Interview: Clive Barker
- October 23, 2007 13:09 PM PST
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Page 1.) Clive talks about crafting Jericho, and what inspired him to make the game
Page 2.) Clive talks about the heroe's journey, video games as art, and Roger Ebert
Page 3.) Clive talks about culture and video games, and making a game with a gay lead character
Well, I do look forward to one day seeing video games and other works in popular culture that that explore protagonists outside of our patriarchal mainstream.
CB: I've always said we'll know the war has been won when we can have a gay Indiana Jones. We're a very long way from having that. This just means we have a battle on our hands. We have to fight for our place in the world, just as we had to fight for the right to be ourselves sexually. Look at Congressman Craig. What a poor little shit is he; allegedly playing footsie with a police man in a public bathroom and he can't seem to make up his mind if he's sorry of not, if he's guilty or not, and whether he want's to leave congress or not. Whatever the situation is he's caught in a nasty place. I'm just reading Craig's face and he looks like a thoroughly unpleasant son of a bitch. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he's very nice to animals, but he doesn't look like a pleasant man at all. Do you have any disagreements of agreements?
You know, I do think this presents us with the ultimate irony as we're talking about gays needing to fight for their place in the world. We were talking about how heroes approach the evil head on and here we have this guy tapping his foot trying to take the back door out of it.
CB: Well back door is the appropriate word here. I'm sorry, that was glorious man, absolutely glorious. I don't see how that softens the blow of his hypocrisy though. He's still talking out of bothe sides of his mouth and I'm surprised when it's as full as it is.
"One of the nicest things I've had a friend say to me who's played the game is that it really feels like they walked into my world."
After you finish a movie or a book, experiencing the final product as the creator is maybe a little more accessible. How much of the final version of Jericho have you been able to experience?
CB: I've seen about 3 hours played in real-time. I've been working on this project for many years so there's nothing that I haven't seen. One of the nicest things I've had a friend say to me who's played the game is that it really feels like they walked into my world.
To me art should always have an element of provocation if it's going to have any value at all. It can't be all reassurance. Let Ron Howard have that. I'm not into that. I'm much more interested in getting people to get up off their asses and take some time in the world to do better by it. When they retreat into fantasy, which honestly isn't a retreat at all but is more of a renewal, they find that the fantasy also has an element that is anarchic, special, and challenging. God help us that art should put us to sleep. I want things that I make to be loved or hated. I don't mind. I just don't want them to be shrugged at.
