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patrioticeagle-blog · 9 years ago

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Fallout: Concluding Post

I’m actually sad that this semester is coming to an end with regard to this class. It has been a fantastic and unique experience in my academic career and one that I needed much more than I knew. In this post I want to reflect on the inquiry in general and on what this project as meant to me. I also want to talk about the Fallout world itself and what it means in the greater context and its contribution to the world.

When we were assigned the Storyworlds project, I immediately knew which world I wanted to write about. I have grown up with these games, though I initially received them with a lot of skepticism. I have literally completed the entirety of Fallout New Vegas four times and have gone through Fallout 3 another three times. Spending that much time on one series takes dedication but I didn’t mind. It was a way for me to escape troubles and then tackle them in the real world when I was well-rested.

This project forced me to look at the games in a new light. For the first time I had to identify different factors and analyze them in search of the aspects that made them characteristically a part of the game. While I initially struggled with this, I have come to enjoy the process.

I think the project was a great success. I managed to cover more ground than I intended to originally and to address all of the suggestions given to me in the evaluations by fellow classmates and Professor Chow. In response to these, I had to delve deeper than before but also found it more rewarding.

If I had to do it all over again, I would include videos in addition to pictures. Unfortunately this is only possible with any level of quality with Fallout 4 because the platform the earlier games are played on does not support this. Other than that, I wouldn’t really change anything. I think that I balanced text, video links, and pictures well. I covered everything I wanted to and built up successfully to my final post where I used elements from previous posts.

I thought that it was fortuitous that I chose video games as the medium that I examined because no one else in class did in the end. I think that, while certainly lagging behind movies, tv shows, and books, game worlds are an extremely important aspect of story worlds and one that adds to the variety of inquiries that we can make within our class group.

While I enjoyed posting about different elements of the game, what I liked the most was thinking of ways that they linked and, more importantly, the meaning behind the game as a whole. To that extent, I think that the best way to sum up this project is the following:

My final post was really closest to my heart. I have loved these games because the developers managed to inject comedy into the most tragic of settings. They managed to make us laugh when surrounded by smoldering ruins of buildings and the world as we know it out here reduced to a shadow of its former self.

Yet in many ways, the world of Fallout was even more inviting that the real world out here. Sure, there’s the constant threat of death to contend with and perhaps this is mitigated simply by realizing that we are in a game the entire time. But maybe it’s something more. There is something strangely inviting in these games for people like me. Growing up, before I hit puberty, I was the weak kid on the block (the slavic genes ensured this changed rapidly once I hit puberty). In any case, a world where you hold all the cards and where you can stand up to massive beasts and a world full of danger was comforting and it inspired me to work on myself out here, in the real world, as well.

That is the essence of these games. Fallout presents you with a world, a fully developed world, that was turned into hell for a few brief moments and, in the process, reduced to a shadow of its former self. Most of the world’s population has disappeared, yet there is still hope. You can feel it in the wind, taste it in the water and see it in the wastes. People have started rebuilding civilization. Towns made of old ruins have sprung up. Ancient repositories of knowledge have been unlocked. Descendants of survivors have become doctors, teachers, even scientists. In the west a great country was born from the ashes of California. In the East a dictatorship sprung up inspired by ancient Rome. Good and evil continue their ancient battle (however cliche that sounds).

But guess what? Good is winning the battle. This stands in stark contrast to the real world. Whereas in games the unspoken promise is that good will triumph over evil, in the real world things are (mostly) the other way around.

Fallout’s message is clear: Hope. When all is lost, when all is destroyed, life goes on. It gives us hope that even if someone were to push that button, we will live on as a species. In the face of incredible adversity, man has persevered, and thrived. This translates to our real lives. When all seems lost we have to dip into our creativity, our ability to persevere, and the promise that tough times don’t last.

I started playing these games in a tough period in my life. They played a large part in getting me through. That is their promise. That is why I can pour hundreds of hours into them and still come out happy with myself.

In signing off, I want to thank everyone for an excellent semester. I hope you have enjoyed this class as much as I have. Now we are onto our final project and Jess and I hope you will like that one as well.

#falloutworlds #fallout 3 #fallout new vegas #assignment

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dukestoryworlds · 9 years ago

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Rapunzel vs. Elsa: Who Wore it Better?

The title is a joke, just making that clear. For this week’s assignment, I want to compare Rapunzel from Tangled, and Elsa from Frozen. Tangled has been my favorite modern disney movie for a while and Frozen has it’s own charm, though I still feel that it pales in comparison to Tangled.

In any case, as far as the comparison between the two princesses goes, there are multiple different angles to look at it from.

Physical: In terms of appearance, they are very much alike. The basic features are nearly identical. Some critical differences exist, of course. Most importantly, Rapunzel is a much warmer character appearance-wise (and personality wise). This reflects her underlying characteristics and Elsa’s pale, and emotionless appearance reflects those of the snow queen.

In terms of role in their respective stories, we find some similarities as well, but more on that in the later structural comparison.

Personality: Their personalities largely mirror their appearance. Elsa is a lone wolf, driven into isolation by a fear of her powers. She is more mature than Rapunzel, more cognizant, but also much colder and is much less charismatic. While Rapunzel makes tough decisions in the movie with ease (glowing hair in water, saving Eugene and sacrificing her freedom in the process), Elsa is indecisive and appears to shrink in the face of a challenge. In other words, while Rapunzel is a fighter, Anna, Elsa’s sister, has to make up for this character deficit in Frozen.

Both princesses have grown up in isolation, Rapunzel in one that was forced, Elsa in a self-imposed one, yet how they interact with people could not be more different. While Elsa remains distant even from those closest to her throughout the movie, Rapunzel is quick to make friends and get along with anyone she meets along the way. Furthermore, it is apparent that Rapunzel is more fun-loving while Elsa is a very dull person by comparison. Finally Rapunzel is teeming with personality, while Elsa seems a shell of a person for the first part of the movie, though this is remedied in the ending scenes of Frozen. This difference is understandable: Rapunzel developed different hobbies and her personality while locked in her tower, while Elsa, limited by the constant fear she felt, seems to have a largely undeveloped personality (and seems twice her age in terms of the way she thinks).

Relationships: There is a third angle to look at this through: the relationships they form with other characters. Both start off largely without any relationships to anyone else. Yet their entrance into the real world pans out very differently and who they are at the beginning of the story and who they are at the end differs as well. As I have already mentioned, while Elsa finds it hard to be warm and welcoming even at the conclusion of the movie, Rapunzel’s warmth is so palpable that I sometimes find it unbelievable that the production team managed to create her in this way.

STORY STRUCTURE: First a quick note. I read Vladimir Propp’s article but found it to be a method of story structure analysis that is too rigid (albeit comprehensive). It is true that it is striking how both Frozen and Tangled can be reduced to several functions that he describes in the essay, but I think this takes away from the story analysis and constrains it too much. First of all, having grown up with many Russian fairytales, I can assure you that Frozen and Tangled do not share as many elements as one would think. Nevertheless, I will attempt to describe the stories using the different functions. The numbers next to sentences denote the functions from Propp’s paper.:

Tangled: Barring the Prologue, the story of Tangled begins with a very simple rule: Do not leave the tower. (II) Through various events Flynn Rider appears in the tower and then leaves it to take Rapunzel see the lights. (III, XI) Mother Gothel finds the tower empty and take pursuit. (XXI) After some events, Flynn Rider is captured and cast into prison. (XXI) Mother Gothel deceives Rapunzel and takes her back to the tower. (VI, VII) Then, Flynn Rider is rescued from his execution by other characters and rides towards Rapunzel’s tower. (XXII) Meanwhile, Mother Gothel is revealed to be the villain to Rapunzel for the first time. (XXVIII) Soon after this, Flynn Rider returns to the tower and is stabbed by Mother Gothel. (XX) Finally, Mother Gothel is killed. (XVIII, XXX) After this Rapunzel saves Flynn Rider’s life, is taken back to her family, and the two are married. (XXXI)

Of course, many aspects of the story are not covered by the different functions, such as meeting other characters, the love between Rapunzel and Flynn, the initial possession of a magical device (hair), saving the hero (Flynn), or selfless sacrifice (Rapunzel and then Flynn). These are major plot points that Propp does not quite cover.

Frozen: Frozen begins much like Tangled with an “interdiction”: conceal don’t feel. (II) Elsa’s parents then die and the the two sisters are left alone. At her coronation, Elsa accidentally reveals her powers and flees. (III) Of course, the main hero of the story is Anna and the secondary hero is Christoph, Elsa is not the hero of the story, but more of a plot twist, a victim. Anna leaves the castle to find Elsa. (XI) She runs into trouble but is helped by Christoph and Olaf. After finding Elsa, Anna is hurt and the resolution takes her back to the palace. (XII) Hans is then revealed to be the true villain. (XXIV, XXVIII) He nearly kills Ana and Elsa, but is stopped by the two. (XXI, XXII) Finally, Anna saves Elsa, exhibiting true love (sisterly love - which is unorthodox) and saves the day, teaching Elsa how to control her powers in the process. Finally, Hans is taken back to his brothers to pay for his crimes and all is resolved. (XXVI, XVIII) Anna and Christoph likely end up together after this. (XXXI)

Once again, this method of analysis leaves much unmentioned. For example, the fact that the antagonistic force (Elsa’s powers) may be uncontrollable is not an element of analysis. The minor character relationships and Christoph’s and Ana’s love are not representable by any of the functions either.

Marketing Analysis: Disney is a master of trailers and hype (it’s hard to believe that I came up with that profound quote:) ). The budgets for both movies were large to begin with, but, of course, Frozen’s budget was much larger than that of it’s predecessor in response to Tangled’s success.

The two are both marketed as Disney Princesses, though Rapunzel is a traditional one, while Elsa is harder to fit into the line. While it is puzzling, it just seems that Disney is taking a long time before recognizing Elsa and Ana as true Disney princesses. For the time being they are marketed on equal footing though not officially sharing in that designation.

#assignment #dukestoryworlds #falloutworlds #tangled #frozen

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