Jenkins's Lens

As you know, in my last blog I told you that I was going to be analyzing “Mario Kart” for my second project. I am choosing to use Jenkins as a lens to examine the video game because I can relate the video game to a lot of things that he mentioned in his paper. Jenkins did mention the original “Mario” game in his essay and even though “Mario Kart” is nothing like it, besides some of the similar characters, I can really relate the video game to what he said that Thorne said about “borderwork” and how they are coming out with games and books that can relate to both boys’ and girls’ interests. He was also mentioning how if boys and girls have something in common like a video game or a book that they both really like then it will bring them together to discuss, read, or even play the game, and how it might bring them together more in the outside world like in school or on the playground. Not only do I think, like Thorne, that it will bring girls and boys together, but it is a great game to also bring families together and play a game that they all can enjoy. Some things that I might want to mention in my paper with looking at my video game through Jenkins’s lens are:  “Mario Kart” is one of those games that were meant to bring boys and girls of all ages together. I would like to perhaps mention how Jenkins states how girls and boys have different tastes in how to play and different types of video games and books and then mention how he brings Thorne into his paper and how “Mario Kart” is a great example of a unisex game. A possible thesis or claim that I could use in my paper could be: “Mario Kart is a great game for boys and girls of all ages.” or “Mario Kart” is a great game that can not only bring girls and boys together but families as well.”

"Mario Kart"

For the second project I chose to pick the video game "Mario Kart". I personally do not play hardly any video games, just because simply I am terrible at them.  "Mario Kart" is a fun game for the whole family to play together. It attracts many people’s attention because all the bright colors and the interesting/fun characters that they have. Compared to the old "Mario Kart" the new one has many new courses to race and even characters. The new "Mario Kart" has baby versions of the characters, like there is a Baby Mario and a Baby Peach, etc. Based on the new characters, courses, and bright colors of the game, I think that "Mario Kart" is a very unisexed-based game. I really think that even on the just racing games there is more to it than just racing, and how you can pick up little boxes with question marks on them to help slow down the other players, it helps someone learn multitasking and hand-eye coordination with the new Nintendo Wii. I think that is it a great game for all ages, I know that my whole family plays it and we range from the ages of 7-55. The only thing that I don’t really like is how Mario games are only for Nintendo and with the new Wii system it’s hard to get used to driving the cart with having to move the whole controller, whereas before you just had to move the joystick. "Mario Kart" even has team races and battle games. "Mario Kart" could teach a younger person to work as a team to accomplish a victory; someone could say that it could be bad for them because it could make them very competitive and perhaps even a sore loser, when they lose a game. If kids start to play video games before they join sports, it could help improve their teamwork skills. As a person that doesn’t get into video games, I personally think this is a cute video game for people of all ages to play. Personally I don’t think that someone should sit in the house all the time and play video games, I think that they should play for only a certain amount of time and actually get out and do some outdoor activities. I do think that video games have advanced a ton though and the new Xbox kinect, Wii fit, and even the Playstation move, to help advance more activeness with video games.