Somebody thought it was a good idea to mix national politics with Dungeons & Dragons. It’s OK though; it’s all done under the guise of art.
Last week, an exhibition called ‘Fiend in the Void’ (with a subtitle of ‘Based on the Romney Campaign’) opened at the Allegra LaViola Gallery in New York City. At the opening, the artist – Casey Jex Smith – determined which presidential candidate would get his vote. Did he do so through a reasoned analysis of positions and issues? Of course not! Smith statted up Obama and Romney as Dungeons & Dragons characters and had audience members control them in a fight. The (human analog of the) winner will receive Smith’s vote. (Apparently, the artist is a resident of Ohio, a swing state.) Please check out this Wired article, if only for the photo, and check out this earlier article for the comments.
Some may consider this as more of callous publicity stunt than a valid means of selecting who should be leader of the free (real) world. Yeah, but is it art? More importantly, why didn’t Zak think of this?
That Wired article was not entertaining at all. The whole premise is skewed in favor of Romney. For starters, no way does that square Romney have a 19 CHA, unless you are a Koch brother, a "turd blossom" (look it up), or a Mormon. Secondly, that guy gave Obama an LE alignment. Really? Really. Neither candidate is evil. The initial idea was cool, too bad it was ruined by partisanship. Maybe someone will put together an impartial stat job and make it fun again.
ReplyDeleteYou and I have different standards of 'entertainment.' I enjoyed the absurdity of it all even though I do not agree with the artist's interpretation of the candidates. The artist is a Mormon, so that would explain Romney's 19 CHA.
DeleteYeah, the real Mitt is not *that* charismatic. And Obama is the only one with a listed Alignment, which seems odd. The "mythical representation" seems too far to the right for my tease. I would have cast Romney as the white knight Paladin the right wing would cast him as, and I would make Obama as the Gandoff-like "magic negro" the left wing would cast him as. I would have also added the lesser known candidates (like Gray Johnson, Jill Stein and Virgil Goode) as lower level characters.
ReplyDeleteRomney's listed alignment is Chaotic Good. I missed it at first too, but it's at a different spot on the 'character sheet.' I have no idea how the artist ascertained alignments, but I chuckled at the 'Essence of Reagan' Crystal Necklace.
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