A while back, Ebert made some negative comments about the potential of video games:

I am prepared to believe that video games can be elegant, subtle, sophisticated, challenging and visually wonderful. But I believe the nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship to the stature of art. To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers. That a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience, I accept. But for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.

My first post on the whole thing was regarding Ebert's comments. Now I'm interested in writing about video game fans' almost insanely bitter response.

As most of you know, I have or have had at one point a pretty extensive collection of comic books and anime. I'm not aggressively collecting either right now, but that has more to do with time and money constraints than it does with "outgrowing" any of them. If you read my last post on the subject you know that I am not an avid gamer. However, I see some really interesting connections between the overlapping fan-base of the three: An intense desire for respectability.

Back before anime was what it is now, I recall a great hope that one day animation could be considered a serious art form in the US as it is in Japan. Some wanted anime itself to become respected in the US and others simply wanted American animation to stop having song-and-dance routines, but the desire was there for us to have what the Japanese do.

The same is true, to an extent, of the comic book world. A large number of the "serious comic book thinkers" hate the fact that comics still focus in large part on superheroes because superheroes will never be considered respectable or they wanted to make superheroes themselves respectable by making them more "dark" and "realistic" and essentially take all of the magic out of a magical genre. They also insisted that comic books be called graphic novels, something I don't disagree with because it is more accurate, but something that reaks of the pretension that the movement is infused with.

To an extent, I signed on with both of these movements. Ten years later, though, I somewhat regret doing so. The comic book movement has largely failed. Both DC and Marvel are stuck doing whatever they can to hold on in an industry that's in a lot of trouble. The anime movement, on the other hand, has partially succeeded. Anime is everywhere. It now has mass appeal and not just to younger people. And what does anime have to show for it, really? Not much.It's still largely geared towards the younger crowd and those that are now translating it are now watering it down for more mass appeal.

That's ultimately the rub. Looking back, I don't think a lot of the people clamoring for acceptability of alernative media of entertainment really wanted what it took for it to succeed: trading in what it made it so different and appealing for the fan-base to begin with. What they really wanted - and want - was social acceptability for their interests and themselves.

It's no secret that comic book collecters and anime fanatics are often very unappealing people on a personal level. But for all their concern about trying to score seriousness and intellectual heft for these sorts of things, the fact is that the intelligence level of the average anime viewer and comic book reader is considerably higher than the mean. Social skill level, however, is considerably lower. Popularity level... well I don't even need to go there.

To that extent, the push for acceptability of alternative cultural choices is merely a front on the wider battlefield of acceptability for those that partake in the alternative "geek" culture. These people have spent a lifetime being outcast by people neither as intelligent nor as accomplished as they (though the accomplishment of these people often wanes in the college years as their inability to integrate themselves with society at-large and follow its rules, as well as an overstimation of their intelligence that stunts the growth of an aggressive work-ethic). It's no accident that it's usually those that have the least going for them socially or economically are often the most vocal in the effort to mainstream their entertainment choices.

It's partially for that reason that these efforts are in vein. Those that have the social skills and admirable economic success are the least likely to wave the banner. Mainstream social acceptance of their culture isn't as important to them because they have found fulfillment elsewhere. Additionally, the sense of appropriateness that has allowed them to succeed in mainstream society also gives them a good idea of who is and is not receptive of their ideas. Negative personal experience also leads them to err on the side of caution in that regard.

The result is that victory often becomes only partial or even pyrrhic. Anime becomes mainstream, but it's a bastardized Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z that get the nod rather than Neon Genesis Evangelion or Escaflowne. New serials are brought over, but then altered in ways strongly disapproved by those that once lead the movements. The suits come in, the conventioneers are slung out.