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saltyblazestudent · 5 years

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The Video Game Industry

Video games have come a very long way. From humble beginnings as a simple interactive exhibit to an entirely new form of interactive storytelling and ways to experience adventures with friends. The video game industry has been ripe with change, controversary, technological strides, and amazing works of art and commentaries on society.

Key Terms-

DLC- Downloadable content available for a game offered for a small extra price after the full release of the game.

Micro Transactions- Payments made with real money to get in game currency used to buy in game content.

FPS/TPS- First person shooter/ third person shooter.

Cabinet Game- An arcade style video game built into a cabinet like structure.

Console- a gaming device that can be used at home by plugging it into a TV screen.

Sandbox environment- A game environment that allows the player to roam where every and do almost whatever they want.

Triple-A Games- games that are very popular, make great sales on release, and is usually annualized to release a new game every year or two.

Historical developments-

The first video game was invented in 1958 by Physicist William Higginbotham and it was called Pong. The game was created was by Higginbotham as an interactive exhibit for the Brookhaven National Laboratory Group. The game was displayed on an analog computer and was based off tennis with players using two knobs to control two parallel bars bouncing a ball in between them. This simple concept was eventually ported to an arcade cabinet style and later an at home console game and led to the development of other cabinet style arcade games and at home video game consoles.

The 1970’s was the decade that arcade style video games became mainstream. Even a year before Pong was ported to a cabinet there was Atari’s 1971 game Computer Space a simple joystick-controlled game where you control a small spaceship and the first Arcade Cabinet game. These successes paved the way for all sorts of companies to start developing some of their own games to be made into arcade cabinets and played for a few cents a play. One of the most famous arcade games is Pac-Man a Japanese game licensed and distributed in the U.S. by Midway games and released in 1980. This is a simple arcade style game in which the player uses a joystick to control a small yellow circle shaped character named Pac-Man. The goal of the game was to earn points by going through a maze eating small dots while Avoiding Blinky, Pinky ,Inky, and Clyde four ghost who chase you through the maze. This simple yet incredibly fun game led to many sequels spinoffs and even a Hanna Barbara cartoon series.

Pac-Man isn’t the only game or character to receive mainstream popularity. The Japanese company Nintendo had a game and a character that would truly become timeless, he was a short Italian plumber, that wore a red hat, overalls and a large mustache and had a very funny accent. His name was Mario and the first game he was featured in was a 1981 arcade game called Donkey Kong. This game had Mario trying to rescue Princess Peach from the giant gorilla Donkey Kong. The player would use a joystick and buttons to guide Mario up platforms and over barrels being thrown by Donkey Kong. Mario would later get another main role in Mario Bros which introduced Mario’s brother Luigi. Mario has since become the face of Nintendo and is their flagship Character and shows no signs of losing any popularity.

It was popularity such as this that helped gaming companies make the next big leap from the arcades to peoples’ homes. These consoles usually had the same games you could play in an arcade preloaded onto them so you could play them as much you wanted for free at home. The first at home console was created in 1967 and was called simply the Brown Box and offered only six games ping pong, tennis, volleyball, hand ball, a chase game, and a light gun game. The Magnavox Odyssey was another early at home console that was so primitive to modern standards that it didn’t even have audio. These early 2-D arcade consoles eventually led to the rise of another technological breakthrough in the industry, 3-D gaming. These were not 3-D in the sense that the images appeared to be jumping out of the screen but more with the art style and how the games were graphically improved. For example in Super Mario Bros the character models are created from small colored squares called pixels. These pixels are colored and stacked into shaped to create a 2-D shape on the screen such as the image of Mario. Fast forward to the 3-D tech breakthrough and the number of pixels being used to create Mario increased dramatically, this meant the game developers could make much more detail character models that you could view from any angle. These advances in 3-D character modelling led to the development of one of the most famous consoles created, the Nintendo 64 was a huge leap forward for mainstream gaming and introduce help introduce the concept of a handheld controller with smaller buttons and a small joystick instead of a single joystick for controls.

The N-64 also brought amazing games such as Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, James Bond: Goldeneye, and Mario Tennis. The popularity of the N-64 paved the way for other companies like Sony and Microsoft to hone in on the gaming console market with the release of the Sony PlayStation and the Microsoft X-BOX.

Notable Artists-

The gaming industry is filled with brilliant artist, studios, writers, programmers, and other types of creators that dedicate their time and effort to creating beautiful and stunning games for us to enjoy.

Shigeru Miyamoto- Creator of the Mario Franchise Japanese game developer Shigeru Miyamoto has one of the most creative and colorful imaginations in gaming. The worlds and characters he creates are colorful, cartoony, fun, and most of all memorable. Miyamoto claims to have been inspired by stories such as Alice In Wonderland in his design of the game world and the characters who inhabit it. Miyamoto has created characters such as Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Goombas, Toad, Yoshi, and countless others.

Rockstar Games- Rockstar Games is a company the develops and produces some of the most detailed and expansive Sandbox Environment Games that not only present the player with amazing film quality level story and script writing but also a massive world to experience it all in that feels very close to real life.

Rockstar has published numerous successful game franchises such as the Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, Bully and many others. Rockstar games are notorious for amazing sales records as well with Grand Theft Auto V has made over $6 billion dollars in sales since its release in 2013 and Rockstar’s newest release of their Wild West epic Red Dead Redemption II making $725 million three days after the game was put out.

Recent Trends-

Video Games like any other form of media is subject to trends and the consumers demanding video games that are new, exciting, and interesting. In the 90’s the trend was first person shooters which were popular with computer gamers. First Person shooters consist of putting the player in the first person view of the protagonist, this makes actions like shooting at enemies much easier and more immersive. Games that pioneered this “FPS” (First Person Shooter) genre were games like Wolfenstein, and Doom. The FPS trend evolved in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and was greatly influenced by the 1998 movie Saving Pvt Ryan. After the film’s release there was a huge spike in WWII themed FPS games. A couple of these games almost recreated the Omaha Beach scene from Saving Pvt. Ryan perfectly, allowing player to take part in one of the most famous battles of WWII. Trends in gaming have again evolved with the popularity of the “battle royale”(BR). The BR genre consists of dropping up to 100 players on an island or other large area and having the play area slowly shrink as the players fight for supplies, weapons, shelter, and to be the sole survivor. Games like Player Unknown’s Battle Grounds and Fortnite popularized the genre and now larger annual game titles such as Battlefield and Call Of Duty have included BR game modes in their newest games.

Exemplary Examples-

An amazing and fairly recent example at how far gaming has come and shows just how amazing gaming can be as a mode of storytelling. Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption II is the sequel to the Highly praised Red Dead Redemption. After an eight year wait Red Dead fans flocked to stores to pick up the high anticipated sequel, and they were not disappointed. Red Dead II raked in not only over $725 million after only three days but also almost universal praise from the media. The game was in the news not only on gaming websites and magazines but also in the mainstream media. The game takes place in America during the year 1899 and has a strong Wild West theme to it. The game offers over sixty hours of gameplay just with the main story but adding in side activities and side missions to that play time can exponentially increase the play time for Red Dead II.

Red Dead II offers fun and in detail activities besides the main story missions, such as hunting. Hunting in Red Dead II consist of travelling to a location on the huge map where the animal your hunting is found for example if you want to hunt Alligators you must go to the swampy southern end of the map, if you want to hunt elk you must go to the snowy mountains in the north of the map. Once in the region of the animal you must rack it by looking for clues, once the animal is tracked you must decide the best weapon to take it down with-out damaging the skin. Animals skins that are intact and in better shape when you hunt them can be sold for more money or crafted into clothing for your character in game. This hunting mechanic is just one example of Red Dead II’s highly immersive world.

Ownership-

The video game industry lives on game developing companies that actually create the games. These companies like any other industry vary from small independent companies with a limited number of employees to large corporations and conglomerates that push out Triple-A games on a monthly basis.

An Example of a smaller independent developer is Tripwire Interactive. Tripwire specializes in FPS games especially “hyper-realistic” type FPS games like Red Orchestra and Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. The Red Orchestra games were a welcome change to the type of gameplay offered from most WWII themed FPS games at the time. While other games feature fast gameplay with things like regenerating health and a Heads up Display (HUD) that displayed a mini map, health bar, and ammo count, Red Orchestra cut all that out. Tripwire focused on making a more realistic experience. This included mechanics such as realistic bullet ballistics with shots staring to arch over a certain distance, excluding a HUD feature altogether, and having the player venerable enough to be killed by a single bullet to add to the realism. These mechanics later carried on into other Tripwire games such as the Pacific Theatre WWII game Rising Storm and the Vietnam War game Rising Storm II.

An example of a larger and more corporate game developer that makes games similar to Tripwire. Dice Studios is a very well-known studio most famous for the production of the Battlefield franchise and more recently the Star Wars: Battlefront franchise. Dice is owned by Electronic Arts or EA a huge gaming development conglomeration that has many smaller game developers working for them. Dice has been making battlefield games since 2002 with the first title being a WWII FPS called Battlefield 1942. The game saw great success and EA recognized this and now has Dice pumping out Battlefield games almost every two years.

Demographics-

The demographics of gamers are actually a lot more diverse than one might believe. The usually stereotype is that gamers are either boys between the ages of 7-17 or young men in their twenties that live in their parents basement. There’s also a major stereotype that females do not like video games.

64% of the US general public play video games, The average age of the male gamer according to a Nielsen survey is 33 years old, according to the Entertainment Software Association the average age of female gamers is 37 years old. The countries that make the most from gaming revenue are The US bringing in an average of $25,426 million, Japan with $14,048 million, and China with a whopping $32,538 million.

Controversaries-

The gaming industry and its companies are not immune to controversary and culture movements.

The Grand Theft Auto Controversaries- Rockstar Game’s Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise is their most successful and most controversial franchise. The games are usually themed around crime and the main storylines have very graphic violence, drug use, and sexual content. The sandbox nature of the game also allows the player the opportunity to commit violence against non-enemy NPCs (non-playable characters) or go on shooting sprees until the cops kill you. GTA V came under harsh criticism for a playable scene In the story mode in which the player is forced to torture an FBI prisoner for information with anything from shock with a car battery, pulling teeth with plyers, or waterboarding. This scene especially got lots of media attention with many people asking the question if GTA games are to violent especially in today’s culture. Rockstar however uses this publicity and actually counts on it with each GTA release because it ultimately drives up their sales.

The Doom Controversary- On April 20 1999 two high school students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered their high school armed with guns and homemade bombs. They killed twelve people that day and themselves, and in the subsequent investigation it was found that the boys were fans of one the first popular FPS games Doom. Doom is centered on very simple gameplay with an interesting story with the main character traveling to Mars and to Hell to fight demons. It was the demonic themes and violent gameplay that led some to believe that Doom was actually sending Satanic subliminal messages to players trying to corrupt them to violence.

Sources

https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm

http://pacman.com/en/pac-man-history

https://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/in-which-game-did-mario-make-his-first-appearance/

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/06/19/415456813/the-legendary-mr-miyamoto-father-of-mario-and-donkey-kong

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/10/30/red-dead-redemption-2-sales-revealed-725-million-in-three-days/#79f7000455d7

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-red-dead-redemption-2-2018-9

https://www.tripwireinteractive.com/#/company/#top

https://www.wepc.com/news/video-game-statistics/#video-gaming-industry-overview

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saltyblazestudent · 5 years

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Moonlight final continued-

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The scene in which Chiron gives into to toxic masculine violent tendencies.

youtube

The scene where Chiron and Kevin accept their pasts and truly learn to accept themselves

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saltyblazestudent · 5 years

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Moonlight a critique of toxic masculinity and black masculinity

Tanner Roberts

MSCT 1010 Battista

11/07/2018

Moonlight:

A critique of toxic masculinity and black masculinity

By Tanner Roberts

Moonlight is a 2016 drama directed by Barry Jenkins, and is journey into the life and struggles of Chiron a black and gay man growing up in Florida. We see Chiron’s troubled childhood with him being bullied by other boys and his own mother. We see Chiron in high school start to recognize and feel shame for sexuality, and we see him act on his urges during his first homosexual experience with his friend. We later see Chiron as an adult and he has been shaped by spending time in prison and putting up walls and denying his true self to protect himself. The film reveals many problems with how toxic masculinity is socialized into young boys and some of the consequences of that. It also heavily criticizes many of the problematic norms embedded into black masculine culture.

The film uses the characters Juan and Chiron’s peers like Kevin to illustrate issues with toxic masculinity and black masculinity in particular. Juan is a Black Cuban immigrant who also happens to be a successful drug dealer and Chiron’s peers like Kevin are all ‘Urban’ Black kids living in rough neighborhoods where “being hard” is key to surviving. Juan finds young Chiron hiding in an abandoned motel room after he is chased into hiding by some bullies. Right away the film is introducing us to some of the problems in which the ways boys are raised to be masculine. Chiron is shown to be sensitive or “soft” along with being psychically smaller than many of the other boys around him. The boys around him perceive his small stature and drawn back nature as weakness. Chiron is from an early age identified as “Gay” by his peers before Chiron himself even really recognizes it.

“My Suggestion is that the body becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time.”- 1. (Judith Butler Performative acts and Gender Contruction)

The movie goes very far to affirm that in black families gender roles are placed on children from a very young age. We see this when Chiron goes to play soccer with friends and is questioned as to why he didn’t feel like sticking around and playing rough and rowdy with the other boys. When he responds that he “just doesn’t like it” his friend Kevin jeers him and asks “Why do you let them walk all over you” referring to the boys that bully Chiron and already call him gay despite Chiron being only 9 and not being aware of his sexuality. Kevin continues his speech to Chiron with “You gotta show em you hard”. This point about being “hard” comes back up many times and is usually tied to violence. It is used as a means of protecting ones’ self and their pride. If someone is messing with you hit them to show them that you can’t be messed with. If Someone hurt you, hurt them back to teach them a lesson. It’s a lesson that is taught to many young men but is an even more prevalent ideal In lower class minority groups epically in families where male guidance or father figures are absent. Another issue that Chiron faces is family issues. Chiron’s father is absent and his mother is addicted to crack cocaine and acts incredibly erratically. Chiron’s Mother is also a source of abuse as she like Chiron’s peers recognizes his homosexuality even before Chiron does going so far as to call 9 year old Chiron a “faggot” to his face. Chiron finds shelter with formerly mentioned drug dealer Juan and his girlfriend Teresa. Juan has an interesting role in Chiron’s life as well. Juan acts as a surrogate father to Chiron when Chiron has to escape his mother, but Juan is the one selling crack to Chiron’s mother thus making Chiron’s situation worse in the large scheme of things. Juan does try to rectify this by acting as a good influence on Chiron and teaching him to swim and just being generally nice to him. Juan’s drug dealer lifestyle does have an effect on adult Chiron and it’s not in the way Juan would’ve wanted but that will be touched on in a bit.

““Little Boys like playing rough games; little girls however are full of sugar and spice” is predicated on a whole set of ideological premises” 2. (Stuart Hall, The Whites Of Their Eyes)

After his childhood we see Chiron as a teenager In high school. He is what some might describe as a “Nerd” he wears button up shirts and the jeans that are not the most stylish which I believe is another point where the director is criticizing stereotypical traits of masculine black men having to dress “hard” or gangster to appear like men. He is also just as drawn back and reserved as he was as a child because now his peers and himself are even more aware of his difference in sexuality. We see also during his teenage years toxic masculine behaviors being reinforced even more. In his culture and his economic standing violence is viewed as necessary. In his community of lower class broken minority families violence is also not uncommon, but most disturbingly is that violence in Chiron’s world is equated with manliness and honor. So to be a man and to protect your honor you have to be prepared to be violent. While violence is praised however, feelings and emotional healthy responses are looked down upon. Men who cry in Chiron’s society are equate with femininity which is than, equated with homosexuality, which is than associated with psychical weakness. So being that Chiron is not only gay but also in touch with his feelings (and having many reasons to cry considering his home situation) is often an easy target for bullying and harassment. Chiron eventually does open up to his friend Kevin where he reveals that he cries and Kevin reveals that he wishes he could cry to, they then share a homosexual encounter together realizing and accepting each other for who they are. Chiron’s moment of happiness is ruined the next day when one the school bullies peer pressures Kevin into helping him beat up Chiron, and out of fear of being ostracized by his peers Kevin complies and helps beat Chiron.

It is after this beating we see Chiron start to follow down some of the more dangerous paths of toxic masculinity. After his beating Chiron find the Bully who orchestrated the whole thing, a young man named Terrel that has a science class with Chiron. Chiron walks into his science class, walks up behind Terrel, picks up a desk chair and proceeds to beat Terrel over the head with it getting himself arrested. Chiron’s decsion to follow a path a violent revenge landed him in jail and when he is released we see him start to follow in the only father figure’s footsteps he’s known, Juan’s.

“Later the concept of “ Adventure” -one of the principal categories of modern entertainment moved straight off the printed page into literature of crime and espionage”- 3.(Stuart Hall The Whites Of Their Eyes)

We see Chiron after he has been released from prison and he has now moved to Georgia and his new personality is almost unrecognizable. He is now “Hard”, he sells drugs, drives an old Cadillac with the same crown decoration on the dash board that Juan had, he carries a very large pistol, and describes himself as “on the street”. He even goes as far to have the flashy teeth Grillz and jewelry associated with gangster rap and the drug dealer lifestyle. Chiron has bought into the Toxic masculine lie and more specifically the Black male mold for the Alpha male role. He takes no shit anymore but he is also deeply separated from his emotions and no has resorted to crime to feel like a man.

“I have always worried less about the men I love being manly men than about them being free men- unimpeded in achieving health and happiness as their Black selves. Free men make good partners. Free men make good daddies. Free men make good men.” –4 (Tamara Winfrey Harris Shedding (Moon)light on Toxic Masculinity)

Chiron is eventually contacted by Kevin who still lives in Florida who tells Chiron he misses him and apologizes for the fight that he was a part of. It’s in his reuniting with Kevin that the two kind of put it all out on the table and they express their feeling for each other, how they have moved on, and their feelings about the situation. The eventually come to terms with their feelings and the movie ends with a shot of Kevin and Chiron cuddling and comforting each other implying that they have accepted not only their pasts but their present and who they truly are and want to be.

“How Life Goes on despite the trauma and how Chiron’s already fragile state is put in jeopardy by everlasting loss, both psychical and spiritual, and doubt reinforced by what society wants him to be.” –5 (Circo Di Lella Moonlight: the slow defeat of Toxic Masculinity)

Moonlight in my opinion is about a boy discovering manhood. Although he learns manhood is different than what he thought it was. Man hood isn’t being “hard”, it’s not being violent, it’s not taking unnecessary risks like selling drugs, and it’s not who you are sexually attracted to. Being a man is accepting the who you are inside, it takes courage, and it takes honesty to one’s self. A man can be in touch with his feelings, a man can cry, and a man can love another man and still be a man.

Sources

1. Judith Butler, Performative acts and Gender Contruction

2. Stuart Hall, The Whites Of Their Eyes

3. Stuart Hall, The Whites Of Their Eyes

4. Tamara Winfrey Harris, Shedding (Moon)light on Toxic Masculinity

5. Circo Di Lella Moonlight: the slow defeat of Toxic Masculinity

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Donald Trump on his campaign tour (2015)

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The Walt Disney Company

History-

The media Empire now known as Disney was started in 1926 by brother Walt and Roy O. Disney with their company Disney Brothers Cartoon studio. The company would undergo many name changes until 1986 when the company names was set with The Walt Disney Company. Disney broke ground in the early late 1920’s with the Iconic character Mickey Mouse. The success of Disney’s animation and Mickey Mouse set the stage for Walt’s Company to become bigger than he would have ever imagined. Over the next decades Disney continued to make strides in the animation world with releases such as Snow White and The Seven Dwarves which at the time was not only the first full length animated film but also the first animated film to be shown in color which was groundbreaking at the time in the 1940’s. As years and Years went on and the company became even more successful Walt started to set the seeds to grow The Disney Company into the entertainment/media juggernaut it is today. Walt saw many opportunities to use his brand to branch out to different areas of entertainment so he decided to use the Name of his Company to inspire a new theme park for children and families. Disneyland was opened to the public in July of 1955 and was a revolution in the theme park industry. The Mouse had spared no expense at making Disneyland “The happiest Place on Earth”. The Parks were also able to utilize Disney owned characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and The princesses as walk around attractions to get pictures with guests. This park was so successful three more Disney owned themed parks were opened after Disneyland. Disneyworld was opened not even twenty years later in 1971 in Orlando Florida, Disney’s Epcot Center (a world bazaar) opened in 1998 in Orlando Florida along with Disney’s Animal Kingdom (a theme park/zoo) which opened in 1998 in Orlando. Disney later purchased a cruise line and had its own TV channel in which it produced its own TV shows. Disney even had a radio station that played family friendly music and songs from Disney movies and shows. Walt Disney died in 1966 so he didn’t get to see his empire come to fruition like it has today but the way that Disney has seeped into every aspect of American entertainment, and the amount of money the company is worth I’m sure would have Walt grinning.

hhttps://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.biography.com%2F.image%2Ft_share%2FMTI2MDUwMjQ3NzMzNDYzMDUw%2Fwalt-disney-united-artistis-photofest-croppedjpg.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.biography.com%2Fpeople%2Fwalt-disney-9275533&docid=L9VcffgIpAguqM&tbnid=aY9GnpHC6iFV8M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwicsOyqlL7eAhXSooMKHaapBXsQMwhwKAEwAQ..i&w=908&h=1200&client=safari&bih=711&biw=1280&q=walt%20disney&ved=0ahUKEwicsOyqlL7eAhXSooMKHaapBXsQMwhwKAEwAQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

Ownership-

The Walt Disney Company has no corporate owners and is the world’s largest independently owned media conglomeration. When thinking about ownership in regards to Disney it is really Disney that is turning into the owner. They do not have to answer to any corporate higher ups or owners because the company is private and they own themselves along with any other smaller media company they decide to buy and absorb.

Holdings-

Disney in the last ten years has been on a buying spree and what are they buying? They are buying other media companies and franchises, and not just small studios or franchise names. They are acquire well established franchises and companies that have been around for decades. Disney just finished its acquisition of the Fox Entertainment which gives The Mouse ownership over all Fox properties including Movies released by Fox studios, and TV shows syndicated on Fox owned networks. Disney has also learned the Value of purchasing Franchise rights after its acquiring of the Marvel name and subsequent success of the superhero genre and annualization of Marvel films. Shortly after Marvel bought Disney set its sights on one of America’s and the world’s most well-known film franchise, The Star Wars series. Disney’s purchase of Star Wars was huge news that upset and worried some fans of the franchise and made others quite excited. Those who were worried were afraid Disney style of annualization of franchises and watering down stories to make them more graspable to a general audience would hurt the franchise’s legacy. Others believed it was a chance at a fresh start and after the mostly negative receptions of George Lucas’ three prequel Star Wars films some fans were excited to see what the Mouses’ deep pockets could do with Star Wars.

Controversary has surfaced with the new Star Wars Disney Films however. Disney has released two Star Wars main episode films with Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, and two spin off/prequel films in Rouge One and Solo. The controversary is mainly that these new films especially episode VII are great disservices to the Star Wars fan base and almost seems to be making fun of them. Many fans criticize the writing and acting of the new films. There is also controversy from certain groups about the new episodes prominently featuring minorities or women but those arguments are usually void of any rational thought and are generally ignored. Many fans have also expressed disappointment with character development and plot holes left in the film.

How Disney Milks Star Wars-

Much like how Disney has a plan of phases for the release of Marvel movies it does the same for its Star Wars films. The scheduled release dates are very carefully thought out with the bigger Episodic movies like episode VII or VIII being released around Christmas time to maximize ticket sales. The smaller Disney Star Wars spin offs like Rouge One or Solo were released in summer months to still capitalize on the busy film season. Not only does the pumping out of films generate ticket or DVD sales but it also opens up the market to constant merchandising opportunities, and Star Wars a franchise that started in the 1970’s consistently sells massive amounts of toys, games, clothing, or anything you can slap a Star Wars logo on, and Disney being masters of merchandise themselves are well aware of the merchandising value of Star Wars.

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