Sociology and TSL

[DAWUSS]

Has anyone written/tried to write a sociology paper relating to TSL? I was just curious if anyone tried to or not. No I'm not in a sociology class now (I was in high school), but I kinda got the feeling you could write a paper about some sort of sociological statement/impact relating to TSL...

[Omelette]

That would be one very interesting paper indeed. But, no, I wouldn't be able to write a paper on that. My teachers wouldn't let it fly. Then again, you could always do one for fun.

[mkg]

I only WISH i could.

[Purgatorio]

^ No you don't.

 

Not that I would, but I can see why when considering the social laws and moral codes, though in the form of fanfiction. I don't find intellectual papers interesting.... when there of a sociological nature.

Edited March 11, 2007 by Purgatorio

[Tale]

Granted my field is psychology, not sociology, I have no clue how you would do this or even, more importantly, why.

[ghosta]

I think KI would be easier just because thier were more civilians on the planets and the Pc was more involed with them than the Exile is in TSL.

[SilentScope001]

I think KI would be easier just because thier were more civilians on the planets and the Pc was more involed with them than the Exile is in TSL.

 

Actually K2 would be more interesting because it casts a negative view on society, and upsets Star Wars.

 

Nar Shadda is a cesspit run by the Hutts. The Jedi are cursed everywhere on Dantooine. An unpopular Queen who supports the Republic has to face off a popular rival. The Jedi turn out to be evil and uncaring. The Sith (in the guise of Kreia) turn out to be Good and empathic. And there is the motif: Desturction fo the Force. It would be great for philopshy.

 

K1 is too simplistic and does not explore themes as much.

 

I think you can just use the term "echoes". Define it as "the infulence actions has on people". Echoes play a huge role, as it was the echoes of Malachor V that caused Kreia, Atris, Sion, Nihilus, and the Exile to be who they are today. Echoes, by themselves, could be used in sociology.

[Darth Mortis]

In both games Revan and the Exile can't really be seen as a represntitive of the societies that are shown in the games. In many ways they are outsiders looking in. While this would be ideal from a socilogical point of view there are two problems;

 

1-Because you can play the games as dark or light side you get two differing points of view. Meaning that you could draw different conclusions depending on how you play the game. To quote Obi-Wan

"...Much of what we consider truth depends greatly on our point of view..."

 

2-The cultures show are invented, not natural. They say far more about the society that invented them, than they do about anything else. It would be interesting to take a look at the games and see what types of societies they went for, and how they are portrayed.....

[Triniquette]

This reminds me of a class in College (underdivision, not intro) about mass produced media. I wrote a 7 page thing with my girlfriend on feminism, motherhood, and leftwing government portrayed through the Alien trilogy. To write a Soc paper on TSL I would probably take a route dicussing how the game can be periceived as a distorted view of modern issues, such as enviromentalism vs corporations (czherka vs ithorians), urban vs rural (not so modern, but still quite fertile when discussing the modern social status) (tatooine) Big government vs loacal (failings of the republic)... lol typical sci-fi make you think BS Nothing revolutionary it has nothing to study statistically, nor does it require advanced analysis, BUT definately a fun paper if it ever comes up

[SamuraiGaijin]

While using a video game as the primary reference for a paper of any sort may be frowned upon, especially since the teacher / professor probably has not played the game, the idea has merit and reflects the amount of thought and work that went into creating the game.

 

What might actually be acceptable would be using the core Star Wars novelizations (not the movies, and not the expanded universe). The same could be said of any well-developed fictional society - names/places/series that come to mind are Middle Earth, Wheel of Time, the Star Trek galaxy (or even just the social structure of one ship/station), Heinlein's or Asimov's Future. Well-known and establish authors (Tolkein, Heinlein, and Asimov for example) would probably be easier to swallow for a more traditional prof.

 

I don't read fiction as much as I used to, so I'm having a hard time coming up with too many more examples, but I'd bet that an understanding teacher would encourage examination of a fictional world in this manner. The trick is to find a series of novels (just one isn't going to cut it) whose story is not just the characters, but how the characters affect the world around them and vice versa.

Edited May 31, 2007 by SamuraiGaijin

[MagnusMaxwell]

You can't make a sociological analysis of a fabricated universe. At most it speaks of the psychology of the people who created the game, and probably not even that.

[metadigital]

I disagree. And agree.

 

Even though it's a fabricated universe, it can tell us a lot about those who created it, and those for whom it was created; much like analyzing television programmes and commercials from the fifties, for example, can tell us about the zeitgeist of that era, the social mores, and the vices and aspirations, etc. I myself wrote a paper on the role of women as portrayed in (a couple of books worth of!) classic literature, though that was for a literature class. (Dickens' Hard Times, Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, and Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (the first "novel" in English).)

This reminds me of a class in College (underdivision, not intro) about mass produced media. I wrote a 7 page thing with my girlfriend on feminism, motherhood, and left-wing government portrayed through the Alien trilogy. To write a Soc paper on TSL I would probably take a route discussing how the game can be perceived as a distorted view of modern issues, such as enviromentalism vs corporations (czherka vs ithorians), urban vs rural (not so modern, but still quite fertile when discussing the modern social status) (tatooine) Big government vs loacal (failings of the republic)... lol typical sci-fi make you think BS Nothing revolutionary it has nothing to study statistically, nor does it require advanced analysis, BUT definitely a fun paper if it ever comes up

I agree; Lucas certainly utilized and encouraged a lot of polemic axes upon which to measure his (and, by extension, our) universe.

 

Certainly his concepts of Good and Evil (and their confusion with order and chaos), and Natural versus Artificial, etc, are ripe for analysis.

[Darth Hades]

No, by the time I had played KOTOR 2 I was out of highschool and already had taken my sociology classes in college.

 

But I easily could write such a paper.

 

The game itself is chock full of references for not just sociological writings, but every aspect of any social science and even some environmental sciences (The Telos restoration project).

 

As a main aspect I would focus on how one extreme or another can lead to ruin, and how a grey philosophy can prevail where extremes fail, even if the grey path does not provide answers (Which it is not suppose to anyways), it allows you to see much more than picking one side or another.

 

Also one could note how an individual with a powerful pressence has the ability to influence the actions of others who are with them, out of respect or fear and that this power should be used carefully. People flock to leaders in search of guidance and support, but if that leader loses their way, loses their faith, it can create dire circumstances for everyone involved (The hole in the Force by the Exiles "cutting of from" affected everyone she was connected to).

 

Even getting down to individuals in the game like Bao-Dur, who at the behest of the Exile, created and activated the MSG on Malachor and then who after the war went around the galaxy, doing what he could to "fix it". He does not regret what he has done, yet he does what he can to fix the galaxy. He does not even want recognition, he just wants to fix things.

 

You could analyze and draw out every character into a sociological nature, but as someone mentioned, papers on video games is generally frowned upon, but in that case, take the game and make it blank. Make it so it is not a video game and the characters are not Star Wars oriented and then on top of that, build a foundation from which you can break down and analyze everything.

[Darth Mortis]

Some of that sounds more like phycology than Sociology, but I can see your point. What I would be more interested in is the things that were considered acceptable to place into the game, or the things where you have to make a desision to get an outcome. Such things can tell you more about what the society who created the game is like-or that part of it that was responsible for creating it anyway.

 

Actions which lead to DS points are those that the writers decided constituted to be evil, or at least not good. While those that give LS points would be those that they consider good and acceptable. As the laws of any country are dependant on what is considered good and evil by that society/culture it would be interesting to see the types of actions that were considered good in the KOTOR games.

 

I think a sociological take on the game as it plays out would be impractical, since you can end up with two different endings to the whole game, and take two different paths you could argue at least two different things depending on how you played.

[metadigital]

As a main aspect I would focus on how one extreme or another can lead to ruin, and how a grey philosophy can prevail where extremes fail, even if the grey path does not provide answers (Which it is not suppose to anyways), it allows you to see much more than picking one side or another.

That's philosophy (well, theology, actually): Aristotle's golden mean, which had an enormous impact on the development of the medieval Christian religion. (It is also part of Confucian knowledge, attributed to his grandson, Zizi.)

 

But that is just titular nit-picking.

 

There is a lot of material for analysis, that's for sure.

[Darth Hades]

That's philosophy (well, theology, actually): Aristotle's golden mean, which had an enormous impact on the development of the medieval Christian religion. (It is also part of Confucian knowledge, attributed to his grandson, Zizi.)

 

But that is just titular nit-picking.

 

There is a lot of material for analysis, that's for sure.

 

 

I suppose...in all honesty I like Aristotle...but sometimes he gets too philosophical. As it says on that page, those of the time preferred to use logic and reasoning to get answers (Specifically in relation to God's existence), where as the way I see it, answers whether true or false, only lead to definites and by proxy extremes.

 

Indeed, the material is there and one can make many observations. I would encourage those who enjoy analyzing to do so with the game as I mentioned by making it a blank canvas. It really does not get you anywhere, but its a good exercise for your mind and analytical abilities...and you will be glad you did it.

Edited June 2, 2007 by Darth Hades