wickedcestus yeah, I often take stuff literally when others aren’t doing that! I can see empathizing or caring about the character, but embodying or inserting oneself into a character is really something else. Like I don’t make choices I wouldn’t make in mass effect games or whatever, but sam shepherd isn’t me, I wouldn’t be in that situation and can’t really imagine myself realistically in that situation etc. I do feel like the whole turning the body while turning the car thing is more of an embodiment - I may have told this story on the show before but my old coworker, a marketing manager who hadn’t played many games, was curious to try something on the then-new PSP. She started playing whatever wipeout was on there, and she hit a wall after a few seconds and said “OH SORRY!!!” and put the console down. I think in those 30 seconds she embodied a character and had a more meaningful experience with video games than I ever will!
@pasquinelli I struggle putting artistry on any level alongside commercial success, it feels to me like kind of a false equivalence. The Thing (1982), one of the best-made action/scifi/horror movies of all time, was a total flop, with one reviewer calling it “offensive to filmmaking.” Now it’s universally lauded. It’s possible that some of the hate from the time had to do with it already being a flop and critics knowing it but none of the renewed interest has anything to do with it, and being successful or otherwise has nothing to do with how good the movie is.
But maybe I still don’t get the question. To me the question asks whether an external factor can determine artistic quality which to me is a tough one in general.
pasquinelli but i think anyone could sit and listen to joshua tree and walk away appreciating it.
I don’t want to crap on anybody but I frankly cannot sit through joshua tree. but the overplayed-ness is a significant factor there! I will also admit that I find it difficult to stand up for anything popular because it doesn’t need the help lol. Also as a young metalhead I was offended that a guy called The Edge played such mild guitar.