This essay was created for English 598 Topic: Environmental Humanities class during the Spring 2023 semester, where we had to write about how a piece of media of our choosing connects to the environmental humanities. I wrote how Nintendo’s video game Pikmin (2001) is a piece of contemporary nature writing as demonstrated through its story and gameplay elements.
The PC plays Captain Olimar, who develops a symbiotic relationship with the plant-like Pikmin species after crash landing on an Earth-like alien planet. I argue that exploring the dangerous planet, which Olimar documents in report logs filled with both facts and anecdotes, is akin to parson-naturalist Gilbert White. White’s 1789 masterpiece, The Natural History of Selborne, captured generations of reader’s attention through his innovative form of nature writing, incorporating both scientific elements through documenting his close observations of nature, and humanist elements through philosophical interpretation and self-reflection. This essay demonstrates my abilities as a scholar by analyzing a less explored medium—video games—and connecting the dots between itself and a seemingly unrelated topic, that of 19th-century nature writing.
One thing I need much improvement on is transitioning between ideas, which is apparent as I struggle to connect the similarities between White and Olimar. If I can improve upon moving between these many ideas, I think it will make presenting my thoughts more clearly for the audience—both gamer and non-gamer college students—to read. Also, some of these ideas may be easier to comprehend if I had provided a visual element, making it more clear to the audience what is being presented to the player on screen.
Writing this essay made me realize two important things. First, the realization of utilizing only text, especially when writing about visual mediums like video games. This has been an important realization for me as a scholar. I now know that I can practice my joy for filmmaking and writing simultaneously through the video essay format, fulfilling my own personal goals while teaching ideas more efficiently to my audience. Second, I now realize that everything in our universe is connected, whether it’s Olimar and the Pikmin who represent society and nature, or a Japanese video game character and a real English scholar who represent the weird connections that scholarship may bond together. This worldview has transformed the way I perceive the world around me, serving as a constant reminder that the way I carry myself in this world has an effect on it and everyone and everything within it.
Matthew Kajiwara-Hernandez 