Social Realism & Allegories of Control Writing Assignment

Social Realism & Allegories of Control
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Social Realism & Allegories of Control
Alexander Galloway’s Social Realism investigates the current inclination toward social realism in video games, asserting that after realism, as conveyed in game deviates from realism in narrative (literature) and realism in imagery (photography, painting, film) to fabricate a sort of realism based on action. Alexander Galloway explores the realism of video games as contrasted with fantastical ones. I, within this response, wish to emphasize a Galloway’s argument regarding the distinction between Social Realism and realisticness in other media. Additionally, I will also contextualize Galloway’s article within visual culture utilizing psychoanalysis along with the militaristic lens.
Galloway establishes a distinction regarding social realism and realisticness by describing the two and how they are utilized in games. Galloway asserts “Within the gaming world, it is doable to separate video games into two sections: Those resigned to fantasy worlds of numerous kinds, and those whose central conceit mimic the re-enactment of real life.” Ian Bogost asserts that realism is a tool leveraged for added effect in game-play, but ultimately not crucial (Bogost, 2008). Additionally, Galloway asserts “Historical information and Realism are props and resources we utilize to add interest, character, and a story we are presenting to the player,” (Galloway, 3). Here, Galloway implies that realism is a convenience, not a necessity. Realism adds to the game’s description, but is not specifically centered on the game. Galloway further writes, “It appears gaming is an exclusively expressionistic medium devoid of basis in realism regardless of how elevated the dots per inch or polygon counts. Or perchance that gaming is a media type, like the animated film or the novel, through which an enormous chasm divides empirical reality and its depiction in art” (Galloway, 3).
Galloway provides a definitive response concerning video games being a medium. Galloway calls it entirely expressionistic medium as in, despite the resolution of the games’ content, ...