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(08/25/17 7:30am)
by Daley Wilhelm and Nolan Leahy
This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones holds a significant place in our current culture. With the yawning depth of its lore, the cinematic mastery of the production itself, and the unforeseeable twists and turns the show takes, it’s no wonder why the show dominates Sunday night conversation. The surprise factor that Game of Thrones supplies has been one of its most ensnaring aspects, and HBO has proved willing to protect those secrets the show has yet to reveal no matter the cost.
But what if we already know the end of Game of Thrones?
At this point, it is technically unknowable considering that George R.R. Martin has yet to pen the final book in the series, but he and the show writers have hinted at a few possible outcomes. Visions and prophecies have swayed the series’ characters toward one side or the other, and fans have looked to them as a glimpse of what might be on the horizon as the show draws towards its final season.
Perhaps what has yet to be filmed was somewhere among those dreamlike sequences dipped in magic. Or in the words given by witches in episodes long forgotten.
Back in season two, when Daenerys’s dragons were just little lizards, they were taken and hidden in The House of the Undying, a kind of sorcerer’s den. Dany walked through an illusion as she searched for them. She found herself in a place she’d never been: the Red Keep’s throne room. The castle’s roof was destroyed, open to the winter sky, and white flakes dusted the Iron Throne as she reached for it. But she hesitated—hearing a cry call out to her.
She left, finding Khal Drogo and her unborn son Rheago waiting for her beyond the Wall, tucked away in the tent she had lived in with her late husband. She left them too, pushing forward to find her dragons.
Some fans point to this as indicative of her eventual defeat. Snow sat on the throne, while she turned away from it in pursuit of other things. Semiotics dictate that this suggests that Jon Snow will rule the Seven Kingdoms rather than Dany. Or perhaps that the march of the White Walkers will reach that far south, and the whole kingdom will be lost to the Long Night. Others have asserted that this is just a reflection of what could come under Cersei’s rule—she’ll blow up the Red Keep and the Night King will win.Other visions have been mostly centered around the past, via Bran who now stylizes himself as the Three-Eyed Raven. It’s not precisely clear whether or not he also has the power to see into the future, thought it’s clear his visiting of the past can effect it. Currently, it’s not really clear what role Bran is going to play in the coming season: his powers have mostly just been used to confirm a long-held theory, check in on the Night King, and terrorize his sister.
Game of Thrones has established itself as a master of sleight of hand when it comes to foreshadowing, even when it comes to clunky things like prophecies. Prophecies literally state precisely what is going to happen—which is something the show never gives away easily, but nevertheless features one prominent prophecy that the show seems to be following.
The Prince Who Was Promised is the Lord of Light’s chosen, meant to appear in the dread hour and chase away the darkness with his burning sword. The pronouns aren’t clear in High Valyrian, mind you, so gender is immaterial. What’s important is that Azor Ahai reborn “shall be born against amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.”
There’s a lot that can be interpreted there: Dany could be her, since she hatched her dragons from stone eggs amid her husband’s funeral pyre. Or it could be the Hound, born from his traumatic past with his brother and a hot hearth. What fans see as more likely is Jon Snow, with his having been brought back from the dead and because the second half of that prophecy involves him stabbing someone that he loves—cue the scene of him and “Dany” on a literal ship making eyes at each other.
Whether or not the Azor Ahai theory will be confirmed, there is one smaller prophecy that holds a significant sway on current events and it looks like it’s much more likely to be validated. Handed down by a witch rather than old wisdom and priests, this might solve half the issues the King in the North and the Dragon Queen currently face.
Cersei saw the death of all her children coming. She said as much during the season six premiere after Myrcella’s death in reference to her asking a witch to tell her fortune when she was just a girl. A less jaded, but nevertheless sassy Cersei bullied her friend into following her to Maggy the Frog’s hut on her father’s land. She was allowed three questions.
At the time she was promised to the prince, Rhaegar Targaryen--whether or not this was true or just an eventuality her father wanted—and she wanted to know when they would marry.
The witch replied that she wouldn’t marry the prince. She would marry the king. She would be queen, for a time, until another one would come along, younger and more beautiful. She would cast her down and take everything she loved.
Cersei asked her second question, “Will the king and I have children?”
“The king will have twenty children, you will have three.”
While this didn’t make sense to Cersei at the time, she certainly got the message when Maggy continued saying that her children’s crowns will be gold… along with their shrouds.
All of Maggy’s prophecy came true: Cersei married Robert when he was crowned king after his coup against the Targaryens. He sired countless, maybe twenty even, bastards while Cersei only had three children. Those three royal children died before her—gold their crowns, and gold their funeral shrouds.
What’s important here is that if Cersei is really pregnant again as she claims to be, then this breaks the prophecy. What seems more likely is that she’s merely manipulating Jaime back to her side once more with the promise of fatherhood again.
What’s still left out is that third question—like a third wish. In the show, the scene ends as Cersei stares at the cackling witch, but she hadn’t yet left. In the books, the witch has one more thing to say:
"And when your tears have drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."
Valonqar is “the little brother” in Valyrian for those of you who haven’t brushed up. Should the show flash back again to the witch’s hut, perhaps she’ll deliver this final message to foreshadow Cersei’s fate. She’s got two brothers at the moment—one in the opposition, and one who has a history of murdering pyromaniac rulers. Unless “the little brother” is meant in a more general sense.
Whatever prophecy is fulfilled in the coming season, this one hangs over Cersei heavily.
(08/22/17 8:00am)
by Jeremy Rogers and Nolan Leahy
When it comes to the various streaming services, there’s Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV, and other future competitors to consider as well. HBO Now and Sling TV have yet to reach the one million subscriber statistic just yet. Amazon Prime Video has 45 million subscribers, but most of the people who have Amazon Prime don’t even have it to watch the videos according to The Wrap writer Tony Maglio. Hulu’s subscriber count is at roughly 9 million, while the monster that spits out the hottest streams is Netflix with a grand total of over 70 million subscribers.
Netflix is the powerhouse of the young Internet streaming industry that’s encouraging people to cut the cable cord and swap to an on-demand television service that isn’t filled with infomercials, shopping networks, and innumerable commercials. In its beginnings, Netflix has had a strong start with content, because the competition was limited. Various companies signed on with Netflix to permit streaming of television shows that would normally show on NBC, CBS, Comedy Central, TBS, Disney Channels, and even Cartoon Network. Hulu offers the same type of service but with advertisements subsidizing its standard monthly subscription. The benefit of Hulu is that any current cable TV show like South Park or America’s Got Talent will immediately have new episodes uploaded and ready to watch with their service. Despite this benefit, Hulu doesn’t have as much ground breaking original material as Netflix has been able to offer within the most recent years. With the increase in profits, Netflix has introduced exclusive Netflix content such as the popular shows like House of Cards or the most recent hit Stranger Things. They have even moved into the anime market with the original and highly praised The Seven Deadly Sins.
Recently Netflix lost a vast amount of content that’s disappointed the subscriber base. The company lost Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, and House within the last several months, and that’s not even the worst of it.
https://twitter.com/ImBrianJoyce/status/871830971326267392
In more recent news, Disney movies will be leaving Netflix. How big of an impact will this have on Netflix? Surprisingly little. Netflix seems to have been anticipating business moves like this for about a half decade. Netflix seems to have seen a need to generate original programming. In a move straight out of HBO’s 1980s playbook when it was faced with rivals like Showtime and The Movie Channel, Netflix decided to create its own content in the form of House of Cards for which writing started in early 2011. HBO made a similar move in 1983 with the premier the channel’s first original content, The Terry Fox Story.
Netflix has been slowly building its library of original content since 2013. Currently Netflix Originals (films, documentaries, and television-style series produced and aired exclusively on Netflix) make up about 15% of its library. These shows cost gobs of money to produce, and with years of building a consumer base off of streaming other producers’ content, Netflix now spends roughly $6 billion on its library with about $1.8 billion going towards Netflix Originals. This is a good business move on Netflix’s part, as having a solid base of content for consumers to access gives stability to the platform known for its constantly shifting library.
https://twitter.com/netflix/status/894549044927660032
As Netflix moves forward, it seems to be relying heavier on its own original content instead of plugging high profile deals with other studios. This is made evident by the company’s first acquisition. The announcement of this acquisition was overshadowed in much of entertainment media by the big Disney announcement that happened the day after this deal was finalized and made public. Much like Warner Bros. in 1968 and Disney in 2009, Netflix has bought a comic company, namely Scottish comic book company Millarworld. For the uninitiated, Millarworld wrote the comics that were the basis for 2008’s Wanted, 2010’s Kick-Ass, 2013’s Kick-Ass 2, and 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service as well as its 2017 sequel. This means that any of the comics made by Mark Millar and his cohort are fair game as far as Netflix adaptions go. If these adaptations take off the way Netflix originals like Stranger Things or Black Mirror have, then Netflix will be expertly poised to possibly acquire even more intellectual property and to attract ever more prestigious content creators.
Disneyflix?
Disney seems to be making an interesting move by taking their content and moving it to their own streaming platform. By consolidating their various intellectual properties into one centralized location, they are future-proofing their television production and simultaneously fixing a financial problem.
In the last year, Disney’s cable networks have received a 14% drop in monthly minutes watched. That means that people are watching 14% less of Disney’s advertisements. This in turn makes Disney a less desirable place to sell ads, meaning Disney earns less money. If Disney can deliver a better way to get its content into people’s homes so they can see the ads Disney gets paid to show, then Disney gets more money. Seeing as Netflix’s minutes watched climbed 669% in the same time period, it seems like a safe bet that Disney will be able to increase its viewership through making a more convenient media-consuming experience.
It’s one thing to make a platform that is easy to access and another thing entirely to keep people using that platform. Disney is known for its impressive library of classic animated films, but is that library enough to make people pay for another streaming service? Disney believes that way to retain customers is by producing new, compelling content. In a statement, the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger, said, “We’ve already begun the development process at the Disney Channel and at the studio to create original TV series and original movies for this service… We’ve commissioned them to produce more films, with the incremental films being produced very, very specifically and very exclusively for this service. So this will represent a larger investment in Disney-branded intellectual property, both TV and movies.”
Disney has been a bit tight lipped about details of its future plans in regard to television production, so some key questions remain. Will the production of traditional shows for the Disney Channel or for Disney XD drop in quality as the more premium shows are awarded online exclusivity to boost subscription numbers? Will Disney drop entire channels like Disney Junior, Disney Cinemagic, or even Disney XD to add more content to its online service? How will this affect the company’s mobile app Disney Movies Anywhere? Hopefully satisfactory answers to all of these questions will come as Disney solidifies its plans in the coming weeks and months.
“We’ve already begun the development process at the Disney Channel and at the studio to create original TV series and original movies for this service… We’ve commissioned them to produce more films, with the incremental films being produced very, very specifically and very exclusively for this service. So this will represent a larger investment in Disney-branded intellectual property, both TV and movies.” - Bob Iger
Despite the potential benefits for Disney in leaving Netflix, there is definitely a potential down side to its abandonment. With the Netflix partnership, Netflix provided a good variety of content that filled in the watching needs for older audiences. Depending on how much viewership Disney will receive, the margins of profit could vary. Though Disney has a large and vast collection of shows to provide including that of Marvel and ESPN, it doesn’t seem like there is enough content to satisfy every adult which is a problem that they haven’t necessarily faced before.
According to Monitor Correspondent, Stephanie Hanes, the number of single adults continues to climb in the United States, and the fertility rate is now the lowest in US history. This means that as for right now, there is less potential for larger younger audiences in the future and more potential for private independent viewership. Cable tended to bundle in Disney, and the kids drag parents into the theaters. Despite these victories in viewership, streaming is arguably more based on the independent rather than the average family. Disney is mainly known for making content for kids. They have good shows like the recently finished cartoon Gravity Falls, and absolutely atrocious live action shows like Lab Rats and Austin & Ally. Disney’s animated shows can be great, with some adult humor mixed in to keep the shows interesting for parents watching with their kids. Despite this factor, couples without children or single adults are going to be a tougher sell. The only rated R film that Disney could offer on the service that comes to mind is Deadpool, but there have been numerous comments from movie goers stating that the superhero film trend is getting tiresome. Steven Spielberg even stated that he believes that the superhero media will “go the way of the western” with how they are getting so mass-produced to the point where they will fatigue the market with oversaturation.
There are only two solutions two this issue: Disney can offer more rated R or Mature content while risking its image as a child-friendly source of entertainment, or Disney could drastically improve the writing of the live action and animated shows that are designed for kids. It definitely feels like a guarantee that most 35 year olds won’t be buying into a Disney subscription to watch a rehashing of an old show from the 90s à la Girl Meets World or Raven’s Home, and betting on that factor alone is risky in the streaming business.
The Future of Film
Things may be looking up for Netflix, but what about the whole streaming industry? As stated earlier, Disney is making new shows and movies with this streaming service in mind, so is this the start of a paradigm shift in how mainstream entertainment content will be produced and distributed? At first glance this looks like it may be the beginning of the end. Maybe more corporate content creators like Comcast, 21st Century Fox, and Time Warner will abandon Netflix and similar streaming services to make their own subscription based streaming services. This would present a large problem for one of Netflix’s most competitive rivals: Hulu.
Hulu is a joint venture owned solely by all the aforementioned media companies and Disney. The interesting question in this discussion seems to be the future of Hulu and where cable television may be going. If Disney is starting up its own streaming service for sports in 2018 and for its own original content in 2019, what will happen to the streaming service that the Mouse owns a 30% stake in?
Many people have been musing about the possibility of an “adpocolypse” being imminent since many assume that Disney and other media companies will adopt a streaming service akin to Netflix and HBO Go’s ad free models. This is said to be the beginning of the end for traditional advertising, but there seems to already be a tried and safe way of making advertisements for a digital platform. What seems more likely is for these companies to emulate the success of Hulu by making ads a regular fixture of their paid services.
This move seems like it may be an early death knell of the online television market populated by the likes of Sling TV, Playstation Vue, and DirecTV. If major networks are looking to become their won distributors, then it looks like many of these platforms may either die off, go indie, or become acquired and integrated into one of the networks’ own digital platforms.
However the future unfolds, it seems that most of us will be able to watch it from our computers, smart TVs, phones, and video game consoles.
(08/19/17 12:00pm)
by Emily Reuben
Gen Con, which tickets itself as being “the largest annual consumer fantasy, electronic, sci-fi, and adventure game convention in North America”, is celebrating its 50th convention this year in the summer of 2017. Being held in the Indiana convention center, the “Best Four Days in Gaming!” ™ currently boasts over 16,000 scheduled, ticketed events and more than 500 exhibitors at its 2017 convention in Indianapolis. How did it get to where it is though? Where did this hobbyist gathering start?
Gen Con started humbly as an informal gathering of about a dozen people who all decided to celebrate wargames and other board games in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin instead of making the journey to the official wargames convention being held in Marlvern, Pennsylvania. The gathering was hosted in the house of the founder of the newly formed International Federation of Wargaming, Gary Gygax who would later go on to be known as “The Father of Role-Playing Games” for his role as the creator of the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons.
After hosting the first Gen Con (Lake Geneva Convention), Gygax decided that his house would not make for the best venue if he wanted the event to grow, so he rented out the Lake Geneva Horticultural Hall Where the attendance increased to about 60 people. As the attendance numbers steadily grew, the convention had to eventually move to the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center & Arena in 1985.
The convention came to focus on tabletop roleplaying games like Gygax’s own Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as well as other card games and board games. This focus made the event the center of a cultural misunderstanding wherein conservative religious groups claimed that the game corrupted the minds of the youth, turning them into cultists, Satan worshipers, and amoral punks. This view was helped by B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons), a group started by a mother who was convinced that her son committed suicide because he was cursed during a game of D&D. Soon comics were being produced like the now infamous Dark Dungeons depicting how a doe-eyed girl gets ensnared by the occult evils of role-playing games only to be saved by Jesus.
The resultant backlash against Dungeons & Dragons helped to fuel a kind of rebel attitude in the role-playing community, helping to boost attendance from 5,000 in 1985 the year after the above comic was published to 10,000 just four years later in 1989. Gen Con continued to flourish as the hobby gained more traction. Eventually Gen Con was getting too big for the convention center in Milwaukee, so after 35 years of holding the convention in Wisconsin, the event was moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in 2003.
For a time in 2008, Gen Con LLC. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being sued by Lucasfilm. The legal issue was a disagreement about which entity owed which money from the 2006 Celebration IV, a Star Wars convention commemorating the 30th anniversary of the first Star Wars film. Since this incident, Gen Con LLC. has not hosted any third party licensed events since.
In 2015, it was alleged that Gen Con might find a new city to host its gaming event. Embroiled in a national controversy, Indiana Governor Mike Pence was in the process of signing into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which left open the option to businesses to deny service to anyone if the business or business owners had strongly held religious beliefs. The president of Gen Con LLC., the legal entity that has owned and run Gen Con since 2002, issued a public letter to the then governor stating that, “Gen Con proudly welcomes a diverse attendee base, made up of different ethnicities, cultures, beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds… For more than a decade, Indianapolis has provided tremendous hospitality and accommodation to our attendees, culminating in an estimated annual economic impact of more than $50 million dollars to the city.” The CEO, Adrian Swartout, then went on to say that legislation that discriminates against Gen Con attendees would have a serious effect on where the company would choose to hold the event. After Mike Pence amended the law to forbid discrimination based on religious beliefs, the issue of Gen Con staying in Indianapolis seems to have been put to rest.
Gen Con Indy, as it is now called, drew over 60,000 attendees to the Indianapolis Convention Center in 2016. It has outgrown a convention center that has undergone renovations specifically to accommodate the growing attendance as nerd culture and Dungeons & Dragons grows ever more popular, now taking place in both the Indianapolis Convention Center and the Lucas Oil Stadium, the home field of the Indianapolis Colts.
(08/11/17 8:30pm)
by Daley Wilhelm
This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
Only a fool would meet the Dothraki in an open field. – Robert Baratheon
Dragons might seem like the greatest concern that the Lannister armies have to face, especially after that vivid sequence of soldiers turning to dust, but the Dothraki horde has proven time and again that they might be the greater threat, especially in the hearts of their enemies. Putting fire and blood aside, if we look at history both mythical and real, it proves that Cersei’s PR campaign sowing fear of the foreign invaders is well-founded.
George R. R. Martin stated that he based the Dothraki on a mishmash of steppe and plains cultures like the Mongols, the Huns, along with other tribes that relied heavily on horses such as the Cheyenne and Sioux of the American West. Dothraki culture, language, and custom is based entirely around horses. It’s evident in the most basic of phrases in the Dothraki language.
Their connection with horses support their nomadic way of life. The only standing city the Dothraki occupy is Vaes Dothrak, which houses widowed khaleesi and idols stolen from other tribes ringing the Dothraki Sea. This great empty grassland does indeed resemble a sea—no cities stand in the waving grass—only great khalasars move freely through the great expanse on their horses.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="792"] The Dothraki Sea[/caption]
This is because the Doom of Valyria—the unspecified cataclysm that destroyed the ruling freehold in Essos—was followed by the Century of Blood. It was then that chaos ensued as many scrambled to fill the power vacuum left after the dragonlords were gone; it also served as the rise of the Dothraki. Taking advantage of the confusion, the Dothraki were able to spread their kingdom farther west than ever before. They were unhindered by the cities they took, since instead of trying to hold them after a successful pillaging, the horsemen would burn them to the ground, returning old keeps and castles to grassland once more. They would also rename the dozens of cities they took to reflect their opinion on the people they conquered. Sarnath became Vaes Khewo, meaning City of Worms, and Gornath to Vaes Leqse, City of Rats.
This is all very reminiscent of the Mongols and their massive conquest of Asia and Western Europe. Like the Mongols, the Dothraki subsist on either plunder from sacked cities or from tributes offered out of fear from standing ones.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="550"] The Mongol Empire at it's height[/caption]
History tells us that the Mongols had a wide rule but eventually assimilated into their conquered cultures, essentially breaking up the Mongolian Empire. Enigmatic leaders later tried to reunify, but by then the holds were so far-flung and the culture had shifted. This coupled with the growing strength of their enemies prevented the feared Golden Horde from rising again.
What doesn't seem as likely is the Dothraki assimilating to the Westerosi culture. Their way of life demands great swaths of land to roam. Their culture dictates that they only yield to the strongest among them. They, like the Ironborn, do not sow. They only reap and conquer. It’s been proven that Dothraki warriors are superior in battle to Westerosi knights, and their history boasts a significant list of cities sieged. The Targaryen army could make substantial gains in unleashing the Dothraki on the mainland. There’s little chance of the Dothraki turning against their Khaleesi as well, since she’s not only the strongest among them, but also as their apparent god.
The Dothraki have a prophesy about the Stallion Who Mounts the World.
As swift as the wind he rides, and behind him his khalasar covers the earth, men without number, with arakhs shining in their hands like blades of razor grass. Fierce as a storm this prince will be. His enemies will tremble before him, and their wives will weep tears of blood and rend their flesh in grief. The bells in his hair will sing his coming, and the milk men in the stone tents will fear his name. The prince is riding, and he shall be the stallion who mounts the world.
Originally, this was believed to have been Khal Drogo and Daenerys’ unborn son Rhaego. But in a serious power move, in episode six of season six, Dany descends upon the khalasar on Drogon’s back to show that she is as fierce as the storm, riding like the wind with [her] khalasar behind [her] covering the earth. That or her “son”, Drogon, being the biggest, fiercest, scaliest horse the Dothraki have ever seen to actually be the prophesized stallion. Whichever way you want to look at it.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="466"] From season six, episode six, "Blood of my Blood"[/caption]
Troublingly, though this speech she gives from her stallion son’s back rouses the khalasar to follow her over the black salt sea, she also demands of them to “tear down their stone houses.” So once in Westeros, it’s clear that the Dothraki are there for one thing: conquest. What comes after is less clear.
Just moments before Dany reintroduced the Dothraki to the existence of dragons, Daario Naharis tells her that she is not meant to sit on a chair—she is a conqueror, which she is certainly good at, taking three Essosi cities and inspiring two infamous armies to follow her. She would run into issues however, when it came to the ill-defined world of politics that Tyrion and Varys are better suited to handle.
The preview for this Sunday’s episode perhaps suggests that she has become accustomed to her family’s words “Fire and Blood” winning her enemies over. While strength works to woo the hearts of the Dothraki, it only steels the hearts of the Westerosi who so fear them. For them, dragons were an unknown--are they really so big? Do they even breathe fire?--while the Dothraki's brutality is well-known and all around abhorred.
Any use of the Dothraki on the mainland just affirms the kingdoms’ fears that unless they fight the Dragon Queen, their homes will be burned, reduced to grassland for the Dothraki to lord over. And Dany’s current rhetoric seems to support that as well.
(08/02/17 8:06pm)
by Emily Reuben
This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
In the first season of Game of Thrones' episode “The Pointy End”, Sansa Stark desperately tries to convey to Cersei Lannister, “You’ll see. I’ll be a queen just like you; I promise.” Queen Cersei’s face immediately sours, as if concerned the statement may be true.
Despite the sentiment expressed above, Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister have a bit of a...troubled past. Sansa, previously engaged to Cersei’s infamously hated son, has undergone numerous hardships largely at Cersei’s hands. At first glance, there is little in common between the ruthless Lannister and stubborn Stark, but many speculate that some of the minute details in Game of Thrones point to an unlikely relationship between the two.
So far, Game of Thrones season seven has been rather kind to Sansa; she is finally being portrayed as more of a leader utilizing common sense rather than acting impulsively like a child. Numerous scenes thus far have emphasized Sansa’s wit and skepticism, and while the latter trait may come off as abrasive when used against Jon Snow, skepticism is more than required to survive in Game of Throne’s brutal world. Sansa saved the day during the Battle of Bastards, and she is hard pressed to let Jon forget that fact. Constantly questioning Jon’s leadership decisions, Sansa is showing signs that she has a hunger for leadership.
Cersei, on the other hand, has been portrayed as a relentless monster fighting only for herself. Without her children to retain her humanity like in previous seasons, Cersei has nothing to keep her grounded. Despite her terrible nature, Cersei is doing quite well on the battlefield. With two wins against Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei is currently winning the war. Cold and calculating, Cersei Lannister has become a formidable foe for The King of the North and The Mother of Dragons, yet as shown in the premiere episode of season seven “Dragonstone”, Sansa certainly still seems to admire her enemy:
"You almost sound as if you admire her," Jon says.
"I learned a great deal from her," Sansa replies.
While this passing remark can be taken at face value, smaller details usually have relevance in the world of Game of Thrones. Foreshadowing within dialogue is a common occurrence throughout the series: Jamie had once mentioned he didn’t want to be crippled to Tyrion; Tyrion discussed murdering fathers with Jamie before killing his own; Varys made an on the nose statement about hating weddings prior to the Red and Purple Weddings; and the death of Daenerys’ child was almost blatantly stated by the witch Khaleesi had saved. These are only a few examples of the important hints and outright reveals within the series. If history repeats itself, and it does, Sansa’s statement to Jon holds some relevance to her future.
Aside from Cersei, another notable influence on Sansa is her mother, Catelyn. Even though Catelyn and Cersei were fierce enemies, the two embattled mothers have been compared in the show as well. Jaime mentions to to Edmure Tully in the season six episode “No One”, “I admired [Catelyn]... The love she had for her children… reminded me of my sister… Catelyn and Cersei, there’s a fierceness you don’t often see. ” This maternal love has driven both to ruthlessly do what they saw as necessary for protecting their children. The very same episode containing the exchange between Jaime and Edmure affirms Sansa’s connection to Cersei later when the Blackfish is reading Sansa’s letter and states that “she’s exactly like her mother.” It seems the show is attempting to further develop a connection between Sansa and Cersei through the similarities between Sansa and her mother.
So how exactly do these three women: Cersei, Catelyn, Margery relate to Sansa becoming a Cersei-like figure? If the dialogue isn’t convincing enough, visual clues are planted within the Game of Thrones universe that reveal clues about character’s future successes, failures, motivations, and even deaths. As demonstrated in a Cracked article detailing the tiny details the show creator’s included in the series, character’s clothing intentionally indicate an entire character arc in the form of a crown, dress, or pendant for keen viewers. Similarly, intentional decisions such as the hairstyles given to certain characters hold the same weight. Depending on who Sansa is most interested with at the time, she emulates the hairstyle of the women she admires.
The idea that a detail so small such as a hairstyle could represent anything may seem far fetched to some, but Sophie Turner, the actress who plays Sansa, reaffirms this idea in an interview with Refinery29:
“Sansa’s hair is constantly reflecting the people she’s learning from, or mimicking, or inspired by at the time,” Turner explains. “When she’s Cersei’s prisoner, and she’s kind of absorbing all her manipulative techniques, it’s reflected in her hairstyle, and when she’s finding the spirit of Margaery in herself, she wears her hair like Margaery.”
Cersei, Catelyn, and Margery are all women Sansa has learned from or aspired to be like, and her respective hairstyle reflects her desires and aspirations. The premiere episode of season seven shows Sansa mimicking Cersei’s hairstyle, suggesting that Sansa intends to behave like Cersei.
Going back to the quote in season one, Sansa expressed a desire to be a queen like Cersei. While Sansa may not be a queen, she has a position of power. All of the evidence supports the notion that with that power she may very well start behaving like the manipulative Queen Cersei, doing whatever it takes to protect the remaining Starks and claim victory against the Lannister Lioness. This line of reasoning is supported by line from Sansa spoken in the second trailer leading up to season seven, “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.” Here Sansa acknowledges that she has to do her part to keep her family together to keep them alive.
As Sansa heads down the warpath, displaying the wit and temperament necessary to rule the North and to keep her family safe, she is going to need a hairstyle all her own for future young ladies to emulate.
(07/31/17 10:00am)
by Daley Wilhelm
Today is Harry Potter’s birthday, and I don’t want to hear from him.
Today he’s 37, a harried (ha) Auror who balances his work in the Ministry, three children, and dealing with his celebrity status having defeated Voldemort all those years ago. I imagine he’d head over to the Weasley household, that the garden would get filled with his ginger-haired in-laws and friends. Maybe Hagrid brings the cake every year, pink and green icing a little mushed from the ride, but nevertheless something Harry beams over, remembering his very first birthday cake.
Whatever goes on, I don’t want to know. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows closed with, "All was well", I shook, wept, and hugged the book, but there was a finality in that line that has stuck with me.
I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I’ve read the books a half dozen times, an overwhelmed 14-year-old version of myself visited the Wizarding World in Florida, and a disbelieving 19-year-old Daley walked the Leavesden studio tour utterly star struck. I’ve written a 128,000-word fan fiction, which I admit with a strange mixture of pride and shame. I am a sponge of Potter trivia, but when it comes to Harry’s post-Hogwarts adventures, I’d rather them be left up to the collective speculation of the fandom rather than the canon that J.K. Rowling continues to elaborate on.
J.K. Rowling’s word is canon; I don’t dispute that whatsoever. Nor do I argue against the fact that the Wizarding World is hers to do with as she wants. I have a very personal connection to the universe and the characters, but that’s not much in comparison to the bond an author has with a world of her own fabrication. If anything, the continuation of the Potter story just shows what a compelling realm she has created and how even after writing so much there’s still the pull to tell us more.
[embed]https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/638778021663666176[/embed]
And I want to know what more there is. I wanted to know whether or not Harry’s youngest got sorted into Slytherin. I wanted to know how Teddy Lupin grew up and how Hermione reformed the Ministry of Magic. I wanted to know all these things, but after reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I realized I was much more partial to the ephemeral world of “what-if’s” and “imagine-if’s” that the Harry Potter fandom provided.
All these years post-Hallows have allowed fans to make designs on what was next for Harry Potter, because there was something beautifully undefined about the Nineteen Years Later chapter. It left all those years in between and the coming ones open for interpretation. I could attach myself to an idea and just as quickly find another contradictory one. I liked finding massive posts on theories and headcanons, like the idea of Harry surprising everyone in not becoming an Auror because he finally decided that he had enough of near-misses with death. Then there was the equally popular theory that those close calls were precisely why he chose the profession; that he was addicted to the thrill of danger.
I liked how there was validity in either. Fans rooted their theories deep into the canon, but allowed them to grow wild. There was no limit to what could have become of The Golden Trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, because they already had a record of defying the odds.
Then came Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which many described as the weirdest fan fiction they’ve ever read. Initially, I didn’t want to read it because of this. My memory of where the Harry Potter story left off was something of a sacred shrine in my mind, and I didn’t want to disturb it with this new gospel. But eventually I gave in, and I was just as confused and dissatisfied as a good amount of reviewers were.
This wasn’t my Harry Potter. It certainly wasn’t my Hermione Granger present in that screenplay. But that’s the thing; my Hermione and Rowling’s Hermione can be different entities: mine, shaped by my first reading at thirteen and the years of fan fiction and art that followed, and hers sprang originally from her own mind. Just as we see our friends differently from how others might interpret them, these characters that we befriend are multidimensional too, which just further credits Rowling’s writing skill.
J.K. Rowling’s retconning has been meet with loud but mixed responses. She shook up her own universe most notably a few years back in saying that Harry should have ended up with Hermione. In the interview with the magazine Wonderland she asked, “Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this?” The answer is yes; she was.
But we move on from that the same way we move on from weird fan fictions. Mostly, we have the choice to ignore the little bonus bits of the canon story that she tacks on via tweets and Pottermore posts, because the books themselves and our memories of them are much more potent.
You can’t dispute facts. I’m not going to argue that no, actually, Hermione and Ron are soul mates and Rowling is wrong. But I can give reasons why I would believe that they might be. I can still read between the canon’s lines, find those moments that speak to the characters and how I perceive them. Not every headcanon should be quashed with “well, Rowling said this in an interview” just as Rowling should leave us space to wonder about and love her work. Without fan theories, I think revisiting the Harry Potter universe would become rather boring.
If Rowling rolls out a new book on the Wizarding World, I’m going to read it. I do honestly love the new layers of context her new writings give the Potter story, but I love them in the way that I love a well thought-out headcanon. I mull it over, respect it, but as a fan I can chose whether or not to nestle it into my heart along with my own personal Harry Potter mythology.
(07/30/17 11:21pm)
by Emily Reuben
This article contains spoilers for all episodes of Game of Thrones through Season 7, Episode 2.
Daenerys Targaryen has been a fixture of Game of Thrones for seven seasons now, and as the show comes to an end, many have the Breaker of Chains and the Mother of Dragons pegged as the show’s eventual protagonist. It seems like the perfect ending to the series: Daenerys uses her dragons to defeat the monstrous White Walkers and unite the seven kingdoms under stable rule as is her right by birth. However, hints dropped by various characters over the seasons may be foreshadowing Daenerys becoming just as much a threat to Westeros as any undead ice creature.
The last line of season seven, episode one - "Dragonstone", belonged to Daenerys. Dany looked over the leftover battle plans of the presumably dead Stannis Baratheon, and as she glanced at Tyrion, she asked, “Shall we begin?”
The last time she asked this question to Tyrion was season six, episode nine - "Battle of the Bastards", when the slave masters decided to lay siege to Meereen. After Tyrion asks his queen what plan she intends on beginning, she responds, “I will crucify the masters. I will set their fleets afire, kill every last one of their soldiers, and return their cities to the dirt.” Tyrion then invokes memories of her father, the Mad King, suggesting that following her plan would be following in her father’s deranged footsteps.
Flashing back to season seven, episode two - "Stormborn", the Queen of Thorns, Olenna Tyrell, advises the young queen to not trust the diplomatic cleverness of Tyrion. What is troubling is how much of an impact Olenna’s words have on Danny. With Tyrion’s advice she was able to take back Meereen, and Olenna is advising Dany not to trust the man she helped frame for his nephew’s murder. Not a great indicator of things to come.
As for Jon, most see him as the most likely incarnation of Azor Ahai. Though others may fit the prophetic guidelines, the show has introduced no major contradictions that rule Jon out as a potential candidate. However, that is not the path he seems to be heading down in season seven. Ever since Jon’s return to Winterfell, he has been emulating a father-figure of his.
The show has even taken a much less subtle approach to visually linking Jon and Ned, recreating a pivotal scene from season one.
With Jon emulating the look and behavior of Ned, one can only wonder how things will turn out for the brooding Nephew of Dragons.
Image Sources: Pop Sugar, Times Delhi, Fluid Design
(07/26/17 7:49pm)
by Daley Wilhelm
This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
Remember Gendry? He was that nice young blacksmith, saved Arya once or twice, bastard of the late King Robert Baratheon, and apparently still at sea according to what the showrunners have previously mentioned.
Despite teasing about how massive his lats must be after all that rowing in the small craft Ser Davos Seaworth launched him in, saving him from Melisandre and her thirst for a king’s blood for her dark magics, Weiss and Benioff might be hiding that Gendry still has a larger purpose in the Game of Thrones narrative.
Firstly Gendry appears to be the final Baratheon if we’re to believe that Stannis is actually dead. His being Robert Baratheon’s son has always made him a more legitimate heir to the Iron Throne than Cersei’s children who are purely Lannister. While I can’t see a campaign to vote some random but ripped Rower King, I could see some whisperings of a surviving son of Robert Baratheon shaking up houses who still are loyal to Cersei. For the most part, loyalty to the Lannisters is being kept up out of fear of the kingdom falling to dragonfire and Dothraki hordes.
Then there’s where we left off in the second episode of this season,“Stormborn.” After Euron Greyjoy attacked the fleet headed for Dorne, Theon is left treading water. This lead to theories about Gendry appearing to save him, complete with his ultra beefy arms.
There actually might be some validity to the idea of Gendry swooping in as a hero, just not in this instance. But soon enough.
Last year Joe Dempsie, who plays Gendry, was spotted by paparazzi in Belfast, where a significant portion of the show is filmed. He was also spotted in Spain, where the Dragonstone set is. Allegedly, paparazzi saw him swinging a war hammer, freeing a bound Tyrion and Ser Davos.
A war hammer is awfully fitting considering it was his father’s weapon of choice during Robert’s Rebellion. His saving Ser Davos also makes sense, Davos having saved Gendry from Melisandre and her leeches.
Were Gendry to reappear, it would favor him to put his lot in with Daenerys. His appearance—complete with war hammer and Robert Baratheon’s looks—might rally houses that favored the old rule and ridiculed the Lannisters. Cersei would likely worry about having another Baratheon usurper on her hands, just like Stannis before him. The Queen of the Seven Kingdoms (or three of them anyway) has proven her determination to crush anything that threatens her future dynasty, so Gendry would just be another problem to solve with a quick death.
Cersei’s current sway over Westeros is her being the lesser or two evils in the form of protection from foreign invasion: Daenerys has Dothraki and Unsullied, foreigners that the Westerosi believe to be barbaric pillagers. It might be a good PR move for the Mad King's daughter to attach herself to the familiar Baratheon name.
This is all assuming a lot, but the fact remains that the main title still features the stag—the sign of House Baratheon. For the sake of symmetry, shock factor, and supporting initial design choices, it would behoove the show to see the return of Gendry Baratheon, out of the water and into the fray.
(07/25/17 10:00am)
by Daley Wilhelm
This article contains spoilers for Dream Daddy.
But one of the endings is.
Last week the much anticipated dad dating simulator Dream Daddy created by the Game Grumps captivated the Internet with a punny, original concept that charmed players with an adorable aesthetic, wholesome meme-ery, and of course those handsome, datable dads. The game, announced only about a month ago, offers a Dadsona-creator, mini-games, and according to the last bullet-point of the features on Steam “Secretssssssss.”
Data miners may have already discovered one of those secrets. And it’s a dark one.
For those of you unfamiliar with the genre, dating simulators feature multiple endings with your multiple love interests, some “good” (Happily ever after!) and some “bad” (You break up, he moves away, he’s actually in a cult, etc.). In Dream Daddy, your objective is to seek a “good end” with one of the seven eligible dads. However, one of those dads isn’t so very eligible.
Dream Daddy features Damien “Goth Dad” Bloodmarch who looks like a stereotypical vampire and Robert “Bad Dad” Small whose hobbies include hunting cryptids, but it’s Joseph “Cool Youth Minister Dad” Christiansen that has the more complicated background. Joseph is married to his aptly named wife Mary, making the player a kind of interloper should they choose to pursue this prim blonde.
Another ending with Joseph has him try to reconcile his miserable relationship with his wife, and since he does not wind up with the player, this would be considered a “bad end.”
But it gets worse.
One data miner found a disturbing transcript of another ending with Joseph, one a little off-kilter considering the good vibes this game exudes. The player awakens in a dungeon with Joseph in a priest’s outfit and a much different demeanor. He reveals that the reason why all the dads in the cul-de-sac are so datable is because he had systematically murdered all their spouses for his dark, occult purposes. The player and Mary then team up to defeat Joseph. The assets and art from this ending reflect an entirely different tone from the rest of the soft, pastel Dream Daddy art.
Dating sims have done this before, most notably Hatoful Boyfriend, with it’s dystopian premise and plethora of endings wherein the hapless player ends up beheaded, dismembered, or assassinated quite frequently at the hands (wings?) of the pigeons she tries to woo. Fans have theorized that this “cult ending” was meant perhaps to be a Halloween DLC. Players have tried desperately to actually trigger the cult ending, but so far to no avail. The closest players have gotten is a brief moment with Joseph’s wife, Mary, wherein deeper implications seem to be hinted at.
For me, this adds another layer of intrigue into a seemingly simple but nonetheless delightful take on a frequently tired and/or overtly sexualized genre. What’s truly even more interesting about this bonus ending is that this dark secret seems to be an open one--meaning that the cult end is referred to in-game.
Bad Dad Robert casts aspersions on Joseph’s character, seeming to warn the player about what the Cool Youth Minister could be capable of. On one of the dates with Robert, you might catch of glimpse of a dark figure dragging a body in the woods. There’s also Robert’s tattoo, a kind of compass/eye/demonic script which one sharp eye found also appears on a clock and even on a cross.
Currently, Dream Daddy is still a little buggy, it’s release having been pushed back in order to remedy this. But hey, for a game that appeared so quickly and gained an immense following overnight, it’s a great game complete with all those secretssssssss.
(07/23/17 4:00pm)
by Tt Shinkan
With Comic-Con International this weekend, many people from around the world will be tuning in to see all the news regarding their favorite franchise or purchasing exclusive merchandise from the event. This event has given way to huge announcements such as the announcement for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, previews for Justice League, and the cast for The Avengers finally being announced. But has anyone ever stopped to wonder: “How exactly did Comic-Con come to be”? Well you’re in luck! This article will explore the history and backstory of the massive pop culture event and how such a small gathering turned into one of the most anticipated conventions of the year.
Like every great event, it has to have founders. Comic-Con International was founded by Shel Dorf, Ken Krueger, and Richard Alf in 1970 as the Golden State Comic-Con. Fan conventions were just starting to gain more popularity in the late 60s and early 70s, so the idea to start a new convention just seemed reasonable at the time. This event was considered a “minicon”, a convention lasting only one day, and was held at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego on March 21, 1970 and featured two special guests: Forrest J. Ackerman (magazine editor and founder of the science fiction fandom) and Mike Royer (comic book artist). The founders wanted to not only include comic books, but other varieties in popular culture arts such as film and literature. The single-day con brought in nearly 100 attendees. The reason as to why these three held a one day only con was so that they could raise money and generate interest for a much larger convention.
This minicon proved to be a success and a few months later on August 1st through the 3rd, the three-day San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Con was held at the same location. This slightly larger convention boasted nearly 300 attendees and included a dealers’ room, panels, and films screenings to name a few of the attractions. This was the model future comic conventions would look at and follow. Comic-Con moved to the Convention and Performing Arts Center in 1979 and stayed there until 1991 when the San Diego Convention Center opened and the convention moved and has stayed there ever since.
In 1972, the convention was renamed to San Diego’s West Coast Comic Convention and renamed a year later to San Diego Comic-Con. The name we know today, Comic-Con International: San Diego, was established in 1995, only 22 years ago.
Since the start, Comic-Con has grown to nearly 130,000 attendees and has branched out to include neighboring hotels and parks. Almost creating a college-campus-like feel with numerous events being held in different parts of downtown San Diego.
Unfortunately, on November 3, 2009, one of the convention’s founders, Shel Dorf, passed away due to complications regarding diabetes. In his memory, the Shel Dorf Awards were created as a way for fans to give a voice on what they believe is the best of the best in the media world.
With Comic-Con International 2017 upon us, it’s important for people to learn about the history and importance of this massive pop culture event. To be honest, without the major success of this convention, geek culture would probably be still lurking in the shadows, scared to show its face, but thanks to Dorf, Krueger, and Alf, geek culture hasn’t just come out of the shadows, it has become a normal part of our everyday lives.
(07/18/17 10:00am)
by Sarah James
It’s been a little while since the 8th annual VidCon took place in Anaheim California, and since the dust has seemed to settle, let’s take a look at VidCon 2017. A brainchild of the dynamic YouTuber brother duo John and Hank Green, VidCon has offered a place for people of the internet to gather for the past eight years. Just like any other convention, VidCon hosts a variety of panels and booths where fans and followers of YouTube culture can meet and listen to their favorite creators. Since its inception, VidCon has grown from a crowd of 1,400 fans of online video to an assemblage of of over 25,000 children of the internet. VidCon has even gone international; VidCon Europe debuted in Amsterdam back in April, and VidCon Australia is set for this upcoming September. People across the globe flock to these events for the opportunity to see those whose influence matters the most to them.
Why does any of this matter? Why do thousands upon thousands of people show up to see a bunch of E-list celebrities who make a living creating videos in their bedrooms? The phenomenon of YouTube and its content creators is one that has been growing over the past several years, with many young people claiming they watch more shows on YouTube than they do on TV. YouTube has become the place of the independent creator, where people can make whatever they want and watch whatever they want without jumping through the corporate hoops of having a studio run television series. The glory of this platform is that anyone has the potential to be a YouTuber. The people who run the most successful channels were once bored kids with a camera and a hobby. For example, John and Hank Green, the creators of VidCon, have built an empire on YouTube with the brothers running their primary channel, The Vlog Brothers, as well as producing content for dozens of other outlets, such as Crash Course and SciShow. Sure, YouTubers may not have the same status as a traditional celebrity, but everyday the content creators who dominate the platform are gaining on mainstream media. These social media influencers are the future of famous, and fans will give anything to have the chance to meet them.
And maybe that’s because YouTubers have a very different relationship with their fans than traditional celebrities. I have a close connection to the channels I regularly watch, and the people behind those channels seem more like people than any musician or movie star. Vloggers let us into their daily lives; gamers show off their instinctual reactions though they may not be pretty; beauty gurus walk through the sometimes-not-so-glamorous process of getting to the end result we see on Instagram. YouTubers are the ones that permeate our lives every single day, not just once a week on a TV show, every few years when a new movie comes out, or whenever a tour is announced. We, as the viewers, choose to let these people into our daily routines. Each channel is a little window into someone else’s world, and each YouTuber has their own quirks and personalities that draw people to their content. I don’t know every game that MatPat talks about over on The Game Theorists channel, but I watch the videos anyway because I enjoy his personality. I feel like I know these people, more so than almost any mainstream celebrity that I’m a fan of. If I actually met Brendon Urie I’m not sure what I’d be able to say, since he seems like an unattainable voice I hear in my favorite songs. But I bet I could carry a conversation with my favorite YouTubers; they just seem more personable.
Which is why VidCon is such a bucket list event for any fan of YouTube. The opportunity to meet and listen to those who are a part of our everyday lives is one that is extremely tantalizing, and thousands upon thousands of individuals trek out to California each year to do just that. This past year VidCon saw a lot of the same successes as previous years. Massive YouTubers like Tyler Oakley, Philip DeFranco, Casey Neistat, Rhett and Link, Markiplier and dozens more came to the convention as featured creators and participated in a variety of panels discussing the industry of internet video, tips on how to build a successful channel, live gaming, concerts, interviews, Q&As, and so much more. The event is the largest of its kind, and while the entire weekend was fairly favorable, it didn’t go off without a hitch.
Probably one of the biggest things to come out of VidCon 2017 was Logan Paul and the actions that got him kicked out of VidCon. Logan Paul is a Viner that made the switch to YouTube when Vine died and has maintained a substantial following on the platform. Currently boasting almost 2 million followers on Twitter and over 7.7 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, it’s safe to say that this guy has a lot of influence, and when he says something it’s not going to go unnoticed. While at VidCon, Logan Paul stated that he hid a prize of $3,000 around the Anaheim Convention Center, and then posted clues on social media for his fans to follow. Stunts like this are not allowed at VidCon as they can easily cause dangerous mobs and destruction of property, and featured content creators for the event are given a packet that details this exact information.
But Logan Paul wasn’t a featured creator at this year’s VidCon. He was not provided the information about illicit scavenger hunts during the event. He pulled a stunt without knowing it wasn’t allowed, and in doing so he caused a mob of teenagers to rampage the convention center, was chased by security, and then was kicked out of VidCon. But how much of this is actually his fault? Sure, it may seem like common sense to some to not invoke a mob when you have millions of followers across the internet, but for Logan Paul it seemed like a fun way to interact with his followers and the makings of a great video for his channel. But in doing so, he put thousands of people in danger, and his fans ended up tearing through the convention center looking for his $3,000 prize. Is he responsible for the actions of his fans? Or did the fans take it too far?
This question is not new when it comes to celebrities, especially in recent years. Fans of certain people will tear down other artists just because there was a slight argument- look at the feud between fans of Katy Perry and fans of Taylor Swift. Most people will agree that it's not the celebrity’s fault if a fan acts outlandishly, but does that opinion shift when it comes to YouTubers? When creator and followers become so close and when idols are so easily accessible, is there more responsibility for the actions of the fan base? And is almost causing a riot justifiable when it makes for a great video? The role of the Internet and the creators who have made their home there is becoming more important every day, and the rules we apply to traditional celebrities may need to be rewritten so events like VidCon can continue to grow.
(07/17/17 8:04pm)
by Sarah James
Disney’s annual expo, D23, wrapped up yesterday. There were plenty of massive announcements that came out of the event, so here’s some of the things you may have missed.
Movies
Two animated sequels got lots of love this past weekend. Incredibles 2 now has a release date of June 15, 2018, and will take place immediately after the events of Incredibles. Wreck it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet, which will premiere November 21 of next year takes the concept of the first film and expands it on a massive scale, and includes a sequence poking fun at the Disney Princesses. The original actresses for the Disney Princesses were cast to reprise their roles for the film- a move that is sure to “break the internet.”
A trailer was also released for the live- action adaptation of the children’s book, A Wrinkle in Time. Directed by Ava DuVernay, the film stars Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, and Zach Galifianakis. The film is set to release next spring.
Speaking of live-action, Disney is not shying away from its live-action adaptations of its animated classics. Tim Burton is directing a live-action Dumbo which is already in production. The live-action adaptation of 1994’s The Lion King will animated in the same vein as 2016’s The Jungle Book, with photo realistic animals. Spectators were shown the opening sequence of the film and were blown away at the animation. The cast of the live-action Aladdin was also announced after rumors swarming the internet that Disney was having difficulty finding a cast. The film, directed by Guy Ritchie, will star Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine, and Will Smith as the Genie.
The two heavy-hitting, Disney-owned franchises, Star Wars and Marvel also had major announcements over the weekend. A behind the scenes trailer from Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released, as well as a series of new posters featuring the cast in red to prepare for the movie’s release in December. Not to be outdone, Marvel surprised everyone by bringing the cast of Avengers: Infinity War on stage. A teaser trailer was shown at the event and is expected to be released to the public this weekend at San Diego Comic Con. In this trailer, fans saw the meeting of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, as well of plenty of footage of Thanos beating down on our heroes. The third film to the groundbreaking Avengers story line is set to come out May of 2018, and with SDCC this weekend, the studio is sure to have plenty of updates.
Television
After its success in 2014, Big Hero 6 is getting an animated series for the channel Disney XD. The majority of the cast for the film is coming back to reprise their roles for the series. Disney released the opening title sequence, which showcases the entire team in a two-dimensional animation style as opposed to the three-dimensional animation of the film. The first season will premiere this fall and will have 21 episodes.
Games
After the release of gameplay footage at E3, Kingdom Hearts III, now has a trailer. The twelfth installment of the popular video game franchise will feature areas based off of Hercules, Tangled, Big Hero 6, and Toy Story. The game sees the return of Sora as the protagonist, along with Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Riku as they continue their search for the Guardians of Light. After years of waiting, fans can expect the game to be released some time next year for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Parks
Last but not least, Disney announced a whole slew of new attractions and resorts for their parks. The upcoming Star Wars area now has a name - Galaxy’s Edge - and a scale model of the area was showcased at the expo. The land is set to open in 2019 in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disney is also building an interactive Star Wars resort near Walt Disney World, where guests will be able to be a part of the Star Wars story. Two new rides are coming to EPCOT in Walt Disney World - a Guardians of the Galaxy themed ride in Future World which will be replacing the Universe of Energy ride and pavilion on August 13, and a Ratatouille dark ride in the France pavilion. The Great Movie Ride in Disney’s Hollywood Studios is officially closing August 13, but Disney announced its replacement; Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will show guests the process of creating Mickey Mouse cartoons. The popular TRON roller coaster that debuted in Disneyland Shanghai is also coming to Tomorrowland in WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is also getting a brand new theater off of Main Street USA, which will house live entertainment.
D23 has been a wild ride for Disney fans, and the juggernaut entertainment company has a lot on its plate for the coming years.
Image: Inside the Magic
(07/13/17 12:00pm)
by Daley Wilhelm
This article is dark and full of spoilers for season six of Game of Thrones. Unlike G.R.R. Martin’s next book, season seven’s Sunday premier is fast approaching, so here’s a refresher on what horrible things happened to your favorite characters last season and where they seem to be heading in the titillating trailer for season seven.
The Starks
Jon Snow
At the end of season five, Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch Jon Snow was betrayed by his own men who thought that Jon himself was a traitor for his allegiance to the Wildlings. He was stabbed “for the Watch” and left to die in the snow. Which he did.
For a whole episode, he’s just a slab of cold flesh on a table until Davos manages to bully the Red Woman Melisandre into necromancing him back to life, much to the shock of everyone, especially his murderers. Jon then oversees their deaths, but decides that his time at the Night’s Watch is done since he fulfilled his oath, living and dying at his post. Before he can leave Castle Black, Sansa arrives, seeing her brother for the first time since he rode out for the Night’s Watch back in season one.
Jon and Sansa, learning that Ramsay Bolton has declared himself Lord of Winterfell and has their youngest brother Rickon hostage, decide they must take back their home. They go about mustering forces from Northern houses still loyal to the Starks but find little help and much contention over Jon’s plan for the Wildings to live among them as they retreat from the oncoming tide of White Walkers.
Jon’s story crescendos in the infamous episode nine, “The Battle of the Bastards” wherein Jon and Ramsay clash in a brutal battle over Winterfell. Ramsay, in true sadistic fashion, begins the battle by killing his hostage Rickon. Despite having fierce Wildlings and even a giant on their side, Jon’s forces are outnumbered and outclassed by the Boltons. The tide turns in their favor when all was looking its darkest as reinforcements from the Vale arrive, lead by Littlefinger.
After the battle, the Northern houses, the Knights of the Vale, and the Wildlings declare Jon as “the King in the North.” A flashback via Bran also suggests that the long-held fan theory that Jon is also the rightful heir to the South is confirmed, revealing that he is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen and thus has the most legitimate claim to the Iron Throne.
Sansa Stark
Sansa leapt from a rampart twenty feet high at the end of season five and is now on the run with a mangled Theon Greyjoy from her tortuous, rapist husband Ramsay Bolton to whom she was forcibly married in order to secure his claim to the North. They are saved from Ramsay’s pursuing men by Brienne and Podrick, prompting Sansa to accept Brienne’s offer to serve and protect her. Brienne is finally able to deliver Sansa to her family--what little of it she has left.
While campaigning for the cause to take back Winterfell, she meets with Petyr Baelish, who still has a creepy crush on her and whom she blames for her violent marriage to Ramsay Bolton. As an apology, he offers the support of the Vale and reminds her of her mother’s family, the Tullys and how they might be of aid. She refuses Littlefinger’s help, but sends Brienne to Riverrun.
Before the Battle of the Bastards, Sansa realizes how dire the situation is and writes to Littlefinger. After the battle, she saves Ramsay from being beaten to death by Jon, only to tie him up in his kennels and sic his vicious hounds on him.
Arya
The end of season five left Arya blind after her betrayal to the House of Black and White. She’s a beggar on the streets of Braavos, intermittently beaten by the Waif. H’ghar recruits her again, leading to more training and more beatings by the Waif until she accepts that she is “no one” and thus given her sight back.
Arya is then given the task to go undercover and assassinate an actress but instead warns her mark and retrieves the sword Jon gave her back in season one, Needle. H’ghar when hearing of this, agrees with the Waif that Arya must die. Arya buys passage to Westeros but is caught and stabbed by the Waif. She only survives because the actress that she saves finds and heals her. However, this leads to the Waif finding Arya and killing the actress.
Arya manages to kill the Waif, bringing her face to the House of Black and White and declaring to H’ghar that she is Arya Stark of Winterfell and that she is going home. And she makes it all the way to the Twins, where she kills Walder Frey’s sons, feeds them to him in a pie, and slits his throat, thus checking off a name on her list.
Bran
Bran is beyond the Wall, having finally found the Three-Eyed Raven with the help of his warg friends Jojen Reed, Meera Reed, and Hodor. He provides helpful context through the season, flashing back into the past as he trains to grasp his mysterious powers. He sees Winterfell in his father’s childhood, his father and Howland Reed storm the Tower of Joy where Lyanna Stark was kept, and he sees the creation of the White Walkers. They were created to protect the Children of the Forest from the First Men. Bran gets cocky and goes into a vision unaccompanied, leading the Night King--apparent leader of the White Walkers--to realize where they were.
Their hideout with the Children of the Forest is attacked by wights and White Walkers. Meera and Bran are the only two to escape--his direwolf Summer and Hodor falling to the White Walkers. This is where we learn how Hodor came to be the Hodor we knew.
Benjen Stark--Ned’s brother who had been missing from the Night’s Watch since the show’s inception--saves the two from certain doom. He reveals that Dragonglass, obsidian, can save someone from being turned into a White Walker.
As they head south toward Castle Black, Bran has another walk into the past where he finally gets to the top of the Tower of Joy, where it is revealed that Jon is Lyanna Stark’s son and that she died shortly after giving birth to him. And after making her brother Eddard swear to never reveal where Jon came from: a Stark and a Targaryen.
Daenerys
Season five ended with Dany on Drogon’s back, setting fire to all those who plotted against her and wanted to reinstate slavery in Meeren. Drogon, still a moody teenager of a dragon, took her far away from the city. He flew off, leaving his mother to the mercy of a Dothraki horde that descended on her.
While Jorah and Daario track her, Tyrion tries to deal with the three cities that fall back into slavery. He manages to release Viserion and Rhaegal without being eaten. Dany is taken to Vaes Dothrak, where she is put with the other widowed Khaleesi, meant to stay there forever.
Jorah and Daario find her and want to sneak her away, but she demands to meet with the Khals, asking them to serve her as she strives to take the Iron Throne. They refuse, so she burns the whole building down, emerging unburnt as she did from her husband’s funeral pyre. When the Dothraki witness this, the whole horde kneels to her.
On the way back to Meeren, Jorah reveals that he has greyscale, so Dany orders him to go find a cure and return. Back in the city, she meets with the slave masters from the other cities she conquered and demands their surrender. When they refuse, she climbs onto Drogon and along with the other two dragons burns the whole of the slavers’ fleet.
Meanwhile, Varys who had disappeared onto a ship, turned out to be in Highgarden buttering up the Tyrells to join the Targaryen cause.
After the conflagration in the bay, an alliance is made between the exiled Greyjoy siblings so she sets sail with her armies, dragons, and the Ironborn navy for Westeros with Tyrion as the official Hand of the Queen and Daario left behind to rule Meeren.
The Greyjoys
Theon, an absolute wreck after Ramsay’s brainwashing and torture, is given leave by Sansa to return to the Iron Islands to try again to bring the Ironborn to the North’s cause. When he gets there, however, his uncle Euron appears and murders his father King Balon.
A Kingsmoot, wherein longship captains choose the new king, is held to choose either Euron, who freely admitted to the murder of the previous king, or Yara the apparent heir and one of the strongest captains. Euron is chosen as he promises to wed and bed the Dragon Queen in Essos in order to gain more power so that the Ironborn might take the Iron Throne. He also promised to kill his remaining family, but Yara and Theon had already fled to Essos with all of the boats.
Eventually they decide to go to Meeren and offer the Dragon Queen Daenerys Targaryen the Ironborn fleet and an alliance in order to get rid of Euron.
King’s Landing
Cersei and Jaime are down to one child after the Sand Snakes take over Dorne and assassinate Myrcella. Young Tommen is now King, and Margaery is finally Queen of the Realm. However, the Faith gained power and begins investigating the moral crimes of the royal family, which includes the Queen and her twin brother Loras, who are both placed in prison. The High Sparrow also declares that Cersei must stand trial for her crimes, officially outing her for committing incest.
The Lannisters and the Tyrells devise an alliance in order to defeat the Faith Militant that now seemingly has control of the kingdom, but then Margaery repents for her sins, starts preaching the faith, and convinces Tommen to go along with it all, effectively giving the High Sparrow the reins to the kingdom. Tommen sends Jaime away to Riverrun and Margaery sends her grandmother Olenna away to Highgarden--with a hint that she doesn’t buy into the Faith.
With Cersei’s trial looming, King Tommen abolishes trial by combat, essentially ensuring that his mother lose her trial, which she planned to win with the zombie that is The Mountain at her side.
With no control left, Cersei takes a page for the Daenerys book of strategy and burns down the whole of the Sept of Baelor using Wildfire with the Faith Militant, the High Sparrow, Margaery, and a whole lot of nobles inside.
Tommen upon seeing this and having been depressed and wracked with guilt over the imprisonment of his wife and now, her death, quietly steps out of a very high window, killing himself.
Jaime returns to King’s Landing from his successful raid on Riverrun to find his son dead and Cersei crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
Season seven promises to see all these building forces converge--Daenerys, Cersei, and the Starks all gunning for control over the Seven Kingdoms all while the threat of the rising dead and the coming White Walkers loom. At the end of season six, Sam Tarley made his way down to the Citadel in Old Towne where he could train as a Maester and tell the Maesters there about the White Walkers. White ravens are dispatched throughout the kingdoms and apparently winter has finally arrived.
The Hound, after a brief stint of living peacefully, has embraced violence again and allowed himself to be recruited into the Brotherhood Without Banners, following Ser Beric Dondarrion who has been resurrected from the dead multiple times and who appears in the new trailer wielding a flaming sword. Melisandre was banished for her past crimes despite her belief in Jon being the true “promised prince.”
Prophecies, new wars, and the one that had been raging all along against the coming cold all promise to make Game of Thrones' second-to-last season a memorable one.
(07/12/17 2:40am)
by Nolan Leahy
On July 12th, 2017, a massive protest headed by numerous computer hardware, software, and website companies will ensue along with millions of Americans in an effort to sway Congress and the FCC to stop the repeal of Net Neutrality. Those included in the protest are giants such as Vimeo, ThinkGeek, Kickstarter, Amazon, Reddit, Netflix, and Twitter. Roughly 60 companies are involved with the protest. Facebook and Google both aren’t fans of the possible repeal. To be clear though, the interest of this repeal comes from the top players such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable. Smaller and less known ISPs have cosigned a letter with their desires for stopping the repeal.
To those unfamiliar with Net Neutrality, Net Neutrality is a principle that states Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot interfere with what everyday individuals engage in online through the Internet. Without Net Neutrality, ISPs would be able to prioritize connections to various websites that could benefit that specific ISP.
A great example of who would benefit from this repeal is Comcast because of their ownership of NBCUniversal Media. With that in consideration, Comcast is currently planning on creating a Netflix-style website to compete with Hulu and other streaming sites. What could happen after the repeal of Net Neutrality, is that Comcast could immensely slow down video loading speeds of their customers that try to watch NBCUniversal shows on other sites. In other words, if a Comcast customer is watching American Ninja Warrior on Netflix, then poor streaming is to be expected because Comcast would rather have people watching American Ninja Warrior on its websites. This would generate more clicks for Comcast and earn them more money through viewership and potential advertising. This repeal can also allow for Internet censorship, blocking, and creating massive priorities on what ISPs want their customers to consume through the media.
As of right now, Net Neutrality dictates that the Internet is considered a public utility, which is similar to how individuals would pay for a water, gas, and electric bill. This is because of the interpretation of Title II of the Telecommunications Act of 1934 in how the 2015 ruling classified Internet usage to be under the Common Carrier rulings. These rulings within Title II in Sec. 202a state that…
“It shall be unlawful for any common carrier to make any unjust or unreasonable discrimination in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facilities, or services for or in connection with like communication service, directly or indirectly, by any means or device, or to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, class of persons, or locality, or to subject any particular person, class of persons, or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.”
Along with the FCC Chairman Ajit V. Pai’s desire to repeal Net Neutrality, he also wants to repeal Title II as well, which would allow for ISPs to accomplish consumer discrimination based off of consumer preferences in their business practices.
Internet and broadband companies are getting rather greedy with the desire for Net Neutrality to be repealed. Kaitlyn Tiffany, a writer for The Verge, wrote an article how Verizon is silencing Tumblr’s fight for Net Neutrality. Her article states that when Verizon bought Yahoo last month, Tumblr CEO David Karp went silent on Net Neutrality, because Yahoo is the parent company of Tumblr. Her sentiment is supported by the fact that, David Karp doesn’t have the reputation of being shy when it comes to social or political issues.
With Comcast and Verizon being against Net Neutrality, it seems that this is more major ISP greed vs. the Internet consumer base. This should be a non-partisan issue because the Internet has become such a dire necessity to function at home, work, school, and even for recreational activities. Repealing Title II has the potential to drastically change how the US consumes Internet content. Everyone can be harmed by this repeal which would allow ISPs to have influence on Internet trafficking and what the people can or cannot see, and the Internet is arguably the paragon for freedom of expression and the free market; and the major ISPs want to change that.
Netflix, Amazon, and Google are creating messages that will appear on their websites and phone applications to let people know about the possible repeal in an effort to gain more of the public’s majority support. As for right now, a poll that consists of United States registered voters said that about 61 percent approved of Net Neutrality, while 18 percent oppose, and 21 percent either had no clue or no opinion about Net Neutrality. People are joining the protest at battleforthenet.com and are sending letters to the FCC and Congress, voicing concerns about the future of Net Neutrality. The deadline for public commentary is on July 17th, 2017.
Sources:
The Verge
Battleforthenet
Cnet
Bloomberg
Investopedia
New York Times
FCC
Broadcastingcable
Scmagazine
The Hill
Los Angeles Times
(06/21/17 2:15am)
by Daley Wilhelm and Matthew Yapp
It’s important to recognize that in terms of LGBT+ representation, we are certainly doing better. But that doesn’t mean that we’re doing our best. Our best doesn’t mean sprinkling on the queer for flavor as seen with one-off characters or flat stereotypes. It certainly doesn't mean introducing a queer character, and then burying them a season later as so many shows—even well-meaning Degrassi—are guilty of. It means writing characters whose sexuality isn’t what defines them, but is also an undeniable part of them rather than a footnote.
GLAAD’s annual report on LGBTQ inclusion found overall, queer representation is on the uptick, but has dwindled in certain aspects. Between June of 2016 and May of this year, 43 out of 854 characters on television, both broadcast and on streaming services, were LGBTQ. Bisexual representation rose to 30% of that 43 with 16 bisexual women and five men. ABC has the highest amount of representation of LGBTQ characters, followed by FOX, and the CW in third.
Optimism is justified: we’re in a much better place than ever before. These percentages are little leaps, but still steps forward. However, it’s more than accurate to admit that we could be doing better.
The meme of “this is what the liberals want” depicting a drag queer, false lashes cast down on her phone, sitting beside a woman in a full niqab on the subway has been floating around lately. And I agree that it’s personally what I want in terms of people populating public spaces, and feeling secure in doing so no matter how they present themselves. So maybe I’m greedy when I want our media to do the same. After all, media reflects reality, which in turn is influenced by media. It’s a vicious circle, no end or beginning, and that’s why I think it’s hard to deny the importance of representation in media. When we have a glaring lack of queer characters on television, there’s a gap in the general public understanding as to their problems, even their existence.
The LGBT+ community has always struggled to be seen in mainstream media. I remember when I was younger the only shows I could see queer characters on was Glee or Will and Grace. I also thought Golden Girls was about old lesbians but I digress. We have made serious strides in just the past few years, however it’s still not where we’d like it to be. Sure, you can see more queer characters but they just aren’t cutting it in terms of representation. It feels like even though more writers are creating these characters, they don’t know how to write them. They are either completely defined by their sexualities and stereotypes like Titus from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, or their sexualities are just ignored, making it kind of hard to be real representation. Looking at you Rizzoli & Isles. That being said we do have some diamonds in all this rough. We’re going to be highlighting shows that we feel represent the LGBT+ community well.
Transparent
First off, I’d like to give bonus points to the show for making their title a pun, that’s really respectable. Transparent follows the Pfefferman family dealing with the realization that the patriarch of the family is actually a transgender woman named Maura. Coming off its third season the show continues to receive critical acclaim as one of the best shows streaming right now. Something that has always stuck out to me is that it shows true family dynamic. Often shows gloss over the hardship that goes with coming out, but not this one. It’s very realistic in showing that your children who thought they had a father for 20 some years, are going to struggle to understand that they have another mother. Beyond that the show looks at all the characters understanding themselves, and how family has to understand each other. In season two, spoilers, Ali and Sarah both explore their sexualities realizing that they might be on the queer spectrum in some way, and even that was handled in a tasteful way. This show really checks all the right boxes and is the representation that the trans community deserves. It manages to balance between talking about queer issues and just classic family antics so it never feels heavy handed at any point. Touching, realistic, funny, and groundbreaking Transparent is easily one of the best shows for LGBT+ representation.
Supergirl
Before this show I had given up on the CW in terms of representing the LGBT+ Community. The 100 had fallen victim to the trope off dying lesbians, Arrow had Sarah Lance, a bisexual character who was portrayed as constantly sleeping and flirting with women, but never actually showed interest in men or mentioned her sexuality. The Flash had two gay men, both of which were one off characters that almost felt like were just inserted so they could say they were there. Then Supergirl came in and blew me away. In season two Supergirl’s sister Alex meets a police officer named Maggie and it sparks something in her. Alex goes through the process of realizing that she has feelings for Maggie, and that she is a lesbian. Alex’s coming out story is easily the best I’ve ever gotten to see on television. The tearful admission that she’s always known there was something different about her, that she thought maybe she was just never supposed to be with anyone, the fear that the people she cared about would look at her differently as she came out to her mother was something that so many people could relate to. Alex and Maggie have gone on to have one of the best relationships I’ve seen. Both characters are so fleshed out, neither of them fall to stereotypes, or sacrifice any character development for the sake of being the gay character. Most importantly they love, encourage each other, and throughout the show bring out the best in one another. It’s incredible that a show that should just be your basic superhero TV show has managed to craft such a beautiful love story. Had someone told me I’d be watching a badass alien hunter propose to her cop girlfriend on a major television network I wouldn’t believe them, but I sure am glad it’s true.
Rupaul’s Drag Race
I don’t think there’s any show on television that celebrates queerness quite as well as Rupaul’s Drag Race does. At its core, it’s a reality competition in the same vein as America’s Next Top Model or Project Runway but with drag queens. Each week one of the queens leaves the competition until one is left to receive the seal of approval from the legendary Rupaul as America’s next drag superstar. What makes this show so special is that it is created by queer people for queer people. There is next to nowhere else on mainstream television that you would see an entire cast of a show be a part of the LGBT+ community. Not only that, but because all of the contestants are queer we get real people talking about real queer issues. Right from season one, we got to see one of the contestants, Ongina, tearfully reveal that she had AIDS which is a difficult reality for many in the community that is still hard to talk about in this day and age. They’ve talked about everything from coming out, being homeless after rejection from family, self-harm, eating disorders, being gay in the military, all the way to the Pulse shooting. All the issues that someone in the LGBT+ community could face has been discussed on the show. It also teaches so much about the history of LGBT+ movements as Rupaul is always eager to drop knowledge and give challenges that shines a light on how we got to where we are today. Most importantly, the show doesn’t just gay men, it’s had contestants that are all over the gender spectrum that are out and ready to discuss their identities. They’ve had transgender contestants like Peppermint, gender-fluid folks like Violet Chachki, and non-binary people like Jinkx Monsoon. This show has provided a platform for amazing queens who have gone on to do amazing things for the community, by Rupaul giving these queens a voice thousands of people have been able to see and be inspired by people like them. This is why I agree with season eight winner Bob the Drag Queen when he says that Drag Race is “the most important show to queer culture ever.”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
I hate the notion that you can’t be funny without being offensive. Please someone direct me to where it is explicitly written that in order for someone to laugh, someone else has to hurt. We can move past the physical humor of children falling off bikes and hold my beer moments from the days of America's Funniest Home Videos. We’re now in a very humor-rich environment and I’m of the belief that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the funniest shows around. The show captures and parodies procedural cop shows with a quirkiness that celebrates its diverse cast. No procedural cop show is complete without the hard-ass boss who won’t put up with his subordinates breaking rules or cutting corners. Captain Ray Holt of the 99th precinct inhabits this tired stereotype to the T with his stern, unmoving face and considerable reputation. What’s refreshing is that he is also the first openly gay police captain in New York City, according to the show’s canon. And this isn’t a joke. He’s not suddenly flamboyant when his office door is closed. He openly talks about his struggles being a black, gay cop in New York. If anything the joke is on the archaic administration that laughed at him when he suggested starting a support fund for LGBT and minority police officers. (There was no express no, so he did it anyway.) Captain Holt is a fantastic example of what representation should be; not hidden and not a punchline. Brooklyn Nine-Nine avoids the way comedy can be reductive to underrepresented people.
Degrassi: The Next Generation and First Class
Degrassi has long been one of the most progressive shows, doing much by the way of backing up the fact that “it goes there.” Despite it’s occasional outright campiness and it’s after school special air, Degrassi has been at the forefront of representing LGBTQ characters. The show clearly grew in terms of it’s depth of writing queer characters over it’s considerable run time. At first, characters like closeted Marco were only given airtime in relation to plot lines that focused on their sexuality. Later, the show moved on from exclusively focusing on gay men, or that sexuality was black and white. What I really want to give Degrassi credit for is this focus on fluidity. All the characters in Degrassi were high schoolers, defining themselves and their identities for the first time. The show gave them room to explore, and this is especially demonstrated in one of my favorite characters Imogen Moreno. When first introduced as a freshman she was weird and awkward (aren’t we all) and definitely interested in boys, dating one to an… obsessive extent. In later seasons, she dates two girls respectively, but never “takes back” liking boys. Imogen never put a precise label on her sexuality, and later other characters do the same when exploring their sexualities. When exact labeling is focused on, it’s making a point. The latest season of Next Class made a powerful statement in featuring Rasha, a Syrian refugee, who stood up for herself under the contention that you can't be a good Muslim girl while dating girls. The fact that there's more queer characters than I can count on two hands speaks volumes of Degrassi's history of representation, which is far from perfect--remember how the show recklessly killed it’s only trans character?—but nevertheless there.
Penny Dreadful
When examining historical dramas, it would be easy to assume that queer people didn’t exist until the twentieth century since there’s very, very rarely a mention of the possibility. This is part of a bigger issue of queer erasure in history, but historical fiction with fantastical elements have been doing better, however marginally, when it comes to combating that erasure. Penny Dreadful is Showtime’s amalgam of occult stories, from werewolves to witchery, complete with famous names such as Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Grey. The latter, is established early on as a hedonistic playboy who regularly hosts orgies and will pursue anything with a pulse. Penny Dreadful’s win for representation does not lie with Gray’s apparent pansexuality, since it’s really just exploited for shock. What brings this show to the list is one of the main characters, Ethan Chandler. Spoilers; Ethan is an American werewolf in London, a hot-blooded sharp shooter with a gruff voice and a considerable amount of scenes featuring him seducing lovely English ladies. He’s as hetero as he can get—until he sleeps with Dorian Gray. This also adds dimension to another LGBTQ character in the show, Mr. Lyle, who is flouncy and fussy and certainly a stereotype, with whom Ethan flirts. Nothing ever comes from that, of course, and the narrative of Dorian and Ethan’s tryst isn’t either, but Ethan’s security in this encounter I think is important. Subverting his raging masculinity, Ethan proves that queerness and the alpha stereotype can exist in the same character. Overall Penny Dreadful’s least shocking premise is that—gasp!—queer people have always existed.
Honorable mentions
Matt and I once discussed the practice of slash fiction, and how oftentimes that it is written from a place of frustration in the lack of representation in media. There are no queer characters, so why not write some of them as queer? There’s an absolutely raving fan base behind the practice, and occasionally that fan base is noticed, even acknowledged by a show’s production. This can end in ships being recognized, even validated, but oftentimes ends in queer-baiting.
Here’s some honorable mentions to the list—the characters that never where, but could have been, positive LGBTQ representation.
Lena Luthor
Let’s hop back to Supergirl for a second. Someone introduced in season two was none other than Lena Luthor, sister of the infamous Lex Luthor. While it initially seemed like the setup to be a hero-villain rivalry, it actually turned into an amazing friendship between Supergirl and Luthor. But it doesn’t feel like just a friendship. While at this point Supergirl has only ever dated men, and Lena has never shown interest in anyone the two rely on each other heavily throughout the series, going to one another for advice, help, and just companionship being shown on multiple occasions on cute lunch dates. The chemistry between the two leaves many feeling as though there is something more there, from the loving looks, to Supergirl literally flying in the air while holding Lena in a bridal carry many fans are calling for the CW to give us what it seems like the characters are feeling.
Stiles Stilinski
Teen Wolf does have gay characters, but not the one fans want. Stiles Stilinski has been a fan favorite from the beginning, and even more so when they thought he was in a steamy relationship with the brooding werewolf Derek Hale. While it was apparent he had a pretty deep obsession with a female character Lydia, he also continuously asked a gay character if he thought he was attractive. This left viewers thinking that he could be bisexual. The writers certainly didn’t shut do anything to halt assumptions as they continuously put Stiles into flirtatious situations with Derek and romantic conversations with other male characters. While I’m a big fan of Lydia and Stiles as a couple I would also love it if they could confirm that he is bi. In my opinion there is nowhere near enough representation for bi men on television and having such a popular character on such a popular show would be amazing.
Dean Winchester
Dean Winchester is a lot like the aforementioned Ethan Chandler. He’s all American, rough hewn from years on the road, positively deadly with a gun, and an absolutely unrepentant lady killer. And he’s really in love with an angel named Castiel. At least, that’s what a significant part of the Supernatural fandom claims. And this is something that the show’s production is definitely aware of, and something that keeps Supernatural, now doddering into it’s 13th season, alive. Long, lingering looks. Intense declarations of a “profound bond.” It’s hard not to pick up on the homoerotic subtext of Dean and Castiel’s relationship. There’s also the fact of Dean’s numerous relationships with women throughout his storyline, which is why the fandom generally likes to think of Dean as bisexual. As much as I think it’s important for men to be shown having close friendships, Dean and Castiel’s relationship reads as a volatile love affair filled with I need yous. It’s something that makes sense considering how emotionally constipated Dean is. He can’t admit to feeling anything unless he risks losing Cas. The show plays off of it, exploits it, but likely will never confirm it despite the ardent hopes of thousands.
(06/19/17 6:53pm)
Creating Dream Nest
(06/11/17 8:44pm)
by Nolan Leahy
In the early 90s, console manufacturers and developers went to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is, for them, solely remembered as an unpleasant experience. The organizers of CES didn’t recognize the growing importance of the gaming industry. According to an article from Kidzworld, a statement from Tom Kalinksi, the CEO of Sega America said that in 1991 “The CES organizers...” had “put us in a tent, and you had to walk past all the adult-entertainment vendors to find us. That particular year, it was pouring rain, and the rain leaked right over our new Genesis system. I was just furious with the way CES treated the video games industry,…”
With that type of feedback, it’s difficult to imagine that an annual showcase for video games with such poor quality could last so long. Thankfully, it didn’t.
In 1995, Infortainment World and the Digital Software Association, which is now known as the Entertainment Software Association, put on a showcase program known as E3. E3, or the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is a video game conference that’s usually held in the Los Angeles Convention Center where the top video game development companies gather from all over the world to make announcements and updates on the latest video game hardware and software.
During that first year at E3, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony all showed up with incredible new information and nearly 50,000 people attended. Nintendo started discussing the “Ultra 64” which became the Nintendo 64 and Sega unveiled the Sega Saturn. Sony also stepped into the ring and showed its highly praised first PlayStation.
The annual attendance records haven’t quite shifted because of the normally strict standards of entry. Despite these strict standards, it doesn’t mean that the big announcements stopped coming. In some highlighted years, these gaming companies made some of the most groundbreaking announcements of games that would alter the expectations for the consumer all the way up into today. To make more sense of this, here is a list of some of the best E3 announcements and years:
1. 1996: Nintendo reveals the Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 was the first 3D console for Nintendo. Some of the greatest games ever created were solely onto the Nintendo 64. Nintendo showcased the launch title Super Mario 64, where critics raved about the dynamic camera controls. Three years later, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time released and is still considered by many to this day to be the greatest game of all time.
On a side note for the 1996 E3, Sony displayed Naughty Dog’s Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider made its first appearance, and Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft was also shown, which is a competitive game that is still holding massive tournaments to this day.
2. 2001: Microsoft and Nintendo steal the show
During this E3, Nintendo revealed Super Smash Brothers Melee, a fighting game featuring characters across a variety of Nintendo titles. The game is still heavily played today considering that tournaments like the Evolution Championship Series still have thousands of players come to compete in Super Smash Brothers.
Xbox made its first appearance at this E3 as well as Bungie’s First Person Shooter game Halo: Combat Evolved, which was the phenomenal beginning to a multibillion-dollar franchise. The Xbox host at the time said that it was so confident in the Xbox because of its design of the online broadband environment, which paid off with Xbox Live and the release of Halo 2 to take full advantage of its features.
3. 2006: Anticipation for the next generation
Video games for new upcoming consoles got people excited. Nintendo presented Super Mario Galaxy and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The Wii also received an official release date.
Microsoft proudly showed off Halo 3, which featured the first installment of forge mode, allowing players to edit multiplayer maps to their liking with relative ease. Improvements upon this mode came along later with downloadable content, and later installments of the franchise. This mode spawned a massive creative community that made crazy maps filled with tons of weapons in addition to more casual, innovative creations like Rube Goldberg machines and even golf courses. Yes, that’s right, a First Person Shooter game that allows you to make a golf course. It was a great time.
Lastly there was Sony’s PS3. Introducing the next generation for PlayStation meant big changes for Sony; however, they introduced it with the massive asking price of about $500 for a 20 GB console. This set the stage for Microsoft to take over the market in the console wars in the seventh generation of video games.
4. 2011: Announcing Phenomenal Third Party Games and Sequels
2011’s E3 introduced games that shook up the industry as to what a video game narrative could actually mean in the entertainment medium. Not only were these games continuations of various universes made in previous games, but also many of the following were highly praised by critics. 2K made incredible impressions on viewers when showing Bioshock: Infinite. Electronic Arts revealed Mass Effect 3. Warner Brothers gave us Batman: Arkham City and Square Enix had Tomb Raider (2013).
It was a huge year for video game storytelling, and it shifted the mood to how well the gaming format would spend so much effort into something more real with these stories. When Bioshock: Infinite released, it featured classic Disney-like animations with its character movement. Batman: Arkham City has one of the best graphic novel video game narratives to date with it’s multitude of villains, character bios, a well constructed world, and phenomenal voice acting by Mark Hamill in his role as the Joker.
On top of all that, Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and From Software’s Dark Souls appeared at this E3. It was huge, and there were many, many games coming to consoles that both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners could look forward to.
5. 2017?
There’s a great deal to come within this year’s E3. Electronic Arts already had their press conference and showcased Star Wars: Battlefront II and A Way Out. Microsoft will present on Project Scorpio, which will be the most powerful console to date and will be featured during a 90 minute press conference. Super Mario Odyssey could very well make an appearance from Nintendo. Sony will show the Final Fantasy VII remake, and Bethesda’s announcements are still relatively unknown, but could very well make an intense announcement such as an Elder Scrolls VI or a rumored game called “Starfield."
Whether you’re a gamer or not, the industry is constantly changing. For many people, it’s the preferred medium of modern entertainment and it’s growing so fast that it’s making more money than the film and music industries combined. With that much of a monetary foothold in today’s entertainment, it’s definitely worth paying attention to, because these annual conferences are a glimpse into the future of how we’re going to be consuming content.
Keep up with live coverage of E3 @ByteBSU
Sources:
YouTube
Reddit
Metacritic
KFVS News
Polygon
IGN
kidzworld
(06/10/17 5:34pm)
by Sarah James
Music.
For some, music is nothing more than noise, merely something to listen to, or a distraction from getting something done. For others, music is an escape, an expression of one’s thoughts and emotions, and a way to communicate on a level that once seemed impossible. It is these people, the ones who find themselves in the melodies and lyrics constructed by their heroes, that are also the first ones to criticize. When an artist releases new music that may seem a little different than their previous work, it is usually the fans who react with an uproar.
This has been common within music scenes for decades, but the past few months, there have been many artists accused of “selling out,” or conforming to a mainstream sound in order to make money instead of art, and many of these artists come from the alternative or rock scene - the same scene I love to be a part of. All Time Low received criticism a few months ago when they changed labels and released their single, “Dirty Laundry.” Linkin Park was met with outrage when they released “Heavy” back in March. More recently, Fall Out Boy fans were confused and critical after “Young and Menace” dropped, and followers of Paramore cried out for the band to return to their alternative roots after the release of After Laughter. Check the comments of the “Hard Times” music video and you'll see complaint after complaint of wanting the “old Paramore” back. It seems as if the slightest inkling of an alternative artist moving towards pop is only ever met with a negative response.
Why is that? Why do fans get so upset when the artists they love switch up their sound? Does sounding like pop automatically mean an artist is selling out? And what about those artists who are constantly breaking the genre barriers? Does genre as we know it have a future in this ever evolving music industry?
Many people view pop music as an easy way out, especially fans who come from more selective music scenes. Pop music isn't difficult; following the formula to create a hit is fairly simple, and most pop artists don't write their own songs. To many, pop music just isn't as artistic. However, sounding more mainstream is not necessarily a sign of selling out. It all has to do with authenticity; was the artist being true to themselves in creating their music? Or were they the mouthpiece of a corporate machine?
In the case of Fall Out Boy, “Young and Menace” was a chance for the band to play with new recording technology while also utilizing the talent they have as a band. While some may see the voice modulation and heavy drop in the chorus as a sign of selling out, any interview with Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz proves that this song is still genuine, still 100% Fall Out Boy. Hayley Williams has been honest about her struggles as an artist, opening up about how she considered quitting after the release of Paramore’s self-titled album in 2014. Though After Laughter is definitely more pop than rock, a little background and a quick look at the lyrics show that this album is genuine. Yet, that doesn't stop fans from complaining.
It all has to do with authenticity; was the artist being true to themselves in creating their music? Or were they the mouthpiece of a corporate machine?Maybe this is because we immerse ourselves so fully into music. When we find an artist that speaks to us and then they change, it feels as if we lose parts of ourselves. Personally, I place a lot of who I am as an individual in the artists I love. My friends know me as the girl who loves Twenty One Pilots, and large chunks of my identity reside in the fact that I am part of the Clique.
When an artist drastically changes, fans are quite suddenly left feeling as if they've been abandoned. I would be lying if I said I haven't been critical of artists I love. When Fall Out Boy returned from their hiatus in 2011, all I wanted was to have the old Fall Out Boy back. Yet, over time, I have come to appreciate each era of music this band has offered, and I look forward to the next era of Fall Out Boy with the release of MANIA this fall.
More and more, we see artists branch out of a genre they had previously ascribed to, only to be met with questions and ridicule. More musicians are taking inspirations from genres of music outside of their own. However, genre in music as we know it is constantly changing. As previously mentioned, I am a huge fan of Twenty One Pilots, a band who has rose to notoriety by creating music influenced by a variety of genres. While they're mostly classified as pop, rock, or alternative, there are heavy electronic, folk, and even reggae vibes to their songs. Maybe this breaking of genre barriers is even more authentic than staying in the lines that radio stations and award shows have drawn for musicians. Maybe artists branching out is actually a means of expression, and not an act of selling out. Maybe, just maybe, the artists we love create music they want to listen to, and all they ever want is for us to listen to it too.
(06/08/17 2:00pm)
Cornerstone Center for the Arts is offering a variety of different events this June.
(06/06/17 10:00am)
After 50 years, the Woody/Shales building of the LaFollette Complex is being retired, but 59 year old custodian Jerry Coates, who has worked in the complex since 1999, is still four or five years away from retiring himself.