I first heard of Indie Game: The Movie at SXSW last year, around the same time I started immersing myself in all things game industry. I wasn't able to see it then, but I was excited about it. It recently became available on Netflix Instant, which ironically I learned through a tweet by someone announcing that they would be ignoring said movie.
I replied to ask why the hate on Indie Game, and in the subsequent exchange was presented with the following idea. This was a few weeks ago so I hope I'm representing it faithfully:
- Mainstream video game culture and the video game industry is drenched in Straight White Dudes ("SWDs").
- Indie Game's main subjects appear to be stereotypical SWDs.
- Non-SWDs need role models in video game development & publishing to achieve parity.
I don't disagree on any particular point, but my perspective is a little different and I probably did a poor job expressing it in tweets. So here's where I'm coming from. Keep in mind I haven't actually seen the film yet so for all I know it's a total piece of shit. So this isn't a review of the movie itself, but rather why I'm happy that it was made at all.
Focus
The topic of the movie is simply indie game publishing. I don't think the identity of the person making the game detracts from that topic. A movie about a gay Asian female game designer could be AWESOME, but that's not what this movie happens to be about and that's OK. In fact, sometimes when the scope of a documentary is too wide, the end product seems unfocused, because there isn't enough time to fully explore every facet of a situation.
Availability
To my knowledge, there currently aren't any other widely available documentaries about indie video game development. As someone with aspirations to make game development a larger part of life, I welcome any opportunity to learn something from the experience of one who's already doing it. If it were a movie about the staff of EA games and their latest title, I would be just as interested to see that, too, because it's unknown to me. I'm not going to turn down a learning opportunity just because it's not subculture enough.
Perspective
As I watch Indie Game, I will be fully aware that this is one person's experience, and not necessarily representative of all indie projects everywhere. I have no idea if the film will come across as preachy in some way, or misrepresent the process, but I do know that it will be the story of a particular journey or a particular group of people. It's a documentary, not a peer-reviewed scientific paper. As with any media consumption, the viewer must maintain perspective and decide what lessons to take away.
Participation
Another documentary that I enjoyed earlier this year, MissRepresentation, focuses on the presentation of women in the media, and the effect that presentation has on girls. One of the quotes from the movie and something I've seen repeated is, "You can't be what you can't see." In other words, if a young girl isn't exposed to female role models, she won't be able to imagine herself growing up to do her thing of choice. Frankly I think that's bullshit, and more on that later, but suffice it to say that if every young girl waited for a female role model to come along before she worked toward being a female mathematician, banker, programmer, or business owner, there wouldn't be any. We should be teaching our daughters to find role models wherever they can, not based on gender but based on what people are DOING.
No comments:
Post a Comment