When is art not art?
When it’s being argued over by people who have missed the point.
Roger Ebert recently stated that video games can never be art, a piece largely condemned by sites and other media that count themselves as “gamers.” Most of them have missed the point entirely of Ebert’s comments, and turned it into an opportunity for personal attack on the man, the most vile and loathsome of which that I’ve seen thus far coming from Penny Arcade, likening Ebert’s piece to reeking ejaculate.
Tycho’s rant has all the bumbling zeal of a six-year old who has just discovered he can use big words to offend people but, much like he accuses Ebert of doing, he also totally misses the point.
Ebert’s article, originally a response to a TED talk by Kellee Santiago, might be flawed, but he raises some valid questions and points, which have been largely ignored by commentators quick to jump to condemnation. Ebert is prepared to engage with the question of “what is art?” while many who responded to his piece do so only to defend their beloved games, little realising the larger debate in which they are partaking.
Ultimately, you can’t argue that something isn’t art without having a checklist against which to score it, condemning it to not be art when it fails to make a passing grade.
So…what is art?
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