Categories
2014
Pulp Fiction Across the Globe
By Gabriel Piper Head EditorSpencer Norton Project ManagerLaura Calkins Section EditorRebekah Page Faculty ReviewDarl Larsen
Category: 2014
The Silent Soliloquy: Echoes of The Passion of Joan of Arc within Imperator Furiosa
In a deserted and desert post-nuclear world, society has been reduced to roving gangs fighting for control of resources: water, fuel, bullets, and women. Imperator Furiosa (CharlizeTheron) leads a group of escaped wives from the enslavement of crime lord Immortan…
The Silenced and the Forgotten within The Farm: Angola, U.S.A.
The Farm: Angola, U.S.A. (1998) is a chilling examination of prison life in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Although the documentary is set almost entirely within the penitentiary, the issues it addresses emanate from outside the prison’s gates. The directors present…
Olan Rogers and New Media Narrative Structure
We are the generation accustomed to instant access to knowledge of any and all kinds—and access to stories in all shapes and forms. YouTuber Olan Rogers represents this melding of traditional storytelling and the digital generation with his video, “Midnight…
The Grey
A plane full of labourers travelling home from the oil rigs crash-lands in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness. Ottway (Liam Neeson) and six of his co-workers survive. They scramble out of the plane’s carcass and soon realize they are…
Stefon and the Benign Violation
Saturday Night Live has had a number of memorable characters over the years—just think of Matt Foley, the motivational speaker who warns about the eventual fate of living in a van down by the river, or Debbie Downer, the buzz-kill…
Portal 2: A Critical Analysis of Game Design
Let’s talk games. Game developers constantly struggle to balance mechanics and story. Too little plot makes for a monotonous, soulless game, and too little mechanics (game play design, controls, physics engine, etc.) makes for a type of low-grade, minimally-interactive film.…
The Rover
Ten years after a global economic collapse, Eric–a hardened loner–pursues the men who stole his only possession: his car. Along the way, he captures Rey, one of the thieves’ brother, and the duo form an uneasy bond during the dangerous…
Princess Academy
This past weekend I saw Brigham Young University’s play, Princess Academy, an adaptation of the children’s book of the same name by Shannon Hale. Lisa Hall Hagen adapted the book for the stage. It’s about a young girl (Miri) that…
The Apartment: Finding Happiness in Broken Reality
At its beginning, Billy Wilder’s 1960 film The Apartment seems to have a cheerful sort of concept. C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) has a life he enjoys, and for the moment his one complaint is that his own apartment is too…