Hello all. Your Friendly Neighborhood Satanist has a new assignment for his English class - a persuasive essay on how Games are Art. No due date yet, but I'd like to share a tidbit or two, and get your feedback. I'll also include a list of games I'm going to include as examples of art. This thing is going to be massive, and yes, I will post the final product in its entirety once completed.
Video Games as an Art Form
Shakespeare. Matise. Collins. Monet. Beethoven. Spielberg. O' Keefe. Bluth. These are some of the most widely acknowledged and critically acclaimed artists in the history of the concept of "Art". However, ask some other people of a different cloth, and they'll give you a much more, interesting, list. Miyamoto, Notch, Schaefer, Levine, Howard, and Molyneaux. This collection of people have spear-headed development of some of the most widely acknowledged and critically acclaimed video games, a medium that now more than ever, has proven itself to be an art form. With revolutionary games like Mass Effect, Shadow of the Colossus, Bastion, Bioshock, Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda, The Elder Scrolls, and Braid, Video Games have already taken the first tentative steps on the long, hard, journey towards being recognized as art alongside Music, Cinema, "Traditional Art" (as will be the term to acknowledge paintings and such), and Text.
(jump to another part)
So how does one even begin to classify art? A peek into the dictionary gives us the definition, âthe quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significanceâ. Art is something crafted by man that tingles a certain part of the brain, that sets off a feeling other than acknowledgement. The human thinks âThe color palette utilized in this piece changes dramatically in this particular personâs color scheme due to the characterâs individuality in a dystopian society otherwise vastly populated by sheepleâ rather than âThere is a painting on that wallâ. Art is set by standards of artwork, a human canât really determine if a piece is worth the title of âArtâ unless it is compared next to its kin. Enter works like MacBeth, Moby ****, Ode to Joy, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Gone with the Wind, and The Dark Knight that set the bar pretty high for new pieces entering the ether of Artistic Criticism.
These âGreat Worksâ are also used as focal points, they utilize various elements and mechanics to get a point across, present a story in a newer and better fashion, or entertain with the highest quality in mind, of which are used as base examples for what works within a new piece paying respect to the constraints of its medium. If there was one video game that could represent the entire industry and its potential to become a valid art-form, it would be Team Icoâs 2005 epic, Shadow of the Colossus.
Thereâs a degree of scale that, quite coincidentally, comes with explaining how many times Shadow of the Colossus appears at the top of various members of the communityâs lists of examples of Video Games that show prime examples of being art. To put it simply, every single one. Shadow of the Colossus was a game released as a PlayStation 2 exclusive in 2005, the penultimate year for the powerhouse consoleâs life.
The premise is simple; Wander the hero wants to resurrect his lover, so he makes a deal with The Big Something that if he goes about the world and kills 16 ancient colossi, his lover will be revived. Itâs a game about love and the limits a lover is willing to go beyond to ensure the safety and continued well-being of his partner. These colossi that Wander is tasked with killing, however, are the last of their kind. The titular character has to commit total genocide on an entire race of beings before his love can return to him. These are massive beasts, their name isnât simple artsy-fartsy-hogwash, it truly is a feat of skill to calculate the correct maneuver that will expose the weakness of a colossus total victory against beasts that literally tower over the player. Itâs an emotional journey with one of the most bittersweet endings of any piece from any medium of entertainment
Games I Will Discuss In the Essay
-Shadow of the Colossus -Mass Effect and sequels -Minecraft -Bastion -Halo and sequels -LIMBO -The Elder Scrolls (mostly Skyrim) -Red Dead Redemption -Battlefield 3 (in terms of the impact when related to other art forms) -Heavy Rain -Bioshock -Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (See above w/BF3) -Homefront (what NOT to do)
I usualy don't actualy look at cutscenes because I consider that the "movie in a game" and a add-on because you can't actually do much in a cutscene, also I consider games like god of war with the button pressing to hit somewhere also a cutscene because you really don't have any control over your character.
Also scenery really isn't good just in cutscenes, usualy the scenery is quite consistant throughout, only the animations and character models are sometimes upped in quality during cutscenes.
