The Cabin in the… Wait, what? – “The Cabin in the Woods” Review

***Contains Spoilers***

Generally speaking, I am not the greatest fan of horror films. This is largely because I don’t find them scary and I dislike their lack of subtlety and plausibility. However, the advertising campaign behind “The Cabin in the Woods” lead me to believe that someone out there had finally created a clever and original take on the horror film, exploring how films of the genre could be made by murdering real people and passing it off as fiction (stripping away the one glimmer of hope that helps you sleep afterwards) in a way that uses metaphors the issues with things such as the industrialisation of modern filmmaking and mass, popular culture.

 I could not have been further from the truth.

It seems that horror films are really made to satisfy men with a lust for gore and sex and lack the mental capacity to concentrate on a plot more complicated than “a monster kills of loads of stereotypical characters who try and sleep with each other and some might survive,” though they probably don’t know the meaning of the word “stereotype” (or possibly even “characters”) which is probably why my dream of metaphors and satire went right out the window along with subtlety and originality within the first twenty or so minutes. In fact, the thing that was meant to make the film stand out made it awful. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t believable and, now I really think about it, it wasn’t actually that gory. I mean yes, there’s a lot of blood but then you’d also see lots of that at a hospital or if you go to one of those “give blood” drives. Admittedly, it wouldn’t necessarily be smeared all over the walls but the setting ‘room littered with bodies and filled with red sticky-ness’ is totally over used and has lost its impact on the modern audience.

The film’s defining characteristic of “it’s actually real” has turned out to be its biggest let down. Instead of adding to the fear or giving the film some kind of deep meaning it actually detracts from the horror. Each time they cut back to the ‘studio’ you are, more or less, told what’s going to happen next and given plenty of time to get over the last the scare, if you found one. It more closely resembles a spoof than an actual film, which would be fine but that’s not how it was marketed. The conspiracy aspect of the film would be scarier and more believable if their reasoning behind it was actually possible…

Now, it is physically impossible for me to try and explain this without giving it away, so if you don’t want the film spoiled then leave this post now with the knowledge that I thought the film, over all, was incredibly disappointing though possibly just because I’d had considerably higher expectations for it.

Right, as you’re still reading this I assume you don’t mind me totally ruining the ending of the film. One of the characters that was previously thought to have been murdered to death (technical term) suddenly returns and having convinced her that his conspiracy theory was correct, helps the only surviving character to get into the studio by hacking into the controls of the monster elevator. Already sound unconvincing? It gets worse…

The reason characters in horror films always fit a stereotype and why they need to be killed is to satisfy ancient Gods that have been trapped in the Earth. Yes, you did indeed read that right – sacrifices to Ancient Gods. If you hadn’t picked up on that vibe from what was said throughout the film (and if you’re a typical horror film fan, you probably won’t have), Sigourney Weaver (yes, actual Sigourney Weaver) appears right at the end to explain it all just before she’s eaten by a zombie… and then the world explodes. Yeah, again you read correctly. The earth is destroyed at the end because, y’know, that DEFINITELY adds to the realism.

So, over all, I found this film to be horrifically disappointing; it’s unrealistic, unsurprising and underwhelming, but at least it gave me something to write about.

Have you seen this film? Got an opinion? Add a comment!

Media Assessment

Convergence in ‘The Independent’ – A News Media Case Study

In 1986 the Newspaper ‘The Independent’ was established. Whilst this paper is still fairly popular to consumers, the company has had to adapt to changes in the news media environment which has led to the convergence of this text. It has developed a website, an app for phones, Facebook and iPods and has its own profile on Facebook and Twitter.

Originally, news stories that would appear in papers could have happened a few days ago so its audience were a little behind in terms of information however, with developments in technology, particularly the internet, news and information can be accessed instantly. However, the time it takes to create, print and distribute newspapers mean that the articles contained within them are always several hours behind current information and events. To compete with media that can provide more instant news, papers such as ‘The Independent’ have begun using new media to allow their audiences to receive stories quicker as well as to access a greater audience.

One of the most recent developments in new media is the micro-blogging site ‘Twitter’ which allows “for the online and instant dissemination of short fragments of data from a variety of official and unofficial sources,” which is to say that the site lets its users create short stories, often headlines with links to detailed articles on other websites, which can be shared instantly with its followers via the internet. This system turns its users into prosumers as they can both read and produce their own texts as well as share other people’s texts with others. This creates an interactivity that is not seen in old media; users can reply directly to the producers of content and allows people to share their views and the views of others in a way that can be made as selective as is desired. Twitter is also useful as a way of finding news stories for papers as it enables all its users to “obtain immediate access to information held by all or at least most, and in which each person can instantly add to that knowledge” so that people can share events as they happen with users and add details as they find them which is useful both to papers and to users as they can find out information quicker.

The Independent’s twitter feed is divided into different sections in much the same way as the newspaper itself is, for example separating media, politics and world news into different parts of the paper as well as different twitter profiles. This allows its audience to receive information only about the parts of the news they find of interest and lets people with a specific interest to find their Twitter profile who may not have normally been part of the audience for the paper. The use of Twitter in this way is often seen from either a technological determinist or liberal perspective. Technological determinists would suggest that we use this service as we have adapted to want more immediate news because the technology has evolved to support this whilst those using a liberal perception would suggest that as we have needed more instant information, the technology developed to fill this gap. However, you could look at this from a free market model and suggest that when these technologies developed, the owners of such sites and the industries that use them have marketed them to consumers as useful in an attempt to generate greater profits.

The most obvious example of convergence is probably seen in the use of website links in the Independent’s Twitter and Facebook feeds; within their posts on these two sites, they often include the wed address to the article on their website. This allows people who have an interest in the story they are promoting to find out extra details but also serves the purpose of driving more people to the site which means that they can create a bigger profit from their advertising on the site. This suggests that the use of micro-blogging sites is to quickly update its audience whilst the website is for detail as well as serving as the way in which the paper generates money for providing these services. The news site also allows people to comment on the story but in a “generally filtered or moderated form of participatory communication” compared to Facebook and Twitter as the website is controlled by the company itself so they are able to remove any content that they feel is inappropriate with greater ease.

The other feature The Independents uses on Facebook is their app. This allows Facebook users to show their friends what articles they have been reading, show app users what articles are popular both with their friends and the world and suggests articles that might be of interest. The app links Facebook users directly to the article on the website, again driving up views and profitability, and allows users’ friends to see that they have read these articles and provides them with a link to these articles. This is beneficial not only to The Independent, as it allows them to access a greater audience, but also to consumers as they are able to keep up with trends of information, giving them the gratification of information as well as integration and social interaction both through the use of commenting on texts and through being able to discuss articles with friends and share this information and their opinions with others.

Apps are also available on other platforms, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and mp4 devices such as iPods. Often to access these there is a subscription fee and it is through this that The Independent make their profit. However, the development of this can be seen through other perspectives rather than just free market. As the audience for newspapers are largely commuters, it can be seen that these professionals desired an easier, more compact and less time consuming way of accessing articles which lead to the development of these apps. It can also be seen from the technological determinist perspective that we now access the news in this way as this is how the technology has developed and we have adapted accordingly to make use of it.

The Independent have also recently begun a sister paper ‘The I’ which reflects the modern use of technology to access news in its format; it uses a lot of the same information and pictures as The Independent but changes the order and the level of detail to suit both its target audience and the values it portrays. Articles are grouped into pages according to their relevance to one another, much like how online articles contain links to others that are likely to be of interest or are relevant to what is being read, rather than necessarily by their importance as is traditional in newspapers.

To see this, you can compare the way in which the same story appears in both papers and on their website. Looking at the story about Vince Cable’s feeling over the BskyB saga, ‘The Independent’ uses less images and a longer headline compared to ‘The I’. The story is also more detailed and, unlike ‘The I,’ does not have a related story directly next or underneath it. The website uses a more similar headline to ‘The Independent’ but the style and depth of the story more closely resembles that of ‘The I.’ It also has links down the side of the article to popular and related stories, which again is more like ‘The I’ than ‘The Independent.’

It also interesting to compare The Independent’s use of new media and convergence to that of ‘The Times’. The way in which these two newspapers have decided to use technology is similar but they are using different models to create their profits – whilst access to most of The Independent’s online content and apps is free, ‘The Times’ charges a subscription fee to access both their website and apps. This means that they may create a greater profit from their audience but they have limited the size of the audience they can reach compared to The Independent.

The Independent has made use of new media both to create greater revenue and reach a wider audience. The development of new technologies has meant that their articles can be accessed anywhere and by almost anyone and instantly, which has led to changes in the design of their paper, the creation of ‘This I’ and the greater use and importance of their website, social networking feeds and applications for mobile devices.

Bibliography

Bardoel, J & Deuze, M. (2001). Network Journalism: Converging Competences of Media Professionals and Professionalism. Australian Journalism Review. 23 (2), 91-103.

Deuze, M. (2003). The Web and Its Journalisms: Considering the Consequences of Different Types of Newsmedia Online. New Media Society. 5 (2), 203-230.

Hermida, A. (2010). Twittering The News. Journalism Practice. 4 (3), 297-308.

Oblak, T. (2005). The Lack of Interactivity and Hypertextuality in Online Media. Gazette: The International Journal for Communication Studies. 67 (1), 87-106

Pavlik, J. (1999). New Media and News: Implications for the Future of Journalism. New Media & Society. 1 (1), 54-59.

Sunstein, C (2006). Infotopia: How many Minds Produce Knowledge. Oxford University Press. 219.

HCJ catch up

Well, I had intended over the past 4 weeks to do one HCJ post a week to catch up on the ones that I have so far failed to blog about, but that clearly didn’t work, so I’m smushing (technical term) it all into this one. Enjoy.

German Idealism

German idealism derives from an antithesis and dislike of British Empiricism and was influenced by the Romantic Movement.  It is based on the idea that metaphysics as a possible/worthwhile activity.

Kant, “the anti-Hume” according to my notes, tried to prove that all knowledge comes from experience but not through generalising observations through pure logic. He says that our knowledge is also based on ideas that are, in a way, instinctive and not logical.

	A Priori	A Posteriori
Analytic	Triangles have three sides Bicycles have 2 wheels	???
Synthetic	7+5=12	Dogs bark Fire burns

Hegel believed that the only thing that does not change is that things change. He came up with the idea that all things have a “geist” or ghost form so that though things change/decay, it is still that thing. For example, though you grow older and change, your still you therefore you must have a geist.

Schopenhauer suggested that suffering is essential to life and is caused by will which makes people pursue things that leave them feeling unfulfilled and unhappy. He thinks that a good man goes against will and nature.

Scepticism

The 4 Great sceptics:

1.       Marx – class ideology, economics
2.       Nietzsche – morality, culture
3.       Weber – power, legitimacy
4.       Freud – sexuality, irrationality

                            all believe there is no absolute or definite truth and that all experience is seen from a certain perspective. They all also think that the clouding of the enlightenment lead to cultural pessimism.

Weber & Bureaucracy

As there was no revolution as Marx had desired/predicted, there was a rise in the German state and social democracy (i.e. very bureaucratic, efficient and rigid in structure) which was then copied in England, France, America, etc. This type of state lead to the creation of the middle class and more jobs. However, it also leads to greater separation between employer and employee.

Bureaucratic plans are rationalised to the public who obey due to their authority (domination and legitimacy)

1.       Traditional (family, ritual, etc. – honour & dignity)
2.       Charisma (‘magical’ powers, religion, personality, costume & ceremony)
3.       Legal-rational/bureaucratic (qualification, routine, professionalism)

4 fundamental types of social action:
1.       Instrumental-rational action – rational/useful
2.       Value-rational action – good practice
3.       Effectual-emotional  affirmation/disaffirmation – emotional
4.       Traditional orientation – society

Nietzsche

Nietzsche separates reality from what is perceived using Greek Gods Apollo and Dionysus. Apollo, a god of light, dreams, knowledge and reason, represents idealism whilst Dionysus, god of wine, madness and ecstasy, is the chaos in reality however, neither can exist without the other. Greek tragedy relied on the conflict between Apollonian and Dionysian perception to create the struggle and misfortune needed for the genre.

From the reading it is clear that, at the time of writing his book ‘Birth of Tragedy’ at least, “Nietzsche believed all people suffer, but that the Greeks (and therefore the Germans, who he considered to be the most superior race since the Greeks themselves) suffered the most.” It is interesting to consider that these two ages are amongst the most fruitful and influential in terms of philosophy however, would his opinion of this be different if he were from a different country.

Additional thoughts on Anti-Semitism

In seminar, we discussed in what way others might have thought the Jews would alter their society. To me, I couldn’t see why they were threatened – after research and discussions with a friend of mine, I came to realise that, whilst Judaism differs in some aspects such as diet, there were few differences that could dramatically change their culture as the religion suggests that only those born into the religion need to practice it. Unless you are born to a Jewish mother, you are not truly Jewish therefore there is no sense in others of the time, or even now, being worried about being converted or having their culture altered. After a long chat over facebook with my friend, we concluded that the only real and justified (in a warped sense of the word) reason for this prejudice is ignorance, which is true even in today’s society and of many other religions or cultures.

We also discussed an aspect I left out of my paper which is the way in which different people reacted to conquerors at the time. From my understanding of the reading, most civilians were happy to accept their new ruler as long as they were not made inferior (e.g. enslaved) whilst Jewish people were more concerned about protecting their practices rather than their freedom – as long as they were able to follow the rules they were given by God, they did not mind (to an extent) being made to work.  This could have lead to people resenting them as they did not stand together to protect their freedom.