Denigrated Genres

This is my take on an article One Life to Live: Denigrated Media Cultures
 by John Vanderhoef. To read the article I am responding to click here. Thanks goes to SON administrator Scotty for sharing this article.

The concept of this article is that like daytime soap operas, video games are also seen as a lowbrow kind of interest. I found this to be an interesting posit, but feel that as the years have gone by this is less of an issue. The first generation of video game console was the Odyssey, which was available starting in 1972. I feel the stigma has gone down a bit, because some of the people who played video games back in the 1970s are now grandparents, so they would have less issues with gaming. You can’t really attack your children or grandchildren if you also played with video games. Another thing that comes into play for video games is marketing. Products like the WII and Xbox 360 Kinect are made not for serious gamers, but for everyday people for kids and adults for exercise. They touch upon that briefly, but I think the stigma is not bad in comparison. People see games as a different sort of animal. They may say video game music is poor and they lack plots. (When it comes to video game music, I feel it has improved leaps and bounds from the majority of titles I played as a child to now.) Working in music or as an actor in a video game may not seen as the best job for a performer, but it isn’t as big of a deal.

That said one reason I do think certain interests are denigrated is based on the less screens movement. There are PSAs that advise that people spend too much time in front of electronics (whether they are televisions, computers or video games.) They want people to do other things like play sports, go outside, or read for example. So if you should spend less time in front of a screen, the only things you should do should be important. And well video games along with certain television shows are not good for you. Perhaps they are seen as like the cultural equivalent of junk food.

What I appreciated most about this article was the fact that the author wants people who are gamers to be respectful of soap opera fans. While the traditional gamers and soap viewers are different (male versus female), we should all try to get along. I think video games are fun entertainment, just like soap operas. Over the years, I’ve gotten more from my soap viewing than the little casual gaming that I do. Though both provide a release. Games at times are a way to get out frustration or aggression, but other times are good just to relax or even laugh when a game goes horridly wrong. Soaps provide another sort of emotional response, from laughter to tears and everything else under the sun.