Nintendo vs. Modernism

How do you feel about Nintendo at the moment? Putting aside the company’s poor Wii U sales figures and the recent announcement of the 2DS, what do you think of its general direction? What do you think about its approach to software, and more specifically, are you one of the people that sees Nintendo as out of step with what modern gamers want from their consoles? If so, that’s a notion I’d like to examine with a wider lens, as Nintendo's current direction can teach us a lot about our own views on the industry, and indeed about art itself.

So, to aid us in this venture, I would turn our eyes (and ears) to another artistic situation, one that has long been and gone. If you have had the misfortune of reading my previous IGN articles, you’ll know that my focus is chiefly on the world of music. More often than not, looking at the history of one artistic field gives great insight into another. So let’s take a look back into music past to perhaps shed some light on how things stand for Nintendo present.

This year marks the centenary of one of the most influential musical works of the 20th century: Igor Stravinsky’s music for the ballet, The Rite of Spring. It premiered in Paris in 1913, made a very large cultural splash, and is still talked about enthusiastically. You may have heard excerpts of it all over the place, from the opening of the Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic music video, to various scenes from The Mighty Boosh. Its influence on Western music following it cannot be underestimated.

The provocative subject matter of the ballet (a pagan ritual wherein a girl dances herself to death to bring on the springtime) combined with the music’s intense, original, almost alien qualities, formed the work that essentially gave Stravinsky his name, and created a new level of eccentricity and imagination in concert music. Here’s a small excerpt:

Naturally, this set a precedent, and people can be forgiven for assuming that Stravinsky would go on to do more works that pushed the boundaries even further - works that had increasing levels of musical complexity and originality, in his particularly exciting Russian style.

In 1923, a decade after the The Rite of Spring’s premiere, Stravinsky would again get attention for a new work; however not in the same way, or for the same reasons. The work that was premiered was titled Octet for wind instruments, and expressed a new direction for Stravinsky’s music, to which many give the label ‘neoclassicism’. Gone was the boundary-pushing harmonic and rhythmic language that people had come to expect from the composer’s neo-primitivist Russian style, and in its place stood a work that drew on the past, specifically the ‘classical’ past of Mozart and others.

The work expressed great faith in the tried and true ‘forms’ of classical music (the period of classical music being roughly from 1750 to 1820), and embraced these structures of the past, while still having Stravinsky’s own style evident. Here’s a taste:

How did the majority of music lovers react? The American composer Aaron Copeland observed:

"Here was Stravinsky, having created a neoprimitive style all his own, based on native Russian sources – a style that everyone agreed was the most original in modern music – now suddenly, without any seeming explanation, making an about-face and presenting a piece to the public that bore no conceivable resemblance to the individual style with which he had hitherto been identified. Everyone was asking why Stravinsky should have exchanged his Russian heritage for what looked very much like a mess of eighteenth century mannerisms. The whole thing seemed like a bad joke that left an unpleasant aftereffect and gained Stravinsky the unanimous disapproval of the press."

I hope by this point, dear reader, that you are experiencing some sort of tinge of familiarity.

What is Nintendo’s current direction in the games it is developing, if not an embracing of the past? To look at the Mario platformers specifically, the Wii gave us the ever-inventive Galaxy titles: a series rich in outlandish invention and imagination. And now with the Wii U supporting HD, people seemed to be expecting this to be taken to the next level.

But what Mario platformer debuted at E3? Super Mario 3D World – a game that, for all intents and purposes, embraces the Mario games of old, from the ‘limited’ camera perspective to the format of clearing level-by-level (as opposed to collecting stars). 3D World eschews the mind-bending worlds and palette of the Galaxy series, and, for some represented a letdown, even a step backwards; just like Stravinsky’s Octet.

Even the title, Super Mario 3D World, is an embracing of old forms; tried and true forms (like the classical forms Stravinsky turned to). Further to that, we have Mario Kart 8, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The Smash Bros. title is extremely telling – no more words like ‘Brawl’ or ‘Scramble’ or ‘Skirmish’; the title simply captures the game’s form. We have ideas like simplicity and minimalism over extravagance and boundary pushing, and this, like Stravinsky’s neoclassicism, is proving more than a little controversial.

It's not a Galaxy game but it's glorious nonetheless.

Why? Because of modernism, the ever present shadow. Its acolytes cried out against Stravinsky’s new direction, and now they cry out against Nintendo. But what, you may be asking, is modernism?

The word modernism can have different meanings in different contexts, but if I were to summarise its use here, it would be as follows:

Every aspect of our civilisation grows more complex and advanced. Since our knowledge increases every day, so too must our art keep pushing the envelope further every day, leading our civilisation forward. Any art or philosophy that does not aid in this is essentially pushing us backwards into the not-so-desirable past.

For a true cultural modernist, this is the most important narrative of the world (or at least parts of it). Maybe you think it doesn’t apply to you, and you may be right, but first let me ask a few questions. Do newer games need to:

• Have better graphics?

• Push the boundaries of online play and connectivity?

• Present more expansive sandbox worlds?

• Expand the possibilities of narrative in games?

I trust you can come up with your own questions from here on in. For many, questions like this demand an obvious, resounding ‘yes!’, and the question of why might not even be given much thought. When people cry that Nintendo is ‘out of the race’, or ‘behind the times’, they are assuming that there is a ‘race’, and as such are assuming modernism. Perhaps they’re simply talking about the financial ‘race’ between the three major console manufacturers, but forgive me if I’m certain there’s something deeper going on here.

Nintendo is going against the grain. Its current direction, like Stravinsky’s neoclassicism, is grating against some people, and as such we know just how loudly the company’s art speaks. Modernism is one philosophy, and Nintendo is presenting another.

The key here, I believe, is to appreciate what Nintendo is doing for what it is. Let its art challenge your ideas about what modern video games need to do, and appreciate the beauty of the vision, and how fun the games still are. It’s not ‘retro’, that’s too inoffensive and cute; I believe what Nintendo is doing is its own brand of neoclassicism. There is something pure, exciting and challenging here.

Even if the Wii U proves unpopular and costly for the company in future years, that does little to stifle the quality of its games and the boldness of its vision. Say what you will about the look of Super Mario World 3D, have a read of IGN’s Marty Sliva’s thoughts on actually playing it.

Satoru Iwata recently stated that Nintendo’s vision is to serve the customers, not to create art. Of course, this in itself is an artistic vision, and the creation will always speak volumes about the creator.

In widening our gaze to look not just at the games of today but at the philosophies behind them, we become more able to let games be art, and speak to not only how we entertain ourselves but also to how we see the world.

Kym Dillon is an Australian freelancer and professional composer. He's currently working on the score for upcoming indie game Primatum, as well as a composition that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will perform in January 2014.

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