Chosen Subject and Word Circles (5/12/2013)

* Unable to pick an idea from last week I decided to talk to my lecturer. He was interested in each of my ideas but, felt the first one, which was about the concept of good and evil in gaming including the discussion of 'Nature over Nurture' was the most concise.
He also gave me a bunch of good examples I could use to help me which include...

• John Stewart Mill  & Jeremy Bentham are people I should read about although their actual writing on Utilitarianism is rather heavy. In fact, the wiki is actually quite good as it explains their findings quite well. Utilitarianism is concerned with how to make the most people happy or how in short ‘for the greater good'. 
• ‘Morality in gaming’ is a good subject to link into the above as numerous good examples can be found online including ‘Moral Decision Making in Fallout’ on Gamestudies.org

* I then watched the presentation 'Word Circles' which describes a technique the lecturer has used with his other students to narrow down their field of research.
The intention of a 'word circle' is that you place a number of words in a circle in order to explore all the possible connections between them.

* We were asked to write down words that related to our chosen subjects.
These relate to my concept idea of 'good and evil in gaming and how it has developed throughout the years'.

• Nature
• Nurture
• Black
• White
• Grey
• Born
• Destiny 
• Connected
• Human
• Instinct 
• Survival 
• Morals
• Hero?
• Villain?
• Anti
• Right?
• Wrong?
• Evolve

In groups of three (me, Ryan and Adam) we told each other our ideas in order to generate further words and ideas for our pieces.
The following were suggested...

• Character
• Personality
• History
• Context
• Tragedy
• Ambiguity
• Balance
• Fate
• Uncanny Valley
• Expectations
• Conflict 
• Appearance
• Illusion
• Trust 
• Archetypes

After doing the above we were told to chose the words we felt best related to our topics. Struggling to limit the words I decided to force myself to choose only twelve, so as to make it more direct.

After doing the above we were then asked to write questions next to them so as to get us to think further about our subjects and the questions we could answer and/or ask our audience.
Admittedly, I struggled with this task, but you can still see what I wrote below.

* Even though I plan to go back and re-do the above questions, we were asked to write down the first brief answers we could come up with for each question.

• Thinking of our existing history, how and why is it adopted and reused to create new characters? We use examples of existing history and tragedy so as to closely mimic what elements of those our audience are most effected by and how we continue to make mistakes based on the same answers as our ancestors.
• Why is it we always believe that good characters must look handsome/pretty whilst the villains ugly/scary? I guess this is because it is easier to show someone is clearly good or evil by setting design archetypes. After all, we still see monsters or big brutish characters as the evil archetypes and heroes as knights in shining armour.
• Why is it we put so much pressure on our fictional heroes when at the end of they day they may well be as human as anyone else? I believe we do this because we are so blinded by hope and our own selfish need to survive, that we forget that they are in many ways like us. Although not initially a video game character, Harry Potter is a great example as he is just a boy who is told constantly that he is destined for greatness. However, to do this puts a tremendous amount of pressure on anyone, especially children.

* We were then asked to take the answers we had come up with in order to develop some new focus questions.

• I believe we do this because we are so blinded by hope and our own selfish need to survive, that we forget that they are in many ways like us. Although not initially a video game character, Harry Potter is a great example as he is just a boy who is told constantly that he is destined for greatness. However, to do this puts a tremendous amount of pressure on anyone, especially children. Therefore, why is it we don't tell these heroes that they can back down? Or pass the torch to someone else? Why is it we can not get of their backs and instead ease them into greatness with encouragement and support, not fear and the need to survive?  

 

• I guess this is because it is easier to show someone is clearly good or evil by setting design archetypes. After all, we still see monsters or big brutish characters as the evil archetypes and heroes as knights in shining armour. So why is it good must look splendid and evil not? Why can it not be seen the other way around in gaming as is the case, and the whole point of the characters in the 'Shrek' movies for example?

* The project itself will need to be 3000 words which is the equivalent of a 20 minute presentation. Therefore, I should think further about the types of questions I wish to address in my work.

* Next week will consist of us forming a research proposal. 

Researching subjects for Context (28/11/2013)

* Today we were expected to have chosen our idea by the end of the session, therefore I went back over my ideas from last week and started to produce a power point presentation in preparation to present my subject before Christmas.

* Looking back at my subjects, I decided to try and combine some so that I covered things I am interested in and to add to the overall possibilities of subjects to write about.

These combined subjects include the following.

• Character development and identity through play as seen in video games and the 'Dungeons and Dragons' pen and paper game. My main focus however, would be on how players relate to one another through the character types we prefer to play as e.g. I like to play as skilled based characters who are heroic, good guys, whereas I know others prefer knowledge or power based characters who, as a result may be more chaotic. And, even if the characters we play as aren't human they may still border within the uncanny valley where they are still human enough to be likeable.

I also thought of a couple of other ideas including...

• The idea of good and evil and how it is presented in video games. How only certain characters could be the different roles and how characters were clearly 'black or white' in the past. Today however, new titles push forward the concept of the 'grey' area including 'The Walking Dead' and 'The Last of Us' with decisions that are human, questionable and yet ones we make as the player and subsequently  have to live by. This topic could then merge into the concept of nature over nurture. I might include the online theory that Mario is in fact the villain and not Bowser and other such examples. I may even wish to include Snake and Liquid from the 'Metal Gear Solid' series who are meant to be cloned twins, one of which has the positive genes and the other  negative, thus I could talk about how this effects them. 

• Somewhat relating to the above, I could discus the gradual progression of story telling in games from 'go save X at Y' to full on scripted stories with budgets sometimes as large as movies as with the case of 'Grand Theft Auto V' (as seen in the example in my Harvard Referencing). In this way I would be showing how the industry has grown and taken bigger steps to tell both the larger in scale stories ('Mass Effect', 'Dragon Age' etc) and produce the most artistic and thought provoking ones as seen in 'Journey' and 'Flower'. Likewise, detailing the games that take risks and decide to tell more mature stories as in 'Persona 4' and 'Catherine'. This topic could then include the above topic on good and evil and therefore, show that characterisation has progressed and became more fleshed out, complicated and interesting.

* With so many subjects to choose from which grab my interest, I have decided to think more about them over the weekend in order to decide which one to work on.

Harvard Referencing:

• Tasarra, T, N (2013) The Most Expensive Video Games. Available at: http://www.forevergeek.com/2013/10/the-most-expensive-video-games/ (Accessed: 28/11/2013).

Planning our projects (21/11/2013)

* For this session we looked over the brief for next term's project in order to plan out what subject we wished to talk about.
As for the project itself, we could write it either in blog form during each step of our progress or, in the way I plan to do which is a traditional written paper. 

* Alongside the written project we are also expected to keep an in depth blog of all our findings throughout the course. So I need to make sure to make my blogs as detailed as possible in future.

* It was advised that whatever subject we pick it should reflect what we do and what we feel we specialise in. Thus I will choose a subject that matches my narrative and character development.

* As I had already informed my lecturer, I was planning to write about the importance of play as it brings families together through shared interactions, and even helps the individuals playing to identity with the characters and discover important life lessons.

My lecturer however, advised that I look at more subjects before making a final choice. Knowing already that I don't wish to cover sexuality, gender or ethnicity, I therefore decided to make a list as seen below.

• My initial idea on the subject of play, could include my experience playing video games with my siblings, father and now niece. Also, it could include the experiences of a modern day father who I have spoken with who plays mature games with his son who takes the subject matter seriously and asks the important questions of how, what and why? I could even ask the mother I know in BA if she has had any similar experiences with her daughter. I may want to use video game examples that encourage play such as the Lego games and world renown video game developer Tim Schafer's 'Sesame Street' game which he made so he would finally have a game he could play with his own child. Maybe I could include how Disney films, traditionally watched by children have been included in a series called 'Kingdom Hearts' where the player travels to each film's world and interacts with their favourite characters. I could then go into the subject of fun and how through enjoying play we are more interested in the subject matters brought up. Further more, I could then go into 'Dungeons and Dragons' and how we take our own experiences of play and incorporate it into the groups of people we play with. Finally, I could reference animals as play is an important aspect of their lives as well. 

• Continuing from the 'Dungeons and Dragons' idea, I could talk about identity and how we portray ourselves during life and play. Which persona's we put on to deal with certain situations and what character types we relate to and play the most. I could use the actor Vin Diesel as an example as he used a 'Dungeons and Dragons' character he played as a boy in order to bring to life his Riddick character in the movie of the same name.  

• The uncanny valley could be a good subject to write about because then I could describe why we are afraid of what is different and how we relate to certain individuals more than others. I could then go into depth about video game characters that we connect to through their actions often more than their words as they develop as the game goes on. For example, Dog the robot from 'Half Life', Aigis the android from 'Persona 3', Okami the wolf from 'Okami' and so on. Further more, this uncanny valley  could also relate to PS1 character models that, although were blocky with some basic textures on them, still made players identity with the characters and relate to them. This is similar to my recent experience with 'Metal Gear Solid' on the PS1 that ended up being my favourite in the series and had a style that I liked since my imagination filled in the blanks where the graphics couldn't.

• Character development through the years in video games could be an option, as I could discus what video games in the past did to make players relate to the characters e.g. based them on movie stars. Also how video games are pushing even further with their character development, personalities and choices they make, all of which constitute to their overall human personalities. With this I could use both human and non human examples as well as characters from video games that are out dated such as Duke Nukem. Also, characters who have no real human personalty and completely change to suit the story, not a natural progression as seen with perhaps the character from 'Indigo Proficiency' Carla who changes drastically at the end of the game. Good examples could include Lee from 'The Walking Dead' game and nearly the entire cast of 'Persona 4'. Yes, I would use the characters from 'Persona 4', again as they are just so well developed and designed. Mo-cap acted characters could also be talked about as they are performed by real actors.

 
Since all the above relate in one way to another with narrative, character development and/or play, my lecturer suggested that I look up existing examples of these topics so as to get a clearer idea of what I wish to talk about.

* As a note to myself, I may wish to use the video game related books I have at home in order to help me develop my project as I have subjects on both narrative and play. 
I may even wish to use the following picture as it brings up some fun examples.

* Our lecturer would like us to have chosen a concept by next session and will be looking at our blogs at the end of term. However, he will not be grading them yet so I don't need to worry too much about this. Instead I can focus on adding the things I wanted to.

Harvard Referencing:

• Conover, S (2012) Stuff I learned From Video Games [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.civin.org/wp/stuff-i-learned-from-video-games/ (Accessed: 21/11/2013).

Watching 'Solaris' (14/11/2013)

Today we watched the movie 'Solaris' which, although had some interesting points, I found first off to be just ok. However, when I thought about it more I felt as if I didn't like it at all.

The plot had a shrink named Chris who traveled to a space station that Earth had lost contact with. His task, was to assess the crew's behavior and find out why they were acting weirdly. However, Chris soon discovers that the crew bring to life people in their thoughts whenever they sleep and that they soon take a physical form. Thus the movie asks the question, who is real and who isn't? 

Even with this interesting plot, I felt as if the movie didn't go anywhere and that the things it brought up never resolved themselves. The cinematography and direction also weren't that good, as it had far too many lingering shots of characters doing nothing and film that didn't need to be in there. Thus for a hour and a half movie it felt as if it dragged the whole way through.
George Clooney, as the main character was a good actor as usual, but the rest of the cast varied from good to bad as was the case with the actress who played Chris's wife. Granted, this could have been the intended direction as she's meant to be one of his creations and thus her behavior appears unusual.

The thing is, I'm always up for interesting thought provoking plots, as is the case with one of my favourite movies 'Inception', the ending to which made both the audiences I watched it with sigh audible when the tension was over. However, for a movie to be thought provoking it needs to keep your interest. Thus, since 'Solaris' was, in my opinion boring with nothing happening it merely made the experience of watching feel a waste of time, plus it seemed a waste of a good plot.
I wonder if the original movie it is based on does a better job of conveying the plot without the movie trying to be arty as the recent one does.
Though don't take my words to mean that all movies without action are boring. There are many great movies that only involve dialogue, but it is between interesting and well rounded characters as is the case with many of Hitchcock's movies, especially 'Rope' in which the whole film comprises of many static shots that work because it holds tension and keeps its focus on the characters who are talking, something that 'Solaris' frequently forgets to do .   

"Is this the Real Life? Is this Just Fantasy?" (7/11/2013)

* Today we listened to our last presentation before going onto the topic we wish to write about. The presentation itself was known as "Is this the Real Life? Is this Just Fantasy?" Lacan, Desire, Fantasy and Visual Media.

* As the ideas being brought up today are quite complex and heavy, our lecturer decided to go through his thoughts within the presentation to make it easier.

* Jacques Lacan was a philosopher whose works were published in the 1950's and 60's. His ideas were similar to Sigmund Freud's who of course thought that sons had better relationships with their mothers through an attraction/desire and the want to destroy their fathers, and vice versa for daughters and fathers.

* The mirror stage, is otherwise known as the important stage when a child realises a reflection in the mirror is them. It is said that we don't remember our birth as it must be a very stressful time for us since we go from a secure darkness not even knowing what we are, to a bright outside alien world in which we are frightened of our own hands as we don't as yet realise they are part of our bodies. Eventually, children find out that other people have bodies, therefore they should have a body. Contact is the first step of a relationship at this early age as the child can not talk and does not have a understanding of the mother that holds them. Eventually the ego is born, a personality that makes us concerned for ourselves and our appearance. This forms within eighteen months to three years as it varies from child to child since dyslexia and/or other disorders can affect this stage.

* We eventually project/reflect ourselves in our own way, as people are generally self conscious about how they appear to others depending on their thoughts. Although, at times we deliberately dress to go against what is expected of us/our cultural expectations e.g. not going to school in our uniform or dressing up as a punk/goth.

* "When the subject speaks he is, unbeknownst to himself, merely 'spoken'" (Zizek, 2006, p.40). For example, we desire fancy things such as fast cars due to the majority of individuals who may like that brand of car. It is also a case that we desire more than we have or don't have. After all, desire can never be truly quenched as nearly anything you buy will never live up to your fantasy e.g. that car you may want could end up being uncomfortable and then on top of that you have to spend more money to maintain and fuel it. 

* The 'big other' includes the following ideologies and controls and defines in a way, what we are 'allowed' to do, whether we are conformists or transgressives.

• God.
• Religion.
• Sociologically defined 'order' ('rules').
• A grand narrative, that which orders our lives.
• The 'symbolic space' within which we dwell.

* We were then shown a clip from 'Star Wars' where Luke is learning to control the Force, but Han doesn't believe in it. Han says that he doesn't believe in a 'big other' which controls his destiny and that it's all based on luck. Han maintains he only cares about money and surviving. However, Han is controlled by cultural and societal 'big others' as his want for money leads him to buy things which results in him needing more money.

* It is said, that because of restrictions from the law, we are more likely to break it. For example, people shoplift sometimes in order to break out of the system even if it means stealing simple/cheap things that they don't really need. 

* We then watched the trailer for 'Fight Club' in which the character in that movie wants to break out of the mold by taken part in fighting for cash. Before he does this however, he was stuck in a boring office job and thinking about what furniture best described his personality. Though as a friend of mine brought up, you don't own the furniture, the furniture owns you.
This is similar in a way to the movie 'Eyes Wide Shut' were the wife in the movie wishes to relive her sexual desires that she has told her husband about, whereas the husband wants revenge on these imaginary desires. 

*We treat others in the same way we want to be treated by them. However, we are then treating them in the same way that our 'big other' wants. After all, we are objects and subjects, therefore desire is fulfilled in both directions.

* The Inhuman qualities include the following.

• Human - Rational, sentient - Represses 'inhuman' (repressed human) instincts. 
• Non-human madness - To be gripped by 'animal' instincts. 
• Inhuman madness - to be gripped by repressed human instincts (this can be collective).

* 'fantasy serves as the screen that protects us from being overwhelmed by the raw real.' Slavoj Zizek. After all, dangerous desires can be satisfied safely through fantasy e.g. the internet instead of real life. It doesn't make bad things acceptable of course but, at least it doesn't then occur to others in real life.

* Our lecturer discussed his own thoughts on how we enjoy playing video games and killing people in them because we know they are not real and this acts as a means of relaxation since it's escapism. Also, we can take out our inner most desires and annoyances during video games as the characters in them aren't real, thus making it more contained and healthy e.g. a channel for transgression.
I understand what he means as, sometimes all you want to do is relax and not be bogged down by real life, things that otherwise get you down. Thus having the option to cause destruction in awesome or wacky ways can be a good stress reliever. I know this wouldn't be acceptable in real life, but it's a more healthier way of taking out stress or aggression in a controlled environment and a parallel reality.

* Overall, a very fascinating subject that I wish to look into further.

John Cleese on Creativity (27/10/2013)

Looking on the Facebook page of one of my favorite reviewers the Nostalgia Critic, I noticed he had posted a video involving one of my favourite comedic actors John Cleese from Monty Python (fig 1) talking about creativity. Fascinated by his discussion, I decided to write down some notes that you can read below. 

• Creativity has nothing to do with intelligence, rather with background and surroundings/environment. 
• You have to be in a certain mood in order for your creativity to flow, thus certain individuals work better under different circumstances. For example, some work best when under pressure, whereas others go off on tangents to relax and therefore can more easily reassess their situations (as was the case with Hitchcock).
• If you are stuck in the 'closed' mood then you are not going to come up with anything. However, you can change this by getting hold of five things/factors.
1. Space - If you're under pressure then you're in a closed mood. Thus place yourself somewhere that has peace and quiet.
2. Time - Create the space above, you should then designate a specific moment or time for when that space is your space. Thus nothing can disrupt your train of thought as it is your space and time to shine, or in other words your recess, your play time, your oasis of quiet. This is especially important to do as it is easier to worry about trivial things that need to be done, than things you want to do that may not seem so important. Thus make sure that everything you need is ready in advance so as not to be distracted by other things in your life. He recommended you give yourself an hour and a half, as that way you should have a good hour left to bring your idea to life after spending the first half an hour thinking. However, you should only do these session once a week, otherwise you can run dry on ideas, and by leaving it for a week you can easily come back to it.     
3. Time - Although already brought up, this section of time is more about how to use your oasis of quiet more effectively. An example he gave described him trying to be funnier than one of his colleagues on Monty Phython by spending longer on a gag he was stuck on in order to be more original. Therefore, by playing with the problem for longer other possibilities became apparent, because he was prepared to tolerate dis-comfort and anxiety when encountering a problem. When we are annoyed we tend to make quicker decisions that are often the wrong ones and thus we ruin our creativity. If we can learn to tolerate these feelings then we can spend more time getting our ideas right and more like what we intended. "When does this decision have to be made?" This is an important question to ask yourself, as then you can spend more time making sure your idea comes our perfectly. Afterall, if you have, say to next Tuesday to come up with something, but are being rushed, then of course the idea isn't going to be as good. Thus, by spending time thinking an original idea will come to you as you have given your brain the time it needed.  
4. Confidence -When in your oasis be confident! This is your time to play after all, what happens if you do one thing over another? You will only find out by trying and therefore you shouldn't think an idea fail or is wrong, only that you gave something else a try! Afterall, this is your time to be yourself, to be free, not think of what others may presume, and more importantly... be confident! "You can't be spontaneous within reason" as Alan Watts puts it best. Nothing is wrong in your oasis. 
5. Humour - Humour is an essential part of play and creativity, thus this is the quickest route to get us from the closed mood to the open mood. Therefore, by seeing the funny side of things and laughing you become happier and more relaxed, thus making you more inclined to work creatively. "Therefore, when you set up a space time oasis giggle all you want" - John Cleese

• In general try and keep your mind on track, not completely, but just enough for it to rest nicely in place and not wander off.  
• By being with others you can exchange ideas you would have never of thought of before. However, make sure the people you are talking to are people you like and not ones you dislike, otherwise you will get uncomfortable. Also, never say "no" or "I don't like" as that will bring them and their creativity down. Instead, always be positive and build on what they say with words such as "It would be even better with" or "I don't quite understand that, could you explain it again please?". Thus making the group's creativity far more open and friendly. This makes sense to me as recently my friends and I stayed up to two in the morning coming up with ideas for an original fantasy world and were so engrossed in our task and imaginations that we didn't feel tired.
• Like a joke, by separating two meanings we can bring them together in a different context to make something new, creative and hopefully fun, otherwise known as 'Intermediate Impossibles'. This also makes sense to me, as whenever me and a group have used only a couple of words to create a new game idea our ideas have always been more creative, as we have had to work outside our usual thinking and normality to bring them to life. Thus making the process more original and fun. After all, as John Cleese says, "when you're playing, nothing is wrong".

Thanks to his passion for the subject and his great use of comedy at the end to racap on everything he had talked about, I feel as if I have learnt a lot and understand what he was trying to get across. Therefore, anyone else interested in the fascinating subject of creativity needs to watch the video which I have linked in my Harvard Referencing below.  

Fig 1:

Harvard Referencing: 

• Fig 1: Reid, J (2010) John Cleese vs. the Volcano: And He Wins ($ort of) [Online Image].
  Available at:http://uk.eonline.com/news/176917/john-cleese-vs-the-volcano-and-he-wins-ort-of (Accessed: 27/10/2013). 
• YouTube (2013) John Cleese on Creativity [Online Video]. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ (Accessed: 27/10/2013).

The Desert of the Real (24/10/2013)

* Today we went through aspects of the last paper handed to us ('The Precession of Simulacra' by Jean Baudrillard, 1994) which I read and couldn't understand, and the presentation 'The Desert of the Real'.

* "What is authenticity?" This is a question our lecturer asked to which the group answered with 'true', 'reality' and 'genuine'. 

* "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives mimicry, their passions a quotation" - Oscar Wilde.
I can somewhat agree with this, as when I watch/read a review by one of my favourite critics I often agree with their opinion providing they back up their reasoning's which they often do with comedic effect. Though, I have, on the odd occasion disagreed with them.

* "... the production of authenticity requires more than an author for the object; it extracts the "truth" of the authorial discourse" - Mary Kelly, in Art in Theory.
Thus the authenticity, uniqueness, aura and truth when combined can change the opinions of others drastically. As is the case with famous works of art and Von Gogh's recently discovered painting that was valued far less when people didn't know that the famous artist had painted it.

* "Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element : its presence in time and space, its unique existence at a place where it happens to be." - Walter Benjamin.
I believe the above to mean that when something is copied it looses what made it special in the first place and therefore looses an element of its meaning.

* Even though you can go to a museum in order to see the famous painting of the Mona Lisa, you technically don't, as you are part of a swarm of other tourists all trying to get a glimpse/photograph of the smaller than expected painting from far away. Therefore, thanks to it being put online everyone can now see it up close in detail, despite it only be a digital image and not the real thing.

* Looked at examples of Atelier Populaire Posters (fig 1) drawn in 1968 alongside a qoute by Mary Kelly. "It is no longer a question of good art, but of serious artists."

Fig 1:

* Mentioned the short story by Johannes - Muentinga (2011) On Exactitude in Science: A Journey to the Ruins of the Map Machine (after Borges). This story told of a empire that tried to map their entire land, thus linking closely to the paper I read for today, 'The Precession of Simulacra' as it mentions "If once we were able to view the Borges fable in which the cartographers of the Empire draw up a map so detailed that it ends up covering the territory exactly" (Jean Baudrillard, 1994). 

* Watched a clip from 'The Matrix' which had one of the characters saying he doesn't care that the world he lives in isn't real, as he prefers to live in a world of ignorance rather than a world truly controlled by machines.
This example then linked back to when we watched the movie 'Existenz' last year, as at the end of it the characters don't know if they are still in the video game or the real world. Thus connecting to the plot of 'The Matrix' where the characters find out their reality is actually a false one in a virtual world.  

* 'Twinity' and 'Near Global' were two projects that attempted to map the entire world as an explorable 3D environment. The idea was to be able to go anywhere that exists in real life and thus treat it as a second reality.

Fig 2:

* If you visit Lascaux then you only see a recreation of its cave paintings as they don't want the original cave drawings to be ruined.

* Finally, the lecturer recorded the session and will try and post the audio recording on Moodle. Thus if we wish we can listen to it again at any time.

Harvard Referencing:

• Fig 1: Word Press (Unknown) Posters from the Liverpool Atelier [Online Image]. Available at: http://senatehouseoccupation.wordpress.com/photos/posters-from-the-liverpool-atelier/ (Accessed: 24/10/2013).
• Fig 2: frmtr (2012) Twinity Real-Life MmoRPG [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.frmtr.com/online-oyunlar/4678323-twinity-real-life-mmorpg.html (Accessed: 24/10/2013).
• Baudrillard, J (1994) The Precession of Simulacra. Unknown.
   

Society of Spectral (17/10/2013)

First we discussed our thoughts on the article 'THECULTURE: The real deal?' I shared my example of Lorna Simpson (see last blog) to which the lecturer said that the article works for X-Factor instead of against it, as any news is good news e.g. people will still talk about the show and tune in to see for themselves.

War footage is heavily edited so as not to show the most gory bits. Yet the reporters talk about death and show shooting, but may actually resort to computer generated graphics to substitute for real war footage of killing. It also depends greatly on the country as they can have political and economical reasons for representing a conflict in a particular way. 

"Society of Spectral" was a term the lecturer used to explain that the bigger and flashier something is, the more we tend to focus on it.

During a recent comedy sketch, the lecturer talked about how a family struggled to find the right place to sit in their living room as their was no TV, thus without a focal point they were lost. This was interesting as this is a reflection of real life in which TV's have become so dominate in our society that living rooms are usually planned around the TV. Likewise you could say the same for a radio back when TV's didn't exist. Before even radios however a fire might have been used by families and early tribes would use a circle around a fire for meetings.    

We were shown the beginning of the most recent X-Factor and asked to look out for its authenticity.
From what I saw it seemed incredibly manufactured and more as if I was watching a scripted movie than a live show. 
Some points I noted include the following.

• Was incredibly flashy, bright and loud in order to keep people tuned in and pumped up. 
• Previous footage of the singers crying in slow motion and talking about how this competition is their dream was shown. They talked about their families and that they are competing for what they have always wanted. Music would also kick in to push up the emotional response to the footage being shown.
• Said that the judges are entrusted with the contestants' "hopes and dreams".

The lecturer also pointed out that they take away things from the singers. For example, they took away a girls rather nice soulful voice and gave it auto tuning, thus removing her originality and authenticity. They also did this to her wardrobe and make up, as they wanted to make her look more visually pleasing for a TV show.

Mobile phones are now being used by the audience even more, as not only can they record the shows they are watching live, but they can also act as a fifth judge and Tweet what they think of each contestant during the show. Clearly these Tweeters hope that their comment will be posted on the big screen alongside others, despite it only appearing for a second.

Having watched the show, we were asked to discuss it. It was interesting to watch again as it reminded me of the harsh truth that it is, in a way, a freak show similar to circus freaks in the past. After all, when I was a child I used to watch X-Factor just to laugh at the horrible singers and then got bored during the serious bits.
In fact, my sister used to try out for X-Factor when she was younger as she admits now she had 'stars in her eyes'. Now, however she sees it for what it is and disagrees with the way it portrays everyone.

In summary, shows like X-Factor are a false reality that presents their contestants in such a way as to be appealing to the widest demographic possible. Thus the singers are no longer excepted for who they really are and instead have to adopt a pop idol persona. The show is also so bright and loud that you might as well compare it to someone dangling keys in front of a baby, thus going back to the term previously used, "Society of Spectral. 

For next week I need to look at the first six pages of the other article given to us last week and write my own opinion of it.  

Shooting the Messenger: Barhtes, Foucault and the Death of the Author (10/10/2013)

This session we had a presentation that went further into our discussion on 'The Death of the Author'.
Below are a few of my notes. 

• Grand Narratives (Or Meta-narratives) are culturally constructed narratives which explain 'the way things are', or in other words, the bigger picture for understanding the world. For example religion, science and/or philosophy.
• The church was incredibly powerful in the past, but then of course science started to show evidence on creation and meaning through facts. As a result, the church disagreed with the scientific explanation and the gap between science and religion became bigger.
• When analysing a person's work, people tend to ask - Who made it? Whose the author? And why did they make it?
• When a painting was discovered to be possibly drawn by Von Gogh nobody particularly cared as its authenticity wasn't certain. However, when it was everyone cared about it and the painting's value rose, despite it not being as good as his other work. Thus the response to the painting changed and influenced others opinions about it. 
• Just because something is created in the past, doesn't mean it can't share similarities with modern works. Plus, this doesn't necessarily mean that the modern artist copied the past work, it just shows its relevance. For example, art arising from the Vietnam war and perhaps the Holy war could share similarities to our modern day Iraq wars. 
• Creating a collage of images can also change the meaning of each separate one in it, as they are being compared to one another and not just viewed on their own.
• Talked about the games 'Darksouls' and 'Journey' as, even though the creators may have come up with a story for them, the players will often invent their own as they are games in which the experience is the focal point. Yes, you can find out the story in 'Darksouls' through finding pages, and 'Journey' shows the player a tapestry of the history of the world. But often players enjoy creating their own narrative and thus finding their own meaning for playing.
• "The modern scriptor is born simultaneously with the text... there is no other time than that of the enunciation and every text is eternally written here and now" (Barthes, 1968). In short, the meaning of things change depending on who reads it. Thus what we have been talking about already.  
• Words, music and genres from the past are used yearly in order to inspire modern works as they adopt and expand from what they know. For example, the game 'Red Dead Redemption' reminds most players of original Spaghetti Western films including the music that, although consists of original scores, sounds similar to the music in those movies.
• Likewise, language is also reinterpreted as children will quote the characters and things they see on TV. Even the movie director Quentin Tarantino has taken quotes from other films and used them for his own movies as this is his style of film making.
• "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author" Barthes said in 1968, though I still disagree with this statement as explained in my last blog post 'Analysing 'The Death of the Author'.' In fact, my example of the blue curtain was brought up in today's session as we discussed how different people will interpret what the artist meant by the smallest detail or description.

We also talked about how advertisements are viewed, such as the 'Grand Theft Auto' posters (see below), as many people will see them depicting women in a sexist or pornographic way. Whereas, the company Rockstar deliberately depict women like this as they want to show women stereotypes to parody the real world we actually live in. This relates to my last blog, since this kind of subtle meaning is lost on those who don't understand the parody. 

Overall the presentation summed up one meaning to me, that everyone interprets things in different ways no matter the content. Similarities may be agreed on, but differences will always be evidenced as well.

Harvard Referencing: 

• wallsave (2012) Samsung Star Gta Iv Lolly Pop Girl Poster Rage D Discussion Area Wallpaper with 2560x1600 Resolution [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.wallsave.com/wallpaper/2560x1600/samsung-star-gta-iv-lolly-pop-girl-poster-rage-d-discussion-area-626902.html (Accessed: 10/10/2013).

Analysing 'THECULTURE: The real deal?' (10/10/2013)

You can read my thoughts on the article Analysing 'THECULTURE: The real deal?' (Will Brooker) below.

The article seems to state that all the big shows such as and including X-Factor, are just set up in order to get more views and early hype for the next batch of pop stars.

It's also interesting as it seems that the show is made larger than life in order to get the audience so excited and responsive that they forget who they are cheering/voting for, this all they do is focus on a giant projection of the contestants or attempt to record footage of the event live in order to prove the fact they were there. Thus the whole experience ends up being more about the fact that the audience watched and reacted to the show, rather than the focus being the contestants themselves.
Therefore, if the content isn't nearly as relevant as it should be, the audience might as well be cheering at a brick wall. After all, they are usually reacting to the way the producers want them to and tell them to e.g. use of cues.

Further more, from reading this article I noticed many similarities to the popular fictional series 'The Hunger Games' in which children are cast into an arena to kill one another. However, before all that, they have to get sponsors, individuals from the same district who want to see them dead, as without them they won't get support in the arena. Support might be food, medicine or weapons which they might receive if they are able to convince both the sponsors and their audience to like them.

This links to the article, as the band referred to (Little Mix) are shown crying and talking about bullying. Thus being subjects that the audience can relate to and empathise with, therefore improving the groups chances of winning. Granted, these emotions may not be an act, but they show a human side which is engaging for the audience. However, these can also be exaggerated to gain sympathy and votes.

Similarly, these reactions that may or not be manufactured are shown on TV programs that are. After all, even though many claim to be live and reality programs, usually everything they need to say or perform is scripted down to every move and emotion the audience see. This is underlined when occasionally the unexpected happens e.g. wardrobe malfunctions.
Other shows such as X-Factor include I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Big Brother and Strictly Come Dancing.

Added Notes (16/10/2013): 

Recently axed 2013 X-Factor contestant Lorna Simpson said that the show was rigged. Granted a lot of her arguments sound as if she just wanted to complain because she lost e.g. "I had some middle-aged woman’s wardrobe. I’m 26! Why are you trying to hide me? You’ve hidden me enough." sounds more like something someone who is jealous would say, and considering I don't watch the show I can't say if she was good or not. 

However, she did say "It’s unfair. X Factor set me up to go out in the first week. They underplayed me... it was set up." because she wasn't featured on the show as often as the others, and “They know the outcome of the whole competition. It’s prepared. It’s TV and they have to be ahead.”. These were interesting comments as both sound similar to the points raised in the article we discussed which stated "X Factor reflects back only what we give it." shortly followed by "Outside is the world of fake bloggers, rigged votes, structured reality, YouTube pop stars, holograms in pantomime and protesters in comic-book masks; albums from dead singers, scripted political debates, simulated flash mobs, arrests for Facebook pages, Twitter rumours, online bomb threats and TV marriages shorter than an advert break. As Baudrillard said of Disneyland, the arena's artifice exists to convince us that the world outside is real. In fact, that world looks an awful lot like The X Factor."


Harvard Referencing:

• Bagwell, M (2013) Axed 'X Factor' Contestant Lorna Simpson Says The Show Is A 'Set Up'. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/15/x-factor-lorna-simpson_n_4099532.html?utm_hp_ref=email_share (Accessed: 10/10/2013).

Analysing 'The Death of the Author' (8/10/2013)

'The Death of the Author' as written by Roland Bathes (1968) I felt wasn't the best read. Like the previous paper 'Viewers Make Meaning' I felt the subject matter was interesting, but the way the writing was phrased and its vast amount of examples overshadowed what the content was meant to be about, and in general made the read longer than it had to be.

That said, I feel that Bathes in a nutshell was trying to say that, just like the artist, it's not up to the writer to decide what the meaning is, it is up to the reader since different narratives will mean different things to whoever reads it. For example, an analytical person might read a poem about a blue curtain and think the blue represents sadness. Whereas the poet's intention was to merely write a poem on a curtain that just happened to be the colour blue. Obviously this can also be vise versa.  

Although I was asked to anaylse this paper, I feel that I can not agree with it. No artist or writer sets out to create something without meaning. Yes, the viewer can interpret it all they like, but the creator always means to try and provoke something from their work. Whether it be something as simple as making someone think something a character in a comic book does is cool, or trying to provoke the horrors of war in a best selling novel through the experiences of a solider.
At the same time though, it is up to the reader to decide for themselves if they like the characters/stories or not and whether they empathise with their situation, which might depend on many things such as the reader's age, gender, ethnicity, background or culture etc. This being said, I feel that readers will always gravitate towards reading the things that best match their interests and their experiences, unless they are reading things they have been asked to read for specific purposes.
Of course, some types of writing need to be read more accurately than others e.g. recipes and instructions.

Still, if all writers work were interpreted in the same way then things would be boring. Yes, it is sad for a writer to see someone doesn't like their work. Yet someone else will love it. Perhaps this is just like what we discussed before where a photograph is only perceived the same way by viewers who have similar experiences, thus linking more closely to my previous paragraph. 

Overall, from reading this I have thought about my own writing and now understand that when you are writing for a certain genre, then you should include elements of things that its likely demographic will have experienced or feel strongly about. Thus not only appealing to them, but also making them feel those connected emotions and decide for themselves what the narrative means to them.

First Session (3/10/2013)

Start of Year 2!

Our first session was to 'understand a peice of text', something that sounds obvious and yet is harder than it seems. This can be due, for example the amount of text morphing into one another due to the length of the paragraphs written, or the words being too technical and therefore the reader struggles to understand them. Thus this session was to help break down more complicated papers in order for us to read and understand them better.

One technique you can use in order to break down the meaning in a paragraph is by first reading it and then afterwards writing next to it a sentence (or word if you can think of one) to sum up what it meant. Thus making it clearer, but also making it easier to remember key points.

Our lecturer also asked us what the term 'Viewers make meaning' means?
Some of us answered 'How an audience interprets something?'.
And others answered 'The Viewers interactions create meaning?'. 

With these different responses we were then asked to read the paper 'Viewers Make Meaning' and write down our thoughts.
The following is what I made of it.

The emotions felt by the on-looker of an image affects the way a certain group or an individual reacts to the image. For example, it may be happiness from a past memory contained in a personal photograph that another wouldn't understand if it was not there own. Likewise, it could be sadness that no one else could feel as they don't have the memories to evoke that emotion. Thus, memories help determine our feelings when looking at things that provoke them. This might be a visual image, but it could also be triggered by smell, taste, sound or touch.
For example, what do you feel when you look at the image of the apple below? Apple pie? Adam and Eve? "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"? The poison apple in Snow White? It would be interesting to discus this with others as the amount of responses could be huge.

Fig 1:

Groups of individuals can also experience the same emotions and similar memories. Whether it be family related or fan related. For example, myself and others may despise the 'Twilight' movies, but there is also a fan base that will defend them and enjoy them. What we see as idiotic, they see as beautiful and so on.    

One thing the lecturer mentioned, which I have mixed feelings about, is 'its not up to the artist to come up with the meaning for their work as others will always see it in another way'. Thus even though one may want their work to convey happiness, a viewer may see it as sadness. This could be due to connected memories as mentioned above.

Things can also be lost on a viewer. For example, people with delicate skin may appreciate/recognise an ad like Olay, whereas others won't. They may know what Olay is (fig 2), but not feel a connection to it. The same can also be said for those that play games and those that don't as seen with the recent advertisements for 'Grand Theft Auto V' (fig 3). Players will most likely recognise the ads due to their art style and not their title which is often in small print on the ads. Because of this often non gamers don't understand what the advertisements are for, and thus like the Olay posters do not relate to them.

Fig 2 and 3:

On a side note, I was wondering what would happen if you gave memories to someone who didn't have the experience themselves. Would they be affected by such a memory? And could you perhaps use emotions in order to manipulate someone? It could be something as simple as turning a bad experience at a restaurant into a good one from someone else's experience. Or maybe something medically useful, such as curing depression by making almost everything bring back natural happiness. Then ofcourse this would bring up the most profitable use, weapons. Yes, emotions could perhaps be used as a means of fighting. It could be a new age of emotional warfare where you could avoid death by simply altering the mood and feelings of your opposition.
Such an idea has already been touched upon in 'Metal Gear Solid 4' where soldiers would have their fears and guilt suppressed by nano-machines, and in the same game this strategy was used against them. Therefore, seeing this actually come about one day wouldn't surprise me, especially considering how effective emotions are at affecting not only a person's decisions, but also their entire personalty!

Fig 4:

Finally we were told that we would eventually be putting together a project so we needed to think about what content we would want to write about e.g. sexuality, gender, ethnicity, religion etc.
Also, we were given another similar paper to the last one that we were asked to read and write our thoughts about for the next session, this one being named 'The Death of the Author' by Roland Bathes (1968).

Harvard Referencing:

• Fig 1: Johnson, S (2013) Supply Chain Excellence, that's a good Apple! Available at: http://www.uandu.com/tech-ops/supply-chain-excellence-thats-a-good-apple/ (Accessed: 3/10/2013).
• Fig 2: muttonbones (2012) Olay - Alexa & Dennie [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.muttonbones.co.uk/blog/home/olay-for-saatchi-dubai-shot-by-alexa-singer-with-hairmake-up-by-dennie-pasion/attachment/olay-theia2/ (Accessed: 3/10/2013).
• Fig 3: Vas, G (2013) The Largest Grand Theft Auto V Ad Stares Down The Streets Of L.A [Online Image]. Available at: http://kotaku.com/the-largest-grand-theft-auto-v-ad-stares-down-the-stree-1133191511 (Accessed: 3/10/2013).
• Fig 4: Richardson, B (2012) Metal Gear Solid 4: 10 Predictions [Online Image]. Available at: http://www.gamesradar.com/metal-gear-solid-4-10-predictions/ (Accessed: 3/10/2013).

Is 'Flower' the new 'Fantasia'? (15/6/2013)

If you were to tell me that a game in which you play flower petals moving in the wind was more significant than most modern games, I would laugh and say it was impossible. How could flower petals convey a story or character as seen in recent great titles such as the latest 'Tomb Raider' or 'The Walking Dead?'.
Yet some how 'Flower' manages to do all this and more, as I will explain below.

I wasn't sure at first where to put this blog post as the game relates in a number of ways to my studies. Therefore I made a list to explain why I feel 'Flower' is the new 'Fantasia' of video games in relation to my modules.

Art:
If anyone tells you 'Flower' isn't art then clearly they don't know what they are talking about! 'Flower' is a wonderful looking game (as seen in the images below) which succeeds in making all the plant life in it act naturally. It also blends colour and lighting perfectly in order to create a soothing atmosphere which is relaxing and calming to look at. This is why, when halfway through the game everything shifts to darker tones e.g. darker environments, thunder clouds and electrical appliances left in the ground (the only things that can harm you), it makes for a great contrast to its first brighter environments.

It's not just a game, it's an experience. You shouldn't ask why, but rather sit back, relax, and look at its splendour and how it comes up with new ways for the player to sore and interact with the environments presented in it.
Therefore, I decided to compare the game to the classic animated Disney movie 'Fantasia' since the latter combines wonderful visuals and audio as further mentioned below. 

Audio: 
One of the reasons I love 'The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker' so much is one that many other players may not notice. This being the way it incorporates music, not only in the background, but also into its combat. Each strike the player unleashes causes a note to play which also affects the background music. Therefore when I started to hear notes play from every flower you bloom in 'Flower' I was filled with nostalgia, as this technique is one that adds to the experience without relying on just foley.
From doing this the developers were able to control certain sections of the game's rhythm. Sometimes the player merely passes through the flowers at their own pace, whilst at other times the player flies through canyons at break neck speed sending a chorus of notes playing with every twist and turn. These notes go well with the music which is subtle at first, but truly succeeds in creating atmosphere with just simple piano music playing.
Another reason why I compare the game to the movie 'Fantasia', is that it contains a plethora of tracks which are meant to tell the story, rather than dialogue or exposition.

Further researching online I discovered that the composer, Vincent Diamante actually worked directly with the development team in order to make sure each flower was strategically placed so as the player would send a chorus of notes when he or she flew into them. I also found out that the more petals the player gathered the more instruments played. I had not noticed this before.
Since the music and gameplay are two sides of the same coin it shows that the developers wanted the music to take as much of a role as the gameplay itself. 

Creative Writing:
Even without dialogue or context to the world, the game still somehow manages to allow the player to invest in its world and embrace the concept of playing petals blowing in the wind.
The game starts with just a single potted plant in a grey and dull apartment in the middle of a noisy and busy city. By selecting the drooping plant, however, the player is transported to a field of grass where they start as a single petal from that same flower and proceed to blow through the wind in order to collect others. As the player completes each new area, which is presented by new potted plants both the environments the player plays in and the apartment changes, becoming lighter and brighter with each newly created flower.
I found this to be a very interesting way of telling a story. It seemed to suggest what the world would be like without life, but then how amazing anywhere can look when life is present. In this instance plant life as seen below.

Context:
Finally, I decided to put this post onto Context as the game can be interpreted in a number of ways.
Is it a game soley to be viewed as art? Or is it meant to bring the player's attention to issues such as global warming and the fears of technology devouring the landscape? Afterall, wind turbines and the remains of broken electrical systems can be seen repeatedly within the game, especially when the latter makes the ground around them darker and lifeless.
Perhaps it can be viewed as an allegory for life and creation in general? Maybe even how people 'blossom' since the environment around the potted plants get brighter and better looking as the game continues (seen in the images above).
Afterall, the game was always meant to provoke positive emotion and act as "an emotional shelter" (Carless 2009).

Conclusion:
Overall, I am very glad I was able to finally play this gem of a game, which was released way back in 2008. Thus I feel slightly guilty that I only just got round to playing it, as this game is VERY important to the games' industry. It's a beautiful brightly coloured game that proves that games can explore themes and stories without having to tell the player them directly, or resort to violence and explosions to keep their attention, which many people still believe to be the case including a reviewer (Darrell) who said "While blissfully soaring through a flowery meadow is probably the exact opposite of shooting someone in the face, I still enjoyed playing Flower." (this made me smile).

I look forward to sitting down and playing the companies next game 'Journey' which my colleagues have spoken about with great respect and positive reviews. It is also the first ever game to win a BAFTA which will make playing it even more interesting.

I can only hope more games like 'Flower' are made in order to show the world that video games are just as important a medium as any existing one today, and that they can also be considered works of art which I believe has been true for years.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Darrell. (2012) Darrell's Review and Light Apartment screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://joystickunicorn.com/flower-game-review/  (Accessed: 15/6/2013).
• Soundingames. (2012) Dark Apartment screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://www.soundingames.com/index.php?title=Noise (Accessed: 15/6/2013).
• ThatGameCompany. (Unknown.) Night time screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://thatgamecompany.com/games/flower/ (Accessed: 15/6/2013) 
• Wikipedia. (2013) Flower (Video Game) Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_%28video_game%29#Reception (Accessed: 15/6/2013).
• qubahq. (2010) Day time screenshot [Online image]. Available at: http://qubahq.com/2010/03/gotta-play-flower/ (Accessed: 15/6/2013).

Analysing films - 'Pan's Labyrinth' (4/6/2013)

Having watched 'eXistenZ' last week we were shown a popular foreign language film today known as 'Pan's Labyrinth' by Guillermo del Toro. We watched this movie in particular as we will be analysing the concepts of fantasy next term in more detail. 

My analysis:

Having watched half the movie when I was younger I was not looking forward to watching it during the session as I remembered a lot of its bloody moments which I didn't enjoy watching. However, watching the whole thing with the knowledge of when to look away, and being less affected now by the sight of blood I found it to be a very good and interesting movie.

It's a fantasy movie heavily grounded in a real world scenario e.g. post Spanish civil war (1944). Therefore it gave its audience a recognisable starting point that allowed them to believe in the world, despite the fantasy elements that appear throughout.

The story itself follows a little girl named Ofelia who loves fairy tales. She moves into a forest house with her mother who is pregnant with the baby of the cruel captain who is hunting rebels who are hiding in the area. As the movie progresses however, the girl finds a labyrinth next to the house which houses a faun (see below) which tells her that she is in fact the lost Princess Moanna and that if she completes three tasks she will be able to return to her kingdom alongside her real father.

This was an interesting film as many of the members of my group analylised it in different ways. Personally I felt the fantasy world may have been the girl's imagination and like most children a means of escapism. This would make sense during a time of war as she would most likely want to try and forget about as much of it as possible. However, due to this time of war her imagination may well have been corrupted and therefore not a traditional child's fantasy world as seen in her books. That's why the fantasy world may be creepy and bloody at times.  

The escapism may also come from the fact that the girl does not want to live with the captain and would prefer to go back to the city. Therefore being offered the role of a princess and the opportunity to live in a palace with her natural family forever is something she desires (similar to most children today who wish to be princesses). This escapism continues when (spoilers ahead) the girl dies at the end and goes to her kingdom e.g. heaven and a fairy tale ending despite the fact that the girl died in our world. Her escapism is even more obvious when you realise all the fantasy stuff happens when she is on her own which is underlined at the end when the the captain sees her talking to herself and although she believes she is talking to the faun he is not visible to the captain.
She is also told constantly not to read fairy tales and therefore her belief in them only grows stronger.

Group discussion on Fantasy:

After watching the movie we talked about it and fantasy in general. You can read my notes below.

• Be aware of the world outside your game world. What makes it believable for the player? e.g. Is it historically accurate or does it take elements from other genres? 
• Is the fantasy in the movie actually the fantasy world or is it the war torn world? This is something viewers could debate when watching the movie.

Interested by the ideas of the movie and the subject of fantasy in general I decided to ask if the same/similar story had been told with a soldier in the main role instead of a child. For example, suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and therefore stepping into fantasy to escape reality?
I asked this because I have always had an idea for a game, even before watching Pan's Labyrinth in which an injured solider in hospital during World War 2 suffers with PTSD and keeps waking up in a fantasy world where aliens or robots try to wipe out the human resistance (a metaphor for the Germans invading Europe). The main protagonist (the solider) is meant to be the chosen one who will lead the humans to victory. However, when the soldier tells this to his doctor/psychiatrist he tells him to deliberately hinder the resistance every time he enters the fantasy, thus breaking his connection to the illusions as he doesn't believe in them. The solider on the other hand sees them as very real and believes that if he were to hinder them he would feel like a traitor. Therefore, in this game the player would need to decide if the fantasy was real or not as well as the best ways of healing the soldier's mental health.

Harvard Referencing: 

• Viewfromacouch. (2010) Faun from 'Pan's Labyrinth' [Online image]. Available at: http://viewfromacouch.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/13-pans-labyrinth-my-mother-told-me-to-be-wary-of-fauns/ (Accessed: 4/6/2013).