At poet Marjorie Agosin‘s talk on human rights at Waterloo’s Wilfrid Laurier University yesterday, one sentiment stuck out to me in particular.
Agosin bemoaned a “lack of creativity in society” today, saying there is “no space to wander” in modern media. Kids are too busy playing videogames to read poetry, etc.
Argosin spoke at length of poetry’s apparently unrivaled ability for communication. “Each word contains a world,” she exclaimed, describing how poetry functions as symbols. Unlike any other art form, is “slow” – it cannot be rushed or read through quickly. Poetry is that which “captures what is going to escape”. It gives voice to those that are restricted from speech and denied humanity, she explained. Through poetry’s words, you can evoke a world that “no longer exists”.
“To write it to live. To live is to remember. To remember is to persevere as human.”
Fair enough then. But if poetry is the end-all be-all of communication, the highest form of cultural discourse – then why does no one read it?
Poetry preaches to the converted. To me, a person reading one of Argosin’s poems – for example, “The Obedient Girl” or “Dear Anne Frank” – already feels empathy towards the issues at hand. Indeed, poetry is a beautiful medium that can articulate the most subtle of human emotions (when done well) – but a tool for activism it is not.
True, poetry is very good at explaining what is unexplainable. But in order to be truly effective as a mode for spreading awareness, poetry needs to reach out beyond its typical, limited audience.
The common populous is just not interested in written poetry. They are, however, very interested in cultural forms of expression. And I mean, obsessed. Music, movies, the Internet, videogames, television – you name it, they want to consume it. I’d argue that my generation consume far more cultural artifacts than any previous generation.
It is these sentiments that frustrated me when Argosin spoke with offhanded negativity towards these new media forms that my generation uses to communicate. Videogames and new media in general were spoken of with some disdain, viewed as more of a distraction than a mode of viable communication.
I can understand where the sentiment comes from. If your concept of videogames consists of Mario, Megaman and Master Chief, I’m basically talking to a wall. But many games are starting to do what poetry has done so effectively – responding to horror. In Call of Duty 4, we’re faced with the trauma of witnessing the execution of a foreign politician through their own eyes. Dragged through a street and tossed into the back of a car, we are forced to watch innocent civilians being gunned down around us as they flee soldiers. Then we’re thrown in front of television camera and shot in the head. It’s neither a fun nor pleasantexperience.
Argosin spoke of poetry being a unique medium because it must be experienced slowly. The same could be said of videogames. Games are the only art form that requires mastery in order to progress through the material.
Though they are always goal-based – getting from A to B in some manner – games today encourage the player to move through material slowly. Grand Theft Auto IV is a great example. With protagonist Niko Bellic, the default movement is walking. The game’s fictionalized New York City setting is dripping in visual detail. No two alley-ways are the same. Taking one’s time to experience the city as a living organism is one of the greatest joys the game holds.
I’ve mentioned these two games not just because they hold artistic value – they’re also two of the best-selling games of 2008. Both games have sold over 13 million copies each.
That kind of outreach is critical for spreading human rights messages. If they want their messages to be heard, poets need to adapt to such new mediums. Stubborn respect for the old ways isn’t going to spread the word.
With awesome opportunities for non-gamers to create interactive content – like Toronto’s Artsy Games Incubator and the Adventure Game Studio – there’s no excuse not to get into the medium if you want to spread your message.
Indeed, videogames have a long way to become truly poetic – but they’ve come a long way too. To deride them as a useless art form is to ignore a medium that my generation uses to communicate.
2 Comments
I’m always worried that that stubbornness would come with old age. Maybe a person’s mind becomes saturated to a point where it can’t master any new concepts, and a reaction to this would be to cling for dear life to what you already know because it’s all you have.
I don’t mind “old” people sticking to what they know best. It’s the young people who should be doing the inventive stuff. But we look up to these old people with their breadth of experience and knowledge – and when they tell us that our mediums are inferior, too many youngsters believe them.