BadPopcorn » For The Last Time…Entertainment is Neither New Nor Evil!

For The Last Time…Entertainment is Neither New Nor Evil!

Written by Aaron on December 19, 2005 |

So I’m a fan of the Kotaku and while perusing the site recently I saw this thread.
It’s bad enough to have all the politicians and reactionaries, calling Television or video games dangerous…but now it’s gamers doing it! I understand limits for children, and I don’t merely love the idea, I am in fact In Love with the idea. I just want to make a few points about some arguments for those limits that I disagree with.

I understand that many people believe that Television/Video games “Rot your brain”(I don’t even like typing it), and many people also believe that gaming and television hamper a child’s social abilities. I do not intend to demean or belittle either these beliefs, or the people who hold these beliefs. What I intend to do is give some food for thought to those that might not recognize a few real benefits of being well versed in modern entertainment. I assure you the situation and results of media consumption are not as simple as Black and White.

I would like to start off with the “Television will Rot your Brain” outlook on Entertainment. I am probably simplifying this outlook some due to lack of understanding and time/space constraints, for this I apologize, once again I do not mean to attack…merely to bring to light a contrary possibility.
Now entertainment has existed for as long as humanity…and most of it is far from new…Television is mostly a digital version of ages old morality plays and news reports. Have you ever noticed how being gathered around a television would be similar to being gathered around a glowing fire listening to an elder spinning mythical tales or retelling the events of a hunt? Seriously folks…it’s not that new, it is less interactive and personalized…but that in and of itself is not bad and I will argue later as a bonus.

Now Video games are essentially an amalgam of T.V. and just straight up Play. The T.V. brings the visuals…which it took from plays, ballet opera or any other visual performed art, and combines it with action, and interactivity of say, tag or catch. The themes and gameplay used in modern video games tend to be addictive because they are built on an ancient tradition of crafting rich entertainment. God of War’s respectable story was obviously enriched and inspired by Greek Mythology…so does reading it in a book make it any more valuable, worthy, or enriching than seeing it on a screen? How is analog more wholesome than digital when it comes to entertainment?

If the argument is that entertainment makes humanity, and specifically children lazy…then the “Rot your Brain” line is an improper phrase and “Rot your body” is more appropriate…and I believe a much stronger argument…though I believe the comfortable sedentary lives most of us lead are much more powerful tools in making us lazy than Entertainment alone.

If the argument is that Games/TV make humanity or children less thoughtful or creative…well that is in my opinion “poppycock”. Studies have shown that gamers have better reaction times, are better problem solvers, and are better at tasks involving “Spatial relations” than non gamers…now about creativity. There is a funny thing about creativity…most people think of the act of creation(I mean imaginative not religious) as being revolutionary and not evolutionary. Any literature student can tell you this is not the case, old mythologies were used as the basis for new ones, all the way up to the present day. From George Lucas to Stan Lee, modern storytellers are admittedly inspired by the old, each new iteration adding it’s twist, Romeo and Juliet becomes West Side Story becomes Grease, and Norse mythology’s Volsung Saga becomes The lord of the Rings, becomes D&D the game becomes D&D the movie. So yes some times good things get ruined but the cost of inspiration is the acceptance of imitation.
BTW the fact that we have phrases like “Art imitating Life” and “Write what you know” in our cultural lexicon does not give much weight to the “Eureka” instant moment of solitary creativity belief either.

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Now on to my argument against the damaging social skills aspect and the argument that the non-interactivity of TV is actually healthy for society…I know it sounds preposterous, but please hear me out. Have you ever been in conversation with a stranger feeling awkward and clumsy until one of you said “Duck Tales” and without missing a beat the other filled in the “woo-hoo”? Well probably not that exact scenario but most of us have had a moment when we were instantly able to share a connection with a stranger over some shared childhood or entertainment or even modern entertainment.

Now you might be thinking “So What? What does is matter if we watched the same show as kids?” Well it matters a lot, shared or similar experiences create powerful bonds, and since these shows were not interactive, we all had the same experiences. Have you ever been traveling abroad and met someone from your home town? or even state? It creates a true and meaningful bond…the bond may be shallow, but even the Grand Canyon was shallow once, you have to start somewhere.

Sharing bonds and culture–Even Pop Culture–with each other is what makes us a society. The funny thing is as we assimilate more and more entertainment from other cultures(Anime, Foreign Films, Monty Python), we will have more and more in common with the cultures that created the entertainment, and more understanding of the culture and their society.

Through these unintentional cultural exchanges the entire world will begin to gain understanding of and bonds with each other. Yeah I just said that Popular Culture could lead to world peace…and I refuse to un-say it.

BTW just another tidbit for the entertainment haters out there.
Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population.

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