J. Laudicina
Bio
An honors student at Moore College of Art & Design (Photography/Digital Arts and Creative Writing).
Stories (3/0)
Evil in Our Stories #2
An Offer You Can’t Refuse The Mafia, specifically referencing the Italian-American organized crime syndicate, and their lifestyle had dazzled audiences since the 1930s in early cinema. These gangsters were talked about in the news, started to appear in movies, lend its influence to Noir that’s lasts to this day. In 1972 The Godfather came out and has become some of America’s most treasured iconography, winning 18 various awards such as an Oscar and a Golden Globe. The secrecy, the brutality, the riches and the swagger of the characters are appealing to audiences. The ideology to the gangster isn’t restricted to the Italian-American culture but its influence can be seen in representations of African-American gangs and other organized criminal groups; this will be discussed further in this essay. Dozens of popular media starring the gangster also include hits like: Goodfella’s, Boardwalk Empire, Grand Theft Auto, The Sopranos, and Public Enemies.
By J. Laudicina6 years ago in Criminal
Evil in Our Stories #3
Qu'est-ce que c'est (What is it?) Serial killers and psychopaths are nothing new in our storytelling, having theoretically started in fairytales such as Blue Beard, but more on that later. Before the 1900’s Jack the Ripper engrossed England and this story has been so mysterious no one is sure what is true or false about it. The psycho-killer villain particularly took off with Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho which won the Golden Globe in 1961 . Other important examples to note are Dexter, American Psycho, A Clockwork Orange, Sweeny Todd, Seven, and video games L.A. Noir and Heavy Rain.
By J. Laudicina6 years ago in Psyche
Evil in Our Stories #1
We love evil in our media. Audiences, readers and gamers, intake fictional narratives every day and many contain something malevolent wreaking havoc. The proof isn’t hard to come by, how many of these titles have you seen or at least heard of: NCIS, Dexter, The Sopranos, The Walking Dead, The Godfather, and Psycho? You probably recognize most of those titles, and can think of more media with similar themes. Some interesting questions arise with this revelation: Why do we like it? I argue that this dark phenomenon in our media can teach important lessons, like societies need to cooperate in order to survive as seen in The Walking Dead; but most important of all of them being that our greatest villains are far from being alien to us, but rather reflect the duality of human nature, just like when the audience empathizes with Michael Corleone’s heartbreak over Fredo’s betrayal in The Godfather Part II which enables us put aside a horrendous crime and accept it later in the movie as justified.
By J. Laudicina6 years ago in Geeks