Author: arbuonaiuto

Star Trek is an unusual series for me to watch, as someone who is fascinated by space epics and grew up hearing about it constantly. And during my time in this class I’ve come to learn that the series just… doesn’t capture me in the way I thought it would ! I feel bad about it, but I don’t think it’s my thing. I mean maybe deep down fantasy and horror are my genres and sci-fi is just the cool popular kid I want to be like. But I digress. I think Data may have changed my mind about the series.

I have always loved the concept of androids in media. My favorite video game, Persona 3, has an android character named Aigis. I remember playing the game for the first time in middle school and being shaken to my core as she said “I want to live.” It took me some time to fully understand what this statement meant. Of course, she already appeared to be alive. But I think she was referring to living rather than the state of being alive. Making memories and really feeling. I thought about this when I watched The Measure of a Man, particularly when Data talked about what made memories unique. While androids are often depicted as emotionless machines, Data expresses his deep need for emotions in order to recall memories for what they are and experience them properly. While Maddox seemed to disagree with the importance of giving machines humanlike emotions, Data is displaying here the importance of emotions in recalling memories. Much like in Inside Out, memories can be experienced different ways depending on the emotions felt at the time. Without the ability to feel, Data would recall facts and nothing else. Sometimes, that isn’t enough.

Marjorie Prime reminded me a bit of a game of telephone. At the start, you have the real story of how Walter proposed to Marjorie. However, at her request, Walter Prime changes the story to meet her romanticized version of the life she no longer remembers. When Marjorie passes, this altered story is passed on to Marjorie Prime and, later, Tess Prime as well. These AI versions of this family are likely far removed from the real versions of Walter, Marjorie, and Tess. Aside from the altered proposal story, requested by Marjorie, we have the story of the flags she recalled, which were a scene from a movie and not an experience she and Walter ever had. But because the Primes are told this is true, it has now become true. I wonder if we can call this a version of the Mandela Effect. Collectively, they believe in an altered version of the truth. Though, it’s because they were told an altered version of it.

Though, if I’m being perfectly honest, the best part of the movie was when Jon was holding the shiba puppy. I couldn’t focus on anything else in that scene the dog was so damn cute I couldn’t handle it. The movie had a great concept, though I feel the execution could have been a bit stronger. Regardless, it was worth the watch if only for the cutest dog I have ever seen.

I told my dad about Marjorie Prime and he said it bore a resemblance to the Black Mirror episode titled “Be Right Back.” Now, I don’t have any intention on watching Black Mirror, but if anyone is a fan of the series or curious about it, it might be beneficial to take a look !

A few days ago, I started replaying one of my favorite video games, Omori. The game is an emotional roller coaster ( ha ha) and when I first played it, I had to take a step back every so often to recollect myself. It’s a masterpiece of a game and I feel that it connects a bit to this unit because in this game, emotions are an important gameplay mechanic when it comes to battles. Your emotional changes in battle will increase or decrease your stats and change the tides of battle. It’s really unique and fun ! 

The reason I bring this up is because upon starting the game, I thought to myself “I’ve already played this game ! This can’t possibly hurt me.” And yet I started to weep the moment i saw my favorite character. Which is exactly what happened to me when I watched Inside Out. I forgot that this movie about emotions could make me so emotional. While I have so much I can say about this movie, I want to focus on the portrayal of the “emotions” in other characters head. While Riley seems to experience joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger in a way that may be seen as “standard,” the same can’t be said about many of the other characters. An example would be the bus driver at the end of the movie, whos emotions all geared a physical resemblance to “anger” and seemed to experience the same thoughts and reactions to outside stimuli. This would suggest that he may come off as a bit aggressive, despite experiencing the same spread of emotions that Riley does.

Another thing I noticed was how Joy seemed to be the strongest emotion in Riley’s head, the leader the others looked to. However her mother’s emotions seemed to look to Sadness for guidance. Additionally, her Sadness seemed to be more composed and calm, which suggests that she experiences sadness in a less outward way. This may be a sign of maturity.

I thought a lot about the past two units while watching Inside Out as well. As I began to cry for Bing Bong, I thought about what exactly was making me cry. The theory that crying is the reason you’re sad or vice versa wasn’t something I thought about until I was actively crying and feeling sad and I could not remember what came first. I’m a really sensitive person, so I tend to cry a lot. But I also cry tears of joy ! If an emotional response such as crying triggers sadness, then what do tears of joy mean ? Additionally, at the end of the movie I began to cry alongside Riley. Maybe I was just super tired, but I remembered our unit on empathy at this point in the movie. I was sad, sure, but I think I was sad with Riley rather than for her. I was experiencing her emotions parallel to her which is something that the characters in the film seem to do as well !

The Star Trek episode reminded me of the part in Inside Out where Riley’s control panel goes dark and becomes unusable. She becomes unable to experience her emotions, much like Deanna seems to when she loses her empathy. What strikes me as interesting is that empathy is being used as almost a catch all for “understanding feelings” where its more about the feelings of others.

I once again apologize for my late post ! Still catching up a bit, but I’m eager to talk about empathy ! This topic was something I was really excited to discuss and will likely coincide with the main theme for my final project. I feel that empathy should be something that everyone has for others, though both of the pieces we watched for this class showed us otherwise.

I’m a big horror fan, so I was really excited to watch Posessor. However, it was easily one of the most disturbing things I have ever watched, and this is coming from someone who watches youtube horror series and true crime ! I immediately needed a palette cleanser after it, though I thought the story was artfully told in a pleasantly abstract way. While we’re able to understand Vos’ job and how has taken its toll on her, the way they portray her emotional disconnect and depersonalization as she “becomes” her new host. A scene I found notable was when Vos was watching her new host and slowly repeating what he said in a similar tone. While we could assume this was just another part of her job, we also see her doing this as she approaches her ex’s home. We can say Vos has empathy for those she has to kill, however this action leads me to believe that these feelings are practiced and not as genuine as I would have hoped. It reminded me of the movie Dismissed, about a young sociopath and his relationship with a professor at his school. During the big reveal (spoilers) we see old home videos of the student practicing emotional responses as a child. While this movie may be a better example for our current module, it did come to mind when I watched Vos rehearse what she was going to say.

Futurama is always a welcome reprieve after a movie like Posessor. I had mentioned the episode name to a friend (they’re a diehard fan) and they immediately knew everything that had happened. It was fun to talk about it! In the episode, Bender is implanted with an “empathy chip” so he’s able to understand Leela’s feelings better. While the episode has a happy ending and Bender is able to understand Leela (despite learning nothing) its clear that the empathy Bender was “feeling” was not genuine. This much is obvious due to the nature of the “empathy chip,” but it made me think of the “empathy” Vos tries to experience in Posessor.

Something that struck me was how Fry blamed Leela for the fact that Bender flushed himself down the toilet, a phrase I didn’t think I would ever type in an academic setting. He specifically blamed her emotions. This is something I’m definitely going to be thinking about during this current module.

Sorry for the late post on this topic, but it seems I’m playing a bit of catch up !  Though out of all the topics we’ve learned about in this class, I’ve probably discussed this one the most with my friends. This is in part because I continued watching past episode 1 of Altered Carbon. A close friend had recommended it to me some time ago so I was happy to jump right in. I think I’m about halfway done with season 1 so forgive me if I accidentally drop a spoiler or two !

What I found interesting in Altered Carbon was the way bodies were treated as a resource rather than part of who we are. Because our consciousness is stored separately, the ability to change your body has become commonplace (especially for the wealthy, though that wasn’t part of the episode we watched!) In the scene where Takeshi sees his reflection for the first time after being “resleeved,” we hear the attendants warning him against doing so, as it can cause damage to his “stack” and permanently alter his mental state. I found it interesting that, despite our consciousness being stored separately, the series suggests that our sense of self is tied to our body.

In the Star Trek episode “Return to Tomorrow,” we see the bodies of Captain Kirk and his comrades being used as a similar means to an end. A resource, though we do see the importance of having a body in the scene where Sargon and company return to bodies for the first time. They marvel at the ability to feel their skin and to breathe again, not to mention the ability to kiss and touch one another. While the mind and body are physically able to separate, the body allows for a more intimate, physical connection with others. Perhaps this is why in Altered Carbon there is such a big focus on sex and physical intimacy.

I struggled to connect “The Day The Earth Stood Stupid” to this module, but I want to focus on how the brain stated that they “evolved past the need for bodies.” In this sense, a body is seen as lesser, almost as if it’s holding back their species so they discarded them like cheap toys. The lack of concern for their own bodily autonomy leads to a disregard for others safety, as well as a sense of superiority. Similarly, Sargon states he and his people had grown minds powerful enough for them to consider themselves gods.

It seems overall that bodies are seen as shells worthy of discarding in order to gain a stronger understanding of the world and yourself. And while I feel I am “supposed” to disagree, due to my relationship with my own body I almost feel that I agree. As a chronically ill queer person, there are a lot of things about my body that I would be fine giving up. In fact, sometimes I feel that my mind is working at half speed due to my day to day health struggles. If I were to be “resleeved” into a body that worked properly or one that allowed me to be perceived in a way I would prefer, perhaps I’d be a bit happier!

Additionally, as someone who streams online as a separate person with a completely different face, I have found myself looking in the mirror sometimes after a particularly long week of streaming and feeling surprised when I didn’t see my character looking back at me. I guess I’m constantly being resleeved in the process of streaming haha !

I was super excited for this weeks assigned “texts” as our professor puts it. Arrival has been on my “to watch” list for quite some time (more on that later) and as the child of an old-school trekkie, I was eager to finally watch some next gen.

As an English major, writer, and avid reader, language has been a huge part of my academic career as well as my hobbies. One of my major requirements was actually a History of the English Language class and though it was one of my least favorite classes in practice, learning about the linguistic growth of a language I worked so closely with was fascinating.

This was probably why I loved Story of Your Life so much when I read it during my first year at Stony Brook. For those of you who don’t know, Story of Your Life is the book that Arrival was based on. and in my opinion, the movie was a fair interpretation of the text ! Though I will say, non-linear plotlines read a lot easier on paper, which I think connects to the way Heptapod is read rather than spoken (though I think I remember it being spoken in the short story but that was two years ago and my memory is fuzzy.) The non-linear way the story was told mirrored the non-linear way the Heptapods communicated and thought. What I loved about the Heptapod language was that it was written in a circular form. The Heptapod’s non-linear way of perceiving time directly connects to the shape of their language. If time is being viewed as a circle, or a more three-dimensional shape in the case of the “gift,” it would make sense that language would be written in that way as well.

On the other side of things, in Darmok, the Tamarians express language through imagery and metaphor, connecting their situation and current state to a story or part of their history. It’s as if I decided to communicate only in references from one of my favorite television shows despite the fact that not everyone has seen it. Has anyone even heard of Pushing Daisies ? Anyway, the metaphorical way the Tamarians speak suggest a more abstract outlook on life. While the episode focuses mostly on the two captains learning to understand one another, if we take a step back and pull from the information we learned in Arrival we can infer that the Tamarians have a specific perception of the world.

The main argument of Arrival is explained using the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis. This theory states that a persons language influences their perception of the world and their thought process. We can see this in the way the Heptapods view time. While we learn very little of the Tamarians, we’re told that “imagery is everything to them.” What must the world look like to someone who experiences life as one extended metaphor ?

Hey everyone ! My name’s Ariana, but you can just call me Ari ! I go by he/she/they pronouns; any are fine. I’m an english major and also a senior with only one semester left. It’s been a wild ride ! A lot of people ask me what I plan to do with my major and assume I’m planning to teach, but I actually really want to work in the video game industry ! I love video games as a storytelling medium and aspire to tell my own stories through games someday. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying sharing my favorite games on stream as my streaming persona, Sunnie. Some of my favorite games are OneShot, Hello Charlotte, and Omori. 

I’ve been spending a lot of time indulging in my many hobbies this summer. After a long hiatus, I finally returned to the anime convention scene with a new cosplay and performance. I’ve also been playing several tabletop games (I just finished our Sunday session an hour before writing this and OOF was it rough) and catching up on a few games I’ve been meaning to play and replay. If you couldn’t tell, I really like to draw and I’ve recently joined an annual art gifting competition called Art Fight. All the while working full time in the cheese department at Whole Foods. Needless to say I’ve been keeping quite busy this summer !

This class is a requirement for me, but I’m so happy about the theme that I’d probably have taken it even if I didn’t have to. I always appreciate it when alternative mediums are considered in literary discussions and I fully intend to drag my passion for games into this class. I hope you’re ready for it !