We spent 5 minutes at the end of Monday's class on Nine Inch Nail's "Year Zero" ARG that's part of the concept album's over-arching message. New art form as Trent Reznor insists, or bold, new marketing approach as some observers describe? I don't have the answer except to acknowledge the power the ARG has had to create a community devoted to exploring the concept.
I promised links to material on the ARG, so here you go:
Powerfully cool stuff.
So, what do you think? Art or marketing? Let's talk about it.
Trackback URL for this post:
http://3comsin.com/trackback/82
It's definatly an art, look at the story behind the DaVinci Code. Beyond all the religion bull, is a story that is so believeable and offers hope to those who don't believe yet can't prove without reasonable doubt that it isn't true. The problem with this method of " art " is that it becomes so believeable that it engulfs the lives of many people, youths in this case, and everyone in the case of the Davinci Code. There has to be a line or something comparable to limit how deep these art forms go. I'm the type of person that gets really involved in interests and try and become aware of all the pros and cons of everything and base my feelings on those conclusions and overall thought of the topic and these types of storys, if thought through deeply, can take up so much of a life. In conclusion, I do feel this an art form that is effective in gaining attention. Look how well National treasure is doing, sure to be an obvious 3 part series atleast. There will always be room for these stories in society and will most always be effective, but there has to be a line and a solid conclusion, you can't have everyone running around for prolonged periods of time, wasting life, hooked on a great story....it's unethical.
Trent Reznor has always had an inate ability to draw his fans into almost another world through his music.
Personally, I got sucked right into the ARG and found it to be engaging and exciting. I think it's like concept art - it makes you think and I feel it really appeals to his fans.
It also has the potential through the marketing buzz it would generate to draw more people in and get them engaged and involved. I feel it's more marketing, but it's done artistically and is visually directed to people with the same ideals as Reznor himself