[arg_discuss] You're so Emo!

[Brian Clark]

So our discussions here boiled over into the ARGNetcast broadcast:

http://www.argnetcast.com/2009/04/arg-netcast-episode-84-two-queens/

And from there culminated into a declaration of my peevedness for baby
carrots:

http://brianclarkslatestpeeve.com/

It is a really smart discussion by some really smart people (the netcast,
not the peeves), which makes me ask myself whether I'm sometimes opaque
about the arguments I'm making (BABY CARROTS!) So inspired by ARGN, I'd like
to offer up a more affirmative definition of what ARG is from my point of
view.

ARG is so Emo.

A community of fans essentially labeled the work of a few bands Emo. Then
they started pointing to new bands appearing and going, "Yup, that's Emo."
Other bands were influenced by that, and proudly declared themselves Emo.
Some of the artists labeled as Emo think the whole concept is complete
bullshit, many others identified with other musical influences than Emo.
Each new artist in the general neighborhood influences the overall
dimensions of the definition, and each new work of those artists revives the
debate. The longer time went, the more impossible it became to define Emo at
all, as it fractured into personal definitions of "I like X. X is Emo. I
like Y, therefore Y is Emo or Emoish".

ARG is almost exactly like that.

That's fine: that's the argument that ARG is a genre. Genres are almost
always named after the fact by the community of fans.

Some of us wish ARG was so indie, which is essentially a hope that the label
(or replacement) was a movement instead of a genre. In the indie film world,
there is a diversity of genres but a shared perspective and similar
methodology among filmmakers. Indie is how you get it done, not what you get
done. Indie teaches each other, and supports a broad diversity of equally
valid reasons for making work.

One of the features of a movement is constant reinvention. The debate, "What
is indie?" is a constant feature of that film community, "What is ARG?" is a
constant debate here. That's a desired feature in a movement, versus a genre
(where the question is "Is that an ARG?"), and the community of people who
practice will always desire some "terms of art" to help us communicate (so
labels and the debate about them are good.)

During the netcast, they were critiqued by their IRC chat room that they
were trying to find a term that would include "SF0, Top Secret Dance Off and
Eldritch Errors." Or maybe it was Eagle Eye packed in there too. I actually
think that is exactly the goal: as a practitioner I see more things in
common than different between them, even though Spacebass argued only EE was
"technically an ARG" in that set. That works for me too ... I always had to
accept the word of others which works in my portfolio were "technically an
ARG" and rarely designed for it. So what is that broader category?

Or maybe it's just Emo ... stretch the definition of ARG as genre
expectation changes? 

Maybe now they'll change my latest peeve to "Emo Finger Monkey"
(http://www.sonnyradio.com/fingermonkey1.jpg) instead of "Baby Carrots"?




Brian