Contrast in Reckoning 3

Reckoning 3 does a good job combining clips from video games as well as other forms of media in order to demonstrate various experiences people have while playing video games, even if these experiences are for the most part unintended. For example, many of the games that were featured in the video have a strong narrative component mostly played out through cut scenes. These cut scenes are presented to the player similarly to the way a movie is: the "acting" as well as the cinematography and cuts and dialogue are formatted to be familiar to the player so they understand that a story is being told. This cinematic aspect of games allows the player to see the character they are controlling as part of the larger narrative and capable of creating its own actions, but it doesn't stop the player from abandoning the conceptions they have of the character as soon as they gain control during play. The way the characters move in the cutscenes are designed to look realistic, but the motions of the character while being controlled are choppy and unnatural. This is rarely a distraction to the player because we have grown accustomed to the way games look and are played. Reckoning 3 is able to make these strange discrepancies more apparent by contrasting the silly movements we make during the game with the structured dynamics between the characters and their surroundings with cutscenes and clips from movies. There are a few reasons as to why a person's gameplay would look strange to us if we weren't so familiar with the ways games look. It is inevitably unnatural to translate pressing buttons and moving joysticks into the movements of a human body, so things like changing directions and running and jumping are going to look automated. The contrast of these movements in combination with the editing and the sound within Reckoning 3 is able to create an unnerving, confusing, and often humorous piece that I found very enjoyable.

Reckoning 3 also incorporates video of various people playing or pretending to play the games as well as audio of online play that further adds to the idea that a game is going on within the video as opposed to a video that tries to make game play seem passable as a continuation of the loose narrative seen in the other clips. I think it is safe to assume most people who play video games can relate to experimentation in the game. There are many clips that demonstrate this desire such as the Batman character repeatedly squatting despite his character's reputation for being dark and serious. There are also many clips that show the dynamic between the playable character and the NPCs such as the clip in which the character charges at the NPC over and over just to watch the NPC mechanically dodge and walk away seemingly unbothered by what would be considered confusing actions in real life. Another example of the characters within games redefining real life events through contrast is the queering of the masculine fighters. An uncomfortable amount of time is spent with the characters in the missionary position while they lightly choke each other and rub against each other. Wrestling and fighting is considered to be extremely masculine and heteronormative despite the very close proximity these men's genitals often come in contact with each other, but Reckoning 3 is able to make it very apparent that this masculine event we thought we knew so well has a lot of potential to be considered a homosexual activity. Through expansive and vast amount of contrasts throughout the video, Reckoning 3 draws attention to the various experiences that we encounter during gaming and in life that we usually do not care about or pay attention to.