Consider, my friend, that human beings are blessed with five senses: Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell and Taste.
Reading presents none of these, and relies on clever use of the imagination to portray any. Comics rely on sight to illustrate any of the remaining four. Radio relies on sound alone. Film allows for vision and hearing, relieving some of the burden on our imaginations (which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you rely on these tools)
Video Games offer sight and hearing just like cinema, but able designers can portray a sense of touch. Half-Life 2 lets the player pick up nearly everything that isn’t bolted down. With the Gravity Gun, you can take objects and punt them at nearly anything. If it’s sharp, it’ll slice. If it’s wood, it’ll shatter. Glass will fracture and metal has a delightful K’Thunk. Valve gave the player a wonderful sense of touch.
So we have sight, sound and touch all but mastered; tools at our fingertips. What about smell and taste? Are these too abstract concepts to illustrate? Not for Star Wars.
Video Games offer sight and hearing just like cinema, but able designers can portray a sense of touch. Half-Life 2 lets the player pick up nearly everything that isn’t bolted down. With the Gravity Gun, you can take objects and punt them at nearly anything. If it’s sharp, it’ll slice. If it’s wood, it’ll shatter. Glass will fracture and metal has a delightful K’Thunk. Valve gave the player a wonderful sense of touch.
So we have sight, sound and touch all but mastered; tools at our fingertips. What about smell and taste? Are these too abstract concepts to illustrate? Not for Star Wars.
In A New Hope, after freeing the princess from Bows—the detention cell, Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie all dive into the garbage chute.
But the storytelling gets better. In Empire, we have Taun Tauns, which look like a combination of camels, goats and kangaroos. If you’ve ever been to a stable you’ll immediately realize the implicit odor this strange creature must attract. After Han finds Luke, he cuts one open with slightly graphic results. “And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”
Bam! We as a viewer have a reference to how the animal might smell; we have a gross visual, and then a gagged reaction to the odor. The comparison gives it more weight. Saying something smells funny isn’t specific. Comparing it favorably or critically to something else.
Taste is a different animal altogether. All the other senses take stock of the environment. Taste is localized, and someone telling you what something tastes like is different than two people experiencing the same smell. Again, this is where comparisons work well. This time, we’ll discuss beer.
Beer comes in different varieties from ale to lager. How dark a beer is will tell you a bit of what it will taste like. For instance, Blue Moon has a nice amber color. If I see the bar tender pour a glass of Hercules, I can make a few assumptions. When I actually bring it to my lips, it tastes a bit like a Sam Adam’s Imperial White. The visuals played on my assumptions to my benefit and the subversion of my expectations.
Of course, this plays to the adage I’ve heard from everyone I’ve ever cooked with: people taste with their eyes first.
Get in there, you big furry oaf! I don't care what you smell…Garbage chute. Really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered! Let's get out of here!Yes, it’s dialogue, but there’s enough here to defend it. Chewbacca hates the smell, and is trying to get away from it. Han just wants to get away from the blaster fire, then regrets that decision and decides he wants to get away from the smell. Not to say that they took it far enough. When they finally get out, everyone is wet. No oil stains on their clothes, no one muddied up, cut or scrapped. All we get is Leia insulting Chewbacca, calling him a carpet when she could scrunch her nose and complain about wet fur.
But the storytelling gets better. In Empire, we have Taun Tauns, which look like a combination of camels, goats and kangaroos. If you’ve ever been to a stable you’ll immediately realize the implicit odor this strange creature must attract. After Han finds Luke, he cuts one open with slightly graphic results. “And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.”
Bam! We as a viewer have a reference to how the animal might smell; we have a gross visual, and then a gagged reaction to the odor. The comparison gives it more weight. Saying something smells funny isn’t specific. Comparing it favorably or critically to something else.
Taste is a different animal altogether. All the other senses take stock of the environment. Taste is localized, and someone telling you what something tastes like is different than two people experiencing the same smell. Again, this is where comparisons work well. This time, we’ll discuss beer.
Beer comes in different varieties from ale to lager. How dark a beer is will tell you a bit of what it will taste like. For instance, Blue Moon has a nice amber color. If I see the bar tender pour a glass of Hercules, I can make a few assumptions. When I actually bring it to my lips, it tastes a bit like a Sam Adam’s Imperial White. The visuals played on my assumptions to my benefit and the subversion of my expectations.
Of course, this plays to the adage I’ve heard from everyone I’ve ever cooked with: people taste with their eyes first.
I just want to say, I found this very interesting, i.e. making explicit what senses are involved in different media, and what ramifications that might have on storytelling methods. It actually had me pondering tabletop roleplaying, and how it also is primarily occurring within the imagination of the participant.
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts!
I disagree with your assertion that games have reproduced a sense of touch. Half life 2 gave you a way to pick up objects not to touch them, touching involves so much more then throwing shit. Feeling the grain of the wood, if it's untreated you might feel bit flecking away, feeling the dents in the metal from its manufacturing or the rust on it.
ReplyDeleteThat is touch.
Valve simply gave objects a realistic physical reaction. It didn't come close to recreating what touch actually is though, and I doubt any video game actually could.
I didn't say it was perfect, but it's something we have an easier time experiancing and portraying than smell or taste. It's much easier to experience "Touch" by showing a woman's bare skin than it is to portray smell by showing you a piece of rotting meat.
ReplyDeleteI guess what Valve is good at is giving everything a sense of weight. A realistically shaded and textured object looks much heavier than a cel shaded one. (L.B. Jeffires spoke on this in an article earlier this year. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/118732-the-style-of-cel-shading/ )
I like your use of beer as a reference, being partial to Blue Moon myself I completely understood the point you were making.
ReplyDeleteAlso I wonder why we look at the senses of taste and smell individually since they are so closely related. Ever wonder why things you drink and eat taste funny when you have a cold?