Welcome to Pseudo Intelligence! I focus on TV, Film, Music, Video Games and any other media topics I have an opinion on . I chose this name as I take ideas I have very seriously whilst poking holes in my own argument and making jokes at my own expense hence the idea of fake intelligence.
Mainstream media has an ever-growing threat, YouTube. YouTube has allowed various companies and individuals to create content that is shared around the globe. YouTube has revolutionised how users consume media. A large portion of YouTube is music, artists share their music videos and gain millions of views as a result which has led to the downfall of MTV’s prominence in modern culture. Music is consistently on the trending page of YouTube alongside multiple talk show clips taken straight from mainstream TV talk shows, thus showing mainstream media has begun to adapt and incorporate a YouTube channel to be part of their online presence.
Also, as a result of recent controversies surrounding traditional media, recent generations have begun to find different outlets for their news and find the viewpoints and opinions they value/embody. However, this creates a dangerous situation as a result of how search engines and browsing history works, it establishes an echo chamber of opinion and often causes greater hostility and lack of debate and conversation around topics.
“a generation has been deciding for themselves who they want to listen to, and social media has already outstripped TV as the go-to news source for 18 to 24-year-olds.”
Also, YouTube is not entirely perfected how it is regulated as an individual can upload what they want and potentially spread false information or any other undesirable content before it is discovered and removed. As individuals are capable of making content, it allows for users to find creators who are like minded and represent themselves and entertain which helps improve the diversity of media and bring content on a more global scale.
Another genre that has exploded as a result of websites such as YouTube and Twitch, is the video game genre. Some of the most active and biggest creators are part of the gaming community. Video games have become staple of the core demographic of YouTube and has allowed for the growth of e-sports to a greater community which has also become apparent to mainstream media. For example, Overwatch has created a dedicated league for professional players of the game which is being broadcast on Twitch, ESPN and Disney XD, however only some games are broadcast on the traditional TV so leading to a greater audience viewing online.
In conclusion, YouTube has established itself as being here to stay and compete alongside mainstream media as it is slowly being integrated into mainstream media. Also YouTube has created multiple series using its YouTube Red service but I will cover this another time. Therefore, traditional TV needs to adapt or risk being overtaken by YouTube as the platform for future generations to consume media.
Rick and Morty, oh what a weird, complex show. Actually no, no it is not. Rick and Morty has created a fanbase that believes they are more intelligent than they actually are. Rick and Morty has a fanbase that now believes they are intelligent for understanding the slightest essence of science that is sprinkled throughout the show.
As demonstrated by these memes, Rick and Morty has put itself into a difficult scenario because the narrative of the show bases itself around science and time warping inter-dimensional, thus leading to fans believing by spouting out quotes from the show makes them more intelligent. The show itself however understands it is not aiming to be an intelligent programme. For example, in Season 2 Episode 1, Rick makes a reference to a character called Red Grin Grumble to which Summer and Morty laugh, yet it is revealed seconds later to be a planted fake reference that doesn’t exist. Therefore, showing Rick and Morty is well aware that it’s main audience does not understand the references and simply laughs along for the feeling of being intelligent and in on the joke.
However, not for a second am I questioning the show itself for its intelligence. Rick and Morty is able to be self deprecating and self-aware whilst being silly and completely moronic. Rick and Morty is a commentary on human existence, as Rick and Morty is very clearly searching for a purpose through science and space exploration, whilst making it abundantly clear that the main purpose in life is to enjoy the experience of these with the people around you. This is better explained by Will Schoder on Youtube in his video titled ‘Rick and Morty – Finding Meaning in Life’
In conclusion, I feel the Rick and Morty fanbase has developed a superiority complex against casual viewers and any other fanbase. Many of those in the fanbase may feel that this is simply cause I don’t understand Rick and Morty, however my retort would simply be I may not understand but those who do seem to deem themselves vastly better than me because of the simple fact they do which in reality is utterly ridiculous. Although, go decide for yourselves, am I simply undermining the intelligence of the show by believing the fanbase aren’t as smart as they are or has the fanbase developed a sense of pseudo intelligence?
Have you ever turned to someone with an idea that you thought was pure genius, only for said person to turn and say ‘oh yeah I’ve heard of that before, swear you can buy it on Amazon’? The amount of times I have turned to a friend and thought I had made an original idea only for them to tell me, it was something we had seen together ages ago is ridiculous. For example, I thought of an idea making figures of people’s pets, I was later reminded that I thought of this simply because of customisable dolls and then through further research, my idea already existed. Back to the point, nowhere is it more prevalent that originality is hard to come by is the music industry. All along the Watchtower is a song famous around the globe but many recall the Jimi Hendrix cover in 1968, when in reality the song was originally sung by Bob Dylan in 1965. Society as a whole, simply accepts this without questioning if this is stealing or simply a different take on Bob Dylan’s work. Thus, demonstrating how the music industry is more tolerant of influences affecting an artist. Additionally, a glaring lack of originality in music is the simple use of 4 specific chords.A comedy rock band called the Axis of Awesome created a song called the 4 chord song which demonstrates very clearly that a large amount of pop songs use the same chords with slight variations and different tempos, thus making them different enough in passing but clearly similar if strung together. However, why is this okay? Remixing and minor differences between art and ideas is deemed acceptable as long is creates something that is deemed new. Simply this is acceptable because without accepting we are influenced by our surroundings and what we consume we can no longer progress our artistic output and find inspiration thus becoming totally stale and stagnant. One artist who does this drastically without any shame is Frank Ocean. Frank flaunts his influences which is demonstrated cleary by his name which is from his love of Ocean 11 starring Frank Sinatra. In his first EP, Nostalgia Ultra, Frank uses clips from The Eagles, MGMT and Radiohead and in turn this follows the fundamentals of creativity which is to copy, transform and combine. Frank copies the Eagles’ song Hotel California, places his own lyrics on the rhythm of the song and transforms it into his own song called American Wedding. As a result, Frank is able to create something that is original to some extent but clearly demonstrating how his influences have help him create the content he wishes to.
Remixing is not just exclusive to the music industry. In the video game industry, a clear example of transformation is Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed. Prince of Persia brought the idea of parkour in video games to the forefront, but Assassin’s Creed was able to drag it into the gritty era of video games that we have today. The idea of being a vigilante running across rooftops appealed to millions, however due to the tone and artistic style of Assassin’s Creed, it saw Prince of Persia crash in popularity and becoming a video game classic that didn’t stand the test of time, hence why the remake failed. Furthermore, the film industry is not exempt from remixing and highlighting its influences. Influences are highlighted throughout cinema via the idea of easter eggs. Ready Player One is a glaring example of how easter eggs are used to flaunted in cinema, however they do not contribute to the artistic style of the film so how does film remix artistically? Quentin Tarantino is a director who does not shy away from demonstrating his ability to stitch genre conventions together to create a film that entirely subverts the genre itself. Tarantino takes numerous scenes and camera angles from a wide range of films to help stitch together his cinematic narrative. As demonstrated by his ability to use shots ranging from the Flintstones and Psycho in his film Pulp Fiction which in terms of originality shows his ability to take qualities and transform int one unique concept. There is a great quote from Picasso, “Good artists copy, Great artist steal.” As demonstrated by the fact this entire essay is a combination of The Most Unruly’s ‘Steal Like A Panda’ and Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix. So can we ever truly say is anything is original?
Jimi Hendrix
Frank Ocean
Remixing is not just exclusive to the music industry. In the video game industry, a clear example of transformation is Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed. Prince of Persia brought the idea of parkour in video games to the forefront, but Assassin’s Creed was able to drag it into the gritty era of video games that we have today. The idea of being a vigilante running across rooftops appealed to millions, however due to the tone and artistic style of Assassin’s Creed, it saw Prince of Persia crash in popularity and becoming a video game classic that didn’t stand the test of time, hence why the remake failed.
Assassin’s CreedPrince Of Persia
Furthermore, the film industry is not exempt from remixing and highlighting its influences. Influences are highlighted throughout cinema via the idea of easter eggs. Ready Player One is a glaring example of how easter eggs are used to flaunted in cinema, however they do not contribute to the artistic style of the film so how does film remix artistically? Quentin Tarantino is a director who does not shy away from demonstrating his ability to stitch genre conventions together to create a film that entirely subverts the genre itself. Tarantino takes numerous scenes and camera angles from a wide range of films to help stitch together his cinematic narrative. As demonstrated by his ability to use shots ranging from the Flintstones and Psycho in his film Pulp Fiction which in terms of originality shows his ability to take qualities and transform int one unique concept. There is a great quote from Picasso, “Good artists copy, Great artist steal.” As demonstrated by the fact this entire essay is a combination of The Most Unruly’s ‘Steal Like A Panda’ and Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix. So can we ever truly say is anything is original?
Ahhh lockdown… How I will not miss you! You have been catastrophic on my mental health and sanity. However, you did benefit my bank account.
Lockdown for me started slightly earlier than it was officially implemented as the company I work for decided as a precaution to allow our team to work from home, then lockdown happened. So, I began by working from home and eventually, I was placed on the furlough scheme.
Furlough era
In the Furlough era, I thought ‘Great, I can get loads of tiny jobs done and maybe pick up a new hobby or develop a new skill?’ which did happen for a short while. I began by going through my room and getting rid of anything that I no longer needed. So, as a professional man-child, I found loads of old toys that I never got rid of and decided to put them together and when lockdown has ended, leave them to a charity shop, so they can benefit somebody else (eventually this did happen).
Then, overtime I noticed I was able to save a lot of money from not being able to go anywhere, so I was able to save up enough money for an iPad Pro, which I planned to use to develop a hobby of drawing and design. So, iPad in hand, I began drawing small sketches, thinking of news ideas, and finding inspiration. This lasted for about a fortnight. I told myself before buying the iPad, that if this was to happen to not beat myself up loads about using the iPad in a different way and rather to be proud of myself to be able to save up for the iPad. By shifting my mindset, it helped preserve a level of sanity rather than beating myself up.
This was the first piece I drew on my iPad to show support to the Black Lives Matter movement, it might not be the greatest piece but the message still stands.
Also, I have been able to save up towards my dream holiday of visiting to Japan and a PS5. So, I am proud of myself being able to save this kind of money rather than spending on small stuff. However, lockdown stopped one of my goals for this year in its tracks, which was to pass my driving test. I had a driving test booked in April and unfortunately this was not possible. So, driving took a step back and is now looking more likely to happen in September, hopefully this will go ahead.
Also, during my time on furlough, I told myself to get myself prepped for joining a gym with my friend (HAHA). Joe Wicks thank you for at least trying to get me into some kind of shape, shame I stopped paying attention to you and that shape is now a lower-case b.
However, I did apply myself at one point during furlough, as I passed a Google Analytics course and took part in a social media manager school hosted by Agorapulse. By completing these courses, I now feel I understand the wider areas of the digital marketing sector, even if I do not necessarily handle these areas. As my company slightly different to others, I now have a better understanding of how another digital marketing agency might work. For example, by completing the social media manager course, I now understand that often a team works upon a content and when scheduling posts will often have it reported to their managers or another team member by a feature in Agorapulse, which can be used to discuss any changes.
Anime
One of the main things that kept me distracted and sane during lockdown was Anime. Anime is a style of animation that originates from Japan. Anime has become a big part of my entertainment since being show one by my girlfriend a couple of years ago. So, during lockdown, I have watched the entirety of a show (146 episodes) of Hunter X Hunter which is amazing. It has really strong characters with different motivations and it is based around an idea of becoming a ‘Hunter’ which is an extremely skilled and powerful individual who has no restrictions in a wider universe of political unrest and warfare (the plot is a lot more complex than that but I will leave it at that for now). Also, keep my mental health in a safe state, I began watching the latest series of Pokémon to revert back to my childhood, which was really relaxing and helped make me escape from the fear of the situation.
I watched another anime called assassination classroom. Assassination Classroom follows a genetic experiment, who moves at Mach 20, that threatens to blow up the world after blowing up the moon, however for some reason he wishes to teach a class in Japan, so his request is granted and the class is given the task by the government to assassinate him. Assassination Classroom handles themes such as growth, individualism and confidence in a style that is not traditional for western audiences, this is often the case in most anime shows/movies and why Anime is ostracised in certain groups in the western world.
Check out Assassination Classroom’s trailer!
Back to Work
At the end of June, I was asked to return to work, but to continue working from home. When I returned to work, new tools had been implemented to improve the effectiveness and functionality of the business. Tools such as Zapier, Slack and Pipedrive have all been implemented to help manage our lead generation work and helps improve the company’s communication by consolidating it into one space. Slack has allowed our communication to be in one place and can see conversations surrounding projects clearly. Pipedrive has allowed the company to have one location for leads that can be tracked and verified (contacted to register interest), thus giving the company a more professional and effective management system. Zapier is one of the more important to myself as it has been given as a task to me. Zapier helps move our leads’ information from when they fill out a form on our Facebook adverts into Pipedrive, so as soon as they enter their details, they show up in Pipedrive as well. So, when a new campaign is made live for a customer of ours, it is my role to make sure the Zapier automation is set up, so our sales team receive the leads in a prompt and timely fashion.
Finally…
The one thing that kept me sane and my mental health in a healthy space was being able to spend time with my dog, as I haven’t been spending much time with him in recent years, so now that I have nothing but time, I have used it to take him for walks and annoy him constantly by taking picture of him. So, lockdown has been tough on my mental health as I can count on one hand the amount of times I have left my local town (which looks to be going into another lockdown), so it has been difficult, but work and finding new things to do has helped a lot, therefore I am incredibly grateful I live in a digital era where entertainment and work is always possible due to the privileges of my life.
Let’s start of with one thing: Joker the film is incredibly intelligent and an absolute masterpiece in terms of a cinematic creation. Joaquin Phoenix displays a phenomenal portrayal of a rich and complex character. Joker is able to portray an very complex character whilst being able to make him slightly relatable so you are at least able to understand parts of his motives.
Now that my opinion of the film is clear, what I want to highlight is the current portrayal of what society seems to be turning towards (generally in the western world). Joker, in my opinion, highlights a massive underlying issue of disenfranchisement, both politically and socially. Joker demonstrates the current climate that is being felt across most western cultures it seems and issues surrounding mental health.
Brexit and the election of Donald Trump was in large a culmination of issues but one issue that was shared between them was an idea of being felt misrepresented and disenfranchised. People have turned to more extreme measures politically then they have in the past few years due to feeling lost and no longer feeling attached or helped by those in positions of authority. Everybody at one point has felt lost when trying to understand politics whilst simultaneously having incredibly strong opinions about issues they either have no information or have the whole the picture.
The worst part of this entire mess is the word ‘society’. As a result of internet culture, the phrase “we live in a society” has become popularised, so much so that nobody no longer understands exactly what the term society is suggesting and is generally seen as escape rope when talking about general issues. As people feel the over analysing of societal habits has left them fatigued and irritated with the generalisation of issues. There are more explanations for the events of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, but I will be focusing on the idea of the general population becoming tired with the generalisation of issues and the lack of care aimed towards them.
One of the iconic scenes in the Joker.
For example, Joker follows the story of Arthur Fleck, who is struggling with a condition called Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) which means he suffers from uncontrollable fits of laughter. Two sequences in particular stand out: the first being Arthur speaking to his therapist who he feels doesn’t listen to him and later on in the film eventually the sessions are cancelled as the funding is no longer available. The other sequence is when Arthur is sat on a bus and interacts with a young child which eventually led to him having one of his laughing fits. The woman in the scene has the initial response of anger and then gets angrier once Arthur’s fit begins. Eventually Arthur is then able to hand his card explaining his condition over and her simple reaction is to read it, look in confusion with a suggestion of disgust and leave Arthur to deal with his condition to himself. Granted I understand there isn’t a lot the woman is capable of helping with but this simple moment demonstrates what the movie aims to highlight, which is that mental health and conditions such as PBA are still looked at from a distance and left abandoned in the mind of the general population. In the picture above, Arthur eventually makes his transition into his alter ego Joker which comes as a culmination of being turned away and mistreated by society.
Society still feels the stiff upper lip attitude should remain.
The average Joe on the street no longer feels recognised by those who represent them and feels they have lost their voice therefore, feel very vulnerable and abandoned by the higher ups of society. Joker hits the nail on the head with the quote “The worst thing about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t”. I can’t help but feel this is how society treats mental illness, however the Joker is not totally perfect as it seems to suggest that the turnover of mental illness is drastic and arguably slightly glorifies the anarchy that the Joker brings upon Gotham. So, my plea as a result of Joker is to use the feeling of disenfranchisement that currently exists amongst the population and make sure to register and go to vote. So please register to vote and aim to make some real change.
Invader Zim was never intended to be a mainstream show hence why it ended after a short run. However, it was able to develop a small following that has left a fondness in the memory of numerous kids who grew up in the 2000s like myself.
Invader Zim was, upon reflection one of the cartoons who paved the way for cartoons such as Rick and Morty and Final Space, it helped lead to a slightly off centre and obscure type of cartoon. Invader Zim has always had a space in my childhood memories but it was one of the background memories. As such, my memories may have warped slightly but I can’t help feel the movie which Netflix has made it totally in line of what I remember of the show.
Screenshot from Enter the Florpus
Invader Zim has always had an obscure charm to it, due to its unique art style and silly throw away moments. Invader Zim helped pave the way for cartoons that don’t follow the traditional format by breaking what a cartoon should look like, how it should act and what it should be for children. It moved away from trying to teach children a lesson and towards straight forward entertainment, furthermore, it didn’t obey the constraints of behaviour as it came part of the era that involved Dick and Dom in the bungalow. Also, it was incredibly enjoyable to simply find out all the original cast had returned to reprise their roles which is an absolute credit to Netflix to make sure it came as close to the series as possible. Anyway the film itself has put Invader Zim in a perfectly balanced position as the film helped give the show a final hoorah and celebration of the show, whilst bringing it to a new audience that if it becomes accepted, leaves it open for another series of the show.
Also, as the film was created by Netflix, it allowed the film to be made with pretty much total freedom and allows for a greater audience to be capable of seeing it, thus leading to the possibility of a future series. However, there is one change, upon reflection, I really do appreciate is that Gir’s voice is less harsh and high pitch in the film than the original series, I am not sure whether this was intentional or even happened, but to me it made the character that I already loved (and is still the best character) all the more enjoyable.
A compilation of Gir’s best moments from the show by BellaPrincipessaRossa
Overall, Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus allowed me to relive a niche part of my childhood and didn’t taint it in the slightest, which with an era of reboots and remakes being more common that generally do not stay attached to the source material, I am incredibly happy with the outcome. The film stayed true to the tone of the show, kept the same humour and cast as well as most importantly keeping it’s signature art style. Gir will forever be a symbol of undying annoyance, whilst also being endearing, quirky and charming due to the art style of his character and awkward dialogue that generally never fits in with the situation he is placed. To conclude, Netflix have done incredibly well by making a film that stays true to the original series, whilst developing it further and giving it a potential resolution and leaving it open to further possibilities.
Have you ever turned to someone with an idea that you thought was pure genius, only for said person to turn and say ‘oh yeah I’ve heard of that before, swear you can buy it on Amazon’? The amount of times I have turned to a friend and thought I had made an original idea… Read more
Invader Zim was never intended to be a mainstream show hence why it ended after a short run. However, it was able to develop a small following that has left a fondness in the memory of numerous kids who grew up in the 2000s like myself. Invader Zim was, upon reflection one of the cartoons… Read more
Pseudo Intelligence 