I believe students of the humanities have yet to truly acknowledge the power video games hold as works of fiction, and I see firsthand how apt many artists and art critics are to disregard their narrative capabilities. I hope that through comparison to Shakespeare's works, I'll be able to change people's stigmas and suppositions about video games, thereby furthering the medium's plight to gain acceptance into the hallowed discussion of academia.
My preliminary supports of this argument are below. If you guys think this idea is worth pursuing (even/especially if you disagree!) please let me know, and I'll elaborate.
- Both mediums are/were mistrusted and maligned by various institutions, especially political figures.
- Both are entertainment-driven, but have deep dramatic nuance
- Both utilize hyperbole and setting manipulation to either neutralize or emphasize controversial topics
- Thematically similar in many respects—heroic conquests, brutal warfare, forbidden love.
- Tied into this is their generally shared audience—young adult males. Shakespeare, like modern video game writers, utilizes violence and various naughtiness to provoke and entertain
Hey, we discussed this one time! I remember! Please, please, please chase this thesis. I think you have not only the passion and desire to research this, but I think you have so much to work with. I mean, just in the 15 minutes or so that we discussed it, you managed to change the way I look at video games and the way I look at art. I think you have a great point and I think it's an ingenious idea.
ReplyDeleteI'll be very upset with you if you don't follow through with this!
I would be interested in hearing this thesis because I have issues with video games, some of which you listed as parallels to Shakespeare. For one thing, I can't really play them because I have and addictive personality. Because of how video games design reward systems, I kind of get sucked into a hole when I play them, and I really think they can be unhealthy. Also, I kind of despair that video games are so targeted toward young boys. It's frustrating to see this huge divide in game shops: on the one hand, shooter games, on the other hand, light and fluffy rhythm games or the like. I won't say it's discriminatory, but it does need to get sorted out.
ReplyDeleteBut like I said, I would be interested to hear your response. I'm still not sure why the comparison with Shakespeare is entirely helpful, though. It seems a little . . . contrived? I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm interested to hear more.
I've never really seen video games as a work of fiction, I've always seen it more as graphic design or art. You have some pretty interesting points though and like Nyssa and Bailey I'd be interested to hear your argument
ReplyDeleteGo for it, Britton. I think if you follow this vein, I'll be able to focus more on my Shakespeare as game designer thesis and feel okay that the video games as art topic is in good hands.
ReplyDeleteOther things to think about--ALL art forms (esp. theater, novels, and movies) were derided at the beginning as "waste of time," "vulgar," and blah, blah, blah, but through innovation, passion, and creativity, climbed the ladder to become "classic" and "culture."
Also, to appease your skeptics, you might want to point out that in all mediums, there's crap and there's art--especially in the beginning. Most video games are crap--but so are most movies and most novels. That doesn't mean there aren't great works of art in film or literature. Video games are the same way. There might not even be a single great video game "masterpiece" yet, but that doesn't mean there never will be.