Is a little a lot ? It is a great question in the scheme of most arts. I always believed that the story or poem that you tell without explicitly stating it is the most beautiful of all. Very often minimalism in art can render a piece to this reading between the lines or looking beyond the physical appearances to find something within which means a lot more than it seems.
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| To some this may look like a bunch of lines but I see my childhood hero in all his glory |
This summer I had a friendly argument with one of my colleagues. For a cultural evening both of us ended up planning performances that conveyed the same message. So naturally there was an argument that one should be cancelled............ Eventually both were held.
My performance leaned towards a minimalist approach while my colleague decided to go with an extravagant and colorful one. Sure the latter did get more applause from the audience for being more flashy. But when we edited the DVD of the evening later on, mine was found to hold up well on accounts of re-watch ability. Due to the fact that my teams performance was minimalist in style we didn't need to memorize many ques, hence the performance was pitch perfect. While the short comings of the latter was more obvious on film. Even with a minimalist approach I believe we were able to convey the message in a more efficient way. I always believe that people can and will appreciate subtlety. Some times you don't need to shove your idea down their throats.(No one likes that........ seriously no one, even though they may say otherwise).
Minimalism was also put to great use in the recent summer blockbuster Mad Max Fury Road. This movie reminded the general public that film is indeed a visual medium. You don't need hefty exposition to explain the story or emotions some times you should stick to telling the story with the camera or to put simply with pictures. With a few shots and several stares, grunts and body languages of the characters this film told a well crafted story than most bloated franchise films we see these days.The movie's story to put in one sentence is it's just one long 2 hour chase scene. But the matter in which George Miller and crew executed that chase scene made it one of my most memorable theater experiences ever.
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| "The only non subtle thing in mad max was the flaming guitar guy. But then it's A GUY PLAYING A GUITAR THAT SHOOTS FIRE and its awesome" |
Another example that comes to mind is the game Shadow of the Colossus. I'll never forget my first play through of Team Ico's master piece,I remember being blown away by the epic scope and grandeur of the world of SotC. Yet there was minimal dialogue and plot to the story. It was basically just a story of you (the wanderer) trying to bring back this dead girl ( Mono) to life.You have your trusty steed (Agro) an ancient sword and your bow and arrows and you must defeat 16 colossi to save her and that's it.(An ancient entity called Dormin in the forbidden land were the game takes place makes a deal with you to bring Mono back to life in exchange for slaying the colossi) The game was basically the travel to and fighting these 16 behemoths. But saying it like that doesn't do justice to the excellence of this game.
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| "It is you. your sword and your horse against the whole world" |
I think the beauty of SotC is how it immersed you in it's world with a minimalist approach. You didn't have any music during the exploration/journey sections in the game. It was you and your horse riding into the unknown with the sound of the wind and your steed's noise in the background. It really gave a haunting feeling to the sense of the loneliness the game was trying to convey.And the music applied in the battle segments did match each beat of emotion you would go through in each of the battles, from despair to excitement to even guilt. Also the landscapes took a minimalist art design in order to concentrate more on the colossi designs which turned out both beautiful and unique(Each one of them comes along with even more weirder and weirder designs than the last one. Part of the fun is getting to see what the next colossus look like and some might even scare you in your nightmares. The 10th and last one are the ones that come to mind here)
Also the fact that there was no unnecessary HODs or fancy upgrades and the undermining fact that your hero was your average normal guy gave a sense of realism to the game. It also gave a great deal of satisfaction in completing the game that knowing you, a regular guy took out these giants.I have yet to play a game that tops the experience I had playing Shadow of the Colossus for the first time.
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| Oh and that's a colossus, you have to take 16 of those things out to save your girl! |
I never knew who I was, what I was doing there or why I was doing these things. I kinda made up my own story with my mind and let my imaginations and theories fly. I wonder why most games and movies these days don't leave much to the interpretation of the viewer. No apparently they(developers) think that we all need to be spoon fed
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| Riding along and jumping on to the 13th colossus remains one of the most iconic sequences in gaming history |
So in short I believe that providing minimal information in your art and leaving the rest ambiguous for the interpretations of the audience is in most cases better than shoving the blatantly obvious ideas down there throats.
