Now let's be clear - I take pretending to a ridiculous degree, and I don't just mean all the steampunk and cosplay stuff I am into. I mean all day, every day. Every time I imagine what my cats are saying, or that Nook troubleshooting is like a boss battle, or getting a line down is like a mini game, I am pretending. It's even worse (or better!) when I'm around my siblings. The simplest incident can quickly become an epic story, or evidence of a sinister plot, or whatever. And then there's the totally insane chatter whenever we play Mario Kart. Even if I see a big cactus and a little cactus, and the big one looks grumpy because the little one is annoying, that's pretending. It's just more fun that way.
I suppose when I think of pretending in those terms, there are a lot fewer people who alarmingly do not pretend, but there are enough. When you pretend, you tell yourself a story, and that's very important. People are hard wired to create stories and to pretend. Yes, it's an evolutionary advantage that we immediately recognize faces, but it's also entertaining. It gives us this:
"Happy Mazda Car" is a suggestion Google gives you, because that car is obviously really really happy about something! And what about Silly Symphonies? If you add music to a cartoon and make a bunch of flowers or things on a desk dance around, it's really entertaining. Which brings me to my next point - Disney and storytelling!
Oh yeah! Disneyland! I would live there if I could! But I actually want to talk about California Adventure. When California Adventure first opened, it was crap. For one thing, a California themed theme park in California is a waste of $95. For another thing, there was little to set it apart from other parks, except it only had one fast roller coaster. The best thrill ride there was Tower of Terror, and not because it had the most G forces (or negative Gs, which is actually its main appeal). The cool thing about ToT is that it is based on the Twilight Zone and has a really cool story bit at the beginning, with cool special effects. The line goes through an old hotel boiler room, and the combined effect is disorienting and unnerving, which makes the crazy ride more fun.
Another example is Soaring Over California, a ride I'm ambivalent about. I like the effect, and it is a fun ride. My favorite part, honestly, is trying to look at the epic machinery before and after you ride on it, and the cool little aviation museum that makes up part of the line. It would be so much better if it had a story (and did a barrel roll - and before you say it can't because it doesn't actually move, remember that Star Tours doesn't actually move either, and it does all kinds of crazy maneuvers by slightly tilting the floor and making the screen show twisting, turning adventures. The human inner ear is not sensitive enough to override the eyes.) Even if there was a transition between the video segments, like flying into clouds, it would be more interesting, giving you a moment to be excited about what you'll see next, rather than jolted by a jump cut.
Recently they've redone huge swaths of California Adventure, making it more 20's themed, and incorporating a bunch of old Disney characters like Clarabelle, Horace, and Oswald. It's meant to represent the Hollywood that Walt Disney arrived in when he started his animation career, while Disneyland represents his hometown, American history, and the worlds of imagination. It's very effective.
Here is the new statue of Walt and Mickey, representing the young Disney getting off the train in Hollywood in 1923 (ignore for the moment that Mickey, and even Oswald, did not exist in 1923 - this statue is meant as a bookend for the statue in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, where a mature Walt holds Mickey's hand and points out the worlds of Disneyland). That's my sister and me, and our dad. We're wearing twin dresses, but we're obviously not twins, despite what the kids that we taught thought. I'm the one in the Oswald ears.
My favorite change to a ride is actually the simplest one. They had a ride called Mulholland Madness, with street signs and stuff along a small, jerky roller coaster with a couple of flat, unbanked hairpin turns. It was not a great ride. Now, it's Goofy's Flight School, and it's fun. What they changed was the decorations. Seriously. The line has posters up about how to fly, and Goofy trying to do air delivery of chicken eggs. The roller coaster cars now have propellers on the front, and the old street signs have been replaced by clouds and terrified chickens. And it all works to make the ride funny, because it has a story (actually more of a premise, but that's really enough).
Ha ha I got sidetracked..... Disney..... it's like crack for my brain.
Anyway - stories and pretending. One of the times I realized a lot of people don't pretend or aren't that interested in stories was when I was talking about video games with a 4th grade class I as subbing for. Call of Duty Black Ops had just come out and I asked one of them if the story was good. Crickets. I asked if he'd finished it. Nope. Hadn't even started it. He opened the box, popped in the disk and played the online mode all weekend. Most of the class didn't play the story modes of games. Now there's nothing wrong with online or versus modes (unless you're in 4th grade playing CoD) but I can't do it unless I've finished the storyline at least once.
Maybe they find the story mode hard since they are younger, and they games more socially, but I don't know.... A different 4th Grade class this year really liked Epic Mickey, and there are parts in that where it's very unclear what to do next.....
I was thinking about it, and I really don't like many games that don't have a good story. I'll sacrifice multiple modes and good graphics if the story is good and the gameplay is fun (and even if the camera gets stuck all. the. time. I'm looking at you, Epic Mickey). Preferably all those things will be there.
Like in Portal. Portal would be a very good puzzle game with just the game mechanics, but the presence of GLaDOS has pushed into the realm of classics. Derping around in levels with a neat gun would be diverting, but when you add stakes and an adversary, it gets even better. Make that adversary a homicidal, hilarious computer, and you've got something really special. Learning the backstory of Aperture in Portal 2, and meeting Wheatly, was awesome, especially since they added new types of puzzle elements to go along with it.
I guess it's just weird to me that there are lots of people who won't read or watch sci-fi an fantasy, because it's not realistic. Whenever I encounter such people, I am a little concerned for their well-being. I know some people who cannot watch cartoons, because of the disconnect from reality, which is...odd.
Anyway, I'd better keep up this writing and drawing thing I've got going since I came back from Disneyland (there's got to be a cheaper way to get inspired!)
