Homage, Parody, or a Test of Video Game History

Often pictures mimic older more iconic pictures intending to pay homage or to parody them for newer audiences. 

The intent of the newer image to include iconic video game characters as  stand-ins for the original Star Wars poster creates not only a callback and homage, but it speaks to fans of both movies and video Games by trying to get them to recognize the symbols of the original in a new context. Instead of seeing Luke or Darth Vader, the intended audience sees Master Chief and Samus taking on the same roles in an attempt to pay tribute to classic sci-fi cinema that has no doubt come to influence the characters in sci-fi video games. Many of the characters wouldn't exist if it weren't for Star Wars' earlier success at making sci-fi more popular, so the newer image is an icon for the original and makes viewers think not only who and what game each character comes from, but it makes them remember the original poster and how the genre of sci-fi has evolved into the video game realm.

The image also works as a comedic meme image mashing together some of the greatest characters of video games from different decades. Old arcade classics such as Asteroids and Space Invaders are included alongside more modern games such as Halo, Metroid Prime, and Mass Effect. This blending of decades worth of video game history creates a picture that emphasizes how games have changed from earlier graphics into modern movie equivalents. This piece also serves as a message to fans of video games and challenges them to try and interpret the image's characters not as homages to the Star Wars original, but to test their own knowledge of who each one is and where they came from.

















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Cosmopolitan Magazine - The 12 Most Hilarious Burning Man Missed Connections

First, before you read this post, please read the article found in the link above. This is an article chronicling online posts of people who had attended this year's "Burning Man." To someone who has not attended Burning Man, it is known as a gathering in the desert where people burn things at the end. The author of the article showed posts of people who had attended the gathering who had felt like they made connections with other people and wanted to talk to them again. The article's point of view is from the author, who had never attended the gathering, but the point of view within the posts are of the people who attended. The multiple point of views within the article makes it a little confusing to understand, but very interesting, and can't be completely understood unless the reader has some knowledge of Burning Man. The message of the article is rather humorous, since Burning Man is generally in the same regard as Woodstock. 

Analyzing Kiwis

This... is a photoshop of a kiwi within a kiwi. The intention of this image is to be humorous in conveying the irony of the word "kiwi." The name of the bird and the fruit are spelled identically, although the two do not have any relation to each other. The bird is native to New Zealand and is its national bird. This image specifically demonstrates how the fur/feathers of the kiwi bird looks similar to the outside of the kiwi fruit. The bird is "cut open" to reveal the fruit on the inside. The obvious feedback for this photo would be "disturbed," as it is disturbing to see an adorable furry bird being photoshopically cut open for viewing humour and horror. 

Analysis of "BAT BLOOD- A Batman V Superman AND Bad Blood PARODY ft. Batman

This video posted on September 10, 2015 from HISHE (How It Should Have Ended) is bombarded with recent pop culture references. The recent song and popular music video "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift is used in humorous context featuring fictional pop culture characters instead of other famous music artists. 

This video/parody would be very confusing and not humorous at all if one did not understand the references. To understand and appreciate the humour represented here, one must have seen and have a knowledge of many pop culture references such as former HISHE videos (specifically the Batman V Superman videos), the Taylor Swift song "Bad Blood," the upcoming Batman V Superman movie, all previous Batman and Superman movies, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, the Iron Man movies, Back to the Future, and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1 to name just a few. 

Due to all these subtle references given in a mere five minute animated video, it is obvious that the rhetorical context is largely prevalent. Understanding the references allows the video to have its full effect. The audience, then, is anyone who watches these movies and is "in the know" in recent pop culture.