Sunday Thoughts: Mainstream
When will we accept the responsibility?
Published: 12:00, 25/07/2010 by Peter [Colossalblue].
None.
Sometimes I wonder if the things I like will ever be accepted in the mainstream. Let me clarify. My favourite musician is Bob Dylan, my favourite film is The Empire Strikes Back. My favourite authors are all dead Americans who wrote about passion and drugs and freedom. I like comic book culture and video games.
None of these things would be seen as anything but niche or even geeky by the general public. But maybe that’s a misconception. Perhaps we’re listening to an ignorant minority simply because they shout loudest.
I like Bob Dylan. One of the world’s most critically successful recording artists, had a bit of a rough patch when he found Jesus but recently he’s been better than ever. His songs have been covered by Guns n’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix and Rage Against the Machine as well as countless others. He is an industry legend and regularly name-checked as one of the biggest influences on most of the top musical artists since the 60s. That feels mainstream to me and yet many people still say “Who?” when I mention him.
My favourite film is The Empire Strikes Back. This is somewhat of a cliché now. A lot of people say this is one of their favourite films simply because it was fashionable to like it, in an underground kind of way. It is acclaimed by most critics to be the best of the Star Wars trilogy which was, until the recent trilogy of films sullied the name slightly (although I like those too), a stand-out franchise in the history of movies. But talk about the disgrace of making Greedo shoot first while you’re at a family party and see how quickly people change the subject.
I love American literature by authors like Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski. While the rest of the world only has room in their hearts for religious conspiracies, teenage wizards and angst-ridden sparkly vampires I draw confused looks by trying to shift the conversation towards Hunter’s coverage of the 1972 US Presidential Election. But Johnny Depp has just made another of Thompson’s books into a film and it will be fashionable again.
I like comic book culture; I’ve always been a massive fan of Batman. When I was young I loved Spiderman and Superman too. In my teens I loved Judge Dredd (and much of the rest of 2000AD) and Tank Girl. Although my interest in comic books was long forgotten during my early-to-mid twenties it has recently been reignited.
My love for graphic novels and the surrounding culture often draws amused smirks among my extended family but they weren’t smirking when Dark Knight broke box office records. They were laughing hard at Kick Ass and, no doubt, they will think Scott Pilgrim is funny in a kooky kind of way. Even Twilight, the terrible – but terribly popular – book and movie series has a graphic novel version now.
Ah, we’ve got to the part about video games. I love video games and I always have. I am confident now that there’s nothing wrong with my love for them but that wasn’t always the case. I remember feeling slightly awkward about looking in games retailers when I was shopping with a new girlfriend. I remember switching off my PlayStation (the first one!) before old friends came round. Or replacing Final Fantasy VII with International Superstar Soccer.
Now I regularly get phone calls from family and friends asking me when something is released or what Wii game they should buy next. My hobby has become the world’s largest grossing entertainment medium and is developing into much more than a simple hobby for me at a time when my mainstream, acceptable skills have let me down.
So what is mainstream? What is socially acceptable in this disposable age? Recent (retracted) comments from a widely-read tabloid and as-yet-unrepentant comments from the journalist that wrote them still paint gamers as socially inept and culturally bereft. Those same sources will probably pay to see a movie based on a video game in the next twelve months. They have already, perhaps unwittingly, enjoyed countless references to video games and they’re probably too ignorant of the culture to realise it.
I would argue that we’re now in the majority. It’s time for us to stop sighing loudly and moaning when some ignorant, outdated fool vomits their pathetically lazy opinion on us. We’re the mainstream. We don’t have to justify ourselves any more. The ignorant – but loud – minority will continue to spill their stupidity in public but why should we give it the credence it is so plainly undeserving of? They’re only embarrassing themselves. Surely it’s time to start giving this opinion the recognition it deserves – none.
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25/07/2010 at 12:27
Member since: Dec 2009
“Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.”
:)
25/07/2010 at 12:30
Member since: Forever
We have reached the point where nearly everybody games whether thats on a mobile phone for which we havd Nokia & Snake to thank on the old & enourmously popular 32/3310 or Facebook where people with no previous interest in gaming are running mafia missions or trying to grow vegetables until the small hours of the morning.
Then of course there’s games consoles where we have Sony to thank for getting the console out of teenagers bedrooms and under the main tv in the house, and of course Nintendo for widening the appeal of gaming in to the mainstream more than any company has ever done, by making games accessible in a way never seen before.
Thanks jointly to Sony & Nintendo console gaming is mainstream & strangely it is Microsoft who (despite having an OS in nearly every home in the developed world) are strugglung to break out of the bedroom – They are of course betting their whole gaming future on Kinect changing this.
But gaming is mainstream now, even my 65yo parents play games on 5 devices in their house; PC (flash games), Wii, 2 x DS & iPod Touch (where my Dad spends far more than me).
25/07/2010 at 18:41
Member since: Forever
I don’t think we’re anywhere near nearly having everybody gaming. With around 10 million current gen consoles (Wii, PS3, 360) in homes and 12 million handhelds (DS, DS Lite, DSi, PSP, etc) means that at a safe assumption would be that say 12 million people are gaming. Add on a few million for mobile gaming and Facebook brings that total to still well short of 20 million, a third of the population.
25/07/2010 at 18:52
Member since: Forever
Meant majority, not everyone.
10m households have Sky TV
I’d say Sky is mainstream
If 10m households have home consoles and then there’s the handhelds, mobiles, iPods, Facebook etc… on top, I’d say that pretty much is at least on the verge of mainstream.
There’s still stigma attatched though, its still seen as either a waste of time or childish.
25/07/2010 at 12:35
Member since: Jul 2009
responsibility matey… not responsability.
Great article, though. I feel (as history as taught us) that we’re a race of delightfully oblivious and stubborn bastards. There’s no convincing my parents of certain things. A weird old example is tolerance of homosexuals. My Mum informed the three of us (I’m one of three sons) that if one of us were gay, Dad would wash his hands of the son in question. That was quite a bombshell to know that Dad would do that. Sad, really. He’s a totally different generation but to know he could do that? Christ.
My example is to draw parallel with generations of people still refusing to even listen to a different perspective. From being oblivious, to be uninterested (which is always met with respect) to being stubborn enough to never trying a game even though they might actually like it!
I think another ten years time will make a marked difference but until we’re all wired up in our Old Peoples’ Home with CounterStrike VR headsets, will we see society truly accepting our industry in every sense of the word… not just from a financial viewpoint.
25/07/2010 at 12:37
Member since: Jul 2009
…and there I am dropping my “h”. I sound like a cockney geezer! Hahahaha. I mean, a.a.a.a.a.a. “history HAS taught us”. *goes to church to account for sins*
25/07/2010 at 14:59
Member since: Nov 2009
Good article & good comment.
I applaud thee.
25/07/2010 at 16:11
Member since: Aug 2009
There will be stuff our children make that will be considered utterly alien and disgusting to us; and it possibly will be.
25/07/2010 at 12:47
Member since: Nov 2008
I wonder how many gamers are loud and proud about being one.
I have met a lot of people over the last 2 weeks while bedding into my new employment and I have not told a single one of them that I am a gamer, ive spoke about football, sex, drugs and rock and roll but not gaming.
Over the years my parents always looked at my gaming as a bad thing, if i was gaming i wasnt doing anything constructive in their eyes and that kind of left an inprint on my personality. It left me thinking what I like is out of the ordinary.
Of course I then grew up and thought that they knew nothing and that gaming is a big part of millions of peoples lives. “Screw em” I said “They are just prehistoric fools that dont know what they are missing”.
Maybe those days still have an affect on me though and that is why my new found colleagues dont know about my hobby yet.
25/07/2010 at 12:55
Member since: Jul 2009
My folks only now kind of understand why I game. The easiest explanation is “when you two sit down with the TV for an evening of Come Dancing or The Bill or whatever other show you fancy watching, I game instead. It’s interactive, more stimulating and I utterly love it”. To which they humour me and nod some more. :-)
25/07/2010 at 14:15
Member since: Nov 2008
[img]http://smilearchive.com/s/ups/hank_whisper/valantines.gif[/img]
25/07/2010 at 17:32
Member since: Aug 2008
I am & I besmirch those that don’t.
Proud owner of many “geeking” logo t-shirts,
ie Atari, Centipede, etc etc.
25/07/2010 at 20:23
Member since: May 2009
I used to take alot of shit from my coworkers for being a dedicated gamer. Until one meeting when the C.O.O. admitted to buying his kids a Wii, and then having to buy another for himself because he got hooked. It was really weird because once the C.O.O started to talk about gaming, it became a legitimate hobby in everybodies mind because the boss gamed too. Don’t be affraid to tell people you’re a gamer, because you never know who else is a gamer and is also affraid to mention it. I’d drop some gamer lingo (slang) into your conversations and see if anybody understands the terminology, if you get a positive response it might be time to come out of the closet.
25/07/2010 at 12:47
Member since: Feb 2009
I think most people now accept gaming as part of modern culture, when only 5 years ago it wasn’t.
25/07/2010 at 16:52
Member since: Jan 2009
Its true to say that its come quite a distance in a relatively short space of time. I started with a dragon 32 computer and here I am with a PS3. essentially doing the same kind of thing but the difference is mind blowing when you think about it. My Dad did, and still does moan about gaming, never accepting it as a ligitamate pastime/hobby. But here it is making billions of pounds every year and looking down from its perch at the other pastimes that once sneered at it.
25/07/2010 at 17:22
Member since: Forever
I wouldn’t think we’re there yet but we are on the point of change… It’s still thought of as weird that anyone over 12 walking in to a game shop, of about 10 people i hang around with only one has a console (bought a ps3 as a blu-ray player and for GT HD, GT Prologue & in anticipation of GT5) half of those friends would think gaming is something for young people and is rather sad when someone older does it.
It is, for some reason still seen as a complete waste of time by a mojority of people, but through Facebook, mobile phones, ipods and the Wii it is reaching out to new demographics all the time
25/07/2010 at 13:26
Member since: Jan 2010
It’s the same for conspiracy theorists… We see whats wrong with the world and politics, while everyone else either calls us names, or buries their head in the sand.
Great peice btw, also you could argue that Johnny Depp isn’t mainstream, he’s won a handful of awards, none of them as big as an Oscar – which he’s yet to win… Now there’s a conspiracy for ya!
25/07/2010 at 16:14
Member since: Aug 2009
Conspiracy theorists ftw
25/07/2010 at 14:02
Member since: Dec 2008
People have played cards, party and board games for years, I don’t really see any fundamental cultural difference just because the game environment has become virtual – it just took longer for some sections of the population to pick up on the new options.
I’m (probably) less mainstream for other reasons than being a gamer :) :)
Can I play the fav music/film game?
Inkubus Sukkubus and V for vendetta ;p :)
25/07/2010 at 14:14
Member since: Nov 2009
It s funny being considered the Howard Huges of the family but that I’m afraid its just people in general. If it’s something they can’t comprehend then they bash it. I’m sure it was the same when the tv was first invented and people started to watch it instead of listening to the radio. Just because everyone else does or likes something then it’s considered the norm. What’s so wrong with being different? I have put up with this perception all my gaming life! It’s ok to vegetate in front of the tv watching East Enders but it’s wrong to spend time in my gaming world problem solving and playing online with other people.
25/07/2010 at 16:13
Member since: Aug 2009
Maybe that’s because you’re not playing with them in particular?
25/07/2010 at 18:34
Member since: Jul 2009
I think it was obsessively collecting bottles of piss that really alienated Winkle’s family. But at least we know where he got his username from.
25/07/2010 at 16:09
Member since: Aug 2009
Well, the thing is, a thing being mainstream isn’t good!
Especially video games. It’s all casual and mainstream shit now isn’t it? Even the better of them have to “suit the major audience”. Pushing the product to the masses doesn’t mean it’s getting better, in fact it pretty much means the opposite.
25/07/2010 at 21:40
Member since: Apr 2010
I think Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Dylan are pretty well known, I don’t know who you have been talking to! I would say games are getting more mainstream as well, with radio presenters confessing their love of COD etc. I think it is starting to be certain genres that people still scoff at, Final Fantasy etc, whereas Fifa and COD are pretty much played by everyone I know. Even comics are getting there, with a lot of big films being made (Dark Knight, V for Vendetta, Constantine), though I would say this is the thing I would least like to admit to people still!