tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8692381608294018617.post2478096310496731429..comments2023-11-05T07:27:43.837-05:00Comments on Narrative and Technology: Prompt 3: Portal's TruthAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8692381608294018617.post-57374298876591857472013-10-12T11:14:22.171-04:002013-10-12T11:14:22.171-04:001st paragraph: so Portal represents the world. B...1st paragraph: so Portal represents the world. But does it respond to it, or challenge it, engaging in what Marcuse calls "The Great Refusal"? The 2nd paragraph is reasonable but unspecific; in some ways, it seems like filler, though it might lead us in good directions.<br /><br />Re: your third paragraph, which I liked a lot. At one point Marcuse argues that nobody (or at least most people) never fully ascent to official rhetoric - we mock or question those in power, whether in government or business. And yet their rhetoric works, because there is no "outside" to the system. We both believe and don't believe at the same time. This is a good insight into both Portal and Marcuse (and maybe into the rhetoric of video games in general).<br /><br />The paragraph about the cake is pretty good too. I like the directions that you're taking, but I'd like you to make a more precise version of the argument through details of the game. It's harder to quote a game than it is to quote a text - believe me, I understand that - but if you revise, you would want to work with the script of the game and/or screenshots and/or short video clips. Ideally, I'd hope for you to be able to write both about the actual language of the game (written or spoken) as well as the gameplay.<br /><br />The last two paragraphs remain good - and remain dangerously general, at least where Portal is concerned. While I'm not 100% sure, I think you are misreading the end of *Portal*, where we see another GLaDOS being taken off of a rack, basically, implying that GLaDOS, too, was part of a larger experiment. But regardless of which one of us is right about the ending, I think that *your* ending is both very smart and incomplete. Are you arguing that Portal is a satire of techno-scientific progress? Are you arguing that at some level you still by into progress at the end? Analyzing this reaction seems like potentially the real work of the essay - the heart of a revision, rather than an afterthought at the end of a draft.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16302919444091859459noreply@blogger.com