This semester has been a really interesting one in terms of the progression of my research topic and my feelings toward it. I can honestly say that I've never had a semester that was so frustrating , but I've been able to push through and have come to a synthesis moment, to borrow the term from Hegel.
CC 2.0 Generic, Wikimedia Commons
I think one of my problems going into the paper for this class was that I came with so many topics that I wanted to address. Awe was and still is, in my mind, an interdisciplinary notion, and I think that biology, literary criticism, philosophy, psychology, and critical art theory all have important things to say about it. As I studied it more, though, I began to realize that I wasn't the only one having problems figuring out awe. The texts contradicted themselves, everyone used different words for the same things, and the works that seemed to be the most accurate in trying to define awe seemed to be the most abstract and vague and well. You might say that for about three months, I was pretty frustrated and had no idea what I was doing.
Here's my latest update to my paper on technology, awe, and videogames. I'm up to 9.5 pages, but looking back at my original outline there's a lot I haven't worked in there yet that I'd still like to be there, and the whole paper feels a little loose.
From the title, you are perhaps expecting this post to be a depressing, cynical attempt at tearing down our modern notions of art and wonder, and if that's the case, then I have to apologize: this will surely disappoint. To understand what I really mean in saying "the end of art" or "the end of awe," though, we have to have a foundation in German Romanticism and, more specifically, in the art
istic philosophies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
Hegel is perhaps best known for the eponymous Hegelian dialectic, which suggests that through the recursive struggle and interplay of thesis and antithesis--of action and reaction--mankind has, at various times, been able to arrive a state of synthesis or resolution, wherein he is able to achieve real progress. In his Introduction to The Philosophy of Art, Hegel applies the dialectic to the progression of art, stating essentially that the highest form of art is that in which the sensuous form (the work of art itself) and the spiritual form (the ideas conveyed by the work of art) find harmony or resolution. "[T]he perfection and excellency of art," he writes, "must depend upon the grade of inner harmony and union with which the spiritual idea and the sensuous form interpenetrate" (376). Hegel suggests that in lower forms of art, such as sculpture or architecture, the thesis and antithesis of spiritual and sensuous forms have yet failed to reach an equilibrium. The highest form of art--the end or aim of art in Hegel's view--is in poetry, wherein the art itself is capable of conveying the full import and meaning of the spiritual or philosophical idea. This was not to imply, however, that art had or would come to an end or that poetry represented the final destination of human expression and artistic representation. Rather, poetry was the degree of synthesis to which mankind had climbed up until that point.
As I've been thinking of ways in which the digital media awes me, I've realized that lyric videos are capable of producing an element of awe for me. While most of these videos are unrelated to my final project, there is a video that I will share at the top of my list that connects to my final project, and I'll explain it there.
So without futher ado:
10. Ke$sha's lyric video for her song C'mon is absolutely ridiculous. And it doesn't do for me what some of the other videos do, but what I love about a lot of lyric videos is that they show you a glimpse of the artists mind, and how they view the song. In the case of this video, I don't think it really does that, but it's still fun to watch a bunch of kittens dance across a screen.
9. Honestly by Hot Chelle Rae
I liked the way that they used several different mediums within the video. The messaging from the iPhone, the neon colors to show partying, the design elements that expressed the feeling a little bit more, are all things that really add a mixed element of awe to this song. I just didn't think it was as clever or expressive as it could have been.
8. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift
What I really liked about this video was that it was done almost entirely through stop-motion. There were so many creative and unique moments in this video. There are many things that fans would recognize as being specific to Taylor and her style, such as her use of the color red, her love for vintage records, and the number 13 to name a few. Very creative and clever.
7. Payphone by Maroon 5
*Disclaimer: this is the unedited version, so there is a lot of swearing. I hate that part, but the rest is pretty awesome*
I love the elements of Graphic novels/comics. It was a really cool and unique element.
6. Roar by Katy Perry
I love the use of emoticons in this video. It is really clever, especially in this day and age when so much of what we do is smartphone related.
5. Daylight by Maroon 5
This project took videos from people all over the world talking about the things that they hate, the people that they love, and the things that they wish they could change. It's a touching and inspiring video. I think the awe-inspiring element of this video is realizing that as humans, we all experience similar pain, and that we aren't alone.
4. Still Into You by Paramore
Clever. The typefaces used are eye-catching and exciting, and the text does a good job of acting out the lyrics. Also, I just love the shadow puppets. That really wowed me, as it was an element that I hadn't seen anywhere else.
3. Lions Roar by The Hush Sound
This video was shown to me in my Graphic Design class while we were discussing the power of typefaces, and how they can be used to convey a concept quite clearly. What I find to be particularly impressive about this video is the way in which that is accomplished. It's beautifully designed, and I feel like it adds a lot to the song.
2. Wide Awake by Katy Perry
I love the way in which this lyric video combines the lyrics into a Facebook format. I really enjoyed the way in which she combined so many different elements into this video. On a deeper level, I experienced a moment of awe when I realized that all of the Facebook posts shown were of highlights from her career up until the release of Wide Awake, which talks about falling from cloud nine. Did you find anything awe-inspiring about that?
1. This is the one video that has to do with my final project. Dr. Burton has already shared this on Google+, but I love it so much, and I find it so awe-inspiring that it really just comes in first on my list. I love the way that dance is incorporated with graphic design, how authentic the movements of the dancers are, and how there is more emotion that is expressed because the drawn dancers can do things that might not be possible in the real world. It's a stunning work of art.
So I already did a list of what aspects of videogames are truly "awe"-some, but now I want to do a list of emotions that I feel videogames can evoke more or better than any other medium. Essentially, this is a list of emotions that videogames can evoke at awe-inspiring levels.
1. Loneliness
A screenshot from Dear Esther
I just played Dear Esther for the first time this week, and ended up going through it twice. Essentially (maybe--the game's kind of ambiguous), it's a game about a man dealing with the loss of his wife, and that sense of loneliness and longing is recreated by the game itself as you walk along an island totally alone, not even seeing your own reflection to reinforce the presence of humanity in the game's world. To make it worse, the game has 10 "ghosts" that only show up extremely briefly or when you're not looking directly at them, taking away any other human presence right as it's noticed--or even before it's noticed, as most players miss most of the ghosts entirely. No piece of media has ever made me feel so lonely. I actually found myself obsessively searching for the ghosts the second time I played because I didn't want to have to walk through the island all alone again. It's simply awesome to me that the game didn't just communicate that someone else was lonely, it made me lonely in a very real sense.
2. Triumph
This one's obvious, perhaps, but so essential to the medium. Jane McGonigal helped popularize the term "fiero" as the specific word for the feeling of triumph after you've tried something over and over and finally perfected a skill. Essentially, she argues, videogames give this feeling stronger and more reliably than any other activity on Earth. Ultimately, she argues, this trait of videogames should be incorporated into reality as much as possible.
I felt this myself recently as I played through Guacamelee!. The game itself isn't terribly difficult if you're familiar with basic conventions of action and platformer videogames like Super Mario Bros; however, to unlock an alternate ending to the game where you actually save the girl, you have to work ten times as hard to collect five orbs that come at the end of extremely difficult sequences. I spent the better part of a Sunday going through just one of these sequences to try and get it right, but when I did it the sense of relief, triumph, and accomplishment was so tangible it was awe-inspiring.
Yes, vidoegame accomplishments aren't "real," but they're so satisfying and passionate that no other medium even comes close to delivering the same experience.
I've been thinking about the idea of wonder with regard to the life and, more particularly, the human body, so I wanted to take a minute to curate some resources that I've found on the topic. The twist, though, is that I want to look at biology through the lens of robots and other technology that have been created to mimic real life. So, without further ado, I give you a brief account of the caprices of Greg's internet browsing:
1. Robotic Ants
So, this first one blew my mind a little bit just because of how similar the behavior of the robots was to that of ants. It's maybe hard to get past the external appearance (which looks more like a die than an ant), but the movement and behavior seem so realistic. I think there is a lot more in common between computers and mankind than we maybe think (including mankind, though I hesitate somewhat in saying this).
2. Theo Jansen's Strandbeests
I think I'm still a little bit in shock over this, even though it's been years since I first saw it. I think the thing I love most about this artist is that his work, aside from being amazing and beautiful and mind blowing, also seeks a unity between life and the machine. His contraptions, though lifeless, really do take on lifelike qualities, and it's interesting to note the "evolution" that has taken place in his designs over the years. Evolution is one of the most awe-inspiring concepts I've encountered, especially as I've sought to find concord between my religious faith and my scientific background. I think we too often separate the two, though, and we miss out on the beauty and awe that we might experience in realizing that these are just pieces of a single truth.
