As the blogging machine turns... (listening to: Mario Mario: "Mario's Theme")
As I sit at a friend's apartment watching her play Mario Sunshine (actually, playing for her when the going gets too tough... told you all I was the best gamer there ever was. Recognize.), I'm pondering what life must be like for Mario. Think about this for a minute: The guy starts out without a name, just being called "The Climber." That sucks. What a horrible nickname. Anyway, his life begins as he's trying to save his (ugly = pixellated) girlfriend from the grasp of a giant monkey. He jumps over barrels, some of them set aflame, reaches the top, and rescues her, and then finds himself back at the bottom, chickless once again, and he repeats ad infinitum. He finally gets sick of this and moves on to his next adventure. This time, he's got to save the same (ugly = pixellated) girlfriend who has been kidnapped AGAIN! (PS- this woman is the princess of an entire kingdom, and she gets kidnapped more often than Americans in Mexico. Who's in charge of security at her palace? Probably Luigi. Slacker.) This time, she's been taken by a dragon. Now, he's got to swim, jump, spit fire, grow big and small through the aid of Mushrooms (thanks, Lewis Carroll) and basically get his ass kicked a hundred times by turtles just to find his way to eight castles in the Mushroom Kingdom. And guess what, just as a kick in the nuts, every time he plows his way through, some smart ass has got to tell him that his girl is someplace else. Can't these guys get together and just send Mario to the right castle right away?
A few games later (most of which are centered around the same plot line, by the way.. lather, rinse, repeat x 3) He gets his brother, and a weird cross between a gecko and a horse named Yoshi to help him out. Even with all of these allies, he still can't seem to hold on to what he's after: that one, perfect girl.
Wait for it... point coming...
So, here's what I'm thinking... Is Nintendo trying to tell us something? That the thrill of life isn't in attaining the object of our desire, but the actual pursuit of said goal? Mario is never happy unless he can jump,. punch, or butt-slam his way into his girl's arms, only to lose her moments later to that same threat every time. And yet, every time, he chases her across huge amounts of fire spitting chained baddies, fish made of bones and even more turtles in detachable shells. He pursues her forever, and no matter what the cost to life and limb, he will prevail, and win the girl. Is Mario the Greatest Love Story ever told? Or do I happen to be the small minority who looks deeply into the 1's and 0's of a simple hobby and sees philosophy and meaning staring back?
Maybe I should take up jogging...
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4 comments:
yes, yes. this definitely needs to be turned into a Lifetime movie.
now, let's go to sam's club and get some cheese.
No, No, No... it's:
"Hey, hey, HEY!!! COURTNEY!!! COME WITH US!!! We're goign to get some CHEEEEEZE!!"
some CHEEEEEZE............. (!)
I think that you misinterpret the meaning of the pointless chase of mario. You see when you are playing, you are mario, in more ways than just the person controlling his jumps and ducks. When he falls in a meaningless pit and has to go to the beginning, so to do you. It doesnt really make a difference to him if he dies or not, if he gets to the end or not, you have to instill in the controlled character the will to see the programmed and static plot line carried out. There is no self will in mario. Left to his own devices he would sit there and let that initial little mushroom guy kill him.
The real hidden hidden message of the fruitless mario cycle is that just as mario can never get the girl in the game, so to can the player never get a girl when they 'are' mario. Never in the history of video game hookups has there been a video game hookup. In other words, no one has ever gotten laid as a result from being a gaming recluse in some dank basement somewhere. Not that this is such a bad thing, but I think that there was some intentional design on the part of the people who made the game, subconciously maybe even.
To me, the fact that the princess always disapears at the ends of the games, (see bubble bobble for further proof) is the makers of the video games stating the subtle message that imposing your will on the mindless interactive character will never cross over outside and into the world where the accomplishment can be turned into something practical. To them, people who CREATE
This is the philosophy that I use primarily as self defense when I get my ass kicked by some lvl 47 in some various online game. He/she, (no way its a she though, cause honestly girls find better ways to waste their time) The lvl 47 has only the title of 47 to his name, and all the time that he put into it, and the developed 'skill' is not translatable into anything useful in the real world. No matter how many times or how quickly you beat the last level it will never result in a real princess, only a couple more hours wasted and some mild eye strain.
The only bigger waste of time I can think of is spending a half hour composing some bullshit pseudo-philosophy about video games and putting it in the comments section of some guys blog.....fuck this, I am going to go play some madden and try and 'win' my playoff game against seatle.
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