Mary Beth McAndrews

I think it is extremely important that Gone Home addresses queerness because honestly, queerness is almost invisible in the gaming industry. I think this game brings new ideas and sheds new light on what games can accomplish and discuss even in an industry that seems dominated by first person shooters. I agree with your last paragraph; this game takes the tropes of a horror game to tell a totally different story, which is where I think the beauty of this game lies.

Great article! I’ve only seen a few episodes of this show and it freaked me out so of course I loved it. I’m glad more people seen the intellectual value of animation even if it seems like utter nonsense at first glance. However, you say at one point, “Shows like Adventure Time negate to portray this fact of life: not everyone is nice,” and I disagree with that one point. I think Adventure Time does portray the idea that people can just be evil, particularly with the character The Lich. Yes, *SPOILERS* the Lich seems to be ultimately conquered but there is still the fact that he is evil and wants nothing more than to take over the Land of Ooo. That being said, it is a children’s show and like you say Rick and Morty has more freedom to address the darker parts of humanity and just how evil people, not just fictional monsters/creatures, can be.

I’m curious how you feel about comics books such as “Watchmen” that challenge these tropes of the superhero. That graphic novel is riddled with death and no resurrection. However, they are not the typical superhero obviously and you address the more well-known and iconic superheroes. Just curious how you feel about Moore’s work with the superhero as I am writing my senior thesis about “Watchmen” and “V for Vendetta” and partially addressing themes of death!

Fabulous list and I’m so glad you mentioned Mary and Max. More often than not, lists like this overlook the body of an actor’s work and only focus on their own favorites. Hoffman has been amazing in every film he has appeared in, so I do not envy your project of choosing the top 10 best. Great work though, and great descriptions of Hoffman in each.

I loved Take Shelter and did not read it as being about digital cinema at all. It is an extremely interesting point to address, particularly in the choice to show his hallucinations as seeming so real to both Curtis and the audience. While the movie seems slow, it is so tense and the atmosphere is amazing. I do wish there had been a different ending; to me it undermined what the rest of the film had been building since the beginning. However, I do agree with Terrup’s comment and it does finally establish a sense of unity we did not have throughout the film.

I agree that universities seem to overlook genre. In my film classes at my smaller college, we discuss genre briefly, but never seem to focus on it, which is disappointing. I’m wondering where you found these genres, as I have never really heard of Prestige or Revolutionary Horror as a genre, just more a descriptions for individual films, particularly in the case of Revolutionary.