Evil Characters and Karmic Retribution

There is nothing wrong with your radio. Do not attempt to adjust the volume. We are controlling the broadcaster for the next hour. We will control all that you hear. You are about to experience the knowledge and insights of the medium mothership. Craig All right, welcome here to Edge Radio 99.3 FM. You’re now tuned in to media mothership, exploring everything in and around the world. Of media, as always, we explore how media can shape our world around us, hopefully giving us some critical tools to unpack that in our own daily viewing and listening experiences, we’re streaming on edgeradio.org dot AU as well as on YouTube and Twitch. Just search for media matters. Chip, you can message us on the chat at YouTube or Twitch or shoot us an SMS. On 0488811707 I’m your host, Craig Norris, and on today’s show we’ll cover some strange news stories around media cultures as well as diving further into our understanding on how to write evil characters. In popular culture and movies and TV, so all that and more coming up on media mothership. Alright, welcome back to a musical. Notes accompanying the transition to a little bit of strange news that I’ve come across searching for bizarre oddities on the Internet with media cultures first article quite intriguing, posted to say the 28th of May. Oh, sorry. Yesterday 28th of May. In GameSpot reporting that a concept borrowed from video games leads to fusion energy, breakthrough, scientists have used collision detection, which has pioneered has been pioneered in video games to achieve. Huge efficiency gains. In nuclear fission. Yes, this article goes to discuss how. Well, the South Korean scientists have made this huge breakthrough in nuclear fission fusion. Sorry by adapting a concept from video game. Play and it’s this collision detection algorithm, so this idea of collision detection is typically used in video games to simulate objects interacting with each other and through applying that video game. Algorithm or algorithms developed in video games around perfecting collision detection. They’ve been able to get a 15 fold increase in computation speeds for predicting particle collisions in fusion reactions, so of course, I guess if we’re talking about nuclear. Fusion. Which at its heart is this idea of particle collisions being able to have an effective algorithm that can predict and detect collisions is pretty critical. So as the article goes on to say, this advancement is crucial because fusion reactors. Require extremely high energy particles, and while collisions between particles are necessary, unintended collisions with reactor walls can destabilise the. Action by improving predictive capabilities, this innovation may lead to safer and more efficient fusion reactors, the article goes on to say that fusion energy, often seen as promising alternative to traditional nuclear fusion, fission faces challenges due to its. High energy requirements and expensive operational costs. However, recent breakthroughs such as this one. Continue to bring commercially viable fusion energy closer to reality. Commercially viable fusion energy. So rather than traditional nuclear fission. Here we’re talking about fusion energy. Just trying to think about what video games have particularly good or have to, you know, kind of really crunched the numbers and the maths to get their collisions effectively. Down up to 11 I. I guess Grand Theft Auto 5, I mean that involves. A lot of guns, a lot of cars that are speeding, motorcycles that are speeding. It’s quite a chaotic game. Grand Theft Auto 5, where you’re, as the name suggests, able to commit all number of larcenies and crimes within which there are many explosions. We think crashing into each other probably. Really. Another great one would be Super Smash brothers. You know, you’ve got a game geared around collisions there, as you’re combatting against another player, probably actually the one I was thinking is the best. Collision. Algorithm creator is is the portal games where you’re. Train not only to kind of use the portal technology to go from one spot to another, but but really that kind of precise physics calculations that are at the heart of that game in terms of how these different objects are going to interact with each other, what the different portals and surfaces will be. In fact, if we let’s let’s let’s set the mood quickly in terms of how that is quite an effective. Example. Here’s here’s the here’s a trailer for for Portal 2, a bit more ominous. Maybe. Let’s hope they don’t take. Necessarily this direction in. Fusion reactions. Those people that have played Portal 2 will know it’s it’s a very dystopic game. Example Text It’s been a long time. How have you been? I think we can put our differences behind us. For science, you monster. Craig Put our differences behind us for science. You monster. So that was Portal 2. Of course, the next article I’d like to go into IS, is is a kind of unusual one in terms of it’s about a classic 1970s TV show, Gilligan’s Island. We’ll put ourselves in the mood in case you’ve never seen the wonders of Gilligan’s Island, I’m sure. No worries, we’ll remember this. Wonderful theme song. Speaker 5 Trip that started from this topic, this tiny ship by passengers set sail that day. Three hour tour, a three hour tour. Craig So what’s great about this intro is that it tells the story. Of this intrepid crew who are on a pleasure trip, and then they. Get. You know, swept off in a storm. Speaker 5 Round on the shore. Craig Onto an island deserted island. About Gilligan, the skipper. The millionaire. And his wife. Speaker 5 The star the professor, Marianne. Craig And the professor and Marianne. So what’s interesting about this was an article reported in Cracked recently, which was going over some of the original show notes and the pitch. For this TV series way back in the 70s. And the initial pitch was a little more serious than the comic goofy oddball sitcom that Gilligan Island’s got fondly remembered as the creator, Sherwood Schwartz. Presented his idea initially to CBS executives. As this social microcosm, which would explore how people from different societal backgrounds interact when stranded together, so a kind of sociological anthropological experiment in this. TV show and you know, I guess if we think about the characters that are in Gilligan’s Island, you know, you’ve got the skipper who’s a kind of working class authority type guy, you know, symbolising this, you know, can do attitude, practical knowledge. The millionaire, you know, Thurston Howell the third? Yeah, this kind of 1 percenter, the wealthy elite of America and that privilege and status. The idea also that this character is kind of a little bit detached. From. The ability to actually survive in this world, right, that his his wealth has has protected him that that is the survival tasks. If they’re not going to involve. And, you know, privilege aren’t really going to make this character very useful. The movie star that’s there, you know, representing that celebrity glamour vibe, particularly that 1960s allure of Hollywood, maybe the superficiality. That the shareowner was thinking that character could represent. 1960s and 70s. Interesting to think of the character of the professor. We’re talking Cold War period here. So the idea of you know again, this this still utopia maybe of of faith around scientific progress. Right. You’re in the middle of the space race during this period. Technological advancements seeming to be endless, so there are that professor character kind of symbolising that that utopic. Cold War era fate and scientific progression. Marianne, you know, forgettable character, but I guess that’s what she is. She’s a kind of every, every, every girl farm American girl, wholesome, hard working person, resilient. And then finally, Gilligan, you know, a bumbling, naive but well meaning. Every man. Often episodes, if you remember, involve a stupid thing he’s done and then people trying to. Fix it but. Yeah, certainly a memorable character. Probably the one that is most fondly remembered. So anyway, that’s those. Yeah, you could see pitch there that he initially gave. As social microcosms, what’s interesting is crack.com has got a hold of some of the initial reactions to that were CBS executives at the time were very worried that this concept would be way too sophisticated for a comedy show. And indeed, what’s interesting, though, is despite the fact that the showrunner, Sherwood Schwartz, pitched it as this maybe more complicated idea of social microcosms, the reactions to it were super harsh. The critical reaction was. Very brutal to towards Gilligan’s Island, so I don’t think the CBS executives had anything to worry about. In fact, most critics at the Times dismissed it as very absurd and poorly written. The actress that played the Hollywood starlet, Ginger Grant, said she was disappointed when she saw the first episodes feeling like it was more of a cartoon than a TV show. But of course, you know, did go on to become a classic. Amusingly, at the end of the article, the showrunner says. You know, after getting ripped apart by the critics as being as having created a a stupid show, you know, fondly remember fondly, you know, very popular, but nevertheless not the hypertension S initially was pitched at the showrunner said next year the intellectual critics will probably take another look at Gilligan’s Island. Then they’re right treaties on a social satire on many levels. So I have not come across in my own research any articles written on Gilligan’s Island Society. At all. Confrontation with Cold War America. It’s a great article in the making, though it’s certainly something to probably circle back to. And yeah, maybe put something together as well. Next piece of news. OK, next piece of news. Yeah, one last article on Cracked funny piece. On these tail, it’s like these tests like you do the batch stool test on a movie, you know which is all out trying to unpack. You know, ideological questions that are baked into a film. So the digital test has limitations. But I like the idea of it where you can assess the full roundedness of female characters by asking certain questions. Do the female characters. Talk about anything except for a male character. Various questions you can ask which start to at least you know well. They’re they’re a bit lacking of nuance. They will, they will still nevertheless get you to ask some interesting questions about film. Latest one is the Danny DeVito rule. Danny DeVito, of course, the 80s, nineties, various films he was in, he was. The. Who’s in the Batman movie as the Penguin most commonly known now for always Sunny in. In Philadelphia, it’s always sunny in Philadelphia. Will you please a really toxic Father character anyway? The the test here is the Danny DeVito rule is the best way to Judge ROM Coms. These are romantic comedy films and this was posted on Reddit. The idea being that. UM. Could you imagine in a romantic comedy? Tony de Vito’s character, that is, you know, is is the romantic comedy actually effective? Right. If if the romcom is truly romantic, it should still work even if you cast. If you replace the male lead with a really toxic. Act or or performance. You know notoriously often delivered by Danny DeVito, or will that turn the film into a horror movie? Or an absurd comedy rather than a real romance. This rule, originally coined by a Reddit user way back in 2017, is part of a broader article highlighting how many romcoms rely more on conventional, attractive leads than genuine emotional connections. So the idea is if if it wasn’t. Richard Gere. Here. Or you know Hugh Jackman in the role. If it was the quirky looking Danny DeVito, would it still work? And if it doesn’t, does that suggest that the romantic comedy only worked because it was an attractive male lead and there weren’t really any genuine emotional connections there? So there were a couple of films that I tested, like when Harry met Sally. Which it claims would pass the test. Other movies wouldn’t like Gigi and. And yeah, it’s an interesting idea. You know, taking an actor or a performance. And saying, you know what, if this was played by a different actor, that is diametrically. Aesthetically different or known for playing different roles, would that still work in this way? I wonder what other films you could have apply that to. One further little interesting piece let’s. Talk now about, I guess a little bit away from media. Interesting article there on ABC News talking about how Starbucks in South Korea has banned the use of presidential candidate names for orders. So this was an unusual article talking about how much like in Starbucks. Everywhere when you order coffee, you can give your name. Many people were using that call. My name service after they make your beverage where they call your name to use the name of various failed presidential candidates or candidates that have since been impeached. So it seems, yeah, bizarre form of of censorship. I wonder what type of culture jamming, cultural resistance, political resistance was going on using these political names as the Starbucks order. And then, of course, it being banned. It’s it’s it’s truly, truly bizarre little piece of of news there. So that’s this week’s news discussion some, some intriguing little pieces of of news there. Let’s now pick up where we were last week. Discussing how to write good villains. I want to look at this concept called the. Moment where in a movie The villain experiences. Comma, right? They’re comeuppance. They’re poetic justice that the villain faces where they get what they deserve, picking up from the guide to writing evil characters. Let’s listen about this concept called the. Harmor deflector. Speaker 5 To you. Speaker 6 It’s said in a lot of the magical, mystical, metaphysical lore that those who work on the dark side, you know the dark magicians as opposed to the white magicians, and think again, Lord of the Rings. You know, Gandalf versus Saruman, right? So you think, well, OK, what about Karma? You do all these horrible things, you wipe out people, you kill whole planets and worlds. Well, where’s the karma there? Where’s the retribution? Because. We want life to be in balance. Seldom is it, but that’s what we like. So it’s said that the dark magicians are able to deflect their karma. It’s like they have a a deflector shield around them and they are protected from the bounce back of what they do, what they can also have. Is a group of devotees, apostles, followers, fans who take the hit for them. And usually the people don’t know that that’s what they’re doing. But you start working for a dark magician. Guess what? Your life starts falling apart. May not be just what you’re doing. You’re you’re getting some of his deflected karma or, you know, she is directly pointing that shield to you. So it it goes off of her and bounces down to the other people. But. Ultimately, there comes a time in the life of a dark magician in their career through the dark side that it just doesn’t work anymore. And then all that they have been holding back, whether it’s ageing, you know someone who’s had the youth spell, whether it’s rotting from the inside out, whether it’s being slain by the tools that you used to slay other people, it eventually comes back. But that karma deflector. Is a really good story tool. Craig So I was trying to think of a good example about that. I reckon one of the best examples is probably The Lion King 1994. You’ve got the character of scar, the villain, the serper of the throne, who’s been able to manipulate his way all the way into now ruling the Kingdom. But at the end of the movie spoilers. But it it’s 94, so I think people have seen it by now. He’s betrayed by his own hyena allies at Meat Sea. Dire fate and again, that’s that idea of the karma justice, that kind of karma deflector where the hyenas, of course, had been used as the the Allies, the henchman, and then that come up. Since that moment of karmic. Speaker 5 That’s. Craig Have a listen. So this is the scene. So we’ll see how it plays out. How heavy handed, the karmic retribution. The poetic justice, particularly with the henchman of the hyenas. Speaker 8 Ohh my friend. Speaker 7 Friends, I thought he said we were the enemy. Yeah, that’s what I heard. Speaker 8 No, no, let, let, let let me explain. No, you don’t understand. No, I didn’t mean no. No. Craig OK, great. Seeing there from The Lion King. Probably any other one again another Disney example would be that great scene where? In Aladdin, so you’ve got the the evil character, Jafar, who’s? You know, being able to finally get the genie, but then of course it backfires when he decides to wish to become the genie. And let’s see, we’ll see how that pans out. We’ll have a quick listen to this scene of of karmic justice. How Jafar, the main villain in Aladdin from 92. His quest for ultimate power through villainy finally backfires in this scene, so he’s trapped Aladdin, you know, he’s become a. Huge snake creature. He’s shipped Aladdin here and Aladdin’s trying to talk his way out of it. So let’s listen to how he uses that karmic. Justice to get some poetic revenge justly deserved on Jafar. Speaker 8 The genie. Speaker 7 The Genie, the Genie has more power than you’ll ever have. What he gave you your power. He could take it away. Speaker What are you doing? Why are you bringing? Craig Me into this. Speaker 7 Face it, Jafar, you’re still just second best. Speaker 8 You’re right, his power does exceed my own. Speaker 1 However. Example Text That’s no long the boy. Speaker Is crazy. Craig There’s a little punch drunk one too many hit for. Speaker 7 The snake I make my sandwich. I wish to be. Speaker All right. Craig Your wish is my command way to go, Al. Speaker 8 You know it. Speaker 7 You. Trust me. Speaker 5 Mind the command. Speaker 7 Not so fast. Aren’t you forgetting something? You wanna be a genie you got. Everything that with it. Speaker No. Speaker 7 The no little cosmic powers. Speaker 80 bitty living space. Speaker 7 Hell, you little genius here. Craig All right. There we go. Great example there of karmic justice hitting the villain in the third Act, Aladdins 1992, where Jafar gets turned into a genie and doesn’t realise that. Ohh, sweet. Poetic justice. It then shackles him into all the rules of being a genie in terms of having to go back. Into the. Lamp. I mean, you know. Storytelling can be a fun way, I guess, of that desire we all have when we face some corporate accountability issue, some political scandal, some environmental neglect that the companies done where we want to see. Some form of justice done against those moments of scandal, some form of consequence from those actions which may, in a way conform to as movies like that portray a comic retribution which could play. Out in real life. Well, that’s the media mothership for another week. We’ll be back next week with some more explorations into the way media shapes, our understanding of the world around us. Next week, if you’ve enjoyed listening to the show, check us out on your podcast provider of choice. You can also see previous episodes on YouTube or Twitch. This has been Craig Norris for another week, signing off. Keep listening now to Edge radio. So as we’ll. Have some really cool tunes right now.