Anthem Twitter Thread

Oy, that's quite a cop out. You're talking about super-vague themes or ill-defined "narrative structures", while ignoring that just because a "theme" has been told over and over doesn't change the fact that it's usually been told differently across times and different audiences (and mediums), both in terms of format or approach to the topic. A theme of love written in an egalitarian society that is open to all kinds of relationships will ultimately be written differently than love as it was understood in times of medieval England, for example.

Even the 'classics' we consider 'timeless' are 'timeless' predominantly because we find something that resonates with us - everything else is just relegated to historical footnote, including "classics" of old that we can't find much to relate to anymore... or why we have artists that were "ahead of their times" that are suddenly catapulted to relevance long after their death. Or why the epitome of medieval pop culture like Shakespeare's works is now considered high-brow. Some things will resonate across humanity for the longest time, sure - but even those things are not immune to change or change of how it's expressed.

There's also no "timeless" toolset or 'structure' that is applicable to all media at all times. We have rules and shorthands that serve us well, but neither they're static, nor something we don't continually update or interpret, especially with art's tendency to continually transgress boundaries. And it's especially noticeable these days, with new ways of telling stories emerging at amazing speeds and old forms and rules not really working for them anymore - hence constant searches for new approaches and experiments with form.

Ultimately, at its base, art is a language and that language - just like normal ones - evolves with use.

Yes, Star Wars is actually getting a little old - why do you think we get NEW Star Wars now, if not to revitalize the brand?

Lord Of The Rings has also been 'updated' through its super-successful movie adaptation. Plus - while I'm sure LOTR will stay a classic, even if for its role of popularizing fantasy genre, I'm fairly confident our generation is now way more wild about "A Song Of Ice And Fire", which is our contemporary fantasy epic.

Wizard of Oz I can't tell much about, because I'm not familiar with it - but I'm fairly sure that "Harry Potter" is way bigger than it now.

I refer you to top paragraph where I point out that "themes" are written differently across different times and audiences.

Topics, themes. Potayto, potahto. Both words are synonyms of one another, so this just seems like an attempt at trivialization of unspecified things you seem not to like... or just trying to find things to complain about.

Why are you suddenly accusing Bioware or Anthem of making a 'tentpole of something' just because they said they want to tell a contemporary story? Not only you're assuming a lot from very little we know for now, I think you're confusing things.

I mean, the whole argument is bogus. "Atlas Shrugged" is accused of many thing but not fine storytelling... because, from what I know, it's not fine storytelling or much of anything else. On the other hand, "Animal Farm" is considered to be fine storytelling, while at the same its scathing political message is "a tentpole of the whole project".

In other words - a difference lays between good and bad art, or good and bad idea or argument - it has nothing to do with how strong or politicized the message in given artwork is. A given message can be vague and subtle or hit like a brick. If it resonates with its intended audience (or any audience across times), then it resonates - if it doesn't, then it falls flat.

I mean... dunno - the whole things appears to be you not liking the possibility that the game will either contain something or tell it the way you don't approve even if its core "theme" (if you strip everything else from it) would be "timeless" either way.