Reflection of a Blog

Ellis, Lindsey. 2010, Playing God, 20 August 2010, Nostalgia Chick, Available from: [9 October 2010]

Relevance:

Importance: The video blog Nostaliga Chick is available through the website That Guy with the Glasses and is very popular on the Internet. Ellis, as the Nostalgia Chick presents several ideas from the world of science fiction that has relevance to the unit but also is a relevant character herself. Similar to JenniCam Ellis has a presence on the Internet that could not be reached on the same level if she was another faceless blogger and is a female character is a mainly male dominated space, not only the site but also the Internet in general.

What: The blog outlines some of the most widely used themes in science fiction and how mostly they seem to be things that are, or would be, avoidable which leads to the helpful list of how to survive in a science fiction movie. Through this Ellis brings up good points about speculative science fiction. It also outlines how there are different types of science fiction and they each create different representations of science. This brings up some questions that Elli does not address such as; why do we seem to contradict our representations of science? Why has no one yet figured out the steps to survive and incorporated them into a movie?

Issues: I agree with what Ellis says however I think she could have gone into each of her points as far as she does with the final argument about the representations of robots with souls. There doesn’t seem to be a final point made.

While I understand that this is an emotive and entertainment blog, rather than an article, it would make Ellis a more creditable source if she included a reference list and not just her twitter account.

For Forming Argument: Ellis is a primary source and is an interesting example of Internet phenomena. Jokes aside, she does raise a number of good points about the typical plot conventions used in science fiction. Not only could her blog be used as an example and source, the character Nostaliga Chick created by Ellis would also make an interesting example to use in an argument about technology and people’s relationship with it. The entire series is done more for entertainment then any real intellectual critiquing. However, it is important to note that the website it is on is very popular and receives visitors from all over the Internet so what is being said is being listened to by a lot of people and could be very influential.

Relationship to other references: While there are no secondary sources mentioned in the blog there are a number of films given as examples including I, Robot, The Hulk, Blade Runner and Ellis even mentions the classic literature version of Frankenstein rather then just the film. I have to admit, it does rather remind of the readings from week 3, especially Campbell’s “Future Sex: Cyborg Bodies and the Politics of Meaning” (a link to Emma's summary in case you've forgotten) and as mentioned above I think there are some similarities between JenniCam and the Nostalgia Chick, possible due to both being presence on the Internet since the two have very different contexts.

 

Critical Evaluation:

Character:

Title- Playing God

Type- Video Blog

Secondary Source, but should be used as a primary source due to lack of sources and references used to support argument.

No bibliography other than the names of the movies mentioned.

Comments are majority in agreement.

Style is emotive.

 

Currency: Date: 20/10/2010. Very current, even mentions the recent movie Spliced (which only had a wide released in 2010, June 4).

Location: That Guy With The Glasses, popular reviewing website.

 

Intention:

Author: Lindsay Ellis.

The audience intended would have to be people who use the Internet as an informal recreational tool and be interested in the science fiction genre. While science fiction is more universal, I think it's a safe assumption that the majority of Ellis’s audience would be reasonable young adults.

 

Authority: Although there isn't a lot of information on the website, Ellis’s always posts a link to her Twitter account at the end of her videos and from there it’s easy to find her other website, which is more of a traditional blog. Ellis is a master’s student at University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts so it can be assumed that she already has some formal education about cinematic. However, most of what Ellis mentions in the video blog is her personal opinion.

Publisher/source: That Guy With the Glasses is very popular on the Internet but it is a pop culture website. It is run by Doug Walker, known on the site mostly as the Nostalgia Critic.

Note: This blog contains an interesting view of the world of science fiction and what affect it has on the scientific community but it should be treated with skepticism as it is not a scholarly site. It’s an interesting place to start from and the people who write/create videos for the site are just as fascinating as what they write about. However, I would claim that Ellis, by far, provides the most intellectual videos.