Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)

This essay discusses Bully (Canis Canem Edit), considering the game’s antecedents (narratives involving young people in school settings) and the features which set it apart from other teen texts. It discusses the controversy surrounding the game and comes to the conclusion that the principal reason...

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Main Author: Clare Bradford
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Digital Culture & Education (DCE) 2009-05-01
Series:Digital Culture & Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://digitalcultureandeducation.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dce1013_bradford_2009.pdf
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author Clare Bradford
author_facet Clare Bradford
author_sort Clare Bradford
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description This essay discusses Bully (Canis Canem Edit), considering the game’s antecedents (narratives involving young people in school settings) and the features which set it apart from other teen texts. It discusses the controversy surrounding the game and comes to the conclusion that the principal reason for unease on the part of parents and educational authorities is that Bully’s postmodernist ethic evades the binaries of liberal humanism and calls into question the foundations on which conventional ethical systems are based. The paper considers several episodes from the game to flesh out its arguments about how the game manifests features of postmodernist textuality in its propensity for simultaneously deploying and interrogating references to historical and contemporary cultural practices.
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spelling doaj.art-d7a19036d0bb4476ae8f7760e2d388b52024-01-02T09:34:32ZengDigital Culture & Education (DCE)Digital Culture & Education1836-83012009-05-01116782Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)Clare BradfordThis essay discusses Bully (Canis Canem Edit), considering the game’s antecedents (narratives involving young people in school settings) and the features which set it apart from other teen texts. It discusses the controversy surrounding the game and comes to the conclusion that the principal reason for unease on the part of parents and educational authorities is that Bully’s postmodernist ethic evades the binaries of liberal humanism and calls into question the foundations on which conventional ethical systems are based. The paper considers several episodes from the game to flesh out its arguments about how the game manifests features of postmodernist textuality in its propensity for simultaneously deploying and interrogating references to historical and contemporary cultural practices.http://digitalcultureandeducation.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dce1013_bradford_2009.pdfYouthvideo gamespostmodernismethicsideologies
spellingShingle Clare Bradford
Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
Digital Culture & Education
Youth
video games
postmodernism
ethics
ideologies
title Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
title_full Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
title_fullStr Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
title_full_unstemmed Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
title_short Playing at bullying: The postmodern ethic of Bully (Canis Canem Edit)
title_sort playing at bullying the postmodern ethic of bully canis canem edit
topic Youth
video games
postmodernism
ethics
ideologies
url http://digitalcultureandeducation.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dce1013_bradford_2009.pdf
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