Hi, internet! Here I am at last. Oh, wait, no one's here. Well, hello, anyway. I am Cake and I'm here because there just weren't enough words on the internet already.
We'll depart (a little) from this theme eventually, but seeing as my involvement in this thing came about because Jane del Jana and I were making noise at one another regarding Games As Art and somewhere a blog was mentioned, I'm gonna expound on it, too. Specifically, how art is bullshit.
Here's the thing: Most people talking out of their asses (and all of us, everywhere, are talking out our asses) about Games As Art know diddly-fucking-squat about art in any way, shape, or form. Hence they have this Grand Notion of how art is an elevated ideal to which all human endeavor must aspire, and that which is Not-Art falls short and is somehow wanting. Granted, tons of people who actually know a lot about art and sometimes make a fuckton of money off of that knowledge think the same thing.
I disagree.
We'll depart (a little) from this theme eventually, but seeing as my involvement in this thing came about because Jane del Jana and I were making noise at one another regarding Games As Art and somewhere a blog was mentioned, I'm gonna expound on it, too. Specifically, how art is bullshit.
Here's the thing: Most people talking out of their asses (and all of us, everywhere, are talking out our asses) about Games As Art know diddly-fucking-squat about art in any way, shape, or form. Hence they have this Grand Notion of how art is an elevated ideal to which all human endeavor must aspire, and that which is Not-Art falls short and is somehow wanting. Granted, tons of people who actually know a lot about art and sometimes make a fuckton of money off of that knowledge think the same thing.
I disagree.
Specifically, I disagree with the idea that art as an aspiration is all that important, or that what can't necessarily be considered art is lesser for it. You know what else is great? Design. Cleverness. Entertainment! All good things, not always expressed as recognizable art. Besides, Not-Art often enough comes to be seen as art over time. Sometimes good shit turns into classy shit.
I'm not saying that How I Met Your Mother is going to be Much Ado About Nothing someday, but then again, maybe everyone's lobotomized in the future. Who knows? You don't. You don't have a time machine. I can say whatever I want. Watch: In the future, everyone will look like the lovechild of Henry Winkler and Laura Dern. See?
To be clear, I think the parameters janejana laid out in her last post are good ones. I don't think it's a worthless exercise to talk or think about art in games, or I wouldn't be here. I just think gamers, cinephiles and filmmakers, readers and writers, everyone needs to pull the Art Stick out their asses and stop thinking that what they love needs to be art to be worthwhile.
It doesn't, guys. It really doesn't. You don't need to convince yourself that Half-Life 2 is art to make yourself feel better about playing it, even singing its praises. It's great, it's clever, it's entertaining. It is, in fact, very well-designed. And that's enough. Chill the fuck out.
Right, let's slap a bow on this fucker: I guess a more accurate statement would be that art is kind of bullshit. Look, art is so subjective that almost any act of creation can be considered such, but if everything can be art then art as a concept is basically bullshit. The only way to hold the bullshit at bay is to define art according to the medium. The definitions can be fluid and vary according to all sorts of fancy factors, but they still need to be there, or the discussion loses all meaning. Holding up an entire medium -- games, in our very special case -- as art in and of itself makes video game Art with a Capital A total bullshit.
The needy little bastards holding up their WE DEMAND TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY placards and using utterly ridiculous examples like old school Mario games to prove their point (we hate you, Game Informer) are unwittingly exposing the bullshitty heart of art in the modern age. If you want to toss up every iconic or simply popular game that's ever graced a backlit screen and label it Art, you most certainly can, but you are ruining it. You are the bringer of bullshit.
Hence, guidelines like those in the above-linked post. Consider those an example of how, and this an example of why. Don't be that guy. Don't bring the bullshit. Enjoy your games for what they are. Know that Being Art is not such a big fucking deal. Understand that design and inventiveness and all that happy crap are just as valuable to the medium. And know that eventually, like fine cheeses made of math and polygons, some of them will endure and age into something more than they once were.
But don't fucking count on it for Mario Bros.
I'm not saying that How I Met Your Mother is going to be Much Ado About Nothing someday, but then again, maybe everyone's lobotomized in the future. Who knows? You don't. You don't have a time machine. I can say whatever I want. Watch: In the future, everyone will look like the lovechild of Henry Winkler and Laura Dern. See?
To be clear, I think the parameters janejana laid out in her last post are good ones. I don't think it's a worthless exercise to talk or think about art in games, or I wouldn't be here. I just think gamers, cinephiles and filmmakers, readers and writers, everyone needs to pull the Art Stick out their asses and stop thinking that what they love needs to be art to be worthwhile.
It doesn't, guys. It really doesn't. You don't need to convince yourself that Half-Life 2 is art to make yourself feel better about playing it, even singing its praises. It's great, it's clever, it's entertaining. It is, in fact, very well-designed. And that's enough. Chill the fuck out.
Right, let's slap a bow on this fucker: I guess a more accurate statement would be that art is kind of bullshit. Look, art is so subjective that almost any act of creation can be considered such, but if everything can be art then art as a concept is basically bullshit. The only way to hold the bullshit at bay is to define art according to the medium. The definitions can be fluid and vary according to all sorts of fancy factors, but they still need to be there, or the discussion loses all meaning. Holding up an entire medium -- games, in our very special case -- as art in and of itself makes video game Art with a Capital A total bullshit.
The needy little bastards holding up their WE DEMAND TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY placards and using utterly ridiculous examples like old school Mario games to prove their point (we hate you, Game Informer) are unwittingly exposing the bullshitty heart of art in the modern age. If you want to toss up every iconic or simply popular game that's ever graced a backlit screen and label it Art, you most certainly can, but you are ruining it. You are the bringer of bullshit.
Hence, guidelines like those in the above-linked post. Consider those an example of how, and this an example of why. Don't be that guy. Don't bring the bullshit. Enjoy your games for what they are. Know that Being Art is not such a big fucking deal. Understand that design and inventiveness and all that happy crap are just as valuable to the medium. And know that eventually, like fine cheeses made of math and polygons, some of them will endure and age into something more than they once were.
But don't fucking count on it for Mario Bros.
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