When first approaching this topic, I found it difficult to think that all videogames could be considered narratives. I mean, I am not that big of a gamer. I really only enjoy a handful of games, mainly sports games where the action is narrated for you like a real sporting event.  Even games like Mario have followed the narrative structure even before Mario had his own game and was known as Mario. (He was first scene in Donkey Kong and was called Jumpman) Someone stole the Princess and Mario was going to do whatever it took to get her back.

Then there are games like Tetris. When I thought about it at first, I did not think there was anyway one could consider something like this to be narratological. However, Ryan makes a case that never crossed my mind. On page 189 under the “The ‘Games are like life, and life is not a narrative’ Argument,” she makes the argument that “winning and losing are experiences specific to games” while in life you cannot win or lose in the game of life. However, you can “fail or succeed at specific attempts at goals one sets out for.”

Read more . . .

For the assignment, the Choose Your Own Adventure book I picked up was R.A. Montgomery’s Journey Under The Sea. As with all CYOA brand books, my story began with the obligatory “Warning!!” page. Then jumped right into the action. The overall premise of my story was that you were an underwater explorer on an expedition to find the “Lost” City of Atlantis. Very early on in the story, you are given two choices that ultimately lead to two different branches that rarely cross over with one another. The goal of the story is to somehow find the city and more often than naught you do. However, it rarely ends on a good note. I found myself dying in absurd ways or regretting my decisions that led me to the Atlanteans. Come to think of it, out of the forty-two endings there were only about six that ended happily ever after. (I am not that familiar with these books, but it seems quite odd that a children’s book ends so depressingly 80% of the time.)

Read more . . .

For eleven years, one reality show has stood out among the rest. I will even go as far as to say that it has completely transcended the genre of “reality show.” It has become something much more than that. I, of course, am talking about the Real World/Road Rules Challenge. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, The Challenge is a spin off of the reality shows The Real World and the now defunct Road Rules. Cast members from past seasons of each show are divided into two separate teams. Depending on season you could see anything from gender v gender, seasons v seasons, veterans of the challenges v rookies of the challenges, champions v challengers etc. All teams vying for the monetary prize at the end.

Read more . . .

When discussing breakthrough situational comedies, one cannot ignore the brilliance of Arrested Development.  Arrested Development was created in November 2003. While short-lived, only lasting about two and a half seasons, the show provided a new take on the situational comedy. Stylistically, Arrested Development did things other shows would not do and have never done for that matter. For starters, the show was shot almost documentary-like. It would employ cut-aways, "archived footage" from the family's past and flashbacks. Unlike most, they did not use a laugh track. Instead, used a narrator (Ron Howard) to help tie together story lines and music to reflect the feeling of the scene. 

Read more . . .

Throughout the eras, since the beginning of motion pictures, filmmakers have, for the most part, have always used some aspect of music to aid the story. While some filmmakers are not able to take advantage of this, there are some that absolutely excel in this field: Alfred Hitchcock, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese. These three filmmakers collaborated brilliantly with their Music Department heads to help the audience get a deeper, more emotional link with the characters and give us insight into characters.

In the case of Hitchcock, this can truly be appreciated in the famous shower scene of the movie Psycho. Here, he not only uses it effectively to capture the intensity and horror of the situation, he successfully connects the audience to the actor. The audience experiences the same fear that the actor is experiencing as soon as we see the shadow. I am sure this scene caused many people to check twice before entering the shower.

Read more . . .