Every art form goes through a time of trial as new generations struggle against the accepted norms of their predecessors. It is important to understand this process when talking about videogames, because, as a relatively new medium, they are starting to be accepted as a respectable art form by some, while others argue that they are childish toys or dangerous to society. Portnow J & Floyd D (2010) To explain the historical context of this conflict, we can compare what the videogame medium is facing at present with the cultural shift instigated by the Futurist art movement in the early 20th century. The movement was initially in poetry, but as it gained momentum the ideology was taken up by other literary mediums, painting, sculpture and film. Martin S (2005)
“The cry of rebellion which we utter associates our ideals with those of the Futurist poets. These ideals were not invented by some aesthetic clique. They are an expression of a violent desire which boils in the veins of every creative artist today.
We will fight with all our might the fanatical, senseless and snobbish religion of the past, a religion encouraged by the vicious existence of museums. We rebel against that spineless worshipping of old canvases, old statues and old bric-a-brac, against everything which is filthy and worm-ridden and corroded by time. We consider the habitual contempt for everything which is young, new and burning with life to be unjust and even criminal.”
Tommaso Marinetti F (1909)
This translated extract from the Futurist Manifesto (specifically the futurist painters) shows how this particular cultural shift was fuelled by anger towards, and disillusionment with, the conventions of the day. However, when you consider the product of these ideas, the artworks themselves, and take into account the cultural standing they hold, it becomes clear that this movement was simply another mechanism in the metaphorical conveyer belt, that endlessly moves what is new and strange to what is old and accepted.
To highlight this; Pablo Picasso and his Cubist movement were inherently linked stylistically and ideologically to the futurists, and both were criticized heavily by traditionalists for disregarding the realism, perfectionism and structure of the classic art that came before. Martin S (2005)
In May 2010 an abstract Picasso, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold for £106 Million at auction. BBC News (2010)
I mention the price of the work because it shows the process has come full circle. The artwork shocked the world, but became popular and was assimilated. Now we look back and think of the work as classic examples of a bygone age, and attribute huge value to it, while scrutinizing the artists working today for not having as much integrity, vision or wisdom as those that came before. For example, in the case of street art, which is often passed off simply as vandalism, while being no less a form of expression than any prior art form. Hansen N (2007)
I chose the Futurist art movement as an example because it was a particularly violent clash between the old and the new, because it is now so respected, and because it offers a clear linear sequence that summarizes the process of the abnormal becoming normal. This is relevant because videogames are a particularly controversial medium that are slowly starting to move in the same direction towards acceptance, so it allows us to understand the historical context of the media form. Martin S (2005)
Games are so different in format from anything that came before that people who didn’t grow up within the last 30 years since their inception often find it a difficult medium to understand. Portnow J & Floyd D (2010) As such, games are constantly being held back for being too controversial. Every time a game tries to incorporate adult content, like the immature and hedonistic displays of violence and sex in titles like Grand Theft Auto, it is shouted down by worried parents and politicians (notably South Australian Attorney General, Michael Atkinson Masnick M (2010)) who fear it corrupts our youth. This is understandable as the games industry is well known for pandering to the intellectually shallow, (see “BMX XXX” Acclaim Entertainment (2002) or “Splatterhouse” Namco Bandai Games (2010)) but problems arise when games are made that try to maintain artistic integrity.
“Mass Effect” BioWare (2007) is a Role Playing Sci-fi Action Adventure game, in which the player’s choices have profound effects on the story structure. This gives the player a canvass on which to craft their characters history, personality and relationships in the framework of an overarching storyline. I mention it here because the designers incorporated a possible subplot in which the player’s character can seduce one of their team, and doing so activates a cutscene that heavily implies sex between the characters. The cutscene itself is not gratuitous, and would probably appear familiar to those who’ve ever seen James Bond seductively pull a girl out of shot while the camera slowly drifts upwards. The scene is optional and dependant on the player’s choices, it is relevant to the story, it plays a large part in the development of the character and it is not exploitative or immature. BioWare (2007)
When the game came out it was branded a “pornography simulator” by people critical of the videogame medium. Portnow J & Floyd D (2010)
Because videogames are so open to attacks like this, and because it costs so much to put a game together (at least for the mainstream consoles or computer releases) it is in the industries interests to make “safe” games, Portnow J & Floyd D (2010) that will almost certainly sell and not bring about too much controversy. Because games are built on new technology it is difficult to predict markets and to judge what is safe, so game developers look to the nearest established medium in terms of format to draw inspiration from – Movies. Allison T (2010)
Both industries are huge and the products vary wildly within their own mediums. Both have their “blockbusters” and their small independent releases. They both have artistic and intelligent texts and they also have their non-engaging, purely for entertainment material.
So for the sake of simplicity I’m going to look at a single but large genre that is well explored by both industries and compare the different industries’ output. The genre I’ve chosen is “War”.
The 2002 game, ‘Medal of Honour: Frontline’, (MoH) Electronic Arts (2002) and the 1998 movie, ‘Saving Private Ryan’, Spielberg S (1998) essentially have the same opening sequence. They are both set in the World War II Omaha beach landings on the 6th June 1944. Saving Private Ryan Director Steven Spielberg played a part in the design of the first Medal of Honour release, ‘Allied Assault’, so while not directly influencing the development of ‘Frontline’, his direction is still visible. Allison T (2010) Because both texts were developed with similar direction, and because of the historical and factual elements that the level and the scene share, it gives us an opportunity to draw comparisons in the narrative structure with clarity, allowing us to treat the Omaha Beach landings as a trans-media object.
Ideologically both media represent the western and more specifically American view of war and WWII. The 1990’s and early 2000’s saw an influx of nostalgia for WWII in the form of literature, e.g. ‘Band of Brothers’ and ‘D-Day’, Ambrose S (1992/1994) in films like ‘Pearl Harbour’, Bay M (2001) and the construction of the WWII memorial in Washington DC. These texts and events helped rewrite World War II as the last “good War”. This perpetuated the notion, rightly or wrongly, that the military force used in WWII was justified, and that the United States had acted as “saviour” in the conflict. Allison T (2010)
Both the scene and level represent this perspective as both follow American soldiers, despite the D-Day assaults being made up of the armed forces of many nations. Clarke E (2009) Both use a formula that promotes action and violence within the story, which put simply equates to objective – conflict – resolution. Even if the image presented of war is negative, this combination justifies and even glorifies the actions of the characters, because as an audience we are seeing the events from the perspective of one side of a many sided conflict. Allison T (2010) This ideological structure is maintained throughout the entirety of the Movie and game, not just the opening sequences. It is also a trend in most popular westernised retellings of WWII, due to the popularity of Hollywood films, and the subsequent emulation of those films by video games.
MoH and Saving Private Ryan begin by informing the player/audience about the setting first through a text based introduction to the location and date, and then by using historically and culturally recognised symbols in their respective opening shots. In the game we are confronted with the landing craft, soldiers and the silhouette of war ships in the distance; and in the movie the audience find themselves on a beach facing a barricade. In both, sounds are used to bring the audience into the world by surrounding them with what they will recognise as distant explosions and gunfire. ‘D-Day’ is a powerful cultural symbol that encapsulates WWII in a single event, and these opening shots are full of signifiers an audience associates with that event. From this we can assess that, at least in the opening moments, both media have the same relationship with realism, in that they both try to make an accurate recreation of the setting to provide surface realism, while also using artistic methods and technical codes and symbols to recreate the ‘mis-en-scene’. Allison T (2010)
This comparison fails however, when the game drops the cinematic opening and hands control over to the player, beginning the interactive element that defines a game. This is where we see the main difference between cinema and games. The movie continues to tell the story by focusing on the important characters, capturing moments of emotional significance from the scared soldiers. The similarity in direction is apparent here in the de-saturation of colours and in the use of sombre music. Allison T (2010) Suddenly the characters are thrown under the water and the audience witnesses their struggle to get to the surface. The protagonist stops to breathe under the cover of a barricade once they crawl onto the beach, and as he does so we see the destruction that is going on around him. Once he has regained his composure, he and his men make their way up the beach, all the while trying to avoid being shot.
The game follows this story almost exactly, but the narrative account is completely different. This is because watching a movie means you are only a witness to the events, while in a game the player’s actions affect the environment and drive the narrative at the players pace.
To summarize, in the movie you are watching people getting shot at, in the game, you are being shot at.
In the case of Saving Private Ryan the direction of the film attempts to draw the audience in using standard cinematic techniques Nakassis C (2009). When the camera goes underwater the sound changes as if the audience had gone with it. When the soldiers are under fire on the beach the camera is shaky, up close to the soldiers and frequently appears to be taking cover itself, as if the audience was present as well. These techniques are established methods in film and arguably offer a more immersive experience than a game, because they help the audience identify with the characters and narrative Igartua J (2010). But equally arguable is that games offer a greater sense of realism because the subjectivity of the director is no longer a factor, so the player is only constrained by the environment, which is much closer to a ‘real’ experience. Allison T (2010)
This way of thinking may lead to the belief that games have an inherent advantage over film in terms of realism. However, at this point in the evolution of games as a medium, most games, MoH included, are let down by the design conventions that regularly defy what could be considered realist, for the sake of pleasure. In Saving Private Ryan we see the visceral, emotional and gory horrors of war as those who are hit lose their limbs and guts. It is bleak and as an audience we fear for the safety of the characters’, and as such are emotionally invested in the events. In MoH you can get shot many times without dying, and as with most games a “medi-kit” or water bottle can return you to full health in seconds.
This feature allows the player to face dangerous scenarios without the risk of spoiling the flow of the narrative with incessant death, but more often than not it takes away the sense of risk felt when a character we care about in a film faces peril. In the case of the Omaha beach landings recreated over these mediums, this feature of the game makes the film more of a realist experience, in that it maintains the audience’ suspension of disbelief far more successfully than the game narrative.
The reason these trends occur in the video game format is driven by the demographic. Today it is increasingly difficult to define a “gamer” because it is no longer strictly the domain of geeky adolescents, as is the stereotype. Interest in video games is now spread widely over different age groups, social backgrounds and gender. ESA (2009) However, there are still two distinct genre camps that make up the majority of video game players, and these are “action” and “family entertainment”, which made up 20% and 19.3% of all video game sales in 2008 respectively, with most other genres attracting less than 9% of the sales with the exception of “sport” (15.3%) and “shooter” (10.9%). ESA (2009)
The Action genre is appealing because of its “dramatic impact on audiences through formulas of panic [or] phobos, in classical tragedy”. Escalonilla A (2008) In film this ‘phobos’ can be dispersed throughout the text at critical moments, but in an action game the stress level is usually kept consistently high in order to maintain the players interest. This indicates that audiences watch action movies and play action games for different reasons. The design conventions found in most action games suggest that they would appeal more to an audience that are interested in the glorification of action rather than a reflection of the consequences, hence the improbable survivability and defiance of realism. Action movies on the other hand, while still glorifying violence, will still almost always be reflective through the character development and emotional attachment the audience feels with them, meaning that regardless of how simple an action movie may be, it will probably have more depth than the average action game.
In the same way, family entertainment games usually lack any form of intellectual stimulus for fear of segregating the different age groups that make up their target audience.
With the two bestselling video game genres encouraging simplicity in favour of thought provoking content, it is no wonder that video games are widely regarded as shallow experiences. In this essay I have shown that this is because of the historical and cultural context of the videogame industry, and their reliance on cinematic convention. Also I’ve tried to explain that the general format and techniques found in most games encourage simplicity, which in turn draws a simplistic audience, which in turn encourages more simplicity.
However, when we consider the distance video games have come in the last three decades, it is clear that it is still a growing and changing industry, that one day may produce complex and intellectual texts that rival the artistic integrity and popularity of the most respected cinema.
References
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Cameron Scott Doherty 