War as Popular Culture: The Gulf Conflict and the Technology of Illusionary Entertainment

Ebo, Bosah

doi:10.1111/j.1542-734x.1995.00019.x

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…As part of a broader framework, Dyer-Witheford and de Peuter understand the banalization of warfare as allowing military actions to become part of the culture of everyday life, and ''the long-standing interaction of video game culture and the military apparatus is a component in this process of banalization of war'' (2009, p. 100). As video games make ever more heightened claims to the realism of the wars they depict, real wars come to look ever more like video games through radar screens, infrared, and the ''Nintendo War'' footage of CNN (Ebo, 1995;Stahl, 2010). As Der Derian notes: ''with the virtualization of violence comes the disappearance of war as we have known it '' (2009, p. 121).…”

Section: Games Versus Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing for Fun, Training for War

et al. 2015

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In the cultural controversy surrounding ''violent video games,'' the manufacturers and players of games often insist that computer games are a form of harmless entertainment that is unlikely to influence the real-world activities of players. Yet games and military simulations are used by military organizations across the world to teach the modern arts of war, from how to shoot a gun to teamwork, leadership skills, military values, and cultural sensitivity. We survey a number of ways of reconciling these apparently contradictory claims and argue that none of them are ultimately successful. Thus, either military organizations are wrong to think that games and simulations have a useful role to play in training anything other than the most narrowly circumscribed physical skills or some recreational digital games do, in fact, have the power to influence the real-world behavior and dispositions of players in morally significant ways.

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Section: Games Versus Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing for Fun, Training for War

et al. 2015

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“…Andrew Bacevitch trouve dans cette unanimité la marque d'un « nouveau militarisme américain », fondé sur une conception de la guerre « faussée, dangereuse et irréfléchie », dans laquelle les victimes civiles sont totalement occultées par l'image d'une guerre technologique et propre (2005 : ix). Mia Consalvo (2003) et Bosah Ebo (1995, qui étudient la repré-sentation des technologies militaires dans les récits de guerre vidéoludiques, y voient également une manière d'aseptiser l'image des conflits armés.…”

Section: Réalisme Graphique Et Mirage Technologiqueunclassified

Les jeux vidéo de tir à la première personne (FPS) et le Pentagone : les limites du récit pour la science politique

Hudelot

2015

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Jusqu’à maintenant, les politologues intéressés à l’étude des jeux vidéo ont dépendu des écoles narratives et ludologiques, qui les ont amalgamés aux médiums visuels. Ces études portent surtout sur la construction d’une représentation virtuelle et vertueuse de la guerre, même si des recherches – extérieures aux sciences sociales – démontrent toute une panoplie d’effets physiques et psychologiques associés à la pratique de ces jeux. Dans cet article, nous proposons de revenir sur les liens entre l’Armée américaine et les jeux vidéo de tir à la première personne (FPS), d’abord par l’approche narrato-ludologique reconnue, puis en proposant d’élargir ce cadre théorique par l’approche cybernétique.Political scientists interested in videogames have until now largely depended on two main theoretical frameworks: narratology and ludology. These frameworks, inspired by film studies, have helped to make sense of the messages contained in videogames, and how they fit in the construction of a virtual and virtuous image of war. But researchers outside of social sciences have revealed numerous physical and psychological effects associated with those games, with important political implications. After reviewing the existing literature on the links between the Pentagon and first-person-shooter (FPS) games, we propose to widen that study through the use of the cybernetic approach

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“…As computer simulations and film editing became increasingly sophisticated, government reports could be augmented by graphics to support administration policy. Ebo (1995) describes how computer simulations during the Persian Gulf War allowed the Bush administration to convince the public that 'smart bombs' were actually more accurate than they proved to be in avoiding civilian targets. He notes how such simulations project a 'video game' version of war as popular entertainment.…”

Section: Changing Market Rewards and The Trend Towards Tabloid Journalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘right to know vs knowing what’s right’: tabloid ethics and news reporting in the Iraq War

Rusciano

2010

Media, War & Conflict

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This article describes how ‘tabloid ethics’ have infiltrated and transformed traditional notions of journalistic objectivity and is divided into four parts.The first part describes the development of the ‘contract by convention’ for objective reporting from earlier modes of behavior during the period of partisan journalism. The second part describes the collapse of that contract due to market pressures caused by the rapid availability of news on cable channels and the internet. The third part describes the ‘tabloid mentality’ that infects all news outlets to some degree, and illustrates this problem by focusing on two incidents from the Iraq War: the capture and rescue of Private Jessica Lynch and the controversy of the roll call of American soldiers killed in Iraq on the television show ‘Nightline’. The article concludes by arguing that tabloid journalism currently creates a ‘simulacrum of objectivity’ that most resembles the entertainment model of ‘reality shows’.

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War as Popular Culture: The Gulf Conflict and the Technology of Illusionary Entertainment

Abstract: where he teaches international communication and media and popular culture.

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

Playing for Fun, Training for War

Playing for Fun, Training for War

Les jeux vidéo de tir à la première personne (FPS) et le Pentagone : les limites du récit pour la science politique

The ‘right to know vs knowing what’s right’: tabloid ethics and news reporting in the Iraq War

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