1 Bodies in Play: Representations of Disability in 8
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Bodies in Play: Representations of Disability in 8- and 16-bit Video Game Soundscapes Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Dana M. Plank, MM Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee Arved Ashby, Advisor Graeme Boone David Bruenger Neil Lerner 1 Copyrighted by Dana M. Plank 2018 2 Abstract This dissertation explores sonic signifiers of injury, disease, and mental illness in 8- and 16- bit video game soundscapes. The immediacy and invasiveness of the medium makes game sound uniquely positioned to influence players’ personal identification and immersion within the narrative, and incorporation within the body of the avatar. Games replicate social discourse about the meanings of bodies, and tell stories that matter in a medium that engenders an unusually deep personal engagement. In order to confront these sonic signifiers, I subject my own transcriptions of game audio to analysis drawing on disability studies, ludomusicology (the study of music and play, usually focusing on video games), and music cognition literatures to implicate games in broader discourses of human difference and media representation. In games, bodily impairments are treated not as part of a nuanced spectrum of lived experience, but as obstacles to overcome. Game sound often represents these mechanics in the abstract, to communicate changes in game states to the player, and so the soundscape becomes a vital arbiter of meaning and action. Players’ responses to these aural cues is to seek a cure, reading disabilities as temporary setbacks in performance, cues to restore the avatar to “normal.” Game sounds reinforce ableist ideals, promoting an unrealistic view of the idealized normative body and mind as achievable constants and reflecting deep cultural anxieties about the implications of bodily difference. ii Dedication For my brother, Matthew Plank. iii Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge my advisor, Arved Ashby, for years of mentorship and support. I am deeply grateful to my committee members—Graeme Boone, David Bruenger, and Neil Lerner—for the opportunity to defend and engage in discourse that can suggest not only future expansions and iterations of this work, but also entirely new avenues of inquiry. I am exceedingly fortunate to take part in a brilliant and welcoming community of scholars and would be remiss not to acknowledge your collegiality and dear friendship over the past few years: William Gibbons, Julianne Grasso, Karen Cook, Ryan Thompson, Steven Reale, Reba Wissner, Kate Galloway, Michael Austin, Jesse Kinne, Kevin Burke, and Matthew Thompson, among many others. I am eager to continue learning from you all. Thanks to my students, fellow teachers, and performer colleagues who keep me grounded, attentive, and focused on the music. Thanks to Sam, Kelly, and the rest of the Side Quest community for fostering an inclusive space and sharing enthusiasm for all things scholarly and supremely nerdy. I completed so many of my transcriptions in that space and found nothing but excitement, encouragement, and new friendships at each stage of the process. My profuse gratitude to Alana Sealy for her insights on transcribing fighting game sounds into IPA for the fourth chapter (and for over a decade of deep and musical friendship that proceeded this—from the moment I first sat next to you in music theory). Thanks to my favorite player two, Joseph Mitchell, for his ludologist’s perspective on video games that constantly iv challenges me to explore unfamiliar approaches. Even if you never check the clocks for elixirs, you enrich my life and provide compelling perspectives; you are my archive and a continual source of new discoveries in gaming history, and I couldn’t have finished this dissertation without you. Finally, thanks to my parents, Paul and Kathy Plank, and the rest of my large and wonderful family who provided love and support through a long and complicated process of learning and becoming. v Vita 2005 Lakewood High School (Lakewood, Ohio) 2009 B.A. Magna cum laude, Violin Performance, Music History, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) 2011 M.M., Violin Performance, Cleveland State University (Cleveland, Ohio) Graduate Instructor: Molly Fung-Dumm 2012-2013 Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Musicology, The Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio) 2014-present Instructor of Record, Department of Musicology, The Ohio State University (Columbus and Marion campuses, Ohio) Publications “From the Concert Hall to the Console: The 8-bit Translation of BWV 565.” BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (forthcoming 2019). “The Penultimate Fantasy: Nobuo Uematsu’s Score for Cleopatra no Mahoū (1987).” In Music in the Role-Playing Game: Heroes and Harmonies, edited by William Gibbons and Steven Reale. New York: Routledge (forthcoming 2019). “Mario Paint Composer and Musical (Re)Play on YouTube.” In Music Video Games: Performance, Politics, and Play, edited by Michael Austin. New York: Bloomsbury, 2016. “ ‘From Russia with Fun!’ Tetris, Korobeiniki, and the Ludic Soviet,” The Soundtrack 8, no. 1 & 2 (2015). Fields of Study Major Field: Music vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... iv Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Musical Examples .................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1. “It’s Dangerous to Go Alone!” Disability Studies, Video Games, and Music....... 1 Chapter 2. Towards an Aesthetics of Video Game Sound: Taxonomies of Form and Function ............................................................................................................................ 55 Chapter 3. Affecting Effects: A Cognitive-Emotional Approach to Sound in Video Games ......................................................................................................................................... 139 Chapter 4. Paging Dr. Mario: Injury and Illness in the Video Game Soundscape .............. 188 Chapter 5. Frightful Energy: Musical Madness in Final Fantasy VI .................................... 236 Chapter 6. Epilogue: Incorporation and Opportunity ....................................................... 294 vii Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 310 viii List of Musical Examples Example 2.1. Paul Webb, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Sculptured Software, 1991), “Duel 2,” mm. 17-20............................................................................................................................................ 63 Example 2.2. Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy V (Square, 1992), “Intention of the Earth,” mm. 4-8. ............................................................................................................................................... 64 Example 2.3. Koji Kondo, Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo, 1988), “World Clear.” ................... 82 Example 2.4. Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994), “Opening: Destroyed Academy Research Station,” mm. 1-8. ..................................................... 85 Example 2.5. Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994), “Theme of Super Metroid,” mm. 1-6. ............................................................................................. 86 Example 2.6. Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994), “Big Boss Confrontation,” reduction, mm. 1-2. ..................................................................................... 87 Example 2.7. Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994), “Planet Zebes—Arrival on Crateria,” mm. 1-16. .......................................................................... 88 Example 2.8. Yoshio Hirai, StarTropics (Nintendo, 1990), “Cave,” mm. 7-12. ......................... 89 Example 2.9. Yoko Shimomura, Super Mario RPG (Nintendo, 1996), “Beware the Forest Mushrooms,” mm. 4-8. ..................................................................................................................... 90 Example 2.10. Yasunori Mitsuda, Chrono Trigger (Square, 1995), “Singing Mountain,” mm. 1- 6. ........................................................................................................................................................... 98 ix Example 2.11. Yasuaki Fujita, Mega Man 3 (Capcom, 1990), “Dr. Wily’s Map.” ................... 100 Example 2.12. Hiroyuki Masuno, Déjà Vu (Kemco, 1990), “Danger.” .................................. 110 Example 2.13. Takashi Tateishi, Mega Man 2 (Capcom, 1988), “Wily Stage 3-5,” mm. 1-16. ............................................................................................................................................................ 112 Example 2.14.