Brady Petrik
Stories (2/0)
True Role-Playing in 'Red Dead Redemption 2'
One of the great pleasures that has been afforded to me in my post-graduate life has been the opportunity to re-enter the world of video games. Due to a lack of time, lack of disposable income, and racking sense of guilt, anytime I wasn’t doing something directly connected to my career pursuits, I had to step away from gaming for the duration of my college career. Now (with the aid of a cheap Black Friday PS4) I have plunged back into the gaming sphere, and coming back to games in 2019 is like not seeing a movie between 1983 and 2005. I’ve been amazed with the massive leaps and bounds that have been made on technical and narrative fronts. Even through only a small handful of titles, I’ve started reengaging with one of the most fertile grounds of creativity and storytelling.
By Brady Petrik5 years ago in Gamers
Iconography in 'Mary Poppins Returns'
There is a scene very early on in Mary Poppins Returns that proves to be emblematic of an issue within the rest of the film: distressed about the current financial hardship facing his family, grown-up Michael Banks (played by sophisticated noodle man Ben Whishaw) ascends into the attic of his childhood home. While looking for papers, Michael stumbles upon an old pearl necklace, which is revealed through song to have belonged to his now-deceased wife. A great amount of visual weight—tight close ups, long holds, a large physical presence on the screen—is given to this necklace, imbuing it with an almost mythic quality that makes it seem as though it will play a large role in the narrative, even though the audience has never seen the necklace before and will not again after this scene. The song ends with also-adult Jane Banks (played by sophisticated Cocker Spaniel puppy Emily Mortimer) coming into the attic to help Michael look for the aforementioned papers. As the two search, they find their old kite, a painstaking recreation of the kite from the original Mary Poppins, and toss it aside without more than a quick mention.
By Brady Petrik6 years ago in Geeks