Video Games

Video Game

• Is a media product with an interactive or ludic element
• Ludic: Latin for 'i play'
• They are more interactive than other media industries
• It is the broadest industry and has a lot of genres
• There is an assumption that videogames do not have anchorage and a deeper ideology
• There is more competition in videogames than other media products such as tournaments
• Substantially higher RRP (Recommended Retail Price), cost a lot more than other media products.
• Games are developed for specific hardware
• Videogames target a specific audience, a dedicated, niche, enthusiastic, core audience.
• Videogames are an extremely specialised industry
• Dichotomy: 2 things that contradict each other, binary/diametric opposition
• The videogame industry is nerdy and niche, however the industry is large and profitable

Fans

• Fandom is not the same as audience
• Fanfiction
• Merch
• lunch boxes
• hoodies
• t-shirt
• Gives us social interaction and makes life more interesting

• Pony's Creed Sisterhoof
• is a great example
• 'the death of the author'
• Clay Shirky
• 'End of audience' theory
• Audiences are no longer passive: they interact with media products in an increasingly complex variety of ways
• Suggests that the audience is the producer
• However this theory is very untrue, it is not entirely convincing, 
• Criticise this theory
• 
  

Steve Neale

• Cover art for Assassin's Creed is repeated over and over again because it sells, all the same genre

Assassins Creed III: Liberation

• Published by Ubisoft in 2012 for the PlayStation Vita
• With a subsequent HD re-release for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360
• Trans-national creation as it was developed in Bulgaria, Canada and Italy
• Videogames are extremely expensive to make so they need to sell thousands
• Assassin Creed III: Liberation was too big to fail
• Has a clear and communicatcble story that has an understandable narrative
• The number of sales didn't live up to expectations
• A Sequel and a spin-off
• Wasn't a typical PSVita game
• A hand-held system means you feel more imersive in the system, however
• It was re-released on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 
• Consumers in the west tend to prefer home consoles instead of consoles on the go and that why the PSvita was more popular in Japan
• Assassins Creed's III sold 3 million copies, however Liberation sold 600,000
• Avatar is the technical term for a character you play as in the videogame
• The life bar, map and weapons selector is known as the HUD (heads up display)
• Ludo-narrative dissonance, the gameplay elements get in the way of the story elements
• Trailer:
• High-production value suggests it was made by a major company
• Main protagonist is a mixed race black woman
• Potentially this game is trying to aim towards a mixed race women (A unique selling point)
• Targeted a mass audience as if it was a movie
• Uses black fade
• Slow-motion
• There is no gameplay, parts of a videogame that is interactive
• Only cutscene footage
• The trailer is a link to Sony's distribution Service
• The trailer has a clear and easy identifiable narrative
• A story of a former slave who fights back, such as Django Unchained (Intertextuality)
• Over the top action and violence, makes it looks like the production value is high
• Set in Louisiana
• Offers the audience the pleasure/gratification of escapism
• Touches upon Slavery, can create a controversial topic
• Excellent example of digital convergence. videogame advertised on youtube that acts like a movie trailer 
• Didn't include the sci-fi elements of the game so that the producer could target a larger audience
• David Hesmondhalgh: The Media Industries
• Horizontal and Vertical integration
• Monopolisation
• Curran and Seaton: Profit and Power
• The media is controlled by a small number of companies primarily driven by the profit and power
• Media concentration limits variety, creativity and quality
• More socially diverse patterns of ownership can create more varied and adventurous media productions

Death Stranding (2019)

• Death Stranding x Rick & Morty
• Unconventional 
• Subversive
• Mysterious
• Hermeneutic
• Leaves a lot of question
• 
  

• Livingstone and Hunt: Regulation


• BBFC
• Due to the digital technologies, the regulation of all media industries are widely ineffective
• The increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation and risk.
• PEGI is the company that regulates videogames

• PEGI
• PEGI replaced ELSPA
• In 1982, a game called Custor's Revenege was uploaded to Atari. It involves raping a tied up native American woman.
• In 1992, a game called Night Trap was the first game that got BBFC certificate  
• The regulation of video games inefficient, age ratings would not work, so PEGI was used instead

Target audience is 14-21 males

Lots of dark colours

Capture the Zeitgeist

Could suggest why having a female lead in Liberation may have not gone too well

The Proairetic code of the hood promotes violence

Mise-en-scene of weapons 

Read Dead Redemption 2

• The higher the age rating, the younger the audience
• Completely illogical 

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Ubisoft:

• 90's 
• Indiana Jones The Last Crusade: The Action Game
• 00's
• Battle of Prince of Persia
• 10's
• Farcry 4

Super Mario Land

• Came out 1989 on the Gameboy

Plato system

• Started in 1960s
• touch-screen activated

How significant are economic factors in the magazine industry? Woman and Adbusters

How significant are economic factors in the videogame Industry? Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

• First commercialised in Japan
• Space Invaders was so popular that it lead to a shortage of 200 yen coins
• Entire blocks in building were rented out and filled with space invader arcade games
• America followed with Atari
• One such example being Centipede
• At this time, Nintendo existed
• UK
• ZX-Spectrum
• Famous for extremely low-budget games (bedroom coders)
• Early experimentations and generic fluidity

• 1980s videogame crash
• The game that supposedly ruined the game industry was ET
• Games started getting more dull and boring
• Nintendo
• Released a Famicom/NES, which was Nintendo's first console
• They gathered all the American videogames into one console
• Started issuing RPG, role-playing games, such as DragonQuest
• Super Mario Bros came out 1985
• The NES revived videogames
• This created a huge division between American games and Japanese Games
• Japan had more rpg games whilst the US had more of a open world game
• Sega vs Nintendo

• Super Street Fighter changed videogames because it was one of the first multiplayer games

Reverse Pyschology was used to get people to buy the first Playstation in UK

• In London they set up clubs for young adults to take part for Playstations

Digitally distributed: The process of having an online shop sell you games, like Steam

Sci-Fi genre and sociohistorical context (Humans)

Humans

• Stereotypical and conventional sci-fi TV show
• Parallel/alternate universe, contemporary setting
• Subversive stereotype, humans have emotions towards the robots
• The show is deliberately uncomfortable, makes robots feel human emotions
• Displays relationships between men and women in a contemporary society
• Involvement of technology in families, relationships between parents and children
• Death and loss
• Corporations taking over
• Philosophically racist, treating synths as 'others' as their not humans
• Immigration
• Sexualisation of women(synth prostitute/slave/rape victim)
• Sexual exploitation
• Modern Slavery
• Capitalism and the nuclear family (mum, dad and 2 kids)
• Racism
• Extensive use of flashbacks makes audience confused
• Has a complex narrative
• Being a tv show destroys the narratology of the story, episode 1 ends at a disequilibrium instead of partial restoration to the equilibrium
• Character arc- when we follow the story of a particular character
• Anita is symbolically stealing Laura's motherly chores and lifestyle

DIAMETRIC OPPOSITION = BINARY OPPOSITION

• Binary oppositions are extremely useful when evaluating meanings within media
• They're essential for a producer of a media product to construct an ideology
• 
  

• Negotiated Reading

What role do female synths take in Humans?

• Housewife work
• Sex workers
• Carers
• Cook
• Manual Labour
• Mother
• Butler
• Friend
• Slave
• Rebel

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Scene Analysis

• Target audience: middle class, 30 plus
• Similar to purchasing a new phone, computer, etc
• Consumerist society

• Post-modernism
• 
  
• Sociohistorical
• matters related with history and society
• Allegory
• A metaphor that makes a broader comment on society/ Something that creates a deeper meaning
• Zeitgeist
• A story/media production that presents the spirit of the time it is set in (e.g Stranger Things)

Ending montage:

• Semiotics- Robot takes child is hermeneutic and proairetic with the low-key lighting and night time setting
• Narratology- partial restoration equilibrium disrupted by being left on cliff hanger
• Structuralism- the sleeping child gold lighting scene that is cut to harsh red lighting prostitution scene makes it upsetting 
• Representation- man came into brothel is shown to be lower class, to show stereotypical person to use a prostitute, stereotypically and hegemonicly unattractive
• Identity- People identify with Anita as they may feel stuck with a never-ending negative job
• Feminist- mise-en-scene protestuitioin scene dress code
• Regulation- nudity not allowed in the rated 15 tv show
• Feminist- stereotypical east asian slave that is treated very differently to the white characters
• Power in media industry- Contrasting happy advert with rape scene shows power and profit from companies
• Cultivation- reinforces hegemonic stand of beauty
• Reception- depending on background you can relate to this scene
• Matty calls her younger brother a 'nobcock' which subverts the stereotype of women's gentle speech

Anita gets kidnapped

• Its a polysemic scene and Humans is a polysemic media product
• preferred reading: intense sympathy for synths
• oppositional reading: they're only robots
• Provides audiences with a range of topics to discuss and potentially disagree on
• Audiences can take pleasure through the use of hermeneutic codes, pondering the mystery of the TV show
• Emotionally manipulative: audiences can take pleasure at the use of extreme drama
• Displays conventions of the horror genre, in particular the sound of the breaking twig. Tension is built up then built down
• Close up shot of hand dragging the body
• Frustration at the stupidity of the gang of synths and Leo. Audiences may question his intelligence and dislike him as a result.
• Forshadowing of Leo's status as Human: a proairetic code
• Frequent encoding of hermeneutic codes. Who are they? What are they doing? What is a battery?
• Confusing establishing shot of tents, POV shot, cutting to Leo in the woods. Audiences may feel frustrated and turn off at this early point
• Use of sound: dramatic, synthesised, sci-fi music
• Setting: stereotypically British forest, allowing audiences to take pleasure at a familiar site
• Sexual gratification: taking pleasure at seeing attractive characters

America love watching British tv shows like downtown abbey

How is Gender constructed when Leo enters the brothel?

• Leo is aggressive to other men on the street, even pointing, glaring; he is assertive and is getting stuff done
• Leo Gesticulates aggressively and assertively
• wears lots of layers of clothing making him look ruff and tuff
• military connotations with the guys wearing green shaded jackets
• Tracking shot positions us with Leo as he enters the brothel
• Leo tries to conceal a disgusted expression as he's quite upset to be in the brothel
• Leo is acting tuff, Niska is acting sexy; she is putting on an act so she can survive otherwise she'll be found out
• Hyper-real representation of a brothel
• The soundtrack makes it sound like an uninviting place to be, we are in the same position as Leo where we feel uncomfortable.  It is exploitative. Usually it would be the woman's right to choose to be a prostitute however all the prostitutes in the scene are synths, meaning they have no choice
• Tracking shot follows Leo around, it cuts to Niska which is a eye-line match shot
• Niska sexualisation, she is wearing a stereotypical sex worker costume
• During the hug they both breakout of their characters, Leo is no longer ruff and tuff
• Niska is very happy and is acting very human
• She proceeds to take out her anger at Leo by smacking him, but also continues what Leo claims that she is best as a prostitute for now
• This glare, smacking and close up shot of Niska emphasise the power she has over him; symbolically castrates/emasculates him
• women are numbered which objectifies them "yes i want number 7"
• Each prostitute is in their own chamber as if they are in a zoo, being treated like animals
• beard symbolises manliness in media
• £25 for 10 minutes can be considered
• Leo walks in a slouched way as if he has a purpose
• Backstreet which has symbolic connotations of crime, this creates binary opposition with the middle-class household that Anita is located

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Historical Representations of Automata

• Automata: moving mechanical devices made in imitation of a human being
• Art that questions the similarities between robots and humans
• Perfection is subjective
• Perfection can also be constructive

Representation of Women & The Representation of Cyborgs

• Representation is the way something is presenting again by the producer
• Every media product does not show reality, we are seeing representation of reality, including nature documentaries and news
• The purpose of representation is to create/present the producer's ideology
• This is so the producer can present his ideology to an audience
• This is so the producer can manipulate the audience
• This Cultivates the audience in this ideological perspective

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Why are attractive women used to sell consumer products?

• An association is being made between a product and a stereotypically attractive women
• In each case this is a good example of fetishism, for Liesbet Van Zoonen's male gaze 
• In Humans Anita is shown to be sexually attractive to sell the product better, this is a good example of commodity Fetishism
• Sexual Fetishism
• The fact that Anita is East Asian with different colour of the skin makes her 'exotic' meaning ethnicity can also be a fetishism
• Sexual and Commodity fetishism are very similar
• 
  

George Gerbner: Cultivation

Judith Butler: Theories of gender performativity 

Gender Performance: Is the way we act, talk, walk, move etc

Gender Performativity: How we affect other people

1. Identity is a performance and it is constructed through a series of acts and 'expressions' that we perform every day
2. while there are biological differences dictated by sex, our gender is defined through a series of acts. These may include the ways we walk, talk, dress and so on.
3. Therefore, there is no gender identity behind these expressions of gender
4. Gender performativity is not a singular act, but repetition and a ritual. It is outlined and reinforced through dominant patriarchal ideologies

Jean Baudrillard

He states that the representation are more important than the reality
So a drawing of a tree is more important than an actual tree

Hyperreality
When representation is more important than the thing it represents.

That the hyperreal is real and the real is fake

• Pornography is a hyperreal representation of sex
• In humans, the brothel scene, the women are presented as perfect prostitutes because they do whatever they're told, sexual objectification

Simulacra
Representation of something that doesn't truly exist

1. The Synths look identical to humans: perfect representation of Humanity. Yet better than humans. Niska decides to not switch off her pain chip to deliberately force herself to suffer
2. The synths are more pretty than people, they chose more stereotypical people to play the roles of the synth

To what extent can it be argued that Humans is a post-modernism media product?

• I shall argue that fundamentally postmodern media product, and in particular is an excellent exploration of the concepts of hyperreality and simulacrum
• one particularly convincing example of hyperreality occurs during the breakfast scene
• The large amount of food being served at breakfast
• MES: arrangement of toast, "the jam is in a real thing!".
• Sophie's excitement can be explained by the fact that she clearly recognises such scenes from films and TV shows. Her excitement indicates that this is different from how breakfast usually is in the Hawkins household.
• Joe: "This is what breakfast is supposed to be like"
• Clearly happy and excited, excitement at a hyperreal construction, a fantasy. The breakfast resembles a hotel breakfast, or a breakfast in a film or TV show
• Characters within a TV show discussing the nature of reality is a highly hyperreal, postmodern aspect.
• Anita's laughter is also an example of a hyperreal construction. Joe tells an appalling pun that normally would be met with groans. 
• When prompted, Anita reacts with a fake, empty and repetative and creepy laugh. 
• By doing what she is told in an exact way, Anita reinforces the patriarchal hegemony wielded byJoe, and inflates his ego. Disturbingly, this theme is returned to later on in the series when Joe essentially demands sex off Anita, presentingt her with the 18+ card.
• Even more confusingly, Anita is not even Anita, but a brainwashed synth called Mia. She is a copy of a copy of a copy.
• Anita is a hyperreal construction of hegemonic female attractiveness. More hegemonically attractive than Laura, and forms a powerful diametric opposition. 
• While Laura has skin blemishes, ginger hair, a slightly larger frame constructs her as less hegemonically attractive. For Laura, Anita is a hyperreal version of herself, stealing her life. Not only does Anita read stories to Sophie and do the ironing, she also constructs a fabulous, hyperreal breakfast

• Post-modernism is impossible to define. It is a theory that hates every other theory including itself, suggesting that the world we live in is meaningless
• Deadpool is an excellent example of a post-modern film
• it breaks the rules of media by breaking the 4th wall
• Post-modernism is the act of breaking the rules of the hegemonic norm, a subversive act.
• It is deliberately breaking the rules

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Sigmund Freud's Madonna/Whore complex

Believes that women according to males are divided into 2 separate groups

The Madonna: A virtuous perfect women who is a virgin and a all loving mother

The Whore: A disgraceful chaotic women who craves sex