Category: Essays

Posted on in 2017, Comics, Current Writing, Essays, Film

Thor: Branagh and Bardolarty

So, we’re about nine years into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with sixteen films under their belts. We’re about five years in from the Hollywood-shattering movie that was The Avengers. This will be the first year that three MCU films will be released in the same year. With Thor Ragnarok coming out later this year, and being directed by one of my favourite contemporary directors, I thought I’d look back at the first Thor film and uncover the thinking behind the film; how it works to its own goals and to the wider goals of the MCU.

The first Thor film was notably directed by Kenneth Branagh, which might seem like an odd choice. The dude known for mostly doing Shakespearean films decides to do a superhero film about Norse Gods. On the surface of it, it doesn’t make sense. However, there is method to Marvel’s madness.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Film, TV

Gender Bending – Why Does It Matter?

[Author’s Note: Because of the readily available information on film, Hollywood, and demographics of America, most statistics given are relevant to that scope. However, that doesn’t undermine the central point, if anything it makes it stronger with the monolithic nature of American culture in the current world landscape.]

So, the somewhat recent Doctor Who recasting sparked a wildfire of debate about gender bending traditionally masculine characters. Now, look, in my original draft of this piece I was very unfair towards those who were against the decision. I want this article to be more even handed, because I get how it can seem. If you focus on what is being taken away, it can seem unfair. Like Dudley Dursley bemoaning that he has one less present than last year, rather than focusing on the increased size of some of the presents. You know.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, TV

Why I Fell Out of Love with Doctor Who

[Author’s Note: Major spoilers for seasons one through eight of the revived series of Doctor Who.]

[Author’s Note: This piece was written before the announcement of the new Doctor was made. Will the change in casting be enough to bring me back? Maybe. Depends on the writing. First step would probably be to hire more women writers.]

Okay, so we’re doing this. So let’s set up some context for this. I used to watch Doctor Who, which you could probably surmise from the title. I’m no mega-fan. I jumped in on season three of the revived series, watched the back catalogue and started watching contemporaneously around the time of the season four specials.

Similarly to Game of Thrones, I fell out of love with the series. The difference being that I stopped watching Game of Thrones following what I considered, and what is widely considered, to be the worst season. I stopped watching Doctor Who following season eight, whereas I believe that season seven is the worst season across the series.

Now, I laid out a lot of hate against the showrunners in my last article of this type. I could certainly do that in this article but I will restrain myself, despite the showrunner being, in my mind, more egregiously full of contempt for his audience. Oh boy, already I’m on the attack.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, TV

The Man in the High Castle Has Some Interesting Things to Say About America

[Author’s note: Article will contain spoilers for Season 1 of The Man in the High Castle]

Ok, so recently I’ve been bingeing The Man in the High Castle, a show that details an alternate history wherein the Nazis won World War 2 and kerb stomped half of America into becoming a part of the Third Reich. In the series, we see that the Nazis controls from the east coast of America to the Rocky Mountains. Japan controls from the west coast to the Rocky Mountains, with the space in between being a neutral buffer zone. The show concerns the ongoing intrigue and power wrangling between the Nazis, the Japanese, and the Resistance.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming

What Does ‘Civilization’ Say About Civilisation?

[Authors Note: Throughout this piece, when referring to the game series Civilization, I will use the American English spelling because that’s where the game originated and thus what it’s called. When referring to the concept of civilisation I will be using the British English spelling]

 

So, you may or may not be familiar with the Civilization series of games. In simple terms, the Civ series is a strategy game series wherein you take control of a civilisation and lead it to victory. There are a few things that happen when you game-ify history and I’m going to use that lens to see what the choices made in designing the series say about how its creator’s ideologies. Whether they uphold unexamined ideologies or use the game to delve deeper into these ideas.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming

Back to the Jet Set Radio Future

So, E3 was last week. It was mostly a run-of-the-mill E3 with a few nice surprises. For me, the nicest surprise was the announcement from Microsoft that they would be bringing original Xbox backwards compatibility to Xbox One (and hopefully also PC). With that in mind, and the fact that the original Xbox was my first console, I thought I’d compile a list of games that I’d like to be brought into the future.

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Posted on in 2017, Comics, Current Writing, Essays, Film

Thoughts on Wonder Woman

This is not a piece I thought I’d be writing. Last year, following the festering pile of unmentionables that was Batman v Superman, I swore off DC films. I was convinced nothing was going to change that. If Warner Bros kept following BvS down the shithole, then there was nothing for me in the DCCU. However, a lot of people whose opinions I respect were praising Wonder Woman, and WW’s place as the first female superhero meant that her movie had an important place in the pantheon of superhero films. Also, tugging at the back of my mind was the thought that if this movie failed hard, studio execs would blame it on the female lead rather than the fact that it’s the fourth instalment in a franchise that occupies the same collective mental space as a tired horror franchise.

Since I’m writing this you probably gathered that I’ve now seen Wonder Woman. After seeing it, I figured my thoughts could be summed up in a single tweet. However, as I mulled over it during the night, I realised I have a little more to say than that. Not much more, but a little more. So, my initial tweet’s worth of comments would have been.

Wonder Woman was enjoyable. A good movie, not a great one. Amazing what happens when you have a director directing, and a screenwriter writing.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Gaming

The Greatest Game That Will Probably Never Get Made

Before you start this article, watch this.

Good. Now, that you’ve done that we can begin. I’m going to assume you’ve done it. I’m trusting you here. If you haven’t watched it yet, you’re missing out. Scout’s honour? Anyway, here it is again and then I’ll proceed unimpeded.

So, recently there’s been some hubbub about that new Prey game by Arkane Studios. You might have heard about it. Prey (2017) was teased last year at E3 during the Bethesda E3 press conference. The trailer for that game is alright too, now that I think about it. Link here. The trailer is part-Groundhog Day, part-The Matrix, part-System Shock, part-The Thing, and so on. Prey (2017) blends these influences well and altogether looks like a decent game.

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Posted on in 2017, Comics, Current Writing, Essays, Film, TV

The Reason Marvel TV Doesn’t Crossover with the MCU

That title feels a little clickbait-y, doesn’t it? If it were more clickbait-y, it’d be called ‘The REAL Reason …’. I’ve been meaning to do this topic for a while. Some time ago, I heard this idea about the reason why there’s not much crossover between the Marvel TV universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are a few reasons and that could be given but I reckon there’s one big one. Though, before I get to it, let’s go on a journey first.

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Posted on in 2017, Current Writing, Essays, Film

I Really Liked Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s Ending

[Warning: Contains big time SPOILERS for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Read at your own risk. Ye have been warned!]

Ok, so this past week I went to see Guardians 2. This isn’t a review or the like. Instead, there’s a segment that I wanted to discuss. A part of the film that I really liked. Admittedly, it might just be me. On the whole, the film was overall pretty good. There’s a baseline quality from Marvel that they’ve managed to keep across all fifteen of their films so far. It’s an impressive feat where you can say that the worst of the Marvel universe is far behind it, and even at its worst, it’s watchable. The same can’t be said of some of their competition. Anyway, that should be enough general stuff to hide the spoilers below the read more on most websites.

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