We must believe: The philosophy of a video game...

[armyowalgreens]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rridXskgWg

I know it's commercial for a video game. But it just seems so perfect.

Chopin's Op. 25 No. 15 (Raindrop) is such a beautifully religious song. And the emotions of the characters paired with the emotions of the song really demonstrates the absurdity of existence and sacrifice. Why are these men fighting? What ultimate goal could possibly warrant such dedication? They fight for a cause that they do cannot fully grasp. Yet, even without the capability of completely understanding why, they fight.

Utter destruction faces the soldiers as they resist fate in the valley of the shadow of death.

Master Chief is held up into the air by embodiment of evil. He hangs at the peak of battle above the bodies of fallen man and beast.

Hope is destroyed. The end is near. Yet, just as all seems lost, Master Chief awakes. We must believe.


Even if he is not God, he is as close to God as man will get. And, in many ways, Master Chief is more worthy than God. An imperfect being fighting for what he believes is right. One man fighting against the something so much bigger than himself.

There is a certain redeeming quality in the resilience of man. We are so feeble and blind. Our existence is infinitely insignificant relative to time itself. Yet we endure. We continue on without the fondest idea of what the future holds.


Who knew that an ad for Halo 3 could invoke such powerful philosophy?


Full version of Chopin's Raindrop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gV9gUeFHIw

[rrneck]

1. Believe indeed.

It is a fine example of how corporations feed off of us by lifting snippets of our hightest ideals and our greatest fears to create a receptive mindsed for their products. And the product offered promises but never delivers any insight into the human experience they use to hawk it. They offer no growth or insight here. What they promise is the very definition of addiction.

[armyowalgreens]

2. You don't have to be addicted to the game. You can simply enjoy the commerical.

I think the director and other person that worked on the commercial actually do give a damn about their work. I don't know if I can say the same thing about the big guns running the show.

[rrneck]

3. Point well taken.

Formally speaking, it's a nice piece of work, no doubt about it. I just get a little tired of corporations feeding off us. Industrialized warfare doesn't need to be glamorized, certainly not for profit. It sort of bums me out that the best artistic minds in the country are on Madison Avenue producing work primarily designed to fill some millionaire's pockets.

I dig video games as much as the next guy. Especially if they have airplanes in them. :) But in light of the skewed experience of playing them the minimal insight into the human condition they offer is almost nil. It takes a lot of self awareness to simulate shooting people for several hours a day and not have one's world view warped by it.

A shrink friend of mine once told me that males actually don't develop any real awareness of the concept of consequences until their mid twenties. I can't verify, but it seems to make sense since it's understood in the military that it's always best to storm a beachhead with green troops because the veterans know what they're in for. Why do you think the draft age is 18?

If everyone that played first person shooter games also studied the consequences of violence it wouldn't be so much of a problem. But most don't. Unlimited violence without consequences, even in a simulation, at least robs people of the time they could spend actually developing any reflective capability if not reducing empathy for others.

Am I "blaming video games for Columbine"? No. Life is more complicated than that. It's just a damn pity that gratification from simulated violence pays better than reading Dostoevsky.

[rrneck]

4. Heh. Update...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x55909

[moggie]

5. About that "embodiment of evil"

I've only played part of two of the games in the Halo franchise, and found them (IMO) to be dull and massively over-hyped. But as far as I recall, the alien Covenant are attempting to exterminate the human race because they're religious maniacs who believe that we are an abomination to their god, while the human response is secular. So, if anyone wants to read a religious message into what is probably better thought of as just a dumb game where stuff blows up real good, it's probably not very flattering to religion.

[armyowalgreens]

6. It's not flattering to religion. But religious thought is not "religion".