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Magic, Monsters, and Make-Believe Heroes looks at fantasy film, television, and participative culture as evidence of our ongoing need for a mythic vision-for stories larger than ourselves into which we write ourselves and through which we can become the heroes of our own story. Why do we tell and retell the same stories over and over when we know they can't possibly be true? Contrary to popular belief, it's not because pop culture has run out of good ideas. Rather, it is precisely because these stories are so fantastic, some resonating so deeply that we elevate them to the status of religion. Illuminating everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Dungeons and Dragons, and from Drunken Master to Mad Max, Douglas E. Cowan offers a modern manifesto for why and how mythology remains a vital force today.

Fantasy films. --- Fantasy games. --- Fantasy. --- dystopia. --- fairy tales. --- fantasy culture. --- fantasy novels. --- fantasy world. --- fantasy. --- grimm. --- heroes. --- heros journey. --- imaginary. --- joseph campbell. --- king arthur. --- magical creature. --- mists of avalon. --- monsters. --- morality. --- myth. --- mythic hero. --- mythic imagination. --- mythology. --- religion. --- religious studies. --- storytelling. --- the hobbit. --- world building.

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In Pixar and the Aesthetic Imagination, Eric Herhuth draws upon film theory, animation theory, and philosophy to examine how animated films address aesthetic experience within contexts of technological, environmental, and sociocultural change. Since producing the first fully computer-animated feature film, Pixar Animation Studios has been a creative force in digital culture and popular entertainment. But, more specifically, its depictions of uncanny toys, technologically sublime worlds, fantastic characters, and meaningful sensations explore aesthetic experience and its relation to developments in global media, creative capitalism, and consumer culture. This investigation finds in Pixar's artificial worlds and transformational stories opportunities for thinking through aesthetics as a contested domain committed to newness and innovation as well as to criticism and pluralistic thought.

Motion pictures --- Animated films --- Animated cartoons (Motion pictures) --- Animated videos --- Cartoons, Animated (Motion pictures) --- Motion picture cartoons --- Moving-picture cartoons --- Caricatures and cartoons --- Abstract films --- Animation (Cinematography) --- Animation cels --- Aesthetics --- Aesthetics. --- Psychological aspects. --- Pixar (Firm) --- Pixar Animation Studios --- Disney Pixar (Firm) --- Toy story (Motion picture) --- Monsters, Inc. (Motion picture) --- Incredibles (Motion picture) --- Ratatouille (Motion picture) --- Disney Pixar Monsters, Inc. (Motion picture) --- Monsters, Incorporated (Motion picture) --- History and criticism. --- aesthetics. --- animated feature. --- animated film. --- animated movies. --- animated. --- animation theory. --- animation. --- animator. --- art. --- artistic. --- character development. --- childrens movies. --- computer animated. --- consumer culture. --- creativity. --- culture. --- digital culture. --- digital. --- environment. --- film art. --- film philosophy. --- global media. --- media studies. --- performing arts. --- philosophy. --- pixar animation studios. --- pixar. --- pop culture. --- popular culture. --- sociocultural. --- sociology. --- storytelling. --- technology. --- toys. --- world building.

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Forty original contributions on games and gaming culture What does Pokémon Go tell us about globalization? What does Tetris teach us about rules? Is feminism boosted or bashed by Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? How does BioShock Infinite help us navigate world-building?From arcades to Atari, and phone apps to virtual reality headsets, video games have been at the epicenter of our ever-evolving technological reality. Unlike other media technologies, video games demand engagement like no other, which begs the question—what is the role that video games play in our lives, from our homes, to our phones, and on global culture writ large? How to Play Video Games brings together forty original essays from today’s leading scholars on video game culture, writing about the games they know best and what they mean in broader social and cultural contexts. Read about avatars in Grand Theft Auto V, or music in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. See how Age of Empires taught a generation about postcolonialism, and how Borderlands exposes the seedy underbelly of capitalism. These essays suggest that understanding video games in a critical context provides a new way to engage in contemporary culture. They are a must read for fans and students of the medium.

Video games --- Popular culture. --- Social aspects. --- Design. --- Moral and ethical aspects. --- Age of Empires. --- Authorship. --- Avatar. --- BioShock Infinite. --- Bioshock. --- Borderlands. --- Capitalism. --- Casual game. --- Civilization. --- Clash Royale. --- Colonialism. --- Conquest. --- Cookie Clicker. --- Donkey Kong. --- Don’t Starve. --- Empathy. --- Environmental storytelling. --- Ethics. --- FIFA. --- Fatherhood. --- Feminism. --- Feminist game studies. --- First-person shooter. --- Free-to-play. --- Game Dev Tycoon. --- Game criticism. --- Game design. --- Game developers. --- Game industry. --- Game studies. --- Gameplay. --- Gaming capital. --- Gender. --- Grand Theft Auto. --- Heterosexual masculinity. --- Hideo Kojima. --- Immersion. --- Imperialism. --- Independent games. --- Indies. --- Interactivity. --- Inventory. --- Jonathan Blow. --- Ken Levine. --- Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. --- LGBTQ. --- Labor. --- Legend of Zelda. --- Leisure Suit Larry. --- Lucas Pope. --- Magic circle. --- Masculinity. --- Media studies. --- Metal Gear. --- Mobile game. --- Monetization. --- Morality. --- NBA 2K16. --- Narrative. --- Naughty Dog games. --- Nintendo. --- PaRappa the Rapper. --- Papers, Please. --- Planescape Torment. --- Player character. --- Point-and-click adventure. --- Post-apocalyptic. --- Postcolonial. --- Puzzle games. --- QGCon. --- Queer gaming. --- Queerness and Games Conference. --- RPG. --- Race. --- Real-time strategy. --- Realism. --- Role-playing game. --- Shigeru Miyamoto. --- Sid Meier. --- Sierra Online. --- Simulation. --- Sniper Elite III. --- Sound. --- Spike Lee. --- Sports video games. --- Strategy. --- Super Mario Bros. --- Temporality. --- Tetris. --- The Last of Us. --- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. --- User-created content. --- User-generated content. --- World-building.