scholarly journals The Obligatory Underwater Level: Posthuman Genealogy of Amphibian Human in Media

Corpus Mundi ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-56
Author(s):  
Alesha Alesha Serada

Will humankind ever be able to live underwater? To answer this question from the perspective of visual media studies, I analyze narrative and expressive means used for positive representation of underwater experiences in several examples of screen media. My examples are principally different by origin and yet united by their highly enjoyable effect of immersion into underwater worlds. My primary focus is on Amphibian Man (1928), a cult early science fiction novel by Alexandr Belyaev adapted for screen in 1962 in the USSR.I also explore its unintentionally close contemporary reproduction in The Shape of Water (2016), which even led to accusations in plagiarism. The third example is a contemporary independent video game ABZU by Giant Squid (2016), which replays the same theme of amphibian human existence in a positive light. These cases present a surprisingly rare view of a safe, friendly and interactive marine world, approached by the protagonist who can breathe underwater. I apply the posthumanist lens to find out that, surprisingly, aquatic cyborgs seem to be underrated by the queer thought (Haraway, 2015, 2016); I conclude that the model of ‘queer ecologies’ may become the needed development.

Author(s):  
Nurmi Nurmi ◽  
Hadi Putra ◽  
Penti Nursida ◽  
Khoiro Mahbubah ◽  
Neni Hermita

This study aims to improve 3rd grade students’ science learning outcomes bylearning to use visual multimedia. This research method uses classroom actionresearch. The subject of this research was the third grade students of secondsemester of elementary school which conducted 30 students. Based on theresults of research by using visual media, it have been found that theimprovement learning outcome, seen from the initial average score before theaction of 3rd grade class students from 65.5 to 83.83. The results of this studyindicate that with the use of visual media can improve student learningoutcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem McLoud

In this paper, I argue for a new ancient Middle Eastern chronology in which the Mesopotamian “high” chronology is used in correlation with K. A. Kitchen’s “low” chronology for the Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty. Although my primary focus is on the Akkadian empire and the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties in Egypt, I also show that this chronological reconciliation obtains widespread consistency with data over the total period of Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisation throughout the third and second millennia B.C. I also discuss the Hebrew chronology in the framework of this new ME chronology.


2021 ◽  
pp. 540-554
Author(s):  
Tegan Bristow ◽  
João Orecchia Zúñiga

This chapter presents an examination of why—in contemporary Africa, with Southern Africa as the primary focus—there are very few artists working with sound in a manner that fits the paradigm of sound art as it is known in Euro-America. Emphasis is not placed on a lack of intellectual engagement, which is significant in the Euro-American definition of sound art. What is presented does not aim to deviate from this, but rather acts to affirm an engagement with alternative forms of knowledge and mechanisms of sound found in the South. Three areas are explored; these however are interlinked and do not stand alone. The first is an understanding of the practice of interdisciplinarity as political engagement. The second explores the role of community and communal interaction with sound and how this is fundamental to form in the region. The third extends this by showing how the histories of knowledge and power are fundamental to these explorations in the region, emphasizing how contemporary explorations of sound are used to both contain and shift these histories. The chapter takes shape with the use of case studies and draws on interviews conducted by the authors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-31
Author(s):  
Daniel Kurniawan Salamoon ◽  
Cindy Muljosumarto

AbstrakVideo game sebagai bentuk media visual di era modern memiliki peranan dalam masyarakat sebagai salah satu bentuk hiburan yang bersifat interaktif. Video game terus berkembang dalam tata visual sebagai bentuk evolusi dari teknologi video game tersebut. Evolusi dalam video game membuat genre dalam video game juga mengalami perkembangan. Salah satu genre yang menjadi tren adalah genre post apocalyptic. Penelitian ini mencoba melihat narasi yang hendak disampaikan lewat tata visual beberapa video game dengan genre post apocalyptic. Metode yang dilakukan adalah dengan mengumpulkan data screen capture dari beberapa judul video game dengan rating yang baik. Dari metode ini, teori yang digunakan untuk melakukan analisa adalah teori semiotika khususnya yang berkaitan dengan tata visual pada video game khususnya elemen warna yang menjadi kunci genre ini dengan menggunakan software Image. Setelah itu data dianalisis lebih lanjut dengan metode AEIOU (Action, Environment, Interaction, Object, User). Studi ini memberi gambaran bagaimana tata visual yang menjadi ciri khas genre game post apocalyptic dan nilai estetis yang bisa dipelajari dari genre tersebut. Pada akhirnya studi ini dapat menjadi pondasi dalam melakukan riset warna khususnya dalam pengembangan sebuah video game Kata kunci : desain game, post apocalyptic, video game, warna AbstractVideo games as a form of visual media in the modern era has a role play in society as one of interactive entertainment form. Video games continue to grow in visual elements as evolution forms from video game technology itself. The evolution of video games also makes the genre of video games experience development. This research attempts to observe the narrative is to be conveyed through the visual elements of several video games with the Post-apocalyptic genre. The method used was to collect screen capture data from several video game titles with good ratings. The theory that used to conduct the analysis is a semiotic theory relate to visual elements, especially the colors element that is the key to this genre. The theory that used to conduct the analysis is a semiotic theory relate to visual elements of the video game, especially the colors element that is the key to this genre. The theory that used to conduct the analysis is a semiotic theory relate to visual elements of the video game, especially the colors element that is the key to this genre using image software. Afterward, data analyzed subsequently with AEIOU's (Action, Environment, Interaction, Object, User) method. This study gives a description of how the visual elements become a characteristic of the Post-apocalyptic genre and the aesthetic value that can be learned from the genre. So eventually these studies can be the foundation in conducting color research especially in the development of a video game. Keywords: color, game design, post apocalyptic, video game


The first two seasons of the television series Star Trek: Discovery, the newest instalment in the long-running and influential Star Trek franchise, received media and academic attention from the moment they arrived on screen. Discovery makes several key changes to Star Trek’s well-known narrative formulae, particularly the use of more serialized storytelling, appealing to audiences’ changed viewing habits in the streaming age – and yet the storylines, in their topical nature and the broad range of socio-political issues they engage with, continue in the political vein of the franchise’s megatext. This volume brings together eighteen essays and one interview about the series, with contributions from a variety of disciplines including cultural studies, literary studies, media studies, fandom studies, history and political science. They explore representations of gender, sexuality and race, as well as topics such as shifts in storytelling and depictions of diplomacy. Examining Discovery alongside older entries into the Star Trek canon and tracing emerging continuities and changes, this volume will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in Star Trek and science fiction in the franchise era.


Author(s):  
Paul Bullock

‘Constellations: Jurassic Park’ explores how Steven Spielberg used the film to investigate several key themes that have been important to him across his career. These themes are: nature and humankind’s relationship with it, the importance of cinematic fantasy and how it shapes our view of the world, and the impact of toxic masculinity on both men and women. The book also looks at how Spielberg blends genres across his career as a whole and Jurassic Park specifically. This is particularly true of the science fiction and horror genres, which are used in Jurassic Park to create a film that is both cathartically scary and thematically satisfying. These points are contextualised within the wider scope of Spielberg’s life and career to understand how Jurassic Park acted as bridging point between the light entertainments he had been known for up to that point (Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, for example) and the more serious filmmaking he focused on after its release (Saving Private Ryan and Lincoln).


Author(s):  
Amanda C. Cote

In 2012, video gaming culture saw an interesting, paradoxical divergence. On one hand, game journalists and trade organizations testified that gaming had significantly diversified from its masculine roots, with women comprising nearly half of all gamers. On the other hand, gaming spaces witnessed increasing, public incidents of sexism and misogyny. Gaming Sexism analyzes the video game industry and its players to explain the roots of these contradictory narratives, how they coexist, and what their divergence means in terms of power and gender equality. Media studies scholar Amanda C. Cote first turns to video game magazines to assess how longstanding expectations for “gamers” are shifting, how this provokes anxiety in traditional audiences, and how these players resist change, at times employing harassment and sexism to drive out new audience members. She follows this analysis by interviewing female players, to see how their experiences have been affected by games’ changing environment. Interviewees reveal many persistent barriers to full participation in gaming, including overtly and implicitly sexist elements within texts, gaming audiences, and the industry. At the same time, participants have developed nuanced strategies for managing their exclusion, pursuing positive gaming experiences, and competing with men on their own turf. Thus, Gaming Sexism reveals extensive, persistent problems in achieving gender equality in gaming. However, it also demonstrates the power of a motivated, marginalized audience, and draws on their experiences to explore how structural inequalities in gaming spaces—and culture more broadly—can themselves be gamed and overcome.


Author(s):  
Ian Rocksborough-Smith

The third chapter of this book shifts to address the question of nationalism and its historically contingent forms in urban America. This chapter specifically looks at how black nationalism in Chicago became a complex phenomenon that drew on older traditions and modalities of black politics through the local organizations and activists that challenged simple dichotomies of integration and separatism, militancy and accommodation. A primary focus in the chapter examines the establishment of the Afro-American Heritage Foundation (AAHA) in 1958 and its subsequent public-history efforts—notably the promotion of Negro History Week in the city through the early 1960s and into the Black Power 1960s.


2020 ◽  
pp. 105-144
Author(s):  
Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee

The third chapter concentrates on how Indian science fiction met the representational challenges regarding energy during the non-aligned era. These decades were marked by chronic ‘energy crises’ in the country, involving massive shortages in food and fuel. Drawing on recent theoretical developments in Energy Humanities, the chapter suggests that much of the science fiction of the time was animated by attempts to present the pitfalls of thinking about energy exclusively in terms of resource and extraction and imagine what a non-exploitative energy-system could look like.


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