“It’s A Wonderful Life”, “A Christmas Carol”, “Silent Night”, “What Child Is This?”, “Carol of the Bells”, “Auld Lang Syne”
This time of year is packed with tradition. Why do we do the same things each year?
“The Lord of the Rings”, “The Hobbit”, “The Blue Sword”, “I, Jedi”
Why do we read books more than once? What is it about them that we want to revisit? Why are they so great?
“The Ten Commandments”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Tempest”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Canterbury Tales”, “Casablanca”
What is it about these bits of entertainment that sticks? Is pop culture actually culture? (Beej, I’m especially interested in your take on this…) More than once, I’ve noted that a story is good, but “it’s no Shakespeare”. What was the expression before Shakespeare’s time? “It’s good, but it’s no Chaucer”? How is it that these things stand the test of time? How do they become cultural touchstones that people continue to look to and revisit? Why?
Why can we watch episodes of our favorite shows over and over? I can watch Stargate SG-1’s “Window of Opportunity” every week and not get tired of it. (The whiplash change from silly to serious just works, far better than most shows I’ve seen.) Things that resonate with us seem to always have a home.
Sometimes it’s just a moment. “You Shall Not Pass!” A Crowning Moment of Awesomeness.
“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” isn’t Shakespeare, but I’ve found that I enjoy it. A few moments stand out, though: The Tuskegee Airmen are my clear favorite, especially in a quiet moment with Amelia Earhart. You might get the gist of the interaction just from watching them exchange salutes, but if you know a bit more about the Airmen and Ms. Earhart, the moment is considerably more poignant. Custer‘s moment of reflection near the end of the movie also resonates with anyone who has read a bit of military history, or who has served in leadership, especially in the military. The movie works best when it draws from real history. (Of course, I’m also partial to the Air and Space Museum anyway, so it probably just resonates with me more than some, and I spent time in Alabama, where the Airmen are rightfully lauded as heroes.)
We can mention the Titanic in casual conversation and use it as shorthand to allude to hubris, arrogance, and human incompetence. No internet firefight (or id game) is complete without someone invoking Hitler or Nazis, whether directly or indirectly. The Constitution isn’t just a piece of paper. Da Vinci, Einstein, Newton, Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, Stalin, Ghandi. We don’t even need their first names any more; everyone knows who they are and why they are important. (Tangent: or at least, everyone should know. Don’t get me started on the sorry state of American education.) These are the names, places and items that wove the tapestry of culture today. Does it always need to be real, though?
George Bailey, Ebenezer Scrooge, Puck…
Aeris? Is she even a spoiler any more?
Video games are young. Very young, compared to most of these cultural touchstones cited. And yet, what serious gamer hasn’t at least heard of Aeris? For good or ill, her plight is a touchstone in the gamer culture. And are we not members of society at large? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
Video games have a place in history, for good or ill. I harbor no illusion that Arthas is in the same weight class as Rocky, but his name is not unknown. He is no MacBeth, but he is important to some people. His rise, fall and ultimate fate aren’t exactly Campbellian, but they are an important component of a game that millions of players have played. It’s still bizarre to me to see “For the Horde” as a bumper sticker, but it communicates a lot in three small words.
We’re a motley bunch, we gamers, but more and more, we’re everywhere. What effect are we having on culture? Are we providing cultural touchstones that will help us build positive things in the future, or will our legacy live in infamy like that of the Titanic?
Perhaps it’s just that I’m especially introspective this time of year, but I do reflect on these things on occasion. I believe that games have great potential, and can be a force for good. We can make things that are replayable, and offer something each time through.
I’ve taken the opportunity to replay LucasArts’ “The Dig”, and I’m finding things that I didn’t catch the first time through when I played over a decade ago. Each time I read “I, Jedi”, I find something interesting. Each time I watch “It’s A Wonderful Life”, something else clicks for me. (Especially now that I’ve spent a few years studying financial and political concerns.) I fully expect that playing FFVII or even watching Advent Children again will make something else click for me. Playing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days has me itching to play the original KH again, to see what else fits together.
Every time I read the scriptures, something else clicks for me. Not because the content of the scriptures changes, but because I have changed. It’s nice to have those touchstones to bounce off of, and build on.
I often wonder what I’m providing to build on.
Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s hoping the last one was a good one for you, and that the next one can be built on the successes of your past.
Tish Tosh Tesh 
What is “The Dig” btw? Is it an adventure game alla King’s Quest or Day of the Tentacle or Curse of Monkey Island?
The Dig is one of LucasArts’ adventure games, indeed like the ones you cite. It’s also conveniently on sale at the moment:
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2102/
I often wondered why I read “Midnight Falcon” several times. This must be my equivalent to your “I, Jedi” (I like this one a lot, too. Besides his “Blood of Kerensky” trilogy probably his finest novel ever.). Or why one of the first things I try with a new OS is to get “Panzer General for Windows” running.
Happy New Year to you, too. You are quite early this year with the good wishes! 🙂
*chuckle*
Aye, this is early. I’m anticipating being out of commission (read: up to my eyeballs busy illustrating) for New Years itself (way too much to do, and may be away from the computer), and didn’t feel like setting this one up on time delay. *shrug*
I keep meaning to read those books, thanks for reminding me. 😉
Aeris… yup. Let’s go back farther: Floyd the Robot. I still get sad just saying his name.
I was listening to the In the Loop podcast on my way to work this morning, and their guest was (their words) “Super-Skeptic Steve Novella M.D.” who is big in the ‘fight junk-science’ community, and they asked him lots of questions about what he does, and then at the end they asked him what he does to relax.. does he have any hobbies?
And he said “I do some roleplaying with friends and I have a World of Warcraft group.” (I’m paraphrasing and he did mention 1 or 2 other activities but they didn’t stick.)
I still find myself being surprised when “regular people” declare themselves gamers without any hesitation.
I’ve been a gamer for so long I still have a kind of residual embarrassment about it, because back in 1980 or so, telling someone I was a gamer was a sure way to get myself shunned from most social groups.
We’ve come a long way.
Happy New Year, Tesh!
Of course pop culture is culture! How could it not be? I’m no expert, and I’m certainly not qualified to determine whether or not today’s pop culture falls within the lines of high or low culture, but it’s there nonetheless. It’s art. It’s directly up to the reader/consumer to determine where any given art is situated in the hierarchy.
I mean, back in his day, Shakespeare was considered low-brow. He was the Stephen King of his time. He was insanely popular and prolific, but he produced what literary critics (read: highfalutin’ snobs) considered to be garbage. It was unliterary and full of common vernacular. But it paid the bills and has now become the epitome of what most people consider high culture.
I wish I had a good definition or criterion that would let us know when a piece of popular culture crosses that unseen threshold to becoming something more, a part of the popular unconscious. But I don’t. There are some things that are just that good, for whatever reason, based on some inherent quality. It draws on the idea of Essentialism (here’s my long-winded essay on Essentialism in SF, if you care to read it: http://www.professorbeej.com/2009/05/essentialism-in-science-fictionfantasy.html). The real conundrum comes in that you and I and everyone else has a different quality that we consider Essential for something to be lasting literature. Or Literature with a big L. And then that gets into Reader Response rather than culture or authorial intent…
And it’s funny that you should mention The Dig. I was thinking about the novel while I was making lunch today and how good the novel by Alan Dean Foster was. I was thinking that I should re-read that because I enjoyed it so much when I was younger. I never got around to playing the game, though.
I remember The Dig! I was very small when we first got that game. 🙂
I’ve been thinking about the subject of pop culture a lot lately as well. I think it’s been the whole resurgence of Beatlemania that’s brought it to mind. Interestingly, said resurgence was brought on almost entirely by Beatles Rock Band, a game. So, gamers definitely have influence over our culture, for good and bad. I keep telling Mom that eventually, everyone will have a Facebook or at least an email account and no one will communicate by written mail. She doesn’t believe me.
I loved Professor Beej’s comment about Shakespeare being the Stephen King of his time. I always find it amazing that that stuff is still around! I mean really, that was a LONG time ago. And yet, there really is something about it that continues to entertain and even inspire people, myself included. I wish I knew what makes stuff stick like that. Going back to the Beatles, they could have been just another Liverpudlian band who played a few gigs for a few years and then went and got normal jobs. But for some reason, which no biographer has been able to explain to me, everyone loved their music, and we continue to love it. It blows my mind, to use a cliche.
And what a coincidence, I could watch “Window of Opportunity” every week, too! And of course, there was a time when I read the LOR trilogy every summer, and never got the least bit tired of it! I’ve read Chronicles of Narnia several times over as well. I honestly don’t know why. It’s weird how even when I know how the stories end, I find myself holding my breath, waiting to see what happens next.
Well, I’ve rambled enough!
Happy New Year to you too, bro. 🙂
It’s rough when the culture you love never gets mainstream. You remember Aeris, I remember Azel.
I’m terrible for re-reading books and replaying old games… I just don’t do it. I think I’ve only ever read a single book twice and that was because I had to review it for a piece at school.
I take your point though and I believe you’re right. I’m sure I would find more depth to things if I revisted them. I’m going to do it more often, especially with some older PC games.
When I saw that The Alliance Hotel (a pub, that is) was for sale in Brisbane, Australia, for a few brief moments I harbored a dream of buying it and giving it the slogan, “For the Hordes”. What brought me back to earth was not my utter lack of funds, but the realization that most people who got the joke would not be of legal drinking age.
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