The most modern interpretation of duelling is sports, rather than just man vs man, most feature a team vs team. In the horizon its fairly clear that duelling as a sport, entertainment and as a game is here to stay and it only grows ever more popular.
One of the biggest and most popular public competitions today is the Olympic games, where representatives from each country compete with one and other to prove that they are the best in the world in their field of expertise. (Smith S 2011) what are the olymipcs
The upcoming 2012 Olympics are not only an incredibly popular event with over 4 billion people expected to be watching the opening ceremonies. but its also expected to boost the UK's economy massively.
"The Olympic Games are expected to generate £10 billion in revenue for the British economy. Tourists are expected to spend an additional £2.1 billion" (London council, 2011). Olympics
Not only is the actual event of the 2012 Olympics popular but the media, merchandise, books, biographies and even games tied with the event will generate even more revenue. Games such as sonic and Mario at the London 2012 Olympics not only clearly features the 2012 logo but also prominently features the word "LONDON" as its main cover title, something the London council probably urged strongly as good advertising.
The other popular form of modern day duelling as discussed earlier is competitive gaming, an incredibly popular area of media with an ever expanding market. On the horizon, gaming itself is predicted to only increase in profits. (Caron, F 2008) Gaming expected to be a $68 billion business by 2012
"Console games will continue to lead the way in terms of sales, with an expected growth of 6.9 percent from $24.9 billion in 2007 to $34.7 billion in 2012. In the US alone, the report predicts an increase at a compound annual rate of 6.3 percent, with sales up to $11.7 billion in 2012 from $8.6 billion in 2007. Following suit, online games will also see massive growth. Online games, which generated $6.6 billion in 2007, will jump to $14.4 billion in 2012."
An upcoming game based on the star wars film features duelling in its more traditional sense, the star wars universe features the traditional swordplay duelling but with a futuristic twist. Star wars: the old republic is a highly anticipated game featuring "lightsabres", futuristic laser swords in which characters duel in personal one on one matches. (Electronic arts (2011) Star wars
More WW2 popularity in upcoming books (Zaloga S, 2012)
While looking for upcoming books tied in with the theme of "dueling" The vast majority of the top results were all WW2 era books or "future weapon" books, this will prove very helpful with my research as it shows that both WW2 and future weapons are popular for combat themes.
Looking back to dueling, the traditional form of pistols has drastically changed over the years and firearms themselves are an ever evolving and improving system. The show "future weapons" shows upcoming and soon to be released new firearms and counter firearms for the next generation of warfare.
(Discovery channel 2011) Future weapons
(Discovery channel 2011) Future weapons
Many changes to firearms in the future are very simple ones, more accuracy, lower recoil, cheaper materials, but ultimately, the only real breakthrough for firearms in the future is the progression to move onto laser weaponry over generic ballistics. (Gazeta M, 2008) invisible wars
This will be very relevant to my research as the evolution of firearms will lead to the next stages of dueling be it in games, movies or other media.
This will be very relevant to my research as the evolution of firearms will lead to the next stages of dueling be it in games, movies or other media.
"Laser or quantum generator is a device that produces a narrow powerful beam of light by exciting atoms. The laser beam can seriously damage a variety of objects by heating the materials of the latter to high temperatures, disrupting the functions of sensitive components of military equipment, blinding personnel temporarily or permanently, and causing thermal burns of the skin." (Gazeta M, 2008) invisible wars
A new, upcoming, non lethal, riot weapon is the pain ray. This revolutionary non lethal device is designed to excite the water particles that are less than a millimetre into your skin, giving the sensation of being on fire but only damaging the tiniest amount of the body.
(Bonsor K,2010) The pain beam
(Bonsor K,2010) The pain beam
Are these weapons soon to be seen in real wars? (Lucas G 1980)
This technology has always been seen as science fiction, dating back to the original sci fi comics and movies such as star wars. but through modern technology, these weapons are soon to be commonplace.
"Officials say that the "non-lethal" weapon, called active-denial technology, doesn't cause lasting damage to the people hit by it."(Bonsor K,2010) The pain beam
This is definitely one of the most noteworthy parts of my research, health and safety for both sports has increased as well as actual warfare with less lethal weaponry.
"Among the more fascinating military technical developments today are nonlethal weapons: "sticky foam" that entangles and incapacitates intruders, oddly named chemical agents like "cadavercine" with evil odors, dazzling strobe lights, nausea-inducing acoustic beams, super-acids that eat holes in tires, and even pheromones that render areas too revolting to occupy by virtue of the vermin they attract."
The vast majority of films nowadays feature a prolonged duel between the antagonist and the protagonist, these duels can last as long as the whole film in a battle of wits or a short climactic battle at the end of the film. The batman franchise is a series well renown for one on one battles and the upcoming dark Knight rises film features an antagonist named "Bane" the name itself meaning his arch nemesis for the duel.
(Schaefer S, 2011) The Dark Knight Rises
(Schaefer S, 2011) The Dark Knight Rises
An increasingly advanced technology that's uses are soon to overtake the roles of manned aircraft and vehicles are military robots. The new MQ-8B Fire Scout is a remote controlled combat helicopter, due to enter service by 2013 as a way of lowering the chances of soldiers being killed.
"This capability shortens the kill chain and lessens the need to put our soldiers in harm’s way,”
Is this the new face of soldiers we will see on the news? (wikimedia 2011)
Or is this? (Disney Pixar 2008)
The less human interaction in war, the better, for obvious health reasons, and governments around the world are going to be using this philosophy to a greater extend very soon. (Activist 2011) 6 technologies to de-humanise war A lot of media in the present show robots as the natural successors to humans for wars in films such as WALL-E. (Disney Pixar 2008) Wall E
My research into the horizon of dueling has left me to believe that as war is a grander sense of dueling, new technology will have a drastic impact on the mortality rate in future wars. combined with the ever growing robotic technology and miniaturising of machines, Dueling will have less and less human interaction on the horizon.
Take a look at this website to see what's coming up in films.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.movieinsider.com/movies/-/2012/
If there is anything relevant to your topics, research the Directors and producers of the specific ally relevant films. Checkout their age and the sort of media they would have been influenced by when they were about 10 years old.
From this you can ascertain what the men who have power in media today are likely to find exciting and might be prepared to invest in as an IP in the near future.