I've been following the Year Zero Saga semi-closely since it was first discovered, and I'm truly fascinated. A previous blogger reposted an MTV article about the whole Year Zero "conspiracy," which in turn lead me to another MTV article that talked about ARG's, or Alternate Reality Games. Alternate Reality Games are games in which the division between the game and “real life” become blurry. The games do not announce themselves; they do not begin at any particular time. ARG’s begin to exist when people realize something strange is happening and, being the naturally inquisitive-to-a-fault beings that we are, venture out to solve what appears to be a real-life mystery. ARG’s can employ any number of media outlets and/or real life events to disperse clues to those who are playing the game (sometimes without knowing it). One of the most fascinating things about these games is that they’re only possible because we, as real-life people, employ so many of these media outlets on a day-to-day basis, and we assume that they accurately provide with information that pertains to something outside the media in the real-life world. What these ARG’s point out to us is that we have immense faith in the accuracy and transparency of our media. When we “log on” to any media, we suppose there are two types of information we are consuming: it is either “news,” in which case it is true, or it is “entertainment,” in which case it is obviously of no consequence and “just for fun.” What happens when it becomes unclear which of the two are you consuming? Think: 1938 “War of the Worlds” broadcast and people rioting in the streets over alien attacks.
So, ARG’s are potentially dangerous entities. Even if they are simply (brilliant) marketing campaigns, they approach the questionable nature of yelling “BOMB!” on a street corner. But they can’t be diffused and wholly separated off from reality, run through safe and separate channels, as it were, because their whole force is derived from their being possibly real. Who would be willing to spend much time or effort on a child-like scavenger hunt that has no goal or prize?
The reason why Reznor will be so successful in this venture is because he has built it around the one nerve in humanity that is well-exercised in putting on illusion as if it were reality: music. Music can make us angry enough to kill and sad enough to cry. Emotions are the point of music. In his “Poetics,” Aristotle tells us that people go to see tragedies in order to purge themselves of pity and fear through witnessing a series of events that is imaginary, and therefore, safe. Likewise, I really only listened to the “Downward Spiral” when I felt like basking in the utter fear it produces in me. This is a healthy exercise because I am able to turn it off whenever I want, and it disappears completely. There was safety in the boundary. However, this new Reznor is a poltergeist ala “The Ring,” lurching out of the ear-cans and licking my neck. There is something about the reality of “Year Zero” that is truly frightening in a way that cannot be turned off.
Reznor is holding pre-release “listening parties” in various cities across the US at which the album will be played. For legitimate reasons, there will be no cell phones or cameras allowed in these venues during the party, but given the extent of this ARG, and given the fact that one of the “clues” that has been uncovered was a recorded message of a frantic girl cowering in a nightclub while secret police close in a murder everyone, one can’t help but stop and ponder the possibility of being in such a club with no access to the outside world. Are you willing to truly become part of the game?
I have no doubt that this integration of entertainment and real-life is the direction and evolution of all future music. This is music 2.0.