My altered view of MGS4 now that I've beaten it.

[alpha_dk]

Profcrab said:

 

DTG does not prefer depth. He prefers everything right on the surface. Sadly, this means he will only understand philosophy in the form of a definition. Having characters in a story who's actions make people think about their own actions and about the actions of others makes for a true story with depth. When a story instead must tell you what the actions mean, then it is likely that the actions actually imply no such thing. It is the desperate act of a storyteller who faces the possibility that his or her characters may not be examples of the philosophy they lecture about. So, this form of storytelling is a crutch. DTG, however, prefers this because he does not wish to think about the characters. He just wants Kojima's philosophy lesson. The characters actually being good quality models of this philosophy is unimportant to him. Much like the same phenomena in anime, he eats up the lectures and uses them as his basis for what makes good storytelling.

This makes movies like Apocalypse Now (and Heart of Darkness, the book on which it is based) lost on him as the characters themselves require examination to determine what the writer is saying. In exploring those characters, the reader might find different views on humanity. This does not invalidate written philosophy. It is another mechanism by which we can explore the human condition. However, attempting to insert textbook style philosophy into a work of art is the work of someone that wants their work to mean more than it actually does. Many people take this as a sign of brilliance since it relieves them of the critical thinking necessary to analyze deep characters. Of course they don't realize that someone played a shell game with them and diverted their attention away from the characters themselves.

I give that post a 9.8. 

 

Wow, that post actually puts it into much better perspective for me. 

I guess we shouldn't expect any Deep Throat Gaming (ugh, I hate that name... not to mention the discord between the name of the site and its tagline) reviews of any Sartre or Kierkegaard anytime soon...

Although I disapprove of the post rating system, I give your post a 9.5 for clarity, 9.8 for depth, 10.0 for graphics, for an overall score of 9.8 (not an average)