2000 41 min 1-893521-51-6 This film has subtitles English

Game Over

Gender, Race & Violence in Video Games

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Synopsis

Video and computer games represent a $6 billion a year industry. One out of every ten households in American owns a Sony Playstation. Children who own video game equipment play an average of ten hours per week. And yet, despite capturing the attention of millions of children worldwide, video games remain one of the least scrutinized cultural industries.

Game Over is the first educational documentary to address the fastest growing segment of the media through engaging questions of gender, race and violence.

Game Over offers a refreshing dialogue about the complex and controversial topic of video game violence, and is designed to encourage high school and college students to think critically about the video games they play.

Intro | Video Games: The New Media | Play Like a Man: Video Games and Masculinity | Buxom Babes: The Female Heroine | Narrow Vision: Race in Video Games | Video Game Violence | Sim Violence: Teaching Kids to Kill | Conclusion: Virtual Violence

Release Date:2000
Duration:41 min
ISBN:1-893521-51-6
Subtitles:English

Trailers

Watch the trailer

Filmmaker Credits

Executive Producer
Sut Jhally
Producer, Director
Nina Huntemann
Editor
Jeremy Smith
Camera
Susan Ericsson
Camera
Sanjay Talreja
Camera
Jeremy Smith
Camera
Bryan L Donnell
Location Audio
Jeremy Smith
Location Audio
Marianna Yarovskaya
Post-Production Audio
Thom Monahan
Graphics
Jeremy Smith
Graphics
Ed May
Original Music
Thom Monahan
Assistants to the Producer
Amanda Fraleigh
Assistants to the Producer
Michael Lance

Resources: Downloads and Related Links

Praise

"Awesome! Every student, teacher, and parent should see this video!"
Tricia Lea
History Teacher
PVPA Charter High School, Hadley, MA
"...Game Over is especially intriguing and well done. It blends nicely with the theoretical and sociological content of criminology courses and I hope to make use of it in the future."
Joanne Ziembo-Vogl, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Criminal Justice, Grand Valley State University
"The video and computer game industry consumes billions of dollars annually, luring young people to spend an average of ten hours a week playing electronic games. This video explores such topics as how games typically portray gender, race, and violence and what impact they may have -- especially on the males who most often buy and use them. Educators with limited firsthand knowledge of video games are likely to be in for a shock when they see the extent and types of violence and the gendered and racial stereotypes that characterize the games. One of the most powerful segments includes the testimony of one of the world's foremost military experts in the field of human aggression, who details the demonstrated effectiveness of simulation games in training military and law enforcement personnel to overcome a natural inhibition to shoot other human beings. This video can be counted on to spark heated discussion among viewers who may want to defend the games as harmless fun."
Patricia H. Hinchey
Associate Professor of Education at Pennsylvania State University