The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri walks the line between traditional film genres against the backdrop of social issues relevant in todays society. The implications of the portrayal of social issues in film should be considered in the context of a movies themes and narrative.

Media Matters: Comedic tragedies should avoid the token inclusion of social issues

by Adrian Chu, Columnist January 15, 2018

Martin McDonagh’s black comedy, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” is about revenge, but in its 1 hour and 55 minutes runtime, the movie also covers no less than rape, racism in the criminal...

Media Matters: Hollywood’s culture shift on sexual misconduct should focus on prevention

Media Matters: Hollywood’s culture shift on sexual misconduct should focus on prevention

by Adrian Chu, Columnist November 14, 2017

2016 was the year where many beloved movie celebrities died. 2017 is beginning to look like the year where celebrities are dead to me. First came the Harvey Weinstein allegations in early October, news...

IMAX and 3D formats exclusive to theaters can play a major role in MoviePasss expansion strategy and the revitalization of the movie theater. MoviePasss current service only allows subscribers to watch one 2D movie a day.

MoviePass should take advantage of the theatrical experience

by Adrian Chu, Columnist October 23, 2017

From its website crash shortly after it reduced its monthly fee from $50 to $9.95 in mid-Aug. to its inability to meet overwhelming demand for its cheaper service, MoviePass’s rocky debut does not bode...

The three symbols of power in Lord of the Flies: the conch, a pair of glasses, and a sharpened stick. A decision to remake the book with the characters recast as girls has drawn controversy.

New Lord of the Flies cannot be faithful to original book while faithfully depicting an all-female cast

by Adrian Chu, Aquila Columnist October 12, 2017

Sequels, remakes, and reboots comprise over forty of the movies released or to be released in 2017, a lackluster year so far for Hollywood, producing historically low summer box office numbers. With the...

Media Matters: Theres something wrong with the movie industry

Media Matters: There’s something wrong with the movie industry

by Adrian Chu, Columnist September 28, 2017

There's something wrong with the movie industry. It might be the box office numbers. 2017 has been a year of exceptional weekends: the lowest grossing weekend since 2001, the lowest grossing Memorial...

Automation has already transformed the manufacturing industry. Other industries and eventually society will need to adjust as robot becomes smarter and cheaper.

The shorter work week: an alternative to the universal basic income

by Adrian Chu, Opinion Editor January 13, 2017

McDonald’s first drive-thru restaurant opened in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975 allowing diners to order food without leaving their cars. 41 years later, McDonald’s plans to replace all human cashiers...

As predictive algorithms have become the norm throughout the internet and streaming world, users have less control over the content to which they are exposed. As a result, it is now important that viewers deliberately pick the content they wish to see.

Media Matters: Resist autoplay and pick videos wisely

by Adrian Chu, Reporter and Aquila Columnist April 16, 2016

It’s late at night and you take a break to watch a quick YouTube video. You open up a silly video of a parrot singing. A series of autoplays later, you find yourself watching a video on how to play the...

In the picture above, a civilian films a bombing incident in Syria. While the rise in social media has ushered crowd-sourced journalism, the resulting saturation of violent content through platforms like LiveLeak can pose more harms than benefits.

Media Matters: Excessive violent media online leads to desensitization

by Adrian Chu, Reporter and Aquila Columnist April 13, 2016

After any tragedy, such as the bombing in Ankara on Mar. 13 or the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Mar. 22, one can expect to see a flood of information relating to the incident, condolences to victims...

In the picture above, U.S. citizens vote at the polls during the 2012 Presidential election. Although critics claim that the media has not done enough to educate voters throughout the 2016 campaigning period, rising voter participation indicates that the mainstream medias coverage could have positive repercussions to democracy.

Media Matters: 2016 campaign coverage demonstrates the importance of media in politics

by Adrian Chu, Reporter and Aquila Columnist March 12, 2016

The road to the 2016 Presidential election has been marked by unprecedented levels of shocking rhetoric, unexpected candidates and radical policies. A year ago I would have laughed if I saw a news headline...

Thousands of fans join 4.5 million online viewers to watch the 2014 finals of the International 5, a Dota 2 competition.
The eSports industry and eSports betting has rapidly grown in the past years, making it easier for younger audiences to start gambling.

Media Matters: eSports gambling serves as a negative influence for younger players

by Adrian Chu, Reporter and Aquila Columnist February 29, 2016

After my advisory’s Secret Santa party, in which I received a $20 Steam gift card, I contemplated what to do with my newfound wealth. In spite of an ongoing Steam sale, I was still short a couple dollars...

The infographic above details Netflixs viewership, as well as the size of the audiences involved with Making a Murderer. With each series on Netflix and similar platforms so popular now, distinguishing between dramatic content and documentary content will prove necessary to improve audience judgment.

Media Matters: Online streaming platforms need to better disclose biases and dramatizations

by Adrian Chu, Aquila Columnist January 19, 2016

As Netflix’s competitors expand and release new content, Netflix’s newest strategy to retain subscribers has been a series of Netflix-exclusive TV series and films. One of its most popular recent additions,...

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