Theorizing Stupid Media : De-Naturalizing Story Structures in the Cinematic, Televisual, and Videogames

"This book explores the stupid as it manifests in media--the cinema, television and streamed content, and videogames. The stupid is theorized not as a pejorative term but to address media that "fails" to conform to established narrative conventions, often surfacing at evolutionary moments. The Transformers franchise is often dismissed as being stupid because its stylistic vernacular privileges kinetic qualities over conventional narration. Similarly, the stupid is often present in genre fails like mother!, or in instances of narrative dissonance--joyously in Adventure Time; more controversially in Gone Home-- where a story "feels off" It also manifests in "ludonarrative dissonance" when gameplay and narrative seemingly run counter to one another in videogames like Undertale and Bioshock. This book is addressed to those interested in media that is quirky, spectacle-driven, or generally hard to place--stupid!"--Publisher's description This book explores the stupid as it manifests in media--the cinema, television and streamed content, and videogames. The stupid is theorized as media that zfailsy to conform to established narrative conventions, often surfacing at evolutionary moments. Each chapter explores different manifestations of the stupid: exemplified in the Transformers franchise the contemporary Hollywood vernacular privileges kinetic qualities over conventional narration, and is often dismissed as being stupid. The stupid is also evident in genre failures. Narrative dissonance, where a story zfeels offy, might be perceived as stupid--Adventure Time being a key example. zLudonarrative dissonancey refers to instances in videogames (e.g., Bioshock) where gameplay seemingly runs counter to the narrative, thus stupefying. The authors take the film Sucker Punch as a concluding exercise, applying the book's theorization of the stupid. This book is addressed to those interested in media that is quirky, spectacle-driven, or generally hard to place--stupid! "This book explores the stupid as it manifests in media--the cinema, television and streamed content, and videogames. The stupid is theorized not as a pejorative term but to address media that 'fails' to conform to established narrative conventions, often surfacing at evolutionary moments. The Transformers franchise is often dismissed as being stupid because its stylistic vernacular privileges kinetic qualities over conventional narration. Similarly, the stupid is often present in genre fails like mother!, or in instances of narrative dissonance--joyously in Adventure Time; more controversially in Gone Home-- where a story 'feels off.' It also manifests in 'ludonarrative dissonance' when gameplay and narrative seemingly run counter to one another in videogames like Undertale and Bioshock. This book is addressed to those interested in media that is quirky, spectacle-driven, or generally hard to place--stupid!"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xi The Stupider the Better (Aaron Kerner, Julian Hoxter)....Pages 1-29 The Stupid in the Contemporary Hollywood Vernacular: Spectacularly Stupid Transformers (Aaron Kerner, Julian Hoxter)....Pages 31-70 The Stupid in Genre Fails (Aaron Kerner, Julian Hoxter)....Pages 71-107 The Stupid as Narrative Dissonance (Aaron Kerner, Julian Hoxter)....Pages 109-137 The Stupid as Ludonarrative Dissonance (Aaron Kerner, Julian Hoxter)....Pages 139-178 Conclusion: Well That Was Stupid (Aaron Kerner, Julian Hoxter)....Pages 179-196 Back Matter ....Pages 197-227