Editorial: Is Metroid Prime the Citizen Kane Of Videogames?
Inevitably in the "videogames as art" debate the question seems to always come up: what game has done for videogames what Citizen Kane did for film? According to ABC News and IGN's Michael Thompsen that game is Nintendo and Retro Studio's Metroid Prime Trilogy. The ABC report is a "web exclusive" and can be watched by either clicking on the image to the right or clicking right here.
It seems like there are really two comparisons being made in the video. The first is of the comparison of how Metroid Prime relates to videogames as an artistic medium compared to Citizen Kane's relation to film. I don't feel like Thompen really goes quite far enough in his analysis of this comparison, but it is an interesting comparison to make. One of the greatest achievements of Citizen Kane was in the realm of cinematography with the use of deep focus and low-angle shots used to various effect. In that regard, Metroid Prime could draw a comparison for its choice to put the camera inside Samus' helmet. The player is constantly reminded that they are inside the helmet - by effects like condensation forming on the visor or seeing Samus' reflection after a charged shot - which was a pioneering camera technique for videogames.
The second comparison I have a bit more trouble with, and that is the comparison of content between Metroid Prime and Citizen Kane, irrespective of their individual mediums. The detective comparison that Thompsen draws between them is an interesting one, but not enough in my opinion to make for a convincing comparison between the two. Of course, I'm not entirely convinced that a content comparison between Metroid Prime, or any videogame for that matter, and Citizen Kane is one that needs to be made. What if we were to look at a game like Lumines, a brilliant game that has had a profound impact on the industry. But there is no plot or characters, so a content comparison to Citizen Kane would be meaningless. This view essentially eliminates an entire genre from being regarded as powerful games simply because they don't conform to a different medium's standards.
Which raises the bigger question: do videogames need a Citizen Kane to compare to? Take a moment to answer that question for yourself, then follow after the break.
To conveniently answer the question that I brought up, I would say that no, there doesn't need to be a Citizen Kane of videogames. I do realize that this point has been made by many others before me, but it bears repeating. Let's say that Metroid Prime is the "Citizen Kane of videogames" as Thompsen says, which personally I think Half-Life 2 or Metal Gear Solid make a much closer comparison, but let's just say that Metroid Prime is this iconic game. Why then can't Metroid Prime just be the "Metroid Prime of videogames" by which other games are compared? If videogames are to be taken seriously as an art form, as they rightfully should, then they should be seen within their own terms. There already are iconic videogames: Metroid, Zelda, Half-Life, Ico, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect, Eternal Darkness, Baldur's Gate, Okami, Mega Man, Ikaruga, Tetris, Chrono Trigger, Bioshock, the list goes on. We already have videogames that have challenged the boundaries of what a game can be and have set the standards for future games to live up to.
I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any comparison between videogames and film, or comparison to literature, music, or any other form for that matter. Videogames share aspects with almost every other art form, so the comparisons are inevitable. Recently I proposed to my College to write my thesis on the comparison of videogames, film, and literature for their differing and similar methods of storytelling. I wouldn't have proposed such a thesis if I did not think that the comparisons were worth investigating. But I feel it is those small comparisons that are the most important to make. How does a first-person perspective in a game differ from a first-person novel? How does an audience connect with a protagonist differently in a film that they watch compared to a game that they play? Or, as mentioned earlier, the comparison between camera techniques in Citizen Kane and Metroid Prime is an interesting one to examine.
But when someone asks "what is the Citizen Kane of videogames?" it belittles the medium, implying that videogames have not yet reached the same status as film. And as long as the question continues to be asked, despite all of the achievements that have been made in interactive entertainment, the public perception will remain that videogames are a second-class art form, if even an art form at all.
NaviFairy
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany, Video Games on 7 October 2009
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: ABC, Citizen Kane, editorial, film, games as art, hopefully not too pretentious, IGN, Metroid Prime, opinion
I'm kind of tired of the notion that "proving" that games can be art (if such a thing is even necessary or desirable) has to be done by showing all these games with deep storylines and heavy-handed emotional impact. If "Enchanted Forest" by Jackson Pollock is art, if the anonymous airbrushing of the ice cubes in a Coke ad is art, how on earth is Pac-Man not art?
That's the biggest crock of shit I have read in ages. Bioshock would be a much better comparison.
I agree that the comments regarding the conceptual plot/investigation similarities are irrelevant, but I think it's a mistake to assume that by comparing Metroid Prime to Citizen Kane he's comparing games to film as a means of legitimising games as 'art' or whatever. Calling something the 'Citizen Kane of...' is just cultural shorthand for discussing the place of a particular work in relation to its own medium. You can have a 'Citizen Kane of literature', a 'Citizen Kane of dance', a 'Citizen Kane of music'. It's not comparing the various mediums to eachother, and therefore their merit in relation to eachother, it's just a claim about the stature of the work within its own medium. Citizen Kane is just the most famous, and least contentious, example of a work that perfectly embodies its artform, and as such has become a by-word for that relationship.
To call something the Citizen Kane of its medium does not mean it's a perfect example of 'art' - afterall, Citizen Kane itself was widely derided on release, and it wasn't until much later that film critics and so on even understood the point of the thing. Even now it remains a film largely for fans of filmmaking - critics, directors, full-on film-nerds etc - with most people being bored and confused by it. It's as much a technical and academic achievment as it is entertaining. It's a film about making films - the story, character and atmosphere are only half the point of Citizen Kane, the other half being how writing, direction, lighting and cinematography are used to establish and express story, character and atmosphere.
Calling Metroid Prime the 'Citizen Kane of games' just means it fully embraces its nature as a game, and perfectly utilises the forms and structure and potential of game design to achieve its ends with regards to narrative, atmosphere and play, just like Orson Welles perfectly exploited the previously untapped potential of cinematography, and its absolute understanding of its medium has or will come to have an impact on what comes after it. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Bioshock are both examples of games that owe a debt to Metroid Prime.
But there are totally abstract games, completely without character or plot, that have as much claim to being Gaming's Citizen Kane as Metroid Prime. It's not the plot or story that counts, it doesn't need to be a 'cinematic' experience like Metroid Prime. Tetris is a perfect example. It's a game so perfectly realised that it defines gaming.
Hell, I'd even throw LittleBigPlanet into the hat as gaming's Citizen Kane. Like Citizen Kane is a film about film and film-making, LittleBigPlanet is a game about gameplay and game design, and it puts game creation into the hands of the players in a way that hasn't been done before and has the potential to have an impact on gaming well into the future.
I read Thomson's article on IGN yesterday and I have a few thoughts. I don't think games need a "Citizen Kane," because Citizen Kane is a movie and video games are video games. The comparisons, in the end, are too far apart to really be able to make. If anything Tetris is our Citizen Kane, because as CK is a perfect movie, Tetris is a perfect game. or Peggle. I love Peggle.
But I do believe that, despite the comparisons, Metroid Prime is one of the most important video games of the past 10 years. It is amazing on multiple levels, and is one of the most well crafted games I've played in a long time.
Putting Bioshock on that level is a mistake. That game had a great twist and a couple great characters, but it also failed on many other levels. Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but it is by no means nearly as perfectly crafted a game as Metroid Prime. Prime is working on so many minute details that tie the game to a much deeper, richer experience than Bioshock could hope to do.