Oh boy. This is going to be a long one…

When a lot of people think of movie critics (Probably mostly you yanks in this case ),  they think Siskel and Ebert. So when one of the big voices in media comes out of the shadows in 2006 and declares that “Video games could not be art.”… Well let’s just say that gamers in general weren’t impressed by that statement. Myself included.

Do not get me wrong, I didn’t hear of this until earlier this year (2010). But that statement still pisses me off because, if this pice of shit can be art…

Rauschberg – Monogram

But not this?

Team Ico – Shadow Of The Colossus

Now you might be thinking “Well comparing thouse two is like comparing Hollywood Chihuahua with Citizen Kane”. But no. Apearantly that goat with a tire around it’s tummy is very high art… Yeah. You think about that for a second, and then tell me that you wouldn’t rather watch someone play Super Mario Bros?

Anyway. My opinion is that ANYTHING can be art. Even video games.  As long as it moves us on an emotional level… preferably in a good way. So yeah, the goat… Sorry. “Monogram” is also art. But I don’t see what makes Mr. Ebert so high and mighty, that he gets to decide what is art and what is not.

About a year later Ebert rephrased the statement and said that “Anything can be art. Even a can of Campbell’s soup. What I should have said is that games could not be high art, as I understand it.”  So his opinion is pretty much to what I think… But still, who is he to decide what is high art or not?

Anyway. We could sit here and discuss what is art and what is not all day. Now what Mr.Ebert think is art or not, doesn’t affect what I think of video games or art. I am still going to enjoy both of them.

Now about the comic itself. I had some doubt about actually making Big Daddy drill him, since Mr. Ebert sure has had a difficult time of late. Battling thyroid cancer and having to remove his lower jaw. But I still had to draw it,  because of that utterly stupid first quote. Hell I’ve been murdered multiple times by Big Daddy and you don’t see me complain 🙂 He should be glad I didn’t send the Humping Kung-Fu Monkeys on him.

Soooo to sum it up. Everything is art. Everyone has a right to their own opinion. And I’d rather play some 8-bit Nintendo than watch a stuffed goat with a tire around it’s belly.

Now I am off to do other things. I’ll see you guys next time 🙂