Complicating Old and New
In an academic essay of at least ten pages, compare/contrast an old-media and new-media expression of the same text, work, idea, or purpose. As a basis of comparison, focus on a specific aspect of both documents. Use critical sources such as Janet Murray and Lev Manovich to support your argument, while at the same time using your argument as an occasion to apply and explain Murray and Manovich to an audience unfamiliar with their critical context.
The Subject Matter
The point here is both to compare and contrast new- and old-media versions focusing on one aspect of a single "text"--that is, a shared character, place, scene, incident, relationship, meaning which appears in both versions. For instance:
- how does some specific aspect of a movie version of a video-game differ from the original. Examples of video game/movie crossovers include Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, BloodRayne, Doom, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Tomb Raider.
- {MORE}
The Argument
Your essay should seek to enrich, complicate, and inform the conventional distinction between "old" and "new" media. It will do so by making one of the following kinds of arguments:
- that the new-media version enables a contemporary reading of the old (revealing how the old was "new" in certain ways)
- that the old-media text provides a context for understanding the capacities and "voice" of the new
- [other arguments are possible]
The Method
To realize the purposes above, use Manovich and Murray (and other critical sources) to show the interrelationship of three dimensions of we have discussed in this class:
- the technical nature of each medium (the micro)
- the aesthetic form these media take (the visible, apparent, experiential)
- cultural/historical meanings achievable through either/both (the macro, ideological)
Textual Guidelines
Use at least five quotations from Manovich or Murray to sustain and enrich your argument. Employ MLA format to cite each reference in your text and to document them in a "Works Cited" section at the end of your essay.