Dear Newgrounds.com Members,
While reading over some of the Baghdad Basketball comments, one individual – Roninmeow -- wrote an interesting review and asked if we’d explain why we made such a “controversial flash and what we meant by it”.
We hesitate to respond because we generally feel that art should truly represent the interpretation of the beholder. In our opinion when an artist intervenes the magic is lost. It’s like conquering a video game without going online and acquiring cheat codes, or figuring out how to open a puzzle box without your friend showing you how to do it. The basic concept is sometimes sadly elusive, it requires one to think. We digress a bit, let's get back on point; we believe that more abstract art may require interpretative insights from the creator, but normally we here at NBX want the audience to critically think and “figure it out”.
Having said that, we can understand how some people may be misinterpreting Baghdad basketball, but those are the folks that unfortunately took the flash purely at face value. So in order to bring a small semblance of direction to the fiery emotions embodied in the negative reviews, perhaps it might be helpful if we provided a few clues to help frame the creative thinking that went into the making of Baghdad Basketball.
We are avid readers of politics and have very strong views of the current administration. The WAR, oh wait, let us be politically fucking correct, the “occupation” in Iraq is beyond reprehensible. Who is to answer for the devastating, inconsolable, needless loss of life, and the escalating body count?
Take another look at the flash, listen carefully to the words of the characters, study the graphics and our guess is that you will start to figure it out.
--NBX Team
