Documentary Pitch - Donkey Kong Country and my mismatched childhood nostalgia
Hey, I figured out the Blogger system this time!
The idea that I had for a documentary essay is centered around one of my very first memories ever - playing one of the Donkey Kong Country games on my Super Nintendo. It was one of my favorite games growing up, and it's also what got me into video games at a really early age, like waaay earlier than I probably should have been playing them at the time.
Here's the thing though: I don't remember which one of the three Donkey Kong Country games I actually played. My parents have told me conflicting things about which game it was (e.g. "You always played as Donkey Kong!" and "There was a ship at the beginning of it", but those would be two different games), and they've told me that they only ever owned one Donkey Kong Country game. Years later, when I played the original three games again, they were all very familiar yet never completely matched up with my earliest memories. Now I have a hodgepodge of conflicting memories with no way to sort them out.
I still have no concrete answer to the game that I played over 20 years ago, and given that our SNES and accompanying games have been lost ever since we moved to Kuna, I doubt I'll ever know. But even so, it's still one of the most formative pieces of media for me growing up, and I can't help but wonder if maybe I've created a mythos around those games at this point, like some sort of childhood legend my parents have accidentally fed into. It's become nearly impossible to divorce my nostalgia from the game as well. In short, my relationship with Donkey Kong Country is memorable for how much I can't truly remember about it.
To summarize, the trouble is that one of my favorite childhood video games might not even be the game I played at childhood, despite how nostalgic it is. I want to talk to my parents about it and see what they remember about the game to help illustrate my point. Finally, I want to know more because of how formative this game was for me growing up, and how fondly I remember the pieces that I've basically Frankenstein'd into my own childhood at this point.
The idea that I had for a documentary essay is centered around one of my very first memories ever - playing one of the Donkey Kong Country games on my Super Nintendo. It was one of my favorite games growing up, and it's also what got me into video games at a really early age, like waaay earlier than I probably should have been playing them at the time.
Here's the thing though: I don't remember which one of the three Donkey Kong Country games I actually played. My parents have told me conflicting things about which game it was (e.g. "You always played as Donkey Kong!" and "There was a ship at the beginning of it", but those would be two different games), and they've told me that they only ever owned one Donkey Kong Country game. Years later, when I played the original three games again, they were all very familiar yet never completely matched up with my earliest memories. Now I have a hodgepodge of conflicting memories with no way to sort them out.
I still have no concrete answer to the game that I played over 20 years ago, and given that our SNES and accompanying games have been lost ever since we moved to Kuna, I doubt I'll ever know. But even so, it's still one of the most formative pieces of media for me growing up, and I can't help but wonder if maybe I've created a mythos around those games at this point, like some sort of childhood legend my parents have accidentally fed into. It's become nearly impossible to divorce my nostalgia from the game as well. In short, my relationship with Donkey Kong Country is memorable for how much I can't truly remember about it.
To summarize, the trouble is that one of my favorite childhood video games might not even be the game I played at childhood, despite how nostalgic it is. I want to talk to my parents about it and see what they remember about the game to help illustrate my point. Finally, I want to know more because of how formative this game was for me growing up, and how fondly I remember the pieces that I've basically Frankenstein'd into my own childhood at this point.
Hi Forest,
ReplyDeleteCould you say more here about what stake listeners might have in how you try to resolve the conflicting memory of which version of the game influenced you when you were young? I can certainly see how that might be interesting for you, but it's not clear in the pitch why it might be interesting for me. I think you might be getting at that question when you write that playing the games "created a mythos," which was "some sort of childhood legend my parents have accidentally fed in to." Is the larger story in this situation something about a generation who grew up on video games, and what that might mean? I'd love to hear more.
I really resonate with this topic as games just seem to blend together, especially if you were younger when playing it. There are alot of people now that can say they grew up on video games but how many of them know what games they played when they were younger and if they do what game was the first one they played. Its an interesting topic that I think you could go far with!
ReplyDeleteI think you have an interesting idea here, Forest. Investigating a childhood memory through writing could be cathartic and revealing. I find I have many jumbled up memories from my own childhood. Such is the nature of memory, it's malleable and fallible. There is a lot of research about this type of topic out there to help you too. Good idea.
ReplyDeleteForrest,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea in that I think we all have some piece pf media that we connect to on this level. I know I personally relate to it as my brother and I grew up on classic Nintendo even though we were born after the time these games were popular they still resonated and had an impact. Everyone has the movie or video game that for whatever reason is a big deal to them. I think if you were to pursue this you could maybe mix in some interviews and connections with other people on this topic, how they remember things, and if their experience is similar to yours in that it is this big thing but the memory is cloudy in some ways.
-Lilly
The idea of rewritten childhood memories is fascinating to me and I think an amazing idea for a piece. The things of our childhoods are rarely as we quite remember and I'd love to hear a reflection on that. The only part I wonder about is if the story will follow your childhood or more the journey of you reflecting now and if either of those stories are strong enough to carry a piece.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others that you have a potentially interesting idea here, although I also agree with our instructor's sentiment that it isn't clear what, other than your relatability as a protagonist, the hook is to your specific story.
ReplyDeleteI think that you have a very unique voice, one that has really allowed me to connect with your first two pieces; I think it is important that you don't lose it here, underneath a crushing wave of nostalgia. I see lots of people excited for this story because they can relate, but I think we're being hit with a constant barrage of nostalgia porn by the media, and nostalgia for this specific time. The "Forrest-ness" of the piece is the one thing you'll have that those other people don't, so make sure that you don't ever slip into the general--stay specific and true to you.
I also agree I think the idea is very interesting especially when you have created your whole view of how cool video games are around one game that might not even be the game that you thought it was. I think you could go deeper into something along those lines of what makes someone do something and see if it was just outside sources that drove someone there or if it was something else... I don't know if this helps but I am thinking from what you said this could be a potential soft if the piece that you could work with.
ReplyDelete