had a group of men attack her on Instagram, just for stating that she isn’t a massive fan of a some novels written by white dead men. Just to keep in mind, these men did not even follow her on Instagram, and went out of their way to find and attack a woman they do not agree with, just to argue that those books were classics, and listed multiple reasons as to why, as if an opinion is a fact. 

WOMAN CAN LIKE NOT LIKE WHATEVER THEY WANT FOR WHATEVER REASON BECAUSE WOMEN CAN HAVE OPINIONS!!!

Social media has become a new platform for men to spread their misogynistic power over women who don’t conform to their standards. Piers Morgan, for example, has attacked multiple women based on the way they present themselves to the world. The biggest ‘feud’ was between him and the Brit Award winning girl group, Little Mix. 

I can’t hang out with those foul-mouthed, talentless, clothes-allergic little dimwits? Gutted. (@piersmorgan)

Despite them being award winning musicians, Piers belittles them with personal attacks just because he does not like their clothing... not their everyday clothing, their stage clothing, which is meant to be elaborate anyway!!! 

So to all women out their, stay strong, share your opinion, wear what you damn want. 

(Just a few more examples ^)

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Do you want to play a game?

Imagine a story, but you’re in control, you choose where the narrative goes, how the story ends. At the click of a button the story can go from one extreme to another. Sounds good? How about if I tell you the game is really playing you. You feel like you’re in control, but the story has already been written, you have limited choices including choices you may not want to take. You get lead down a dark hole and can’t return to the original plot, you’ve lost control... and that’s how Hypertext fiction feels!

“Hypertexts give you the illusion you are in control of the game, when actually, you aren’t” (A friend of mine when asked about her opinion on Hypertext fiction)

Many people would fall for the illusion, myself included. The chance of playing God would almost attract everybody. When I read Luminous Airplanes by Paul La Farge, my first experience with Hypertext Fiction, I enjoyed it surprisingly, when the narrative moved onto another story it felt like I was unlocking levels. Soon, there were too many levels unlocked, and I had lost my way, giving little meaning to the original story. This is the case for a lot of hypertext fiction readers. The pressure is put upon the reader to organise the narrative and fit pieces together. Definitely not a relaxing read. 

How well has Hypertext fiction done? Well, it first emerged in the 1980′s, so I decided to ask some 90′s babies on their opinion of it, and their response was...

“Sorry, don’t know what that is”

I would like to leave you with a quote about Hypertext, and how it decieves readers into reading it.

“If any decision is as good as any other, why bother? Hypertext is sometimes said to mimic real life, with its myriad opportunities and surprising outcomes, but I already have a life, thank you very much, and it is hard enough putting that in order without the chore of organising someone else’s novel.” (Laura Miller, Bookends)

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Rear Window, a 1950s film highlighting the unobservant modern world.

Rear Window, a film following a man wheelchair bound with a broken leg, who ‘spies’ on his neighbours from his window, leading him to create a theory that one of his neighbours has killed his wife, which is revealed at the end of the movie. In the 1950s abuse would happen with little being said or done about it. The idea that what goes on behind closed doors is no business of others. But has this changed now that we are more of a connected open society? It’s been nearly 70 years since the release of that film, and female domestic violence is estimated to happen every 18 seconds in the USA. With abuse happening so commonly, are we as a society more aware of it? Social media is a ‘window’ into people’s lives, you can find out the most important information of a person if their privacy settings aren’t set correctly. An advertising agency, BTEC, created an experimental account on Instagram to test followers on how observant they are when it comes to signs of abuse. Their account which follows the life of a young adult woman who enjoys partying and exploring the world, gained 66,000 followers within the first few months. However, the dark secret hidden in these posts is that she is holding an alcoholic beverage of some kind in every picture. The majority of people were unaware and it took a video post of her explaining the experiment for people to then notice. So, despite the invention of technology allowing us all to be more interconnected, we have become so oblivious to signs of danger around us, whether it be in person or through a screen. The vulnerable have unfortunately become more vulnerable. 

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Did film create a platform for global hate-speech?

“The film is an infernal machine. Once it is ignited and set in motion it revolves with an enormous dynamism. It cannot pause. It cannot apologise. It cannot retract anything. It cannot explain itself. It simply ripens to its inevitable explosion” (Isherwood, Prater Violet).

It is no question that film can have a massive impact on society, just look at the global phenomenon the Harry Potter franchise created. Yes other mediums have also played a massive impact, with music creating identities for people (Emo’s, Skinheads etc). But with film being one of the currently most accessible mediums, directors are given a lee-way to portray their own personal views, or the views the government would like to spread. I’m not talking about the power of Frozen, forcing parents to buy into Disney and ultimately investing in Capitalism. I’m talking about the propaganda movies, coercing society to think/act certain ways. The first ‘famous’ film of this kind appeared just a few years before WWII. 

“Hitler was a movie fan; he cultivated friendships with actors and filmmakers and often screened films as after-dinner entertainment” (Bordwell)

Triump Des Willens (1934), portrays the idea that Germany would be better off, politically and socially, with Hitler in power. The scenes include distorted shots, further confusing yet intriguing audiences, of citizens parading in support of Hitler. The theme of unity influenced German society under the false portrayl of happiness, in a documentary styled film, distorting the line separating reality from fiction. Although modern propaganda films aren’t as obvious in their views, their subtle undertones (like only using Asian actors for the roles of nerds) further alienate certain ethnicities/religions already perpetuated as harmful in the media. Terror related films especially paint terrorists as usually being brown, Muslim, Irish or poor. This instills the fear around these certain groups, and playing the ball in the court of the white middle class men who run the Western World.