Interactive graphs and explanations
about key economic concepts
for use in teaching and exploring
Interactive graphs and explanations
about key economic concepts
for use in teaching and exploring
Beyond the zombies, Afterlife is a film about literal and metaphorical prisons. The heroes are trapped on Alcatraz (a prison). Alice is trapped in a clone’s body. Claire is trapped in her own amnesia. Chris is trapped by guilt. The villain, Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), is trapped in a crashing plane of his own ego. The film’s central question isn't "how do we kill the undead?" but "how do we break out of our current hell?" This thematic cohesion is often missing from standard action-horror sequels, making Afterlife a tighter script than Extinction or Apocalypse.
If the Resident Evil movies are modern ballets, Afterlife is the principal performance. The opening sequence—an impossible, inverted free-fall down an elevator shaft executed by Alice (Milla Jovovich) and her clones—is a masterclass in pacing and practical effects integration. resident evil afterlife 2010 better
Anderson understands the "physics" of an action scene. The "Axeman" sequence in the prison shower is not just violence; it is choreography. The use of slow-motion isn't a crutch; it is a stylization tool that mimics the pause-and-panic rhythm of the source material. The impact of the blows, the splintering of concrete, and the iconic slow-motion water splashes elevate the combat from mere fighting to abstract art. Beyond the zombies, Afterlife is a film about
For fans of the games, Afterlife delivered the first truly "accurate" portrayal of a major game character. In Apocalypse, Jill Valentine was a sidekick. In Extinction, Claire was a truck driver. Here, we get Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield—and while Miller is a controversial choice for his build, his stoic, tactical presence is perfect. Claire is trapped in her own amnesia
But the true genius is the post-credits reveal that he is Albert Wesker’s captive. Wesker, played with deliciously hammy menace by Shawn Roberts, is the film’s secret weapon. He teleports (literally, using the game’s "uroboros virus" particles), he wears sunglasses indoors, and he quotes the games verbatim ("Complete. Global. Saturation."). Afterlife is the first of the films to stop apologizing for its source material and lean into the operatic absurdity of Resident Evil lore. That swagger makes it better.
Skip Extinction (2007) recaps. Watch:
Resident Evil: Afterlife arrived in 2010 as the fourth installment of Paul W. S. Anderson’s film series adapting Capcom’s survival-horror games. Often dismissed by franchise purists and critics, the movie quietly does several things notably better than its reputation suggests. This feature looks at four strengths that make Afterlife a standout — more cohesive action direction, clearer stakes and pacing, technical upgrades that suit the franchise’s tone, and a committed lead performance that anchors the film.
My name is Chris Makler. I’ve been a lecturer at Stanford University since 2015, and before that worked as the Senior Economist for Aplia, back when all Aplia did was econ. :) I hold a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Humanities from Yale University.
I’ve created this site as an open source project to provide econ teachers with a standard set of interactive graphs they can use in classes. It’s heavily tilted toward the graphs I use in my own classes, which are intermediate micro classes with calculus; but I’m pretty much done with the main graphs for those topics, and am starting to branch out into both principles-level econ and (shudder) macro. Requests for new graphs are always welcome, so if there’s something you’d like to see, please let me know!
In addition to creating standalone graphs, for the past several years I’ve been working on developing an interactive textbook which invites the reader to manipulate graphs as they read. This is still very much in development and will change often!
However, although I use the textbook from beginning to end, I also recognized in writing it that “one-pagers” on economic concepts would be useful on their own, without the overarching narrative of the textbook. Therefore, I’ve begun the process of adapting the textbook in to “explanations” of core concepts. Look for more and more explanations to be added in the months ahead.
Comments and suggestions on all of the above are very much appreciated; send me a note at chris dot makler at gmail dot com. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and EconTwitter.net.
Note that I develop and test using Google Chrome; while the site works on any modern browser, Chrome will provide the most predictable results.
I’m excited to be working with Simon Halliday, Doug McKee, and Anastasia Papadopoulou on research using the graphs and technology I developed for this site. Look for upcoming presentations at econ teaching conferences in 2023!
I’m also interested in exploring how this technology could be used to produce “one-pagers” on new research. If you’re interested in creating a snappy version of your research paper or dissertation chapter, please drop me a line…
This project would not have been possible without the mentorship of an outstanding group of friends and colleagues over the years, including (but certainly not limited to!) David Murphy, Karl Lew, Wilson Cheung, Harrison Caudill, and Kyle Moore.
I’ve drawn inspiration and support from the community Nicky Case has built up around Explorable Explanations, including Amit Patel, Chris Walker, Hamish Todd, Andy Matuschak, and many others.
The EconGraphs logo was generously contributed by Jørgen Veisdal.
Finally, and most importantly, I’d like to thank all of my students and TA’s, who have provided amazing feedback as I’ve developed and used these graphs in different ways in my classes over the years. Your patience and support is very much appreciated!
I use slides.com to present graphs in my lectures. Unlike most presentation software, this allows you to add iframes to your presentations and interact with them. See this page for some of the decks I use in my teaching.
The javascript engine I developed to make these graphs, the KineticGraphs Javascript Engine (KGJS), is open-source and freely available for use. It’s also under constant development, with new features being rolled out and existing features refined. (Please remember when looking at the source code that I’m an economist and not a software developer!)
However, for most applications I recommend Desmos. It’s an amazing web site that’s getting better all the time, and where I do most of my sketching out of ideas before coding them in KGJS.
I consider the graphs and explanations on this web site to be academic content like any other, and as such retain copyright to all work presented here. You are welcome to link to any of the graphs on this site for any purpose; in particular, graphs may be embedded within iframes without any need for a login. You’ll notice an inobtrusive copyright is included in the bottom-right corner of each graph, with a link back to this page. Of course any more prominent acknowledgement is also appreciated! :)
If you want to incorporate these kinds of graphs in a commercial project such as a textbook, I don’t recommend just linking to these graphs, as URLs may change or javascript may collide with a hosting page; also, the terminology I use may or may not match the terminology in your other materials. Instead, I am happy to serve as a consultant on commercial projects, either by creating graphs for your work or by training your own subject-matter experts on how to create them. This will allow you to host stable code on your site that you know works well with your project. If you’re interested in hiring me for this kind of work, please send me an email at chris dot makler at gmail dot com.