Media

Game Drain: What Subscription Services Spell for the Industry

Garrett Hartman

Microsoft’s major marketing push in gaming has been Xbox Game Pass: a subscription service that gives users access to a rotating library of hundreds of games. For simplicity’s sake, think Netflix for gaming. One of the biggest appeals of Game Pass is a monthly price lower than the cost of buying a single one of the games on offer.

What If Journalism Disappeared?

Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff

Many Americans live in a version of the world remarkably close to the one Michael Schudson pondered in 1995—because either they lack access to news or they choose to ignore journalism in favor of other, more sensational content. By exploring how journalism is increasingly absent from many of our lives, we can identify false paths and promising routes to its reinvention.

The Art and the Artist: The Question of Morality in Media

Garrett Hartman

To argue that art is inseparable from its creator would make it impossible to consume art simply from the perspective that not all people are perfectly moral. However, the biggest misstep here is if one assumes that most art can be tied back to one person only.

The Debate Over Videogames Rages On (and On)

Ariana Powell

In response to the demand for an effective ratings system, multiple popular game creators, such as Sega and Nintendo among others, formed what would become the Entertainment Software Association that crafted an ES Ratings Board, which is still in place today. Videogames are not legally required to have an ESRB rating, but most console manufacturers and physical and online retailers require it for the games they offer.

A Look at Hyperviolence in Media

Garrett Hartman

Countless videogames, films, and television series utilize this shorthand. Think of almost any piece of media set in World War II; the countless zombie films, games and TV shows. Demons are admittedly less utilized outside of games; however, trade them in for generic “aliens” in Hollywood and you have a pretty close match. We are then allowed to be happy to kill these “enemies,” and see them die in horrific ways because they are morally bankrupt.

Meet the Staff at Highbrow Magazine: Contributing Writer Barbara Noe Kennedy

The Editors

Highbrow Magazine Contributing Writer Barbara Noe Kennedy is an award-winning writer and editor, who specializes in travel writing. She worked for more than 20 years for the National Geographic Book Division, and she has also written for the Washington Post, National Geographic Traveler, the Los Angeles Times, and Fodor's -- in addition to penning a few books. She is a recent Lowell Thomas travel journalism award winner. Barbara has traveled extensively around the world and, along with her husband, is actively involved in helping Zambian students achieve their education and career goals. She writes travel articles and film reviews for Highbrow Magazine.

Examining Digital Media Habits in 2022

BPT

Despite the sizable content budgets of streaming video on demand (SVOD) services, consumers are growing more frustrated with SVOD content discovery and subscription fees. SVOD services often require consumers to juggle multiple subscriptions at increasing costs. But on social media platforms, content discovers the user, offering free passive and interactive experiences with near-infinite streams of personalized content that are continuously refined.

How South Korea, Japan, and Other Countries Came to Dominate the Pop Culture Landscape

Garrett Hartman

The growth of foreign media’s popularity poses many interesting questions as to the future shape of media in the U.S. and worldwide. While platforms like Netflix seem content to purchase and serve as a distributor for foreign content, how will American media producers, especially in fields in which they are lagging behind foreigners, try to appeal to domestic audiences? How will questions of media representation be perceived with art created in different nations and different local contexts?

Why Queer Audiences Co-Opt Media

Angelo Franco

Maybe it wasn’t very nice that Maleficent cursed Aurora, but why wasn’t she invited to the royal christening when all the other fairies were? She even gave the royals a chance to apologize for their disrespect and they blew it, so what is a powerful spurned fairy to do? And there’s also just the irresistible camp of Disney villains. Somewhat similar to the way queer men gravitate towards pop divas because of their larger-than-life theatricality, the camp and grandeur with which these posh Disney villains get up to in their evildoing is wildly appealing. 

How the Media Is Under Attack Throughout the World

Andy Lee Roth and Mickey Huff

If media deregulation and censorship by proxy constitute subsurface, tectonic shifts in the U.S. media landscape, then attacks on reporters and other direct assaults on the integrity of journalism stand as more obviously concerning developments. In late 2018, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) listed the United States among the world’s most dangerous nations for journalists—the first time the United States ranked in the top 5. By 2021, the United States ranked only 44th out of 180 countries in RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index.

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