Angry Birds

ANGRY BIRDS

by Antonio C. Antonio

April 14, 2014

Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the first game was first released for Apple’s iOS in December 2009.  Over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, including the Android, Symbian and Windows Phone operating systems.  It has since expanded to video game consoles, PCs, and a full length feature film is planned to be released in summer 2016.  Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series.  With 2 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the franchise has become the highest downloaded freemium game of all time.  It has also been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far". (Wikipedia)

The iconic image of Red Bird identifies well with the Angry Birds.  Although the Angry Birds actually come in different colors, the most famous image of these angry birds is that of Red Bird.  (Please see posted image of Red Bird seen at the center of the picture.)

Last April 13, 2014, I posted a question on my Facebook status: “Why are Angry Birds angy?”  The comments and responses I got indicated a similarity and an obvious agreement in opinion… that “the birds got angry after the pigs stole their eggs.”  Let’s pause and look back and have a better understanding of what really happened.  The storyline of the computer game Angry Birds follows this chronology:  (a) The eggs of a flock of birds were stolen by a community of pigs; (b) The birds got infuriated and vowed retribution; and, (c) The Angry Birds attacked the camp of the pigs.  The computer game happens at the point when the birds were attacking the pigs.

A deeper reflection on the Angry Birds story will reveal two distinct characters (the “Angry Birds” and the “pigs”) and two elements (the “eggs” and the “war” between the two opposing characters).  Another interesting parallelism could also be drawn in this Angry Birds story.  This could well be an environmental case too.  Try to imagine the following:

• The EGGS could represent the environment and natural resources;

• The PIGS could represent the abusive sector of our society who care less about the environment and those who over-utilize our natural resources;

• The ANGRY BIRDS could represent the lovers of Mother Earth who fight to protect her; and,

• The WAR could represent the on-going battle to increase environmental awareness and protection.

Whose side are you on?

Just my little thoughts…