Art of War: Casting a Narrative Stories are illusions, cast to lead away from reality. This fight is all about knowing what is real and what is not. For one contrahent the fight is real and cathartic, for the other it’s simply a tool to conjure up his image. This concept is what draws me …
When New Capenna came out, I was still caught up with how great Kamigawa Neon Dynasty was designed. I was in love with this set. That’s why although New Capenna delivered a lot of great cards that were fun to play with I never really warmed up to it. Not enough to write a piece …
Art of War: An old tale reinvented Fights in media are always thrilling to watch. But what differentiates a good fight scene from a bad one? Is it only about the spectacle of violence, or is more behind it? What aspects all belong to a fight? These questions I try to answer in this new …
The Art of War – Character through Choreography Battles and fights in fiction can – or even should – entail more than only stylish action. In the series “The Art of War” I will look at fight scenes I find particularly compelling and try to figure out, what makes them so great. I will start …
I enjoyed Love and Thunder. It was a fun little experience to have. I’ve got to admit the simple, yet effective slapstick comedy squeezed quite some giggles out of me. The theme of the fourth Thor movie is straight forward: Love. The writing for that is efficient as it is simple: The villain starts from …
“A game is a series of interesting decisions.” – Sid Meier Coincidentally, a story is about choices too. Choices define a character. Most stories – if not all – explore characters based on their choices in high stakes situations. According to that games and story should be a natural fit. Yet, there is the problem …
Video Games add another layer to storytelling. It’s not only audiovisual anymore, but also interactive. Interestingly, that quite obvious seeming fact was a long time overlooked. Only as Clint Hocking in his critique of Bioshock in 2007 pointed out what he coined “ludonarrative dissonance”, attention seems to have shifted on how the gameplay reflects the …
The villain of Moon Knight is introduced in the first minute of the series, even before the intro starts. It’s a short and poignant scene full of symbolism. We witness Harrow in a ritual. During his preparation we can see a tattoo of a scale with crocodile heads on his arm. He pours water in …
As I walked out of the theatre of Avengers: Endgame for the fourth time, when I had finally processed what had happened in the last 10 years of storytelling within Marvel, I was left wondering: What’s next? The so-called phase 4 of The Marvel Cinematic Universe started slow due to a pandemic meddling with filming …
Competitive games show a similar structure to a story. In a team sport like soccer, we essentially pick a champion to root for. We think this team we like is morally or in terms of ability more entitled to win than others. Everyone knows exactly what the rules of the game are and what goals …