{"id":401,"date":"2019-02-15T00:14:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T05:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/?p=401"},"modified":"2019-02-15T00:22:32","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T05:22:32","slug":"a-violent-aesthetic-walter-benjamin-shopping-for-weapons-and-the-illusion-of-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/2019\/02\/15\/a-violent-aesthetic-walter-benjamin-shopping-for-weapons-and-the-illusion-of-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"A Violent Aesthetic: Walter Benjamin, Shopping for Weapons, and Videogames"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to focus on the particularities and aestheticization of violence in video games because as many video game conventions showcase, the industry cultivates an aesthetic of violence with the intent of commercialization. Just as with T.V shows there\u2019s a level to which video games are created to be merchandised, to exit the virtual reality into the material reality. And in this aestheticization, there is something perhaps violent involved. It almost reminds me of the end of Walter Benjamin\u2019s \u201cThe Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction\u201d which maybe one could use as a theoretical foreground through which to understand the aesthetic of violence in video games as a form of purveying or making consumable. This is essentially at the core of violence as Carly Kocureck arguement in Who Harkens To The Monster\u2019s Scream? (<\/em>But to get into nitty gritty theory will have to wait for a longer paper.)<\/p>\n

In response to Kocurek, I might push further and say that part of the violent outgrowth in video games becomes more so an aesthetic violence. How many Fortnite swords to children wield now across the globe? How many faux daggers were sold following the peak popularity of Assassin’s Creed? This aesthetic specifically is one which is done under the illusion that the gamer inhabits a free will inside the video game (Just as the consumer to an extent can decide what to buy while in the push pull tide of manipulative capitalism).<\/p>\n

(Check out this interesting Amazon purchase for example):<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/McFarlane-Toys-Assassins-Creed-IV\/dp\/B00EGMXTI8\/ref=asc_df_B00EGMXTI8\/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309806158787&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4703914352291134160&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009905&hvtargid=pla-342540788852&psc=1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the oppressive aspects of graphic video games is the illusion of choice that they create as they inscribe this aesthetic violence. This often begins when users generate an avatar, and as in the several iterations of Halo along with multiple other first-shooter games, players initially decide on their armor, and even the type and color of their weaponry. We are given the choice of color, but we have no choice as to whether or not we can choose to have a weapon. The act of choosing one\u2019s avatar feels like an intensified trip to the mall for new clothes, however, with these clothes violence is sublimated, made quotidian, routine.<\/p>\n

As games like this precede the ease at which multiple rounds are fired becomes a repetitive, almost addicting visualization of success. By ascending to the next level or in some cases receiving better weapons for attaining certain checkpoints, etc, we begin to create a false sense of self-determinism within an environment that actually has been pre-set before us. We are choosing to shoot the gun in our hands, but we can never rid ourselves of the gun itself. We can replace the AK 47 for the shotgun, but it\u2019s glued to our virtual palms.<\/p>\n

Thus we are never given the choice between non-violence and violence, we are only given the choice of this costume of violence or that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Work Cited:<\/p>\n

Benjamin, Andrew E.\u00a0Walter Benjamin and Art<\/i>. Continuum, 2005.\u00a0WorldCat.org.\u00a0<\/i>Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to focus on the particularities and aestheticization of violence in video games because as many video game conventions showcase, the industry cultivates an aesthetic of violence with the intent of commercialization. Just as with T.V shows there\u2019s a level to which video games are created to be merchandised, to exit the virtual reality …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-group-d","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paB9Ga-6t","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}