On Anita Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn, and #GamerGate

(Before anyone reads this, I should let it be known now that almost everything in this post is mostly speculative. Except for at least 2 or 3 pieces of information. so, please take the information posted here with a HUGE grain of salt).


*sigh* You know, it's funny.  When I first heard about a, I had no idea what to think of it all. I had heard of women such things as "Feminist Frequency" and it's only recently that I heard of Depression Quest.




Like most people, I was going to just ignore it all and hope it would be over. Being the  Internet, this would be the type of thing that would come and go after lingering on foe a little while. Little did I know that this would evolve.




It has been more than 2 months since this movement came to be. Most of us now referred to it as #GamerGate.




To see how it all began  let's look at one of 2 the catalysts for this: Ms. Anita Sarkeesian, herself.




It all stated with her series of videos which were supposed to examine all the ways in which  female characters have been represented or utilized in gaming.  Once the videos were made and uploaded, she was met a... less-than-positive response.




Upon seeing these reactions, she immediately went to as many media outlets as she could. Detailing the amounts of threats and harassment being thrown her way (according to her), she had managed to gain a lot of supporters and media coverage. Needless to say, she was loved by many.  This led to multiple tours and interviews with personalities on networks on CNN. Such support has even lead to many people backing her Kickstarter campaign.





However, since that time, much of what she had discussed about the use and handling of female characters (again, according to her) have since been debunked by many. Examples include video such as:




this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la9i2np0WTU,




this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCsfXkbzRI4




this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ64PwLLd8Q




this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJeX6F-Q63I&index=1&list=PLQJW3WMsx1q3BAZh3XsK1cSwCiaqjSulc




this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAvjwQPCHE&index=2&list=PLQJW3WMsx1q3BAZh3XsK1cSwCiaqjSulc




this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_O1R7Zq9EI&index=3&list=PLQJW3WMsx1q3BAZh3XsK1cSwCiaqjSulc:





this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25o0EZiogw0






this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ64PwLLd8Q




and even on blogs written by other women, such as this one:  http://gintaxalvissforever.tumblr.com/post/81629999178/reasons-why-people-still-defend-anita-debunked  






To say nothing of the claims she had been making concerning whether or not she has even played video games:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=gcPIu3sDkEw



What really puts a damper on Ms. Sarkeesian's experiment has been information being revealed in which she may have not even bothered to cite her sources or even give credit to where the gameplay footage came from:  http://victorsopinion.blogspot.be/2013/07/anitas-sources.html


https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKHkic_Q-XxOZNnMaw9L2pQkLGbL4W-6eYO-3DPkjBZNc70ruRkNayiRRDFkpPGXqvS915Xa_jTRwRGIE2HjamvUh2veXN4QBqVFajVQBEd1rEwHFjW6iGfbGE2GbTMvi2iDCrY5CTtvm/s1600/cubex55.png




There have even been videos that document this as well such as: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvwiYmVhW94




this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVwzB3HKDhA




this:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z43z6pOulfc





this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0_Og63tqQY





this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykn1AVjyD64




this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tvch6E9z5o




this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToEBP4C80u4





 and most of all, this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmxcMZ6p2zg





as well as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1sbFgI1NA




Now, you would think the story would end right there. However, there's a 2nd person of whom will play just as much of a part in all of this:  Zoe Quinn  .(It should be noted that while her name in actuality is Chelsea Van Valkenburg, she will be referred to  by her alias for the rest of this post).

A small introduction: Ms. Quinn is a independent game developer who had made the aforementioned Depression Quest. At first, her half of this story seems not too different from Ms. Sarkeesian's.

After trying (and ultimately, succeeding) in getting her game greenlit on Steam, she was also given a deluge of threats and harassing comments. Naturally, she was also shown lots of love.  She then goes on to say that it was all started by a group of people on the site known as Wizardchan.



 Also, like Ms. Sarkeesian, she became a star in her own right as her game managed to obtain a major award from the Indie game community.




Yes, everything was going well for Ms. Quinn and there really wouldn't be much else to talk about...




Except this came along:  http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/tldr-2/  and this is where things get even crazier.





In a series of posts written by a Mr. Eron Gjoni, he details all that went on with his relationship with Ms. Quinn. Going so far as to document all the times where she might not have been as faithful to him as he was led to believe.




While most would look upon it as being a tawdry, disgusting piece meant to smear and defame the good name of a woman by an angry ex-boyfriend. In actuality, it's a tale of a guy who was in love with someone of whom he thought would be the girl of his dreams. The kind of girl that would live lif according to a strong morality code.





Only to find out that nothing she said or believed in was true.





To get an idea of what I mean,  here are the posts themselves as written by Mr. Gjoni:



 http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/tldr/





http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/tldr-2/





http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-0-whereof-one-cannot-speak-thereof-one-must-be-silent/





http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-1-the-cum-collage-may-not-be-entirely-accurate/






http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-2-fingers-crossed/





http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-3-starting-over-and-over-and-over/






http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-4-you-look-like-you-need-it/






http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-5-damage-control/






http://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/act-6-damage-control/




Right now (assuming anyone will actually read this), you're probably asking: "Why post this?, do you not know that everything you've written and posted could be really damaging to these people?"


Answers:

1. I post these things in order to help paint a picture of what this is going to lead to.

2. Yes. But, everything written here has a point to it, in some way.


3. Before anyone asks,  I know this isn't something that I should be concerned with. However, I'm not the only one who has talked (or are talking) about this and on top of that, these posts mention the names of very influential people within the game journalism industry. Many of whom hold a lot of sway in not just the reporting of video games and how the reporting is done, but also the possibility of being told which games are the type that we, as consumers should buy.



Each name can be found in the above mentioned posts. But, 2 names that will come up later are Robin Arnott and Nathan Grayson  (they both play a part in this in some way, too)



"Okay. So far, you've managed to point out that there are two kinds of people: One may have lied about the facts she has presented in an attempt to prove her points about how female characters are either misused or mishandled in a series of video games and you also pointed out that there's another woman who may be using her connections to get her game out there in a way that will likely be unethical.


 BUT


for what other reason should I care about this?"




Well, remember when I said that there were threat (as told by Ms. Quinn) by the folks at Wizardchan?


It turns out that there may be a whole different side of the story to this:: http://imgur.com/a/4VOcx



Before I continue (and this ties into what I'm writing on), I'd like to tell you a story about a very talented group of women who have a dream. A dream involving more and more women getting into the gaming industry.



A group of women who help others by merely helping them bring their ideas to life. Mainly by help in the creation of concept art and a possible pitch along with a demo concerning their game with the intent of giving all but 8% of profits to charity so that they may further their career in gaming (if I am getting it right). These women are collectively known as The Fine Young Capitalists:



Why bring this up?



It's mainly because of the fact that Ms. Quinn didn't quite understand the purpose of what they were trying to do (and also did not understand their policy towards transgendered folk). Because of this she decided to have their production/Game Jam ruined.



As shown here:  https://soundcloud.com/super-admin/tfyc-confession





here: http://i.imgur.com/hP7Ncsw.jpg




here:   http://www.8cn.tv/sites/default/files/depression-quest-game-jam-24428.png



here: https://i.imgur.com/NYEgyLe.png



and here :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d6Q3VpqXyk




This was all done after she had managed to shut down another Game Jam sponsored by Pepsi and produced by Maker Studios's Polaris brand while she started up her own at the same time.




Going back to what I said earlier, I had mentioned that there were 2 more people who may have had a hand in this ongoing problem.






Well, one of the people involved in the Pepsi sponsored Game Jam is Robin Arnott, A sound designer and developer of a game called Deep Sea. In addition to that, he is also one of the chairpeople for the international independent video game festival known as IndieCade.  His name was mentioned in the posts from earlier above. He was also instrumental in making sure that Depression Quest had won some prestigious awards at that show over other games like "Papers Please".




With Nathan Grayson (who is a writer and contributor to game publication blogs Kotaku and Rock Paper Shotgun), in addition to being on of 5 people mentioned in Mr. Gjoni's posts along with Mr. Arnott, it's been said that he had also provided positive coverage for Depression Quest which can be shown here.



3 more things that should also be mentioned are the constant censorship of blogs, posts, and anything else that isn't just being done by Ms. Quinn in regards to her or possible corruption/collusion on the part certain people within her circle. It's also been done by others associated with her such as a reddit moderator by the moniker of "El Chupacupcake"as documented here. In fact, it has become so terrible that many of reddit's users are calling for his removal as the moderator for their /r/ gaming subchannel. 






Moreover, these acts of censorship have extended to YouTube as there was a false DMCA claim filed by Ms. Quinn with regards to a video made by YouTube host MundaneMatt. The video in question is this.  Said video has since been reuploaded.




The situation in and of itself is a weird and nutty one since many people such as another YouTube host by the moniker of InternetAristocrat has made at least 3 videos documenting everything that has gone on up to that point.  Why is it strange? It's because none of the videos he has made have yet to have such claims filed against him.





Then, there's also this claim which was quickly responded to by one Philippe Poisson (also known as Phil Fish).



What's more: the claims made by Ms. Quinn concerning her accounts on tumblr and Twitter being hacked (which was also the basis for her support amongst her fans) may have been proven untrue.


There are even more instances of censorship coming out. Not the least of which is this: :https://i.imgur.com/ZBOas7p.png




"Hmm. Okay, With what you've written so far, it seems like these two people aren't exactly the type to be trusted and might be more than a little shady and dishonest. But, you've mentioned these two as the catalysts for this whole movement. Surely, there must be some sort of connection between these 2 women."



There's also this link which may or may not have contributed to so many sites like the aforementioned Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, and others publishing articles proclaiming "gamers are dead": https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/game-words-incorporated/VxYXZhDqv8I




Oh. did I also forget to mention how whole gaming websites like those mentioned above (as well as Gamasutra) have shutdown any and all conversations about either Game Journalism or even Ms. Quinn herself (The former being much more important that the latter)?




"Okay. but in what other way are they connected?"


About that, there's also the matter of one Maya Felix Kramer, A PR agent for both Ms. Quinn and Silverstring Media.



Why or how is is that relevant, in any way?

SilverString Media is not only backed and supported by Ms. Sarkeesian, but they also do PR work for the abovementioned gaming websites. One of those sites (namely Kotaku)  has the same Nathan Grayson working for them who went out of his way to give Depression Quest a positive review.




There's also this little piece of information them:  : http://pastebin.com/jrLJyp0W

and this, too: http://imgur.com/a/3NZXZ



"Wait a minute, Back up. You mentioned something about how sites are censoring discussions. Well, How do you know that these sites are shutting down discussions and such?"

These quotes say it all: "Only half of the half that are left stood for Anita Sarkeesian. Some progress was made, and progress is good.The backlash means were making a difference."

"But wait, where did that come from", you may ask?  Simple.

It all comes from this site:  http://caseyodonnell.org/2014/08/07/studio-studies-debugging-the-culture-and-work-of-game-developers/


(a backup copy of it is also here as well):  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S-QQML7a3dbJ5JJDd5-EmQ6nOnYewNGmkn7VQ_G_oxk/edit#


And let's not even get into the fact that there are companies outside of the videogame industry who support these sites and their practices: http://pastebin.com/faAxbF4E.

Or the fact that even journalists working on publications like Forbes don't even want to speak on this, as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km3DZQp0StE

There may very well be a connection between the 2. Aside from the fact that Ms. Sarkeesian has publicly endorsed Ms. Quinn's game on Twitter, there have been videos like this one which have pointed out even more possible connections to not just Ms. Quinn and Ms. Sarkeesian  but even more people closely associated with her,



Then, there's this little piece of information: http://pastebin.com/qWX5qTvB



and this :http://pastebin.com/13J2VELP



What do they have in common? Both involve interactions between  Ms. Kramer and the chairman of the Independent Games Festival, Brandon Boyer.




What might he have to do in all of this? Well, he is one of many people who help pick out which game will either make the finals of or ultimately win Indiecade. Guess which game won an award at that festival with help not just from Mr. Arnott?



Yes. Depression Quest (among some other games like The Stanley Parable, for instance).



There are more connections involved. All of which can be summed  up in this video, here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgW5NRUfs44&list=UUVt7ujK-9TT9KByzL9g_2QQ


If you've managed to read everything being said here and you still have no clue about what all of this is or what it means, this post can sum up the entire reason as to why such a movement like #GamerGate exists in a much better fashion than I possibly could: http://imgur.com/qJetJIQ


So, having said all of this, where do I stand or what's my take on all of this?




Well, here's what I have to say on people like Ms. Sarkeesian, Ms. Quinn and others like them (excluding Mr. Gjoni):


On the subject of both women: Heard of them both. Originally felt sorry for them. But given the information about them and the supposed connections that they may have should any of this be proven true,   I can sum it up like this: I think that within due time, every single person involved in this scandal will get exactly what they deserve.


But, I think that my friend Chuck said it best here: "To have people call me a misogynist for calling out a female game dev who used her body and connections to get her game better known and maintain corrupt connections with game "journalists" while she simultaneously bashed a feminist game jam is a sad sign of the reverse extremism that exists on the internet. It's bad enough that there are terrible male gamers that DO reflect the claims of SJWs....but being a bully yourself and fighting non-issues like sexy game characters doesn't help fight for those who have been hurt by terrible people in real issues, some almost as bad and brainwashed as ISIS."



 As did YouTube host, MrRepzion (pay attention to the 2nd half of his video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi6ga7NOVYA&list=PL83E51D6D1AEF1059




Before I end this, I would like to ask a question:



Is it wrong that I take much more stock in articles like these:  http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/01/Lying-Greedy-Promiscuous-Feminist-Bullies-are-Tearing-the-Video-Game-Industry-Apart

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/18/What-drives-the-angry-feminist-journalists-slating-GamerGate


and this: https://medium.com/@sixthman/who-is-harassed-more-f81799a2f550/





Moreso than I do with anything made by today's so called "Gaming Journalists"?




To wit, they were the first instances in which news media from outside the gaming industry actually covered this subject in a way that was not antagonistic towards its audience as opposed to the various "Gamers are dead" articles written with the intent to get more people angry.   Also, these articles felt like they were written by people who at least looked at things from a whole other side compared to articles made by people like Devin Faraci.

(Update:  Recently, there have been articles of which cite the reason why such articles of been written to include the various bits of click-bait: http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/17/Exposed-the-secret-mailing-list-of-the-gaming-journalism-elite


http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/18/The-emails-that-prove-video-games-journalism-must-be-reformed


http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/22/They-re-on-to-us-gaming-journalists-respond-to-their-critics-in-series-of-new-GameJournoPros-emails


http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/21/GameJournoPros-we-reveal-every-journalist-on-the-list


If that wasn't already bad enough, there's this more recent piece which explains the lengths that some will go to just to have an article written in their favor:  http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/23/How-sloppy-biased-video-games-reporting-almost-destroyed-a-CEO


This more recent article seems to suggest that such a group of people may be putting an end to this. Though, who's to say that such activities won't be done elsewhere may remain uncertain.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/10/02/It-s-been-real-GameJournoPros-prepares-to-close-its-doors

And that's just the information which has been collected over the course of a few days.)

On a final note:



To you Mr. Gjoni, I wish you all the best of anything and everything within your life and I would also like to say thank you for making the posts that you did calling out the person you spoke on.



You didn't have to post it all, but we're all glad you did.  For being as brave as you were (and are), I salute you for unintentionally bringing about (most of ) these chain of events.



To anyone who may be asking: Yes, I support #GamerGate and to all those within both the gaming press and certain members of the indie game community claiming to speak for all who play video games, I have this to say: I am #notyourshield.

Finally! A brand new Post! Will there be another one?!

Hello (again).



It's been quite a while since I've updated this blog. To be perfectly honest, I've actually thought of (and might still be considering) getting rid of this thing altogether since the entire point of having it around was for the sake of finishing a final school project.



 Yet, there's another reason that there's been virtually no update. Lately, it's been hard to come up with something to say that's worth writing about.


Until recently, when I thought back to a comment that I saw on a video shown through YouTube. While I didn't see the entirety of the conversation, I noticed something that caught my eye. Towards the end of whatever the supposed conversation was , one person admitted that he was merely a casual fan of comics  dealing with superheroes in the Marvel and DC universes (which coincidentally was what the video was parodying, by the way).



The response to the person who made the admission that he had little knowledge of either universe when it came to the conversation they had went something along the lines of "That's why you know nothing about either of the Marvel or DC universes. Why don't you actually read the comics  so that you can glean some knowledge from them. Until you've done that, kindly shut your trap, and even if you THINK you know what you're talking about, consult with someone more well-versed in the lore than you are so that you won't make yourself look like the a-- that you just did."




At first, I really did not think too much of it. After all, it's just some random person on YT making comments like they usually would (which is to say it can be one of three types: gibberish that makes little to no sense or has no real point, angry hate-filled ranting with lots of cursing and unnecessary name calling, and the occasional intelligent comment here and there).



Yet, there was something about this comment that just rubbed me the wrong way. Rarely do I ever feel the urge to say something about the kind of comments that people make over the Internet as it's usually something I just write off.




However, I just had to something to say about it. Why? It is because I never thought that when it came to the world of fiction, I had no idea that we suddenly had to have a Bachelor's or Master's degree in order to be able to talk about something involving fictional characters. Now, I get that there are some things that do require massive amounts of studying like psychology, psychiatry and countless other studies and it's almost always a good idea to have some working knowledge a certain series that you enjoy.


Yet, I can't help but wonder: How did it get to this point?



Since when did it become an absolute must that someone not only know who these characters are, you also had to make sure you knew EVERY. SINGLE. THING. about a character along with its entire universe and all the alternative continuities that follow it?




Whatever happened to easing someone into the world of comics, fantasy, novels, video games, etc. and then let that person decide whether or not if they'd like continue onwards and explore other things like anime, manga, and such like that?



Why do some people feel the need to make statements like what I just mentioned above? Does that really make a person so much better as a fan/enthusiast?


When did this matter all of a sudden?



What happened to simply just enjoying comic books?



What happened to sharing that love with that other person?



Where did all of that go?



Who knew being (or wanting to be a fan, at least) would suddenly become the equivalent of trying to pass a test by the Bar Association?



More importantly, what happened to merely just having fun?


Having said that, I know most people aren't always like that. But, just the fact that there are people such as this in existence (along with all the other unsavory elements of fandom) really makes me wonder if it's worth calling myself of fan of anything.



Of course, this is just one of many things that have been swimming around in my brain for some time now.


Perhaps, I'm thinking about all of this too much.


Or maybe I'm not thinking enough about a lot of things.



Who knows?




As for whether this blog may have an update again,  only time will tell.

Contradictions: There seems to be a lot of those, lately

 Over the course of a year since my last update, I began noticing more of the world around me and the contradictions of others.  I've noticed politicians on both sides of the aisle speaking about how they should come together to fix our debt problem for weeks and yet no one could decide on which plan they should go with. I've seen students within a class that I once attended talk of free speech and the exchange of ideas (This was back when I still lived in Maryland, by the way).


Yet for everyone who says this, they then turn around and try to silence those who think differently. I've even seen  people within certain positions of authority saying how they would help out this person and that person, if they are elected. Only to find out that they are either helping themselves or the people with special interests and not their constituents.


It's not surprising but it is telling how there are so many people willing to say one thing. Then, turn around and do or say something completely different.  It's happening in the political arena and just about everywhere else, including schools.


I'm sure you remember the days when you went to college. You could express your ideas and what you have to say without worrying about whether what you said was politically incorrect.  You could also exchange viewpoints and agree to disagree in the course of having an honest and open debate.


Now (in some to most cases), it seems like you can't even say what you mean or even what you feel without wondering whether you'll be shouted down and demonstrated against or thrown out of a job. It's now gotten to the point where if you are even a student who questions teachers on certain things or offers different solutions to problems (Especially if you are a student that looks at things from both sides), you are also treated as though you have committed a serious crime and will or should be punished for it because what you said was not in line with what most people think.


(For the record, I understand not wanting to hurt other people's feelings and the importance of monitoring what is said and how it's being said, but sometimes, it can go too far).




I've also noticed something else that's as much of a contradiction in and of itself. Certain people within social and political circles who go out of their way to let people know their disdain for certain problems such as tuition fees and the like through protest groups and movements.


These groups start out peaceful and let their grievances be known in a calm, and civilized manner as did the protests they made. It was all well thought-out, calculated, and organized for a lot of movements at first but then, these protests go from being something of a need to advocate against injustices in the world to becoming little more than just organized ways of mass screaming and shouting coupled with copious amounts of property damage (and possibly barricading entrances and exits that people can use).


Coincidentally, these once peaceful protests didn't always go in that direction and the few extreme incidents that did take place were few and far between.  Starting as far back as the 1960s, there was a huge problem with racism and inequality that many felt needed to be addressed. It started with simple means such as sit-ins and boycotts of places and services in which people of color were either not allowed to enter, had to enter from a separate point of entry or if they did, they had to sit or stand in places where it had signs that read: "For Colored Only".


Eventually,  these simple forms of protests grew from small proceedings to full-scale protests and marches that stretched from across multiple states and eventually led to the nation's capital. The provisions of "separate-but-equal" were eventually overturned and equality was achieved(for the most part, anyway).


This was then followed by many other social movements of that era. Protests followed with them too and it often lead to varying degrees of success. These were also thought-out, calculated, and organized. Yet all of these protests evolved from something that actually helped out and gave people chances to explore new horizons and opportunities to becoming something that just gives those who are angry an excuse to yell and scream while holding signs for causes that people can get overly emotional for (Sometimes it's justified, and sometimes not).


It's one of many examples to me that I see as a contradiction and part of the reason that I just don't bother with protest groups even if they did have certain causes and moral stances that are worth supporting.  There are some protests that do resemble what the ones of the '60s were. But, a good majority of protests in today's world have become little more than ways to inconvenience other people and be unpleasant to anyone who has a differing viewpoint if the Occupy Wall Street protests are anything to go by.


In fact, some have taken the benefits of the mid-to-late 1960s and '70s protests to use them as a means to get attention and stage similar protest movements that have the aesthetic of the early ones but with different intentions and outcomes that have nothing to do with what the original intent of the protest was meant to be. Said outcomes for these protests stand to benefit (almost) no one except for the person or small group which started it instead of the larger group that joined in for what was thought to be a noble cause.

Of course, this is all based on what I can see and most of what I'm saying could all just be observations from my own perspective.


Contradictions are funny things, aren't they?


Just so you know, I'm not saying that all protests are like this or that everyone behaves this way.

But in times like these, when you see such things happening, the phrase that will most likely pop up in your head goes will inevitably be: "The more things change, the more things stay the same."

It does make you wonder sometimes, doesn't it?

So long, risk taking?

(What you are about to read are the expressed opinions of an aspiring animator and nothing more. I'm just making some observations about what has been happening in Hollywood over the last 4 decades since the summer blockbuster movie/Reality TV craze began.)



I've always wondered why it was that the period between 1927 through 1972 was considered to be the Golden Age of Hollywood and American Animation or why I don't watch as much TV as I used to.

I always thought that it was because that the animation in those days were done by hand with pencils, ink pen, and paper, or maybe it was because of the great orchestral scores done by master musical directors like Scott Bradley or Carl Stalling, or the great voice acting and singing skill from some of the great actors of its day.

You know what I've come to find out?

The reason why that era was considered a "Golden Age" was because of all the reasons mentioned above plus two factors:

1. The ablity to come up with properties that were either original or a whole new spin on something that already existed.

2. The creative freedom that the animators and writers were given to produce what they wanted to with little restrictions(with the exception of said cartoon not going over-budget and making sure that it was finished on time to be shown in front of the big hit movie that would play afterwards.)   

It's amazing to look at the cartoons that were made 60-80 years ago.  The characters had well defined personalities, the animation was solid and flowed well (whether it was made in black and white or in color),

The music made you feel any kind of emotions that you had running through your mind as you watched it and at the end of it all, you wanted to either watch it again or wait for the next short/episode to arrive.  The same can also be said for the feature-length films of that period as well.


There used to be so much creativity and a much more open willingness to take risks in those days (even with the Hays Production Code of 1934 being firmly established at the time.) It was a time when actors and actresses were revered for their talent, skill and for their sense of style, poise and grace.

It was also a time when characters such as Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse was considered to be not just the most popular cartoon star in the world but also one of the most popular people in the world regardless if they were live-action film stars or animated ones and creativity flourished the most.

The same can also be said for all of the TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s too.


Yet as I look at today's TV and movie landscape,  I see that a lot has changed since those days( despite the fact that I've been living on this earth for only 21 1/2 years.) A good majority of Hollywood's Golden Age stars have passed on, yet some of them are still with us today. The animators of that era are still around but theey are also few and far between.

Furthermore, TV has gone from the days of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver/ I Love Lucy( the clean cut 1950s shows of that time) to the Jerry Springer-esque tabloid trash shows of the mid-to late 1990s.

 Nowadays, while shows like the aforementioned Springer are still around, we have begun to see an influx of not just daytime(and primetime) talk/gossip shows hosted by B to D-list actors, comedians and news personalities as well as thes "Reality TV" shows that are so popular.


To look at some of the movies and TV shows of today, it makes me want to scream "What happened?!"

Did the people in charge of these major film and television studios just stop caring about what kind of shows they put out?

Are the people who implement these focus groups that desperate to try and capture their target audience?


Or are they just looking to make money just for the sake of making money?


Answer: Maybe, yes and for the most part, yes.


Before anyone says anything, I know that with the economic slump that everyone's in, it's become much easier to go with something that's cheaper to produce that will make a much bigger long term payoff in the end and sometimes you have to take what's given to you, right then and there.

However, a lot of the reality shows that are out there (with the exception of a few that actually help people rather than hurt them) not only are cheap, but they also LOOK cheap even with today's high-tech cameras and such.


What's so glaring about the majority of these shows is that they aren't just cheap to look at.  It's not just the fact that there are so many being produced one after another to try and  capture attention from the audience.

 It also isn't just the fact that these shows feature either B to D list actors/personalities looking to rejeuvenate their careers, (although, there are some who have become huge successes because of these shows, from what I've seen and heard before) or even people who do regular jobs like running bakeries, restaurants, and even sports bars.


It's this:  There is ALMOST no creativity, ingenuity, real thought or even a hint of originality being put into any of the shows and movies that are being produced for broadcast and some cable networks. (Even reality shows that started out with a grand debut like "American Idol"  manage to pull in great ratings still, but it's not the super-huge success that it once was). The sitcoms of today have not fared much better. They have gone from being intelligent and entertaining to somewhat entertaining and often stereotypical in nature.


You could say that cartoons and feature films of 1929-1939 were guilty of being cheap to produce and unoriginal.

Except that in those days; even with the Great Depression hitting everyone hard, the film and cartoon makers of that period managed to work with what they had, but they also put in the time, care, and actual EFFORT into what they made in order to make more money while daring to take risks( be they necessary or not). Production of bigger and better films would then follow suit.


So, why exactly can't there be more films like a "Citizen Kane" or "Schindler's List", again?


Today, outside of the films made by Pixar (and the various fare made in parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, as well as Central to South America), the most original shows and films can now seem to only be found on the internet through sites like YouTube or on cable through Sundance channel. The worst part of it is that they are made by people who actually have real talent and love what they produce.  

They either get a passing mention in a newspaper (local or national) and TV news broadcasts 
or don't get mentioned at all by the mainstream press. (For some of these talented folks, the latter is a much better alternative to them; considering, how horribly explotative the media will get with people who get caught in their radar.)
 Most of the specials and series' episodes that get produced are non profit, made for fun type shows. It can range from something as simple as a critique/parody of a series that they like or hate, to a reality show about a skill that they already know how to do. There are even people who do walkthroughs of video games while adding funny commentary to go along with them.*

*(Yes, Team Four Star and the crew at That Guy With The Glasses, I'm looking at all of you.  You too as well, Desu Des Brigade and Cheeky Girls Productions. Same goes for all of the Abridged Series creators and Let's Players on YouTube.)


It's kind of sad that while Hollywood continues to either make movies out of cartoons and kid's shows that doesn't always resemble the original source material or some silly reality dating show a la "The Bachelor/Bachelorette", someone like Michael Agrusso( aka ItsJustSomeRandomGuy) or Doug Walker( aka the Nostalgia Critic) is actually producing something that can either make you laugh or make you think.


The few good shows that do get produced for television are either cancelled within one to three seasons or don't even get to air on TV at all.


Did I mention that even when there are long-running shows with good episodes from the first few seasons, it usually finds a way to trip over itself and become unwatchable at times?


Hopefully things will change in the near future.  A future where Hollywood has learned its lesson, makes both movies and TV shows worth watching at an affordable and reasonable prices, and the stars of their shows are easy to relate to without being annoying or insufferable.

More importantly, people with actual talent are hired to make high quality, entertaining shows or be given an opportunity to shine and become icons of the entertainment business loved by all around the world, much like the people who came before them.

Until that day comes,  I'll either be looking at videos on YouTube or working towards my own career goals.


Now, I know why I don't watch a lot of TV or why the Golden Age of Hollywood was considered a "golden age".

Changes

I know it's been a long time since I updated  this blog(almost 2/1/2 years to be exact).  Yet a lot has changed since then.

     For starters, I am no longer a citizen of Maryland but one of Florida.



    Since the move to the "Sunshine State",  few things have changed except for: the house I live in is much bigger than the last one, I get to live in perpetually sunny weather all the time,(certain members of my family have begun moving down here as a result of my moving here),and I have recently joined Twitter and I have more friends on Facebook now than I did before. One in particular is a spunky, smart, goal-oriented and (beneath her crude and somewhat lewd reviewer persona) lovely little spitfire of a girl of whom I'll call "Vixen" who apparently shares the same dream that I do: To make our way into the video game industry and become successful at what we do best whatever that may be. Another person that I have the great pleasure of meeting is a very charming and loving woman that I'll call "Ginny".

What's so special about this woman you may ask?

For one thing, She actually CARES about people in my condition: (read people who have disabilities and want to live independently)  She has been very instrumental in wanting to make that part of my life a reality and still continues to do so today and she has also been a very good friend to me as well.


I also have a new wheelchair(or at at least a reasonable replacement until my electric one is brought out of storage)

The community I live in is very different, too. It's peaceful, quiet and mostof the people are cool, calm, collected and overall generally nice bunch of folks. Yes sir, It's a great to live here(at least until I can get my own place in another much more fun part of Florida.)


Well, that's all for now, at least. Until next time... or whenever I have the chance to update this blog again. =)

Oh, did I mention that I was just accepted into a place called Full Sail University? I can now take classes online there, once I get enrolled that is. I'm also writing a script for the first time, too

Take care and ( if I may quote someone you probably know) "Don't take life too seriously, You'll never make it out alive."

My thoughts continued

Did you ever have one of those moments where you thought to yourself  "What were they thinking?" I usually have these moments every time I watch television, particularly when it's Reality TV. 

    To clarify, I am talking about the kind of "Reality TV" that distorts the image of person so much that people begin to think this person is exactly like what they have seen on a particular tv show.

For instance, let's call the participant "Contestant X". Now Mr. X has just agreed to appear on a show called: "The Next Great Celebrity" or something like that. 

     The show would include doing dangerous stunts and eating disgusting things like insects all while being filmed living with crazy people in a large and well put together house.  Everything goes smoothly for the cast members and producers with Mr.X doing whatever they want him to do. Until, Mr. X  looks at the episodes that feature him.  In these episodes, he is potrayed as someone as rude, sloppy, and generally mean to the other contestants.

    When Mr.X  figures out what's going on, he promptly tries to get out of the competition by breaking all the rules in his contract. This would include showing an actual television "Master Control" and telling everyone what truly happens behind the scenes. Sometimes he wouldn't even show up when a "feud" was supposed to start.

   This would cause him to be let go by the production company and he would ultimately be sued for "exposing secrets".

Sound familiar?

This kind of thing is what would happen to anyone who would dare try to expose reality television for what it really is, A way for producers to entice unsuspecting people into supposed fame while making them look so incredibly stupid for the sake of ratings.

It may seem like I am just criticizing but I am just calling it like I see it. However, if  I wrong on any of this, please inform me in a respective way through the comments section.

My thoughts

I have always wondered what life would be like if people learned to accept another person's opinion. I am noticing this trend in both in the entertaiment industry and politics where if you disagree with an opinion that most regard as fact, you are treated as an outcast and consequently ridiculed.

   What is sad is that our society has gotten to the point where arguing about who's opinion is right and who is wrong seems to be an obsession for just about everyone involved.

Sometimes, I wish that we as a nation could go back to a time where you could have a decent debate. After which, you and that other person would agree to disagree , shake hands and go their seperate ways.

It doesn't have to be like this but unless we learn to accept another person's opinion, it will lead to more screaming matches.


   There are days when I look at the news from CNN snd MSNBC and I ask myself "Is there a place for journalistic integrity, and if so, where is it?"

It just bothers me that there are people that work in those organizations are so willing to characterize their "opposition" in a demeaning fashion. But when they are presented with actual facts, they are either speechles or they would resort to childish name-calling.

Will things ever change?

Only time will tell.