Video Games Have Never Respected Death
A new essay from KC is now available!
Comments (13)
I notice we don't get upset about depictions of the dead outside of living memory. Julius Caesar, Abraham Lincoln, the various Japanese shoguns, Edison, Tesla, the list goes on. It's similar to the silent distinction drawn between archaeology and grave-robbing. In real life, this sort of mistreatment of historical human remains is looked on with increasing disfavour, but in games it's... fair game. Of course, the same distinction (or lack thereof) is drawn in other popular media. I have a sneaking suspicion that Abraham Lincoln did not actually have a side gig as a zombie killer. But it does raise the question of a what point a human being moves from living culture to history.
I’ve not thought about it like this before. I think part of it is proximity (presumably a play starring a depiction of Lincoln in the years after he died within living memory would have been considered very gauche) but it might also be the uncanny valley. We had images of Lincoln and Caesar, but very few people would have actually known what they really looked, moved or sounded like. From the age of movies, we know what Bruce Lee, Tupac etc should look, sound and act like, so it can be strange to see such a near perfect simulacrum in front of us when we know that this should be impossible. Food for thought anyway.
I don't remember many complaints about Richard Nixon and JFKs inclusion as playable characters for CoD's zombie. I remember some complaints about it 'promoting Castro' as he was still alive at the time. Time is definitely a factor - otherwise people would have gotten mad at basically every Assassins creed in a different way. Reminds me of that David Mitchell soapbox 'Rape and Pillage'.
Great work KC! I personally boil it down to context on the matter. A combination of identifying a shameless cashgrab and one's personal relevance to that individual. Ozzy Osborne is next for this treatment in some form or fashion, and it will be equally revolting to me.
When it happens with ozzy I'll be mad but completely not surprised.
It's all about the context, for me. This feels wrong because it doesn't seem to satisfy any motive beyond commercialization, and so it's icky, for lack of a better word. I do also wonder if the realism of the model has an impact. Would it have evoked the same reaction if it was 1999 and a new game had a barely distinguishable polygonal human-shaped blob called Tupac?
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around them saying he is in the game and it's not AI. I assume they would get someone to do his voice which weird... If it's just his likeness that seems even weirder.
There are a few Pac look-a-like's out there used in films and media. Between all the footage of OG Pac and his doppelgangers, it would be easy for an artist to recreate his likeness without AI. Plenty of great cover artists out there that can capture his sound too and would jump at the opportunity if muthafuggin Snoop Dog tapped you for the role. I would! 😁
To quote Steph Sterling, "It's just wrong!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVdEINfm7H4
This was thought provoking. And how I found out about the Tupac thing, so also disturbing. Apparently not enough people have seen S2E1 of Black Mirror.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Spiritfarer