Here's an idea-- "Super Mario Brothers"
is the world's greatest piece of surrealist art.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[DING]
Mario might not seem that weird to you
because it's such a huge part of our culture.
But let's say that you had to explain it to someone
who'd never heard of it before.
You can eat a flower that lets you spit fire.
Walking mushrooms.
There's a guy who throws armadillo-type things
from a cloud.
There are turtles that throw hammers at you,
and they are called the Hammer Brothers.
Sometimes, you can ride a dinosaur that poops eggs.
This doesn't sound like the work of savvy Japanese businessmen.
It sounds like the ravings of a madman.
I might as well be saying stuff like, we're in the desert,
and the clocks are melting.
It's raining businessmen.
There are elephants, and they have sousaphones for trunks.
Wait.
This level of nonsense is exactly why "Mario"
is a surrealist masterpiece.
It's a little complicated.
But surrealist artwork is based upon the idea of non-sequitur.
Non-sequitur is kind of like when you're having a dream
and your dad is a lawnmower and your house is made of cheese
and you go back in time to visit George Washington.
But for some reason, it all kind of makes sense.
A giant mechanical elephant made of a boiler?
Of course.
Why not put a headless woman in there, too?
Big stone castle on a floating rock in the sky.
A very unfriendly-looking, winged, wooden battleship.
You go ahead and you try to tell me
this stuff doesn't look like "Mario," really
the only difference being that you can play "Mario,"
but you can't really play a Dali painting.
When surrealism began, these ideas were really radical.
Now, non-sequitur is just a part of our culture.
It doesn't even phase us anymore.
Maybe we have "Mario" to thank for that.
For instance, we don't even bat an eyelash
at using a slingshot to launch birds at buildings built
by pigs or using a gigantic, sticky ball to pick up
objects for the space king.
Because video games are constantly
challenging our ideas about what's normal or even possible,
maybe we have them to thank for some of our more
insane accomplishments.
At this point, it seems like we might even
live in a surreal world, thanks to a tiny, Italian plumber.
What kinds of stuff has "Mario" inspired you to do?
Let us know in the comments.
Keep it PG.
[MARIO THEME MUSIC]