The M.A. in Film Studies is organising a public talk entitled 'READY PLAYER ONE? Video Games, Cinema, and Popular Culture' on the 29 May 2019, at 18:00, at the Faculty of Arts Library, University of Malta, Msida Campus
Abstract:
Gross video game sales have outweighed box office receipts for over two decades, and have become a major part of contemporary popular culture. In this lively and entertaining public lecture, Dr Tom Craig (University of Derby, UK) will take you on a journey from Steve Russell’s ‘Spacewar!’ (1962) to the contemporary commercial battleground of today’s AAA titles. In doing so, Dr Craig will analyse the relationship between cinema and video games and explore questions of realism, spectacle, narrative, and sensation. He will discuss Hollywood’s obsession with adapting video games for the big screen and why they so often fail to meet audience expectations. He will also interrogate the place of nostalgia and retro-gaming in the contemporary marketplace, and discuss the significance of Machinima as one of the newest hybrid media forms. “Insert coin to continue…”
Gross video game sales have outweighed box office receipts for over two decades, and have become a major part of contemporary popular culture. In this lively and entertaining public lecture, Dr Tom Craig (University of Derby, UK) will take you on a journey from Steve Russell’s ‘Spacewar!’ (1962) to the contemporary commercial battleground of today’s AAA titles. In doing so, Dr Craig will analyse the relationship between cinema and video games and explore questions of realism, spectacle, narrative, and sensation. He will discuss Hollywood’s obsession with adapting video games for the big screen and why they so often fail to meet audience expectations. He will also interrogate the place of nostalgia and retro-gaming in the contemporary marketplace, and discuss the significance of Machinima as one of the newest hybrid media forms. “Insert coin to continue…”
Dr Tom Craig is Programme Leader of the Film Production B.A. (Hons) and Senior Lecturer in Film Theory and Criticism at the University of Derby, United Kingdom.
