Realization: Hideo Kojima is Video Gaming’s Béla Tarr, Except Not Talented

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 9:36 PM on September 14, 2009 in Commentary. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/l3

I didn't intentionally position Tarr so he was looking at Kojima all like, "You think I'm this fucking guy?" But it worked out pretty well.

Béla Tarr is the director of cult classic Hungarian films such as Sátántangó. Hideo Kojima is the designer of massively popular Japanese video games such as Metal Gear Solid 4. These two men actually have quite a lot in common, save for the medium they work in, their popularity, and their pretentiousness when discussing their craft.

Let me describe Sátántangó to you, briefly. The opening consists of an eight minute shot of the camera doing almost nothing while watching a bunch of cows:

The film continues with these similarly lengthy shots, some of which have literally nothing moving for minutes at a time, for seven hours. The film could have been a series of still photographs, and not much would be lost.

Metal Gear Solid 4 opens with a 20 minute cutscene, during which the player has no chance to do anything meaningful with the controller. Here’s a snippet of it, presented Mystery Science Theater 3000-style to make it more palatable:

The game continues with these similarly lengthy cutscenes, interrupted occasionally by short interactive sequences which are heavily scripted and offer the player no chance for creativity, for 40 hours or something. The game could have been a Japanese animated film with giant robots and guns and explosions, and not much would be lost.

The key difference between Hideo Kojima and Béla Tarr is that Tarr has gone on the record saying that he doesn’t want to adhere to the conventions of “good” filmmaking and storytelling. Kojima, on the other hand, is trying so hard to prove that you can tell wonderful stories through interactivity, when in fact the interactive elements of his magnum opus add nothing to the storytelling.

    • http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.s.maxted Jon Maxted

      This is a good point. It also doesnt help that since MGS1 the man has been incapable of telling a wonderful story as you so aptly describe it. The whole franchise has become lost in a garbled mess of plot holes and anime fetish game design. The only saving grace for the series at the moment is the brilliant art design from staff like Yoji Shinkawa, who created the now iconic designs behind Solid Snake’s modern look and other brilliant character designs like the Cyborg Ninja. Without this input the series would be utterly lost.

      • http://plankhead.com Zacqary Adam Green

        To be fair, though, MGS2 at least was basically him trolling the fanbase for wanting a sequel.