Because art is permitted to do three things that standard pursuits and behaviours are not permitted to do in society.
1. Examine everything The only field or profession that can examine the world and everything in it with greater authority is a scientist and even they can't explore the fantastic or the impossible. But an artist can go anywhere, portray anything, and bring it back for the audience to experience. Walk into any art gallery and chances are you will find a variety of things that can exist, can't exist, may never exist, and hopefully don't exist. There are no limits to an artist's capacity to create. Remind you of something? Think "Minecraft", then "Doom", then "Psychonauts".
2. Judge/insult everything Call it lampooning, satirizing, condemning, lauding, or whatever you like, art can and does judge and/or insult the bits of reality it portrays. Examples: "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift, "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose, "The Holy Virgin Mary" by Chris Ofili. Artists appoint themselves as critics and judges of their world and how they portray it, in turn, shapes how we think about it. That is art's greatest power and it is why so many people, particularly those in positions of power, worry about it. Need a video game example? "Bioshock", followed closely by "Crackdown" and "Portal".
3. Regret nothing Art does not apologize. Ever. It exists, conveying its message without exception or caveat beyond one warning: Art can offend. If you can't accept that, don't look. Artists may be condemned for going places society doesn't want them to go and countries can jail people for creating art, but it cannot stop art or the thought that art inspires in its audience. Think of the authors, painters, and musicians that have been placed in cells, publicly humiliated, and even killed for the art they crafted. Now think of the attacks video games have been enduring because their content offends. You're looking at a parallel.
Video games can and should be classified as art in this regard. Video games are capable of portaying anything a human being can think of in a variety of different ways. Video games can be and are used to judge anything they portray in a variety of different ways. And video games really do need to stop apologizing for being what they are. Giving video games the label of art lends legitimacy to them and carries with it public tolerance and social acceptance. Will people still get mad when a video game tears down a social norm or lampoons a social group? Yes, but they won't threaten to take the choice of playing the game away from the audience, which is a distinct possibility due to a lawsuit being mulled over in the Supreme Court right now.
Are people ready to experience and accept art in the form of a video game? I think so. We do it on a daily basis. We just need to start calling it that.
1. Examine everything The only field or profession that can examine the world and everything in it with greater authority is a scientist and even they can't explore the fantastic or the impossible. But an artist can go anywhere, portray anything, and bring it back for the audience to experience. Walk into any art gallery and chances are you will find a variety of things that can exist, can't exist, may never exist, and hopefully don't exist. There are no limits to an artist's capacity to create. Remind you of something? Think "Minecraft", then "Doom", then "Psychonauts".
2. Judge/insult everything Call it lampooning, satirizing, condemning, lauding, or whatever you like, art can and does judge and/or insult the bits of reality it portrays. Examples: "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift, "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose, "The Holy Virgin Mary" by Chris Ofili. Artists appoint themselves as critics and judges of their world and how they portray it, in turn, shapes how we think about it. That is art's greatest power and it is why so many people, particularly those in positions of power, worry about it. Need a video game example? "Bioshock", followed closely by "Crackdown" and "Portal".
3. Regret nothing Art does not apologize. Ever. It exists, conveying its message without exception or caveat beyond one warning: Art can offend. If you can't accept that, don't look. Artists may be condemned for going places society doesn't want them to go and countries can jail people for creating art, but it cannot stop art or the thought that art inspires in its audience. Think of the authors, painters, and musicians that have been placed in cells, publicly humiliated, and even killed for the art they crafted. Now think of the attacks video games have been enduring because their content offends. You're looking at a parallel.
Video games can and should be classified as art in this regard. Video games are capable of portaying anything a human being can think of in a variety of different ways. Video games can be and are used to judge anything they portray in a variety of different ways. And video games really do need to stop apologizing for being what they are. Giving video games the label of art lends legitimacy to them and carries with it public tolerance and social acceptance. Will people still get mad when a video game tears down a social norm or lampoons a social group? Yes, but they won't threaten to take the choice of playing the game away from the audience, which is a distinct possibility due to a lawsuit being mulled over in the Supreme Court right now.
Are people ready to experience and accept art in the form of a video game? I think so. We do it on a daily basis. We just need to start calling it that.
