“Video Games of the Oppressed”
Once again, narration becomes key for understanding what video-games are for. Can they teach social and political issues, or are they just “trivial entertainment”? I doubt the creator’s of America’s Army think the game does not teach anything, nor will the army for that matter. By using narration as a tool for procedural rhetoric, the player can be immersive completely in a game and learn the procedural steps in order to achieve a specific goal. I sincerely doubt that one would ever come across a troll warrior in real life, so that procedural rhetoric plan is generally useless in the modern world, and that is why video-games are easily dismissed as a tool for teaching. No one can see it being actually applicable. The political logo is not something new to us, but in video-games, it has sneakily made its way into game-play. Subliminal advertising has always been a part of pop culture, and over time, it has become more frowned upon, but it is not being used in video-games. Does that not teach the player what products to buy? It may not teach, but rather influence, which is exactly what video-games do, in my opinion. Video-games influence people, but do not teach entirely.
“Women’s Stories, Women’s Symbols”
It seems like the field of ritual studies will never come into agreeance, as it seems this piece is just evidence of that. Bynum disagrees with the major theorists in this field, Victor Turner, in three major areas: dominant symbols, liminality, and social drama. Clearly from the title, one can assume that this is a feminist piece, and you are quite right. This piece suggests that woman are merely part of the theories, almost like a piece of the puzzle, but not the person putting the puzzle together. That job is reserved for the men of this field. She goes on to suggest that women need to be more included, and not just simply mantel pieces anymore. I agree with her, but I also have just general qualms with her ideas. I assume that there aren’t many women in this field in the first place, so making your voice be heard will be rather difficult. Secondly, she would have to rally all the women in the field in order to get proper attention and respect. This seems like a simple task, but really it is rather difficult, but she had already managed the first, most important step: get noticed and bring attention to the issue. she got her piece published, right? So, she is well on her way to being discovered.
“Women and Ritual in Family Therapy”
Apparently being a therapist was a hard job. Who knew? Quite seriously though, she describes how hard it is to bring a family together, specifically for a family intervention. Being present at multiple interventions, she has seen the role of women repeatedly, and she has not liked what she has seen. Women are the submissive, and men are the dominate in all rituals it seems, and yet that seems unfair as ritual is neither defined feministic or masculine. Ritual should be equally represented among all sexes, as it is neutral itself, and yet it is not due to the role of men in society. Ritual is reserved for those that are the dominate, and that is men. If women want this to change, they must first change their social and political roles, before assuming the position of total equality. Once that is done, there can be hope.
