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The new spectacle


Coming into the spectacle that is American elections, perhaps politics are indeed a video game. Former roommate Antonin Bechler has of course written about how Japanese RPGs in the mold of Final Fantasy followed strictly the narrative of the Japanese nuclear family (that is to say the young protagonist/head of the family acting upon the axis of duty, accompanied by the mother, the perverted elderly, always of course male, the child and the pet), ultimately playing to preserve the statu quo. As for the US counterpart, the sociology seems reversed. Much like in a video game, the voter/protagonist and he alone will enact great change at the push of a button (or a touch screen), nevermind that said great change will be enacted by a higher authority/presidential candidate. And nevermind that said great change is really more of the same.

Of course, the choice of the 3rd person male is deliberate.
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Sasha said…
In a child, the actualization of the ultimate fantasy from within the 'safe-family paradigm' can inspire the creative impulse to seek more.

geh mit der Kunst in deine allereigenst Enge. Und setz dich frei

-Paul Celan
11:36 PM
Sasha said…
that being said, the 'safe-family paradigm', like the US, is simulacrumatic as a video game. By heightening the tensions wrought through this simulated 'reality', by stimulating the euphoria of adventure and excitement, one might elevate the pleasure principle over convention, compelling the participant to seek it out beyond familiar patterns of enclosure. For instance, Sublime and other 'pop punk' bands created songs according to normative tonal standards, but with elements of adventure and danger, which opened bourgeoisie 'feels' to a different context of acculturation. Do you think that Final Fantasy might serve as a spark to existential creativity even despite a normative setting?
11:52 PM
François Luong said…
Final Fantasy? Hum, no, it's too conservative to spark anything creative ...
12:46 AM
Sasha said…
there is also a paucity of good olde punk rock these days.
3:12 PM
Red Light! Green Light! said…
any actualization of the child within the context of the game limits itself to the choices made prior to the child's participation. the creative act possesses no mutual recognition as the computer lacks to capacity to recognize the child, leaving any semblence of freedom limited within that context; just as our voting choices are limited. we are not choosing between two systems - the choice which is falsly proposed to us-, only to marginal choices within a singular system. work ahead.
3:52 PM
Sasha said…
perforce, those marginal decisions only describe the fate of life or death, not the discourse of the life or death themselves. There is one singular outcome - victory or defeat. Ironically, however, the fulfillment of victory in this case might return to the morbid 'family' - a sort of unbalanced objective, and, it seems, the subject of the game's lack of fantasy. not Lack of fantasy in the sense of ideal families are normal, but in the reflexive sense, that families are idealized norms, and the only way to appreciate them is by winning Final Fantasy.
10:31 AM
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