I have a bunch of music blogs plugged into my bloglines, most of which don’t update too often, but are always great when they do. One of my favorites is published as Monitor Mix on the NPR website and written by Carrie Brownstein, a founding member of the seminal “riot grrrl” (whatever that means) punk band, Sleater-Kinney. I always considered Sleater-Kinney to be one of the smartest bands, but I guess I had no idea because Brownstein’s blog for NPR is consistently brilliant and thought-provoking. Strike another one up for NPR!
Anyway, the reason I mention her blog here is that her most recent post is about the role video games play in our contemporary society. She wrote a review of the new video game Rock Band for Slate magazine, and she continued the discussion of gaming on her blog. Brownstein points out that “The line between gamers and non-gamers is clearly diminishing, if not already obsolete,” citing the fact that some are hardcore online gamers, some are social gamers playing participatory games like Guitar Hero or those for the Wii, and others make a game out of social networking: “isn’t compulsively checking and updating your Facebook page just another form of gaming? In other words, few of us are immune.” With all of the trivia challenges and zombie tags that are infiltrating Facebook, I have to agree.
Then, though, Brownstein gets to a point about gaming in our society which Jerry would appreciate, and the more I think about it, I appreciate it too. She says, “Part of me feels that Rock Band is yet another example of our culture’s increased tolerance of phoniness, whether for the sake of simplicity or out of sheer denial. It’s certainly easier to pretend to make art or to speak the truth than to actually do either.” She mentions that not just in video games, but also in music nowadays, there is a “blurring [of] the lines between ersatz and authenticity.” And I guess that is where we as English teachers and media literacy educators come in. Our role is to bring this discussion of truth and authenticity to the forefront with our students who all love games, whatever genre they fall under.
7 responses so far ↓
sunyprof // November 29, 2007 at 3:13 am
I agree Andy–our role is to separate the wheat from the chaff–or the ersatz from the authentic, and to help our students do the same.
There used to be very clear lines of distinction b/w “popular” or lowbrow culture and elite or high culture. Those lines have become increasingly blurred haven’t they?
I’m esp. interested in Brownstein’s quote about gaming. And has anyone besides me noticed the incredible and very recent bump in the media buzz about SL…Good Morning America did a long piece on it today for example.
The focus was on how people w/physical disabilities (in this case multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy) are creating avatars who can do all of the things they cannot do with their physical bodies. It was an amazing clip. I haven’t been able to find the story online–still looking.
But take a look at what the Japanese are doing to make Second Life more like real life. KES
amandayac // November 29, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Excellent post with some great points that I hadn’t really given enough thought to until now. I like this idea of gaming as a broad concept that includes activities that many of us do now and don’t even think twice about as being a part of a game. Perhaps with a broadened perspective on gaming, it will continue to lose that “goofing around” stigma that still exists for some people even more rapidly. This makes me think of those awful TV commercials I’ve seen recently for one of those educational video game programs like Leapfrog (I think) where an elementary school teacher tells parents at what appears to be a parent-teacher conference that she wants their son to go home and play his video games–and the baffled look on the parents’ faces that follows. While I don’t doubt that systems like Leapfrog help children learn and provide them with hours of fun, I have often wondered if these systems are simply doing old things with more recent technology. Aren’t our kids learning from gaming that falls outside the realm of Leapfrogs, too? I think that more and more people are beginning to see this (a look at some of these awesome examples Karen mentions above are clear evidence to support this).
The issue of authenticity is one that I discussed with my father over Thanksgiving break. He has no qualms with the fact that he’s not so tech-savvy (we had a ten minute phone conversation about how to open and save a word processing document not too long ago). We saw a commercial for the Rock Band game, and while he did express that he thought it looked like fun, he began to lament the prospect of people abandoning “real” musical instruments to fake it infront of an Xbox or a Wii or whatever other system is waiting in the wings. Why form a band, write songs, and play them live when you can play at playing some of the world’s most well-known songs of all time at home? This concern is understandable and has crossed my mind every now and then, but I’m also curious to see what new ways for people to create will appear in the not-so-distant future. I do think that the realm of music and art in general will see some drastic shifts, but doesn’t this continue to happen over time? There certainly was no rock music as we have known it, for example, one hundred years ago, and who could really have predicted it then either? In our lifetimes, I think one of the most puzzling and even uncomfortable things we can encounter is change, change in the things we love, the things that define who we are and whever we’ve been. So I understand my dad’s lament. But staying open to this change, particularly within the context of our teaching lives, is important if we want to continue to read the world and be active participants in it.
Amanda
jmdegan // November 29, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Thanks for thinking of me!
I was discussing this with Andy last night, and I’ve thought alot about the questions of authenticity in digital experience. I’ve asked the question before, and I’ll ask again: why do we need a “second life” when we have so much work to do in our “first life?”
This brings up the issue of what it means to create. Is the simulation of creation an act of creation? I disagree, but I also reject the idea that the romantic notion of genius is dead.
J. Degan
ajmorabito // November 29, 2007 at 5:44 pm
I agree, Amanda. But, I don’t like this shift, and I’m going to resist like hell when it comes to music. I haven’t played Rock Band yet, but I played Guitar Hero III at a friend’s, and while it’s unquestionably fun, it utterly fails as a guitar playing simulation. It doesn’t even give the appearance that the four buttons you’re hitting on the “fretboard” are actually producing the guitar sound in the song. When you miss a button, the sound stops though. It’s all so artificial though.
It does worry me that millions of people are spending upwards of fifty bucks for the game and probably fifty bucks for each guitar controller. For only a little bit more, people could get a real entry-level guitar and amp kit and make their own noise.
I’m not that worried though. There will always be non-digital, non-electronic music, people are just going to have to work harder to find it. People are going to have to get back out to the little, scuzzy dive bars to see the real lo-fi rock loyalists who are still making a healthy noise without digital processing or programming.
No problem, Jerry.
As for the question of whether the simulation of creation is an act of creation, in the case of Guitar Hero III it is obviously not, but I’m sure there are games or virtual devices I don’t know about where it maybe could be argued that the simulation is an act of creative design in itself. I’m not exactly sure still how designing in Second Life works, but I’m guessing people wouldn’t put it on the same level as professional graphic design or graphic art.
jmdegan // November 29, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I thought there would always be books too.
J. Degan
amandayac // November 29, 2007 at 7:34 pm
In terms of Guitar Hero and Rock Band or whatever else is comparable to it (I’ve played neither, by the way), I really can’t think of a way that creative design comes into play. Sounds like fun and all, no doubt. I wonder–do actual musicians play these games? Hmm… I’d be devastated to see real guitars and drum kits tossed into the fires of antiquity (very devastated), but I’m curious to see what direction music will go in over the next decade or two. I think you’re totally right, Andy, that over time, one might have to do a bit more legwork to get access to live shows in the way that some of us have known and love them. But I can’t imagine extinction in our lifetimes. After all, hoards of musicians are still playing and being trained in orchestral modes that date back centuries. Makes me want to bust out a harpsichord (or borrow Tamara’s!).
ajmorabito // November 29, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Definitely. This discussion makes me think that more people need to watch Harold and Maude, not just because it’s a great movie, but because Maude’s argument that everyone should be able to play an instrument is so convincing.
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