[arg_discuss] You're so Emo!

[Brooke Thompson]

I've got to admit, that was one of the more enjoyable netcasts for me  
and my minds been going since. The Emo analogy is interesting and ties  
in with where my thoughts have been going... is ARG the umbrella term?

And, the more personal... am I finally becoming ok with the idea of  
ARG being the umbrella? and, of course, the obsessive soul searching  
concerns of why I feel such a strong need to control this term when I  
usually prefer more fluid, dynamic, and organic things... is it a  
question of my identity, which I alluded to in the podcast by saying  
that I just want to know what it is that I do. So, perhaps Emo is the  
*perfect* analogy :)



On Apr 10, 2009, at 2:15 PM, Brian Clark wrote:


> 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

>

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