Art, Or The Art Of Pretension?

Movie critic Roger Ebert recently enraged some among the gaming community by expressing his opinion that video games can never be art. While I generally like Roger's writing, I have to admit that I didn't find this particular opinion of his to be very well-founded or articulated. However, I couldn't help but reflect on what he'd written after diving into a bit of research into next month's long-awaited Alan Wake game.

If you've never heard of Alan Wake before now, you're probably not a hardcore gamer. It's a name that I first encountered over a year ago, and as its May 18th release has gotten closer and closer, the hype for the XBox 360 title has been ratcheting steadily upward. To get you up to speed, I recommend this article, which also contains the (so far) two short videos that have been unveiled as prequels to the game. It was the viewing of those mini-episodes today that really got me thinking.

As the aforementioned article makes clear, the primary inspiration for Alan Wake comes from Twin Peaks and some of the stories of Stephen King (most especially The Shining, I would imagine). I've tried to read exactly one King story over my lifetime (The Dark Half, as I recall) and I think I got most of the way through it before deciding that the author was simply too cruel and cavalier toward his own characters for me to ever want to invest in them. Having said that, though, I've watched many a film based on his work and even loved a few of them. Somehow the two-hour commitment required by motion pictures seems more appropriate to the gut-wrenching task than what reading a book entails. But I digress.

While my King-exposure is somewhat limited, I was - once - quite the fan of Twin Peaks. The original miniseries really caught the imagination of both Vicki and I, back in the early 90s. So many mysteries! We could hardly wait for the next installment. As it transitioned into a weekly series, though, the program ran completely off the rails. The "resolutions" made no sense, and it seemed that weirdness was being introduced for its own sake, rather than in service to a coherent story. Twin Peaks became - or perhaps it always was - a pretentious piece of stylistic crap, posing as "television art." Or, to put it a little more kindly: lots of potential, but extremely poor execution and payoff. It was, in other words, what many Lost haters have tried to portray that show as. (I disagree completely with that assessment, but that's an argument for another day.)

If you've watched the two Alan Wake prequels and seen virtually any episode of Twin Peaks, then you've certainly already noticed the similarities. Whether it be the woodland setting, the slightly-off quirky characters, the diner, the hallucinations, or the supernatural element, it's a fairly loyal homage to David Lynch's TV foray. As I watched it play out, though, I felt the same twinge that I get whenever that TV show's name comes up now. Does it look interesting? Sure! Will it ever deliver on its promise? Not bloody likely! Is that going to be the legacy of Alan Wake, as well? It's hard not to worry that it will be.

I'll wait to see what the reviews are like, I guess, and decide whether to lay down $60 or $70 once I've digested them. I'd love to experience a really good, psychological thriller in the form of a video game. Some of the F.E.A.R. games have achieved that already. I also believe that, Roger Ebert notwithstanding, it's possible to play a game that represents true art through its use of storytelling, visual integrity and character immersion. But it remains to be seen if Alan Wake can pull off either of those two lofty goals.