Aesthetics of Flow & Aesthetics of Catharsis
First off, I’ll say that I had never heard of flow before reading Jane McGonigal’s book, so it is still a fairly new concept for me. It is interesting to look at cultural production and categorize it according to whether is aims to induce a cathartic experience in the viewer, or put them into a state of flow. It is easy to see that music can sit easily in either category, most popular music aims for something of a cathartic resolution, but it generally has something of flow in the rhythm, some music is all about flow, like hippy drum circles, I’m not sure if there is any music that is cathartic to the exclusion of flow entirely. I was having a much harder time thinking of examples of either, films that embody the concept of flow with little catharsis, or computer games that are cathartic with little flow. For films, probably experimental ones, like Koyaanisqatsi provide the best examples. There are some animated films, like the Bolero segment from Allegro non Troppo that are also more flow than catharsis, and then music or concert films perhaps. The closest thing to a narrative film I can think of that seems more about flow than catharsis is something like Un Chien Andalou, which is more about creating a constant state of uneasiness in the audience, rather than setting up an emotional ride that comes to a satisfying conclusion. I don’t know of any computer games that are more about catharsis, can anyone think of any?