Hour 21: A Film and Interactive Media Blog

 1 Where has Star Wars gone? Perhaps the batter question is, where has my childhood gone? And the answer is, well, quite bluntly, back where you left it. The problem with Star Wars is not Jar-Jar Binks, politics or bad acting. The problem with Stars Wars is that it continually starts over. Now, I say “problem” more as a generalization than a proclamation of an issue, because it is this stating over that makes Star Wars, Star Wars.   “The Force is forever, for all generations.” The classic VHS commercial chimes; I really admire this commercial, not only for its ability to generate emotion, but also for its ability to express George Lucas’s intent for the series.   Star Wars is meant to extend far beyond its first stories and characters. As Joseph Campbell suggests in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, myths only belong to the cultures that create them. For a long time I thought that Star Wars challenged this idea, being as it is a series watched and loved t...

1 Nowhere to Go but up There is a strange thing about Mary Popping Return s that separates it from most sequels, its happy being itself. Does that mean the original is not taken into account? Of course not, the original emanates from every frame. Though, it is not defined by those frames. As it stands in the moment Mary Poppins Returns completes the massage proclaimed by the Disney classic, and surprisingly it does not reissue it. Without a verse of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” in sight Mary Poppins Returns continues the story of Jane and Michael Banks as they try to save their childhood home form foreclosure,   and   care for Michael’s   three children as his wife has just recently died. It is in this turmoil that Mary Poppins returns. One of the most delightful aspects of the Mary Poppins Returns is that it has a deep conversation with its predecessor before it takes over. This back and forth is almost self-evident in both the film’s additions to song canon and...

The  most meaningful Film and TV criticism has focused on the depth of a piece of media. In other words how far beneath the surface  the true intent of the creative team lies. In approaching analysis this way however, the critic frequently disregards the most important question. Is the piece understandable to the average viewer? Now, this does not mean it lacks depth. What it means is does it speak for itself? Is its surface level leading to a greater depth and understanding? In other words does its visual bibliography make sense? Far too often we as story lovers and film nerds disregard this visual bibliography at the surface in the hopes of discovering the depth for ourselves, though there is no depth if you don’t start at the surface. My hope with this endeavor is to reorient us to that surface of a piece of media so that we can more greatly appreciate the depth that it contains. This week’s visual bibliography is taken from the TV show Mad Men. Watch Episodes i...

2 A Touch of Love Olive Snook is right, “We all need to be touched.”                             It would be very easy to enlist the aid of Pushing Daisies in the Puritanical battle against sex. Dead girl is brought back to life by the man she loves. Dead girl cannot be touched again by said reviver, otherwise she will be dead again forever. However, to reduce the show to a touch no touch line of analysis is not only reductive, it also drastically under minds the creative team’s ability to craft a compelling story. Pushing Daises is defined by touch and intimacy it oozes out of it dialog like a slice of warm apple pie. Connection is the engine that drives Pushing Daises towards its most thought-provoking insights. Yet, as expected with a story of this sort connection is rather difficult to come by, as indicated previously retouching the resurrec...

1 The Deathless Prophet “ He was right! It was everyone else who was wrong!” I wish these words had elicited the same emotions back in 2016 when I heard them for the first time, as they do now, as I write them on this page. Lara Croft was my sister after all. I was eight when this young lady came into our house full of life and joy. She was the connective tissue between a physically broken son and a physically outgoing father. The computer was her bassinet and  Tomb Raider her beating heart. It’s funny, as I recall now, I don’t remember my dad every reading us a bedtime story or tucking us in at night.   What I do remember is the hum of the computer fan as it burst to life and the rhythm of my breath as I crawled across the old burgundy colored carpet, not wanting to get into my wheelchair.   Who needs a wheelchair, dad is playing computer. Dad is playing computer! This was our nightly ritual, me sitting on my knees and my brother sitting on an ol...

Interval  Unleashed  “You must learn to hate what he loved.” Darth Vader orders as he hands over a pair light-sabers to his apprentice. I am broken. It is raining as master and apprentice face-off sabers in hand. They fight. And lock blades as Vader proclaims “The woman is meaningless!” “You lie!” The apprentice screams. As he frees himself from Vader’s hulking mass. Once more they lock blades as Vader insists “She loved a dead man she never loved you!” I am broken.       Again they lock blades Vader continues, “If you want to join the woman so be it!” I am broken.   The battle is over. Vader on his knees defeated. He beseeches his apprentice, “What you feel for her is not real.” Enraged his apprentice screams, “It’s real to me!” I am broken. The apprentice sits beside “The Woman” as Vader’s final words to him echo in his mind. “As long as she lives I will always control you.” I am broken!     ...

So here is a thought, if you were to view one of Pablo Picasso’s most famous works of art, you would most likely say that the work is well constructed. Even if you did not fully appreciate it on a base emotional level, the work has object merit. Why is this? Is it because the work breaks the rules of painting? Not likely, is it because it follows them? Not all the time. A piece of art is objectively valuable when it creates new rules that are in harmony with the old. This does not mean that the old rules are thrown away, but instead are redefined by the work in question.   In other words the work is defined by the work; the object is defined by the object.   Artwork therefore, has to be objectively valued; it has no ability to be otherwise. Though you ask what about the artist and what they bring to the work? The artist as an individual does not matter. The artist speaks through the work and the work speaks for the artist. They are one. It follows therefore that artwo...

1 Life and Death         The Princess Bride as a novel and a film is a prime example of a fairy tale romance. Love at first sight. Yet for all of its undying devotion to the adage that love conquers all, The Princess Bride never outwardly represents love as we have so regularly come to expect. In fact, in the case of the film, screenwriter and author William Goldman have the Grandson reject the “Kissing scenes”, having his Grandfather skip them as he reads him the novel. So without these scenes of affection how does The Princess Bride explore the depths of love? Three little words “As You Wish”.   In using “As You Wish” as the catalyst for the relationship between Buttercup and Westley the Princess Bride smartly illustrates how love at first sight can happen. Though it does it in a way you may not expect. The story asks our two protagonists to care about the welling being of the other before their own. As a result “As You Wish” both exemplifies...