In “Corporate Disney in Action,” Janet Wasko points out the contradictions between the image and legal practices of the Disney Company. When someone thinks about Disney, they usually think of fairytales, magic, and innocent characters such as Mickey Mouse, not of business and lawsuits. Disney has the right to be proactive in protecting their works, and they have shown this by suing over 1000 defendants.


However, for such a company that markets their innocence, Disney can be a bit extreme when it comes to legal issues. For example, Disney threatened to take legal action against three Daycare centers in Florida who had painted Disney characters on their walls. (Follow this link for the full story http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp).


Despite often marketing products for a younger audience, the video game industry also aggressively enforces their copyrights. In the 90’s, Nintendo sued blockbuster for photocopying game manuals to be included with the rented games.

Are video games art?

In the context of mechanical reproduction, the text discusses commodities as art that is reproduced on a large scale. This may seem like a foolish question to ask, but are video games art? According to dictionary.com (not the most renowned source I realize), art is "the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance." Although this definition of art may be incomplete, I think that it conveys that a work of art is a work of exceptional beauty and quality.

I'm not going to say that all video games are art, but some certainly are. One way this is demonstrated is through the effort and coordination of the "artists" to produce a video game. The development of large-scale game usually requires the abilities of several specialists such as a developers, graphic designers, sound designers, and musicians. Some titles even go so far as to utilize an orchestra, such as is the case with Nintendo's popular title Super Mario Galaxy. Sometime in the near future, I will either edit this post or create a new one comparing video games to film as art. In the mean time, below is a music selection from the Super Mario Galaxy orchestra.

Mass culture and culture industry

In the first few weeks of class, we discussed the definitions of popular culture, mass culture, culture industry, and product placement. Because it is still early in the semester, I think it would be a good opportunity to make my own attempt at defining some of these terms.

Popular culture to me is a phenomenon where something or someone becomes widely accepted, often heavily influenced by the media. I believe that people choose to be part of it not only because it might appeal to them, but because they want to fit in and feel like they are a part of something.

This brings us to the definition of mass culture. Mass culture is similar to popular culture, except that the term "mass" was used to refer to commoners or the lower class. Such low-brow entertainment was looked down upon by the elite.

We also discussed two definitions that closely link video games and pop culture: culture industry and product placement. The culture industry refers to businesses who use the widely accepted appeal of something to produce and sell a product.
Product placement usually occurs in a form of media that is usually or supposed to be void of ads. For example, product placement often occurs in movies, such as for shoes in the Sex and the City movie.

Soon, I'll edit this post to include some examples of product placement

Welcome to my first blog

Video games have been around for little over 60 years-but during that time, they’ve seen an exponential increase in popularity and have become an integral part of popular culture. Though initially having a more specific definition, video games now are taken to describe almost any form of interactive entertainment with a display. Personal computers, cell phones, video game consoles (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3), and portable game devices such as the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP are all common examples of ways to play today. This blog is primarily a class assignment, but is also an opportunity for me to explore a unique aspect of pop culture. Over the next few months, I hope to discuss video games, popular culture, and their relationship to class material.


I would say that video games started to become part of the mainstream with the introduction of Pong in the 1970’s. The simple two-dimensional tennis game was the first to be a major monetary success, which resulted in the commercialization of the gaming industry. Titles such as “Space Invaders” followed Pong’s release and encouraged growth of the industry and in-home consoles. I couldn't find a decent version of pong, so here is a version of Space Invaders similar to the classic arcade game:


Space Invaders

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With advancements in technology, Video games have evolved to become the entertainment for the masses that we see presently, and are frequently mentioned in other forms of mass media. If you watch TV, you will probably hear about games such as Halo, Grand Theft Auto, The Legend of Zelda, and the World of Warcraft on a regular basis.

I believe that video games have grown so popular because they’re a unique form of entertainment. Personally, gaming appeals to me because it is engaging and requires you to be proactive, yet is a good way to kick back and is not physically demanding. Furthermore, it promotes healthy competition, which I’m hoping to discuss later in the context of online gaming and internet culture.


Like I said earlier, it’s hard not to hear about video games because they are so widespread throughout the media. Advertisements depicting video games appear on channels ranging from cartoon network to Spike TV, depending on the target audience. There are actually whole channels dedicated to gaming, the prime example being G4. Web-based shows also use video game engines or characters for the plot. In recent years especially, movies based on video games are becoming more and more prevalent. Some examples of the more widely known films include The Prince of Persia, Hitman, Max Payne, Bloodrayne, Tomb Raider, Doom, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill. I think I'll conclude this post with a scene from Doom, which mimics the first-person shooter genre in video games, enjoy!