Master of Chaos

I saw the new Batman movie over the weekend–went on two long and was too dark for my tastes. However, Heath Ledger’s demented performance as Joker as worth the price of admission. As I drove back from the theater, I started thinking about the interesting parallels between the movie and the subject matter of the asymmetric warfare discussions we’ve been having in the last couple of years.

The Soviet Colonel Kurtz

Via Abu Muquwama, a portrait of a deranged Soviet counterinsurgent in the Afghan war. There seems to be a common archetype, whether in film or real life, of the counterinsurgency operative who is radically (and negatively) changed by his environment. Take, for example, Col. Mathieu in the film Battle of Algiers, or the obvious Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (who in some ways a reflection of Vietnam War figures like Lt. William Calley).

On the Joys of 32-Bit Sprites

With very few exceptions, I find video games to be loud and annoying. However, I’ll always have a soft spot for the 1990s Squaresoft games–the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger, and Legend of Mana. Admittedly, its easy to confuse nostalgia (which I have plenty of)  with aesthetic value. Even the most committed fan has to admit that a game like Final Fantasy VI–while excellent for its time–is light years removed from games like Metal Gear Solid or Grand Theft Auto. It’s not just the graphics and sound. The gameplay consists of a series of tedious planned events broken up by turn-based battles. While leveling up is always a tedious task in role-playing games, doing so in Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger is even more rote.

So why do I love them? It’s precisely because Squaresoft made so much out of so little. To play any of their mid-1990s games is to see how great ideas can be expressed without powerful graphics engines and massive online multiplayer options.  Though the quality of Final Fantasy storylines are always overrated by gamers, it’s hard not to admire how Squaresoft can get you to care about the fortunes of 32-bit sprites. Sometimes limitations can be a boon for creativity.  The children who play cops and robbers in the backwoods next to their uncle’s house show more imagination, after all, than those who do so glued to a television screen. As primitive as mid-1990s Squaresoft games are, they stand the test of time because of imagination informed by limitation.