tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post7593334159995219445..comments2023-08-11T05:49:23.366-04:00Comments on Exploring Believability: Symbolism: A GuideJ. Sheahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10652255892382558843noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-71600170456133857852013-11-10T08:46:30.300-05:002013-11-10T08:46:30.300-05:00"If you lower your standards to Evangelion le..."If you lower your standards to Evangelion levels..."<br /><br />You sound like one of the plebs that can't see beyond the random religious imagery to grasp the real deal relating to Japanese societal problems and mental illness.BornIn1142https://www.blogger.com/profile/04609487624632822138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-55626019043347588642013-09-08T17:54:41.964-04:002013-09-08T17:54:41.964-04:00Except that Bioshock doesn't even represents a...Except that Bioshock doesn't even represents a treat to Objectivism, for all its supposed criticism:<br />BioShock: An Objectivist on the Objectivism<br />http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=2385Armando Ezequil Gonzaleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07002826922840567826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-44496151974314708572013-07-17T18:28:55.746-04:002013-07-17T18:28:55.746-04:00I always thought that his argument fall short and ...I always thought that his argument fall short and too narrow minded, seeing symbolism as device that an author think should invoke mind blowing moment or "I'm learning something" experience. It is not an actual criticism on symbolism itself nor author intention or agency on using symbolism. This is much more like his "criticism" to random joe reaction on their experience having some symbolism in their narrative gratification.<br /><br />I really miss the old J.Shea, where he actually write some well thought criticism on some matter, not just criticism-coated-rant over the internet reactions. Like Character Design: Style and Substance which I think should be read by every lead artist and character designer out there. Or like Demon's Souls Analysis, which proves it why is it one of the greatest dark fantasy of all time.<br /><br />That man is dead, and I don't know what killed him except twitter.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02973164114152765418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-30249852626600136932013-07-17T16:30:29.821-04:002013-07-17T16:30:29.821-04:00Do you mean your criticism of symbolism to point a...Do you mean your criticism of symbolism to point at ALL fiction or just video games and/or anime?<br /><br />No offense, but the way I see it, you contradict yourself with your post. You entreat people to examine what they think they've learned, yet you balk at symbolism, <i>the entire point</i> of which lies therein.<br /><br />Symbolism, like any kind of analysis, serves as a way to ask ourselves <i>why</i> we like some stories and dislike others. We don't have to agree with what we find or consciously notice it. Nevertheless, every piece of media we'll ever see—that which we like, hate, or forget—influences us. Everything we encounter changes the way we look at things in some way—maybe small, maybe big, but certainly not zero. Analyzing the works we see, then, makes us cognizant of these influences, so we have more control over what we think of them and we don't find ourselves swayed by the current of the subtle rhetoric within.<br /><br />I don't mean to say that we should analyze every polygon and every musical note of a video game. I've yet to play a video game with a compelling enough story to make even a thousandth of that effort worthwhile. But investing 50 hours or more into anything will inevitably have some effect on the investor. The more one strives to consciously notice that effect, the better.Jordan Saïdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09205336511112945110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-42988337314789564802013-07-15T02:46:24.556-04:002013-07-15T02:46:24.556-04:00I don't think what's being criticized is &...I don't think what's being criticized is "symbolism" as an abstract concept, but rather the plague of curiously modern, half-understood uses of "symbolism" as a writing crutch. Symbolism as used in art is a kind of 'hyperlinking' mechanism, in which one work can draw from or comment upon another work, so that the meaning of the first is 'part of' the meaning of the second, whether to build something else or to reject it or comment on it in some other way.<br /><br />The problem is that bad writers—the kind who too often are in charge of writing video games, for example—don't know how to manage symbols, and often assume the mere existence of symbols is sufficient to justify their presence, and that a plethora of symbols is a kind of depth in itself. A Christ figure is a savior due to a sacrifice, but in these kinds of stories, what exactly is the Christ figure sacrificing? What is the Christ figure saving? Why?<br /><br />Which is why Bioshock's symbolism is not compelling like the symbolism in, say, a Fellini film or a Borges story. Fellini evoked religious symbols to make statements about the things they were symbolizing or juxtaposed with, whereas Bioshock used Objectivism because... uh, it's, like, philosophy, man, or something. To painfully extend my 'hyperlinking' metaphor, Bioshock is a long essay with hyperlinks every other word, all of which lead to pages unrelated to the essay... if they lead to anywhere at all.<br /><br />P.S. There is a whole field devoted to the study of signs and symbols—semiotics—and a particular semiotic work, Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation, deals with the issue of symbols that don't actually symbolize anything—which is basically the precise issue at hand.Adsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03241932742086615240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-25912880995769997732013-07-14T21:12:03.755-04:002013-07-14T21:12:03.755-04:00Sorry, that was harsh. I take into account what Le...Sorry, that was harsh. I take into account what Levine thinks, but argue that if he is in fact sympathetic to Objectivism, then the game he created actually shows why it would be a bad idea from the beginning. Rapture wasn't an objectivist society that went wrong - it was wrong from the beginning and then was destroyed when ADAM brought out its problems in full force. <br /><br />In any case, both it and Bioshock Infinite made me think, albeit about different things (the latter is a personal story masquerading as a political one). Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05741738070067590221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-36200048549702359122013-07-14T20:53:28.742-04:002013-07-14T20:53:28.742-04:00Who cares what Ken Levine thinks? A work can be th...Who cares what Ken Levine thinks? A work can be thought-provoking in ways its author/creator did not intend, and Bioshock is interesting in that regard because it shows <i>how</i> such a society creates the inability to collectively respond to a challenge that threatens to bring it down. <br /><br />The point about ADAM is not that it literally drives Rapture insane, it's that it represents a powerful, disruptive change that Rapture is incapable of handling because it further exacerbates its weaknesses and requires action that Rapture is no longer capable of doing. In a healthy society, ADAM would become a great change for good - in fact, the first time Tannenbaum finds out about it, it's after someone's hand had been healed by it due to an accidental bite. But in Rapture's unhealthy society, it led to reckless, self-destructive behavior and opportunism that brought it down. <br /><br />There's a long tradition of fiction using exaggerated examples of stuff happening in order to better highlight problems in real society. Most zombie fiction, for example. Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05741738070067590221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-31869077108666326582013-07-14T20:08:04.135-04:002013-07-14T20:08:04.135-04:00yeah but no that's ridiculous
if the criticis...yeah but no that's ridiculous<br /><br />if the criticism of a libertarian society comes down to "well what if they went literally insane" then it is not an applicable criticism<br /><br />also of note: ken levine is sympathetic to objectivism and wanted to explore what happens "when it goes wrong", which is ridiculous. objectivism STARTS wrong, it does not GO wrongJ. Sheahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10652255892382558843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3493946997489326661.post-44673352004168827112013-07-14T19:55:30.345-04:002013-07-14T19:55:30.345-04:00In defense of Bioshock, it really did make me thin...In defense of Bioshock, it really did make me think about how something like ADAM - a highly addictive substance that plays to every hidden fantasy of self-aggrandizement - would be devastation for a society like Rapture. A society so intensely atomized by individual competition and the sabotage of any collective activity or sentiment that smacked of "parasitism" from the top leadership that when collective action in the face of a social blight was needed, they were were no longer capable of actually doing it. <br /><br />Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05741738070067590221noreply@blogger.com