A Glimpse of our Present - Katamari Damacy
You might not have heard of this freaky little game for your Playstation 2. If you have, and you're wondering if its for you, I can't answer that for you; that is not a role that I designed this little social commentary blog for. Instead, I want to highlight a bit of social commentary that seems to be happening in this game. The plot here is as bizarre as can be; the king of the cosmos gets drunk one night, and destroys all of the stars in the sky. After getting a little bit of the hair of the dog what bit him, he charges his son, the prince, the duty of re-creating the stars.
The method of re-creating the stars is where the social commentary arises. The prince is given a special ball called a katamari that has the ability to cause stuff it rolls over to stick to it. As more and more stuff sticks to the katamari, bigger items can be grabbed, until it is finally the appropriate size to transform into a star. It takes a lot of individual items to get the katamari to the proper size. Where in the Universe can enough stuff be found to re-populate the entire sky?
If you've guessed our humble little planet, Earth, you've obviously been following along. It's no secret that we live in a "disposable" society, that generates a lot of trash. We also have gathered a lot of stuff that we don't throw it out. Items such as paper clips, strawberries, cans of sardines, chairs, game systems, cars, safety buoys, and earth moving cranes all become raw material for new stars.
I know that I myself am certainly guilty of having pack rat tendancies. However, I'm not sure what kind of statement Katamari Damacy is trying to make. Is it condemning our consumer society, or simply acknowledging it as a fact or life in our society? Some condemn our society for being wasteful. Some say it is a natural result of the rising affluence around the world. What does it all mean?
I don't pretend to have the answers. Sometimes, its just enough to put the questions out there for the smart people (i.e. those who ponder the direction of society all day) to answer.
The method of re-creating the stars is where the social commentary arises. The prince is given a special ball called a katamari that has the ability to cause stuff it rolls over to stick to it. As more and more stuff sticks to the katamari, bigger items can be grabbed, until it is finally the appropriate size to transform into a star. It takes a lot of individual items to get the katamari to the proper size. Where in the Universe can enough stuff be found to re-populate the entire sky?
If you've guessed our humble little planet, Earth, you've obviously been following along. It's no secret that we live in a "disposable" society, that generates a lot of trash. We also have gathered a lot of stuff that we don't throw it out. Items such as paper clips, strawberries, cans of sardines, chairs, game systems, cars, safety buoys, and earth moving cranes all become raw material for new stars.
I know that I myself am certainly guilty of having pack rat tendancies. However, I'm not sure what kind of statement Katamari Damacy is trying to make. Is it condemning our consumer society, or simply acknowledging it as a fact or life in our society? Some condemn our society for being wasteful. Some say it is a natural result of the rising affluence around the world. What does it all mean?
I don't pretend to have the answers. Sometimes, its just enough to put the questions out there for the smart people (i.e. those who ponder the direction of society all day) to answer.
posted by BryghtSyde @ 7:19 PM
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