In the non-narrative chapters of Moby Dick, Melville's essentially pulling in the reader further into the world of whaling, building connections that will increase the power of the plot in the reader's heart and mind. By relating everyday objects to large philosophical questions and symbols, Melville builds a collage of meaning over the final scenes of man versus whale in the novel. Through Melville's connective efforts, by the end of the novel we're not just watching a one-legged man chase a white whale, we're watching Satan tempt Jesus, and the world turn more secular, and Peter deny Christ, and America be forged, and several other metaphorical and allegorical applications Melville has built into the story--and infinitely more that he did not build in, but which we can build over the structure he has laid before us.
I want to study in my paper how meaning is established in Moby Dick, and in what ways these techniques can be used to create meaning in the new digital form of video games. I also want to explore how video games can't follow Moby Dick's example, and what video games can do to create meaning that a book could not.
We're very good at finding meaning in books, and pretty good at finding it in movies, because these forms have been around awhile and we have learned how to "read" them for meaning. We don't know how to "read" video games for meaning. Many would argue that this is because video games simply don't have meaning, but I don't believe that for a second. Every English major can attest to having defended a novel as meaningful when someone told them it really "didn't mean anything." I believe this is the same situation. It is true that games have only recently had the economic stability to consider more traditionally artistic themes and tropes--but at the same time, early games might be even more meaningful because they were made despite all the economic difficulty, meaning the creators really had something they wanted to accomplish with it enough to make it happen despite the difficulty.
So, here's a go at a working thesis statement:
Moby Dick is an excellent case study in how novels can create meaning through connecting with readers personally and with larger human themes and ideas. Using this case study, I argue that video games can create meaning in many of the same ways as novels (and in many ways unique to the medium). The only reason we do not find as much meaning in video games as we do in novels is because we have not learned how to find and understanding the meanings games could produce.
Please comment below if you have any questions or insights you think I should consider. Also, if you are on reddit, you can join a similar discussion I started over there.
Thanks!
I think this is an awesome topic because just like the "newer" medium of video games, Moby Dick is unlike any other novel. In a way, it compares to a video game as Stephen Colbert reminds us of the difficulty to understand and navigate the dense pages of Moby Dick. We are fortunate to understand some intricate insights from Dr. Wickman and Dr. Burton, however, the average Joe has a hard time understanding deeper ways to interpret the work. That would directly correlate to your claim that video games have not achieved a level of interpretation we give to other works of literature. How do you plan on proving that video games are less understood? I might suggest looking for statistics regarding the percentage of gamers and the demographics that the games attract. If you found a connection there, it would would help give context for why the meaning in video games is less understood.
ReplyDeleteAs you noted, one of the biggest problems is that people don't really think to look for deep meaning in video games unless they themselves have at some time stumbled upon real meaning or beauty within a game. One aspect of video game/novel interaction that I'm especially interested in is the active component of games--the fact that you get to shape the story and learn from your triumphs and your mistakes. I think that sometimes, the greatest meaning to be found in a video game is simply, "I'll try again until I get it right." That's one of the lessons that has most profoundly impacted me personally.
ReplyDeletePractice makes perfect. You're right; as English majors we have been trained to find meaning in the classic sources, but not so much in the newer mediums, partly because they are still so new. We just need to practice finding the meaning because it's going to be different from books.
ReplyDeleteI like that you bring in movies too, because we are just getting into analyzing the meaning of movies. It focuses more on visual stimuli and understanding what's being presented instead of relying on text. Video games will be analyzed in a similar way, that is if people can accept that it does have meaning.