I just watched the Dead Island trailer during lunch. That's some intense shit right there. Honestly that's 3 minutes of art in the form of a video game. Why is watching a family being killed off by zombies (in a very disturbing way) art? Because it generates a very strong emotional response without in my opinion going for the cheap pay off of just more blood (while there is still lots of blood to be sure.
Now I've acknowledged on here before that I'm kind of a wuss when it comes to horror, hell the zombies jumping out in MC freak me out, but I also have a weird fascination with horror as well. For the most part I avoid horror as much as I can, even at 36 years old I still get nightmares and generally those involve zombies, I'm the classic kid that grew up looking through his hands while watching a scary movie. The problem I have is that even though I know it's all made up, my mind much like the Matrix makes it all real, my mind looks for ways to come up with justifiable ways on how something could happen.
But getting back to the trailer. Zombies trying to kill you pretty much is going to scare the shit out of you, that's par for the course and if the attacking zombies don't scare you then I hope that you're watching "Shawn of the Dead". So let's just take basic zombies = bad formula right out of the equation, what are you left with? A father trying to save his daughter and wife. The terrified look on their faces as they have to know that they are going to die, the image of the daughter now attacking her father who just a few moments ago risked his life to save her. It's all pretty heavy stuff and I challenge anyone to watch it and not feel the emotion that that trailer will invoke in you. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a father that drives it home a little bit more, maybe to the average desensitized 18 year old (I say 18 becuase personally I think games should be regulated to kids, however publishers go wild on mature content, just keep it out of the hands of the kiddos so the government doesn't come after you) just sees it as zombie killing, maybe it's just me. Regardless there is a some buzz on the internet about the trailer so I don't think it's just me.
And to my point, the trailer evokes lots of emotions, if you sit there unphased by it then check your pulse becuase you might already be a zombie. Emotions are art when done in what I would consider not simply going for shock value, but using the shock value to tell a story. A zombies head going flying or a person for that matter may be shocking, but I don't really consider that art except in the loosest terms of the word (yes it's still 110% protected by the 1st amendment and should be). The point is that it went for something grander, something larger than what it was, I saw it as a blend of cinema and gaming, and while terror is the easiest thing to combine, the fact that it can be done on any topic is a big deal for all topics.
Oh well I've rambled enough, here is a link to check it out
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ialZcLaI17Y
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