Theme and Media Through History
Creating a post on any question. Arque writes: "but maybe something that explains...what kind of story would be better for something like a short story versus one for a novel. or more general, how to know which medium to use based on a given subject or theme (include painting or music or whatever)? or maybe you could just point me to a book on aesthetics but it would be fun hearing this from you"

A: The answer is to be found in the empirical study of those forms. For instance, what were the themes of the most popular and influential games, novels, plays, visual art, music, and so on? Let's see.

The five most influential novels in western history have been the Old Testament, the New Testament, War and Peace, Atlas Shrugged, and Harry Potter. Their defining characteristic is that they present an overall worldview, a way to see the world, what values are, what existence is really about. So themes about what life is about are best for novels.

The five most influential short stories in history have all been Aesop's Fables or fairy tales. Their defining characteristic is that they present a simple cause:effect relationship; if you do x, y will result. Their utility is in making simple moral decisions. So if you want to create an important short story, restrict yourself to a particular type of action, and its consequences.

The five most influential plays have all been by Shakespeare. Their defining characteristic is that they deal with particular psychological elements and their danger. In that way they are similar to short stories, but they go deeper into personality than short stories can, because you can actually see the person; so it's not 'do this type of action and bad things will happen' but rather 'be this type of person and you'll be psychologically destroyed'.

Movies are just plays in disguise, so I'll skip them.

The five most influential lyrical songs have all been folk songs (Happy Birthday is one). Their defining characteristic is celebration of particular events.

Poetry works the same as lyrical music, except that it's more extended. The most influential poems are the epics: the two Homer's, the two Indian epics, and Gilgamesh. They share the idea of heroism (which notice that the best novels etc. typically *do not* share; though they usually have heroes they aren't focused on the deeds and life and being of the hero the way epic poems are). So the best poetry is epic, and deals with people who can do anything, its purpose is to break the common but false idea that you can't do anything you want.

The five most influential non-lyrical songs are by various classical composers, and their defining characteristic is harmonic integrity through time, on the combination or orientation of parts into a whole or system, the persistence of identity through time, or in other words that time does change things, but it doesn't change identity.

The five most influential games are poker, chess, soccer, tag, and hide-and-go-seek. Their defining characteristic is that they simulate mathematical systems (i.e. systems that deal with measurement) in a simplified way, and in particular systems which deal with conflict between opposing forces. So the best games are about conflict between two or more sides (not necessarily violent conflict, but it is necessary that one side win and the other lose). Their central theme is that life is fair, that it follows predictable rules, and that if you figure out these rules and use them for your advantage you will be victorious; that victory goes toward the person who knows the game the best.

The five most influential videogames are The Sims, the Mario series, the Grand Theft Auto series, the Gran Turismo series, and the Final Fantasy series. Their defining characteristic is wish fulfillment, creating a life which a person would rather have than the one they have right now. So if you want to create an influential game, create one that lets a player do things he only dreams of doing (hopefully he'll then try to make real life more like he imagines it could be).

The five most influential paintings are all either portraits or landscapes, and those five all share the idea of depicting places better than the view outside a person's window, and people who are better to look at than one's friends and family, and in that way they have a similar purpose to the best videogames, with the difference being that videogames allow you to do things you want to do but cannot, whereas paintings allow you to be surrounded by things you wish to be surrounded by but cannot.