Screen vs Life

The chastisement of CNN ’s senior Whitehouse correspondent Jim Acosta as a propagator of ‘fake news’ by Trump during his press conference on Wednesday has caught the attention of commentators across the political spectrum.  Many like Sargon of Akkad have adeptly illustrated how the mainstream media has earned the ire of Trump, as well as their viewers, insofar as contemporary mainstream journalists consistently and demonstrably lie by omission. The indignation with which said journalists have responded to the ‘fake news’ moniker being flipped on them only amplifies the degree to which they live in a delusional bubble wherein they believe their own spin.  Others, like The Young Turks , Salon and MSNBC in their interview with Michael Moore, regard Trump’s refusal to talk to CNN as portending the end of first amendment rights, and the diminished ability of the media to preserve the democratic rights of citizens by holding power to account.  Insofar as t...

Adapting computer game technologies for educational purposes is a practice is from a novel concept. Some recent developments, like the mod for Minecraft, MinecraftEdu , appear to have the potential to win kids over (children are very good at knowing when they are being tricked into learning). A conversation with fellow educators at THATCamp Melbourne yesterday highlighted a significant problem with current business models for funding these experiments in a university context. One colleague expressed a desire to find an existing program and tool that would allow her archaeology students to learn archaeology through a virtual experience, specifically a type of program modelled on RPGs. This colleague also indicated that she once worked with a Professor in the USA, who developed a prototype along these lines, and knew that the achievement of such a project was well beyond the type of budget that she could generate, as well as beyond her expertise. The fact of the matter is...

Net neutrality is a particularly hot topic at the moment, and most proponents of net neutrality incorrectly reproduce the myth that this regulatory intervention will vouchsafe equal internet access for all. In this video internet philosopher Stefan Molyneux untangles the political web that has lead to broad support for net neutrality.  The key insight to take away from this is that any type of government regulation of economic activity functions to strengthen monopolies, because it is enacted on behalf of, and to benefit powerful lobby groups. Likewise, net neutrality represents an increase in governmental regulation of the internet, with significant implications for the quality of services available to consumers, for the privacy of internet users, and for businesses who are economically vulnerable when governments change the rules of trade via amendments to law and policy. An important video which has informed a shift in my own position on the topic.

I love science fiction cinema. It is, by far and away, the genre from which I derive the most joy. I love the exhilarating action sequences, the awe inspiring special effects, the darkened city streets slick with rain, I love the thrill of new technological imaginings, and I love the neo-noir aesthetic that colours these futuristic worlds a darker shade of dystopia (available in limited palettes of blue, green or charcoal). What I love most however, are the skilfully crafted hypothetical futures, which prompt us to ponder human nature and ethics in the here and now. So it is with great joy that I am experiencing the current resurgence of the genre. When the latest blue-tinted trailer explodes onto the screen my skin erupts in a rash of goose pimples, my heart kicks up a beat, and I dare to hope that this is in fact, the next Blade Runner, Terminator 2, Dark City or Matrix . And while many of blockbusters do fail to deliver ( Prometheus, Looper, Elysium and After Earth among the...

Gender stereotypes and tropes present the contemporary Western world with a very particular type of conundrum. As feminists have pointed out for decades, the dominant ways in which women are represented in popular culture have a tendency of naturalising certain behaviours, roles and identities as ideally feminine, and demonising others as a deviation from propriety and decorum. For instance, before the second wave of feminism washed through the streets of Western civilisation, good women were represented as serving husbands, tending children and repressing sexual desire. Our ability to resist, abolish and transcend these modes of categorisation, is however, fundamentally limited by the fact that such categories have a certain social currency that cannot be easily done away with. For instance, stereotypes and tropes have a symbolic utility, they allow for easy communication of meaning between individuals based in existing and recognisable conventions. Many roles and trope...

Last night my daughter and I settled in to watch the 2013 blockbuster The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski, and produced by six companies including Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and a rather suspect organisation (in terms of Hollywood accounting practice ) called Silver Bullet Productions (II). While hardly a masterpiece, it made for enjoyable Friday evening in. This was, in part, due to that familiar brand of humour that Verbinski imbues into his films including the first three instalments of the Pirates of the Caribbean (2003, 2006, 2007), also produced in collaboration with Disney and Bruckheimer. Moreover, who can resist Johnny Depp’s incarnation as Tonto, despite the fact that it bears a remarkable similarity to his performance and appearance as Jack Sparrow in Pirates. And the film’s connection to Hollywood history runs far deeper that the creative talent involved in its production. To the degree that the  film labours the motif of crash...

I have recently been pointed in the direction of some interesting research indicating that the publicity generated by 'piracy' may actually negate the negatives, particularly for artists (thanks Peng Tiong).  The study followed a sample of 16 000 internet users from 5 different European Union countries throughout 2011. The study tracked demographic characteristics, and also identified specific visits to music related websites, both legal and illegal. In the report researchers state that the results: 'present no evidence of sales displacement,' and that piracy does not, in fact, displace legal music downloads. Instead, findings suggest that illegal streaming may actually boost sales. The study has been conducted by the  European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, and the  results have been published in a paper entitled ‘ Digital Music Consumption on the Internet: Evidence from Clickstream Data .’ Also see ' Music piracy surprisingly good for business, study clai...

Figures released by the Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association show that the market for digital film and television sales in Australia grew 22.4% last financial year to $143.67 million. It is estimated that digital sales now account for 15% of the market, up from a reported 10% in 2012. The rise in digital sales has been accompanied by a steady decline in the sale of DVD, Blu-Ray and other physical formats, which peaked in 2007-08 with 98.8 units sold. The number in 2012-13 was 63.6 million units. Amazingly however, in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper this morning, Karl Quinn asserts that these figures represent a glimmer of hope for the declining home entertainment industry, which is apparently besieged by piracy. As argued yesterday, clearly there is a very significant technological shift occurring and the Australian market is playing catch up with consumers. Piracy is one effect of this, the other is consumers purchasing content online. T...

The digital age is well and truly upon us, and film industries, the world over, continue to drag their feet. Rather than adapting to the new possibilities of internet distribution large producers are instead focused on alienating its audiences by criminalising them through intellectual property law, and failing to deliver content on the platforms that audiences want. Key roadblocks are the major exhibitors who contest distributor calls for change on the basis that this will erode box-office returns. There is a major failure to recognise that resisting market demand is not how you maintain or increase profit. For instance, rather than distributors and exhibitors banding together to innovate new solutions, Australia is set to trial a 90-day release holdback between theatrical and home entertainment release, in place of the traditional 120-day holdback.   As a university tutor of screen studies, I regularly come into contact with moviegoers in their late teens and early 20s....

It seems that in a liberal-democratic society, the imperative to regulate the masses can only be validly proposed if the safety of the children is deemed to be at risk. Throughout much of the 20 th century, it was the portrayal of violence and sex on celluloid. In the 1980s heavy metal music compelled the world’s youth to satanic worship and suicide.  Today, it is digital technologies that threaten to unmake society by corrupting minds and hearts of innocent youth. The ability of Australian adults to access video games, is for instance, restricted via a video game classification system to prevent violent rampages by impressionable children. In 2014, cyber-bullying has emerged as the primary threat to our children. In January this year, Australia’s federal government issued a discussion paper, Enhancing Online Safety for Children , inviting experts to reflect on proposed measures to improve the online safety of children, who need to be protected from “child pornography, ...