"We can debate what art is, we can debate it forever. If the experience moves you in some way or another ... even if it moves your bowels ... I think it is worthy of some serious study" (Clive Barker).
I love this quote while highly disliking whatever Mr. Ebert had to say in response to this. For being a movie reviewer, one would assume that Mr. Ebert would know what art is and how to judge it; only a guess. A can of Campbell's soup is art so how is a vdieogame any different? It's not. If art is created by the artist, then who is the artist when playing a videogame? The player. The player is moving throughout the game, differently from every player playing the same game. They create a new story and out of that, a form of art is created.
Definitions of art: the products of human creativity, the creation of beautiful or significant things, artwork: photographs or other visual representations. This is what art can be along with many other interpretations; it's only a guess though.
From personal experience I would say that art is the glue in videogames. I have played a lot of games in my life and all have been filled with some form of art. For example Bioshock, and I apologize for using this game so many times as an example, but this game is full of art. When I say full of art, I do not just mean the background pictures, I mean from beginning to end the game is a form of art.
The first time I played Bioshock, when I entered the mystical city of Rapture, chills went down my spine as I indulged in the surroundings on the screen. At any time I could have paused the game, taken a picture and had a work of art to hang on my wall. When the biosphere moves past a Big Daddy welding the tunnels, that imagine stays with you as a player. The sound of Andrew Ryan's voice speaking, telling you why Rapture exists is a work of art. This is artwork; but it is only a guess I suppose.
I guess I find myself in shock that a man who discusses a form of art has a hard time classifying videogames as a form of art. When Mr. Ebert lost his voice, he claims that it moved him but not in an artistic form. Really? Finding a new way to get your thoughts and expressions across without using your voice is not a form of art? I think so but it's only a guess.
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I agree with you in that Ebert's view of what does or does not constitute art is very shallow and downright lame. Art is the most direct means of revealing the truth about reality, as well as showing a person's honest view of the world. Ebert's pretentious attitude toward art will never give consideration to truth, but only what he believes to be "sophisticated".
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be too upset over what Ebert said, he truly is an elitist prick, I honestly feel that way. Bioshock I think is a good example of the classic pillars of art as it has a very epic visual representation. Everything about the visual experience to the game is quite stunning. But the game really shines in the murky backdrop of a dystopia run unchecked. That in itself, the actual story is another form of art that shouldn't be overlooked, while the graphics show this epic world in rendered detail the story smooths out the wrinkles and brings those epic backdrops to life.
ReplyDeleteSome people only see videogames as something kids play. A lot of people only see videogames as some kind of violence driven medium where children are learning how to kill people with no constraint.
ReplyDeleteI can sort of see Ebert's point because most people who don't play them don't have the same discussions about them. We can talk all day about our likes or dislikes about a specific producer or a specific company and their take on games. We get into discussions about things like the absolutely worst character in a series based on their merits as a character in the story. Outside people don't get these conversations.
For the most part, people who don't play can only sit back and watch as we finish the game and then figure it's never noticed again. They miss out on the actual discussions that come from such things... just like paintings and novels.