Our first class exploration involved watching and discussing David Cronenburg's film eXistenZ. The film depicts a world in which virtual reality is so real that it is impossible to tell which is which. The film reflects several common issues in Cronenburg's films including the crossover and conflict between the organic and the mechanical. I discussed with the students how the genre of Horror film often reflects current social fears. For example, Horror films of the 50s tended to revolve around beings from outer space or mutations resulting from some kind of atomic poisoning. What was happening in the 50s... hmmmm... the space race and the atom bomb. In the 70s we got the slasher film...penetrating knives killing girls right after they had sex...hmmmm...post sexual revolution. So having shared this reducitonist version of complex genre theory, I asked them to explore what social fears the film represented regarding gaming and virtual reality.

eXistenZ trailer

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to You Can Study That? I have given this blog that title because many people think the idea of seriously studying videogames as an academic pursuit is something of a joke. Like the tried and true apocryphal favorite, underwater basket weaving. But videogames are not only (potentially) an electronic art form but also have a powerful impact on our culture as well as individual members of society. All of which are good reasons to think seriously about this form of play.