Ben - Ch1 - Perlin
When Perlin mentions that figurative sculpture can transport us to a different emotional state or psychological point of view, I think of Michelangelo’s Pieta… Why does any sublime work of art transport us? Simply because it is actually about something, which as Murray has already so eloquently pointed out is the first requisite. Frankly, I’d rather read a good book than play The Sims, anyday. But if I'd only ever shopped at walmart, I don't suppose I'd care much for Nieman Marcus either... Of course I'm obscenely old, which is no doubt part of my problem, but it really bothers me the way kids these days hate to read. I don't recall being like that, but it was sooooooooooooo long ago.
I believe there is a very important form of agency which takes place during the reading process. It has something to do with discernment, a very important facility, worth developing in this world, where it actully rains only 50% of the time.
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/citta/B1-Pieta.html
posted by Anonymous @ 1:42 PM
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Another one of my tangents here. The other day I was talking to someone about the number of languages I speak. I speak 3 languages, including English (read not AMERICAN!), and two Indian languages, but not including the years of learning French and Italian that just seem languages I should have learnt inside and out in retrospect. Anyway, it occurred to me that there isn't a language quite as expressive and poetic as English (though I admit I have never read poetry in French or Italian). There are words that come so easily to me to describe situations, visualizations and emotions in English, that would take entire paragraphs to describe in my native tongue.
A video game is no different from my native tongue. English (whatever brand it may be!) is capable of conveying so many things whether in the spoken or written form that is just lost in the visual representation of the game. A book, with effective use of language, can make me smell a cigar down to the minutest detail like no virtual reality simulation could. Plus, a book not only describes a situation to you, but helps you relish every nuance of it.
But this is not to demonize video games. Lord knows I've spent way more hours playing games than reading books (even textbooks!). Games have their own perks when it comes to involvement and interaction that we are all well aware of. But if there is one thing games are guilty of, it is that they kill the imagination, no two ways about it. And for this reason, I fear for my two year old niece and her generation. They may be geniuses at using computers, but they may not learn to socialize, play in the park like I did or even make their own coffee. Am I being too cynical?
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