Hour 21: A Film and Interactive Media Blog

            This post is not so much an analysis of any film or game, but a question. Why are video games perceived the way they are perceived? There is this ongoing debate in both the videogame industry and popular culture as to whether video games should be considered art or not. Though in reality the real question should be, do video games elicit emotion or connect with the player beyond just being entertaining. To this point I would argue that yes, video games certainly do and have the capacity to be thought-provoking and emotionally engaging. Therefore, video games are art in the purest sense of the word.             The issue here than is not one of identity but of perception. For years people have been arguing about the merits and values of video games when in fact these things are self evident to those who understand and appreciate the media. Video games have a stigma attached to them. N...

            This past week I was finally able to play through the original Bioshock. Let it be said before I continue, and the whole  of the Internet comes down on me like a raging storm. I will not spoil the ending. In fact I won't even come close.              Rapture is a wondrous place, filled with mystery and intrigue, a place run by a  man seeking freedom from the morals of religion and the restrictions of science. Andrew Ryan builds Rapture with the motto "No God only man", and the player witnesses the consequences of this belief as they traverse the dilapidated halls of this underwater city. That is one of the many joys of  Bioshock, discovering what secrets the city holds, and how these secrets brought the city to its ruin.             Along with these secrets Bioshock offers insight into ...

I am putting the blog on hold for awhile to work on other projects. I will be back though. Thanks for reading, Jed 

More posts will be arriving in the coming weeks. I had to re-install my computer and was not able to post. Thanks for Reading, Jed  

 Both About Nice and Zero for Conduct deal with the complacency of the French upper class, and their inability to comprehend the difficulties, and challenges facing the poorer classes of French society. In some ways the two films represent a complete work, suggesting that Zero for conduct is the result of the complacency and boredom present in About Nice . Now, I am aware that Zero for Conduct depicts the inner workings of a boarding school, which suggests high society. However, this boarding school is  a microcosm of the French class system, with the students representing the lower class and the faculty representing the upper class. Thus, the student's revolt against their teachers, not only suggests the complacency of the French ruling class, but also their unwillingness to realize that it is the lower class which wields the greatest power.             About Nice seems to bolster the ideas present in Zero for...