Cinema as a Worldbuilding Machine in the Digital Era

Cinema as a Worldbuilding Machine in the Digital Era PDF Author: Alain Boillat
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0861969820
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This essay examines the primacy of worldbuilding in the age of CGI, transmedia practices and "high concept" fiction by studying the principles that govern the creation of a multiverse in a wide range of film and TV productions. Emphasis is placed on Hollywood sci-fi movies and their on-screen representation of imaginary machines that mirror the film medium, following in the tradition of Philip K. Dick's writings and the cyberpunk culture. A typology of worlds is established, as well as a number of analytical tools for assessing the impact of the coexistence of two or more worlds on the narrative structure, the style (uses of color, editing practices), the generic affiliation (or hybridity), the seriality and the discourse produced by a given film (particularly in fictions linked to post-9/11 fantasies). Among the various titles examined, the reader is offered a detailed analysis of the Resident Evil film series, Total Recall and its remake, Dark City, the Matrix trilogy, Avatar, Source Code and other time-loop films, TRON and its sequel, Christopher Nolan's Tenet, and several TV shows – most notably HBO's Westworld, but also Sliders, Lost, Fringe and Counterpart.

Cinema as a Worldbuilding Machine in the Digital Era

Cinema as a Worldbuilding Machine in the Digital Era PDF Author: Alain Boillat
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0861969820
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description
This essay examines the primacy of worldbuilding in the age of CGI, transmedia practices and "high concept" fiction by studying the principles that govern the creation of a multiverse in a wide range of film and TV productions. Emphasis is placed on Hollywood sci-fi movies and their on-screen representation of imaginary machines that mirror the film medium, following in the tradition of Philip K. Dick's writings and the cyberpunk culture. A typology of worlds is established, as well as a number of analytical tools for assessing the impact of the coexistence of two or more worlds on the narrative structure, the style (uses of color, editing practices), the generic affiliation (or hybridity), the seriality and the discourse produced by a given film (particularly in fictions linked to post-9/11 fantasies). Among the various titles examined, the reader is offered a detailed analysis of the Resident Evil film series, Total Recall and its remake, Dark City, the Matrix trilogy, Avatar, Source Code and other time-loop films, TRON and its sequel, Christopher Nolan's Tenet, and several TV shows – most notably HBO's Westworld, but also Sliders, Lost, Fringe and Counterpart.

What Film Is Good For

What Film Is Good For PDF Author: Prof. Julian Hanich
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520386825
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
For well over a century, going to the movies has been a favorite pastime for billions across the globe. But is film actually good for anything? This volume brings together thirty-six scholars, critics, and filmmakers in search of an answer. Their responses range from the most personal to the most theoretical—and, together, recast current debates about film ethics. Movie watching here emerges as a wellspring of value, able to sustain countless visions of "the good life." Films, these authors affirm, make us reflect, connect, adapt; they evoke wonder and beauty; they challenge and transform. In a word, its varieties of value make film invaluable.

The Multiverse as Theory in Postmodern Speculative Fictional Narratives

The Multiverse as Theory in Postmodern Speculative Fictional Narratives PDF Author: Angélica Cabrera Torrecilla
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040228844
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
The Multiverse as Theory in Postmodern Speculative Fictional Narratives considers the concept of the multiverse beyond the immediacy of being merely an excuse or scenario for the development of stories, instead positioning the multiverse as a theoretical method in which speculative fiction narratives can explore diverse issues to bridge ideas across cultural, social, and philosophical analysis. Taking a cross-cultural approach, the book centres around the critical engagements that literary and media texts have with the representations of the multiverse, beyond considering this subject as a mere rhetorical flourish or a passing fad. A diverse and international team of authors engage with the multiverse from the point of view of “other worlds,” understanding it not as the appearance of another independent world, but as the collision of two or more different worlds into one of them. From this key finding, the multiverse encourages us to pay attention to the influence that fiction exerts on narratives and world-building, providing possible frameworks to rethink critical aspects of temporality, space, self, society, and culture in contemporary times. This pioneering work will interest students and scholars working in the areas of media and cultural studies, comparative literature, popular culture studies, speculative fiction, and transmedia studies.

Entering the Multiverse

Entering the Multiverse PDF Author: Paul Booth
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040254632
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
The multiverse has portaled into the mainstream. Entering the Multiverse unpacks the surprising growth of the multiverse in media and popular culture today, and explores how the concept of alternate realities and parallel worlds has acted as a metaphor for centuries. Edited by leading media and popular culture scholar Paul Booth, this collection explores the many different manifestations of the multiverse across different genres, media, fan-created works, and cultural theory. Each chapter delves into different aspects of the multiverse, including its use as a metaphor, as a scientific reality, and as a media-industry strategy. Addressing the multiplicity of multiversal meanings through multiple perspectives and always with an eye toward engagement with contemporary cultural issues, the chapters also examine various distinctions and contradictions, in order to provide a strong basis for further thinking, writing, and research on the concept of the multiverse. Chapters in this collection tell the story of the multiverse in multiple realities: creative nonfiction, academic essay, screenplay, art, poetry, video, and audio essay. A compelling read for students, researchers, and scholars of media and cultural studies, film and media culture, popular culture, comics studies, game studies, literary studies, and beyond.

WORLDBUILDING

WORLDBUILDING PDF Author: Julia Stoschek Foundation
Publisher: Hatje Cantz Verlag
ISBN: 3775757015
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
WORLDBUILDING: Gaming and Art in the Digital Age examines the relationship between gaming and time-based media art. It is the first transgenerational show of this scope to survey how contemporary artists world-wide are appropriating the aesthetics and technology of gaming as their form of expression. Commissioned by the Julia Stoschek Foundation and curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the exhibition features works by more than 50 artists, including Rebecca Allen, Cory Arcangel, LaTurbo Avedon, Meriem Bennani, Ian Cheng, Cao Fei, Harun Farocki, Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Pierre Huyghe, Rindon Johnson, KAWS, Sondra Perry, Jacolby Satterwhite, Sturtevant, and Suzanne Treister. This catalogue is conceptualized as a future standard reference in the field in close collaboration with Hans Ulrich Obrist. In addition to texts by contemporary theorists, curators, and critics on the individual works, a series of newly commissioned contributions will investigate various perspectives on the intersection of gaming and time-based media art. This playfully designed volume features rounded edges, a screen-printed PVC dust jacket and kiss-cut stickers showing a range of different digital avatars.

The Cinema Effect

The Cinema Effect PDF Author: Sean Cubitt
Publisher: Mit Press
ISBN: 9780262532778
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A history of images in motion that explores the"special effect" of cinema.

Films from the Future

Films from the Future PDF Author: Andrew Maynard
Publisher: Mango Media Inc.
ISBN: 1633539067
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
“Deftly shows how a seemingly frivolous film genre can guide us in shaping tomorrow’s world.” —Seth Shostak, senior astronomer, SETI Institute Artificial intelligence, gene manipulation, cloning, and interplanetary travel are all ideas that seemed like fairy tales but a few years ago. And now their possibilities are very much here. But are we ready to handle these advances? This book, by a physicist and expert on responsible technology development, reveals how science fiction movies can help us think about and prepare for the social consequences of technologies we don’t yet have, but that are coming faster than we imagine. Films from the Future looks at twelve movies that take us on a journey through the worlds of biological and genetic manipulation, human enhancement, cyber technologies, and nanotechnology. Readers will gain a broader understanding of the complex relationship between science and society. The movies mix old and new, and the familiar and unfamiliar, to provide a unique, entertaining, and ultimately transformative take on the power of emerging technologies, and the responsibilities they come with.

Flickers of Film

Flickers of Film PDF Author: Jason Sperb
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813576032
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Whether paying tribute to silent films in Hugo and The Artist or celebrating arcade games in Tron: Legacy and Wreck-It-Ralph, Hollywood suddenly seems to be experiencing a wave of intense nostalgia for outmoded technologies. To what extent is that a sincere lament for modes of artistic production that have nearly vanished in an all-digital era? And to what extent is it simply a cynical marketing ploy, built on the notion that nostalgia has always been one of Hollywood’s top-selling products? In Flickers of Film, Jason Sperb offers nuanced and unexpected answers to these questions, examining the benefits of certain types of film nostalgia, while also critiquing how Hollywood’s nostalgic representations of old technologies obscure important aspects of their histories. He interprets this affection for the prehistory and infancy of digital technologies in relation to an industry-wide anxiety about how the digital has grown to dominate Hollywood, pushing it into an uncertain creative and economic future. Yet he also suggests that Hollywood’s nostalgia for old technologies ignores the professionals who once employed them, as well as the labor opportunities that have been lost through the computerization and outsourcing of film industry jobs. Though it deals with nostalgia, Flickers of Film is strikingly cutting-edge, one of the first studies to critically examine Pixar’s role in the film industry, cinematic representations of videogames, and the economic effects of participatory culture. As he takes in everything from Terminator: Salvation to The Lego Movie, Sperb helps us see what’s distinct about this recent wave of self-aware nostalgic films—how Hollywood nostalgia today isn’t what it used to be.

World Building

World Building PDF Author: Marta Boni
Publisher: Transmedia
ISBN: 9789089647566
Category : Imaginary places in mass media
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
Thanks to modern technology, we are now living in an age of multiplatform fictional worlds, as television, film, the Internet, graphic novels, toys, and more facilitate the creation of diverse yet compact imaginary universes, which are often recognizable as brands and exhibit well-defined identities. This volume, situated at the cutting edge of media theory, explores this phenomenon from both theoretical and practical perspectives, uncovering how the construction of these worlds influences our own determination of values and meaning in contemporary society.

Translation Studies and China

Translation Studies and China PDF Author: Haiping Yan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000964736
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Focusing on transculturality, this edited volume explores how the role of translation and the idea of (un)translatability in the transformative complementation of different civilizations facilitates the transcultural connection between Chinese and other cultures in the modern era. Bringing together established international scholars and emerging new voices, this collection explores the linguistic, social, and cultural implications of translation and transculturality. The 13 chapters not only discuss the translation of literature, but also break new ground by addressing the translation of cinema, performance, and the visual arts, which are active bearers of modern and contemporary culture that are often neglected by academics. Through an engagement with these diverse fields, the title aims not only to reflect on how translation has reproduced values, concepts, and cultural forms, but also to stimulate the emergence of new possibilities in the dynamic transcultural interplay between China and the diverse national, cultural-linguistic, and contexts of Europe, the Americas, and Asia. It shows how cultures have been appropriated, misunderstood, transformed, and reconstructed through processes of linguistic mediation, as well as how knowledge, understanding, and connections have been generated through transculturality. The book will be a must read for scholars and students of translation studies, transcultural studies, and Chinese studies.