Alan Moore, famed for writing such comics as V for Vendetta, Watchmen and From Hell and his wife Melinda Gebbie a fellow comic book artist and writer possibly best known for Lost Girls talk about their work, passions, political views, the challenges facing modern society and the vital role of art as a solution to that.
The talk mostly looks at the comic book genre yet movies, web comics and other digital mediums are also mentioned and how they fair out as creative mediums, the main themes discussed could be described as: The Role of Art, Art as a Commodity and Artist/Audience Interaction. These themes will be summarized and explored in relation to computer games, opening questions for further research.
The Role of Art
Art was described as constant cultural commentator and since ancient times it has reflected where we are in the world and our place in it, providing a constant revision of our ideas about ourselves. Its main purpose is to address the important and serious issues of life even if it is upsetting, if art was always pleasant it would merely reaffirm your existing prejudices. Art was stated to be of vital importance now more than ever in a fragmented and chaotic storm of information.
If arts main role is to act as a continual catalyst for political, social even spiritual change from status quo thinking for the society/individual and if computer games can be assumed (or not) as an art medium, what does this potentially mean for the purpose of games? Do games break mental moulds? or do they propagate a form of cultural laziness? According to Alan and Melinda in some regards they do, yet both also acknowledged that interesting things can be achieve by digital forms but that printed paper was ultimately a superior technology, a more thought out and perfected form compared to more modern mediums.
This opens up more questions that answers but offers interesting food for thought, the debate to whether or not games can be consider as art will rage on and I will make no attempt to enter that maelstrom. However more light may be shed on this position within the other themes.
Art as a Commodity
Alan Moore, as a great storyteller goes colourfully further into the history and roots of art and reflects on its change in modern times, more so in regards to the cartoon/comic genre, he states:
''Art should not be a commodity, Art should be an explosive substance that changes the world.''The influence of money in the art world is seen by Alan and Melinda as a corrupting element yet note that you can be rewarded from art but the reward should not be the motivation. Moreover, emphasizing that a creative career was a calling, not a job and that creative work should be the purest form of play, both your own joy and mark in the world.
They also expose the hypocritical nature within certain elements of the comic book industry, when artists and writers give in to the enslavement of corporate/money masters rather than upholding the principles and values of the art/ hero/stories they produce. They argue that most artwork had become money driven, especially when art work including comics had been adapted to become movies, animations and even computer games. Furthermore it was hinted that the issue may lie with the artist themselves, that they should find their own self-esteem and confidence to create art for themselves rather than churning out products for companies and cowardly escaping into their work. Indeed both wished for the continuation of underground elements or the 'gutter medium' of comics as a voice for the dis-empowered and dis-enfranchised.
Are such issues visible within the games industry? Are the largely ambitious and big budgeted games primarily money driven, do we see a dominance in developing innovative experiences and artistic expression or money making franchises and products to merely be consumed? perhaps these ideas are old fashioned (even anti-capitalist) and not getting-with the business buzz of these creative mediums and neglect the issue of purchaser demand for them within a consumer culture, yet again it draws more questions. Perhaps with more indie game developers we see more independent and less money/franchise driven game creation, those that see the rewards of such development but whose games are not driven/motivated by such rewards. However it is acknowledged that most of these ideals exist within the realm of concepts and ideas, it is questionable and perhaps permits further research into whether such values can be practically and realistically implemented.
Art/Audience Interaction
The couple also touched greatly upon the relationship between the artist and audience and the limits to so called 'interactive' elements that would actually comprise both what the artist hoped to achieve and what the audience needed to experience. It was mentioned that people are becoming increasingly divorced from not only their bodies but also their own minds and that experiences were becoming more and more virtual, with people focusing primarily on a need to be entertained. Alan mentioned that his favourite movies were the ones that left ''you to do most of the work in your own head'', Melinda also mentioned that paintings held an interaction which is fading in modern art forms, a 'pregnant moment': the still anticipation of a moment about to occur and the viewers imaginative efforts and interpretation of that. Arguing further that in most movies nowadays, its all done for you like in such films as Avatar, which she described as a computer game without buttons. Her opinion on computers games (which she enjoyed) such as Tomb Raider made people do repetitive actions that ultimately left them cranky and exhausted and that there was no 'real' contribution from the part of the player. Both had addressed the concept/reality that art had become a form of entertainment rather than a a cultural commentator that has if anything ‘’propagated a form of cultural laziness’’ and that the interactive decision making was meaningless, leaving the both audience and artist disempowered. Moreover, Alan argues that the artist is not suppose to give the audience what they want but rather what they need, he states:''If your going to chose your own ending, why not chose your own beginning while your at it?''
In this regard, it is hard to see computer games as an art form as its experience greatly hinges (or solely relies) upon the interaction between what the creator has created for the audience/player to part take in. However it could also be seen as an extension to these named ‘pregnant moments’ of art, providing the audience a vehicle in which to act out (or give birth to) their own interpretation, imaginative continuation of where the artist had originally brought them. I am not of the opinion that answers can be found on such issues, seeing this as a subjective rather than objective debate.
My conclusion (at least for now), is that despite the perhaps some overly critical comments from the video above concerning the nature of computer games it is healthy to take this on board, especially when your own passions lie within such and also ‘’It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it’’ (Aristotle). Therefore, It seems to me that the boundaries between the artists works and the audience interaction with that work will continue to grow fuzzy, the artist is increasingly being made to detach their own empowerment and ability to create in the face of a colossal consumer culture and the medium of games is being stretched between a conflicting identity as an art form and as a product. However within this struggle hope( or even balance) may emerge, I would partially agree with Alan’s opinion that such new mediums are not thought out enough or have been perfected as art forms like that of the printed page as many are only decades old. This may also raise the question, does the money driven motivation behind the development of computer games stifle their innovation and self-perfecting process? And does the rise of indie developers herald a new wave of alternative/underground games to come forth, standing out against consumer conformity and for independent creative expression and experience? For this blogger only more research and time will tell.
