Do you ever find yourself watching a movie, reading a book, or playing a game and thinking to yourself, “This has happened before”? Of course, we all have? But, this form of entertainment deja vu isn’t because you’ve decided to re-watch, re-read, or re-play. Join us this week as we discuss the phenomenon of entertainment influencing itself, for better or for worse. From classic literature to classless television, it seems there are no bounds. Dust off that tome of Shakespeare, spike up that blow-out, and whatever you, don’t feed the Honey Boo Boo as you settle in for a certified original episode of Monkey in the Cage!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:33 — 30.0MB)
(01:15) – Homeland Security attempts to get hip, Ramses makes us hungry, and then totally ruins our appetite. - The World’s Largest Cheeseburger, Mutant Chinese Worms, and Penis Snakes
(06:40) – Death gets digital, cockroaches get cybernetic, and Matt imperfectly reports on the perfect Savage Worlds module for him. – Achtung! Cthulhu
(13:55) – Robert beats Mass Effect 3 and takes issue with the ending and Bethesda fails its fans yet again. – Skyrim DLC Fail and Dishonored. Plus, Ultimate Spiderman confuses Robert.
(24:24) – Karen brings us news on the upcoming production of Amazon; we talk the gaming explosion on Kickstarter (like Numenera and Reaper Minis); and we reveal the MITC Birthday Giveaway!
(36:00) – It’s topic time! Matt kicks off the discussion focusing on the evilness of Disney and the Twilight/Emo-Vampire craze and Robert LOVES lens flare (or does he?).
(40:30) – Ramses talks about the transcendent cultural influence of Jersey Shore and Guidos, Honey Boo-Boo = The Holocaust, and the retelling of the Classics. – Hamlet and Sons of Anarchy, The Dark Knight Rises and A Tale of Two Cities, and The Lord of the Rings / The Ring of the Nibelung connection.
(45:52) – Movies to Board Games = Good; Board Games to Movies = Why do you hate us? – Battleship, The Candy Land Movie, The Lord of the Rings Board Game, Game of Thrones, Monopoly, Risk, Clue, and Ouija by the greatest director of all time! Plus, Jumanji, Zathura and Worst Case Scenario.
(49:11) – Star Wars: One Franchise to Influence Them All – The Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth, and we begrudgingly admit George Lucas’ marketing genius. Also, music, duh! – Rocky III, Mr. T trumps Nostradamus, and Survivor
(53:01) – The movie/video game synergy has been hit or miss, but we tangent about E.T. and deaf robots instead.
(54:51) – We discuss literature and gaming as being the perfect storm of creative influence. – Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, H.P. Lovecraft, and Call of Cthulhu. Also, Henry David Thoreau’s Walden: The Video Game
(56:35) – Comics and novelizations are king(?) when it comes to media crossover! – The Death of Chewbacca and The Phantom Menace. Plus Florida hates geeks.
Closing Song – Eye of the Tiger - performed by Survivor
The point Robert was trying to make during the Star Wars discussion about The Hidden Fortress is really interesting! I have heard about the Joseph Campbell influence tons of times but that was the first time I’d heard of the Kurosawa influence. I straight Googled that shizz… good stuff! We should have talked more about it.
Star Wars, and a lot of other movie fiction today, can also trace some of its roots to A Princess of Mars and the other John Carter fiction by Edgar Rice Burroughs. When I heard people scoffing at the recent John Carter movie because of it being too similar to Star Wars and other films I wanted to rip my hair out!
another hilarious podcast! Great job! Any chance of getting a shout out to my website?
There was absolutely a Jumanji board game. I remember my parents bringing it home for my brothers and I shortly after the movie was released. I can’t remember all of the mechanics, but I do remember there was a Rhino piece that could send you back to the beginning at nearly any moment, and each turn you were to draw a card, and then slide it into the middle piece. The middle orb from the movie was downgraded to a red filter so that you could read the writing on the card.
Here’s a handy image: Jumanji Board Game Orb Reader