Holiday Mode

 As I've mentioned before, I'm addicted to the website TV Tropes. Recently, I discovered this page: "Holiday Mode". It moslty describes how various video games have in-game changes to reflect a holiday or occasion in the real world.

I read about this maybe a week ago and, for some reason, it's never been too far from my mind since then.

I don't play video games, but the phenomenon described is something that interests me very much. That is, an occasion or event that pervades many different spheres of life, or even "levels of reality"-- because a computer game is really a different level of reality.

A holiday, tradition or festival has really taken off when it's not confined to the actual celebration-- when it's just there, in the background, in the air.

Similarly, a holiday, tradition or festival seems more real, more authentic, when it's developed its own aesthetic that can, in a way, float free of the actual celebration.

And what's true of holidays seems true of everything; people, groups, nationalities, sports, genres...

The more of these "aesthetics" there are in the world, the better. Conversely, everything that lacks such an aesthetic is to be regretted.

I'm always especially interested in something that be present, and perhaps even especially present, when it's not the focus-- when something else is happening. For instance, holiday atmospheres or settings in a video game, where the player is presumably mostly interested in playing the game.

It seems, when I think about such things, that I'm on the verge of something very important, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Certainly the notion of something being on the edge of consciousness has always been hugely important to me. I've had a lifelong fascination with background music played in public places, the music that nobody is focused on but is just there.

Similarly, I've had a lifelong (or almost lifelong) fascination with every aesthetic that can be summoned with a single image. For instance; the way the whole "reggae" atmosphere can be evoked by the silhoutte of palm trees; or the way the whole "cinema" atmosphere can be evoked by the image of a roll of celluloid; or the way the way Christmas can be evoked by a single string of tinself. Here, somehow, I feel we approach something very profound, something deeply signficant to human happiness, though I'm unable to explain exactly why.