Mario, Sonic, and Link on the hero’s journey
PBS’s Idea Channel has talked about games in the past, at least once or twice. In fact, the show has an entire section on YouTube discussing games. It seems like the section does well enough for itself, as the people behind Idea Channel have debuted a new series that is “focused exclusively on the relationship between videogames and modern culture” called Game/Show. Episode One examines the undying popularity of Mario and his contemporaries through a discussion of economics, psychology, and the hero’s journey.
It’s a very PBS take on the topic of videogames, but I can’t help but wish they had gone just a little bit further with it. This isn’t the first time somebody has discussed the monomyth story archetype with respect to videogames, and it certainly won’t be the last. Still, I’ve got high hopes for this new series, and I’m looking forward to learning something new from it, while still spending time watching videos on the Internet about videogames.
