I love how young and fresh the research is in the reading! It’s current and up to date as it uses examples shown in popular TV shows and films of this generation – unlike the film books I’m reading for other classes that are rather ancient in their sources and evidence cited… I got excited because Rushkoff talked about Community. (It’s one of my favourites!) It really helps that I’ve watched the shows he’s bringing up because it helps me understand his argument and the overall concept better.
“Characters must learn how their universes work. Narrativity is replaced by something more like putting together a puzzle by making connections and recognising patterns.” – Douglas Rushkoff
Now I can intelligibly explain why I like Community in the first place. I love the randomness of it. Everyday at Greendale is different and wacky; you can’t predict what the producers are going to come up with next. Unlike in Hollywood films where there are the basic narrative arcs and “main character immunities” that we’ve come to expect.
Characters are well defined, but a few seasons later, the members in the group begin to analyse each other and use their set characteristic traits against them – so much like life! It’s not uncommon that people form impressions and judgements of others and then use what they’ve learnt about them to manipulate or use them.
Perhaps cinema is an enjoyment to us because it simplifies life for us; makes it seem like a narrative and that because we’re the main character, we will turn out okay in the end. Is that why as humans, we inherently want the film to have a neatly tied up ending because we hope that will be so for us? Using the film’s screen time to escape our complex lives to enter a world where we wish we could belong…