Trauma and Social Relevance in Japanese Video Games
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BEYOND 8-BIT: TRAUMA AND SOCIAL RELEVANCE IN JAPANESE VIDEO GAMES by Benjamin Evan Whaley B.A. (Hons.), Stanford University, 2007 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2016 © Benjamin Evan Whaley, 2016 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines three Japanese video games, each of which critically engages with a different social issue or national trauma important to Japan. I argue that video games are important not only as cultural phenomena, but because, as media, they can and do bring about profound positive emotional and behavioral changes in our lives. This project builds on current research in Japanese studies and game studies by elucidating how narrative and gameplay mechanics communicate practical knowledge to potential victims, and how playing a game might instill both an understanding of one’s own life and empathy for the lives of others. Each chapter contains an analysis of a socially relevant video game and a corresponding discussion of the specific hallmarks of Japanese game design that promote players’ empathetic engagement. Chapter one analyzes natural disaster trauma in the PlayStation survival game Disaster Report (Irem, 2002, 2003 North America). I discuss how the game teaches real-world survival skills to players, and how it uses “limited engagement,” or a form of enforced vulnerability, to simulate what it would be like to survive an earthquake. Chapter two examines anxiety over Japan’s declining birthrate and aging population as represented in the puzzle game Catherine (Atlus, 2011). I introduce the concept of self-reflexivity or “distanced engagement” to contend that players critically reflect on their own lives through the act of answering in-game opinion polls about marriage and childbirth. Finally, chapter three investigates the working through of post- traumatic stress and wartime atrocities in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions, 2015). I illustrate how the game deploys ludic strategies of “external engagement” to encourage a merging of the player’s lived experience with the actions of the in-game protagonist. The result is that players feel more direct involvement in the game content. In sum, these affective tools simulate and allow players to “experience” different social situations to which they are unaccustomed, prompt them to critically reflect on their lives and values along the way, and, just maybe, help them transport what they have learned outside the confines of the game in order to enrich their everyday lives. ii PREFACE This dissertation represents the original, independent scholarly work of the author, Ben Whaley. A version of chapter two has been published in the journal Games and Culture: Whaley, Ben. “Who Will Play Terebi Gēmu When No Japanese Children Remain? Distanced Engagement in Atlus’ Catherine.” 24 Sep. 2015. Web. 23 pages. All images appearing in this dissertation are the exclusive property of the original copyright holders. They are reproduced with permission. Disaster Report (Zettai zetsumei toshi) ©2002 IREM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INC. ©2014 Granzella Inc. All rights reserved. Catherine ©2011 ATLUS. ©2011 SEGA. All rights reserved. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ©2015 Konami Digital Entertainment. All rights reserved. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ............................................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................v Notes ............................................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... viii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... ix Introduction: Beyond 8-bit ...........................................................................................................1 Level 1: Virtual Earthquakes and Real-World Survival in Disaster Report ..........................25 1.1 A Social Narrative of Survival for “Generation Zero” ..............................................28 1.2 Limited Engagement ..................................................................................................36 1.3 Communicating Survival Through Limited Gameplay .............................................39 1.4 Letters of Support and Real-World Skills ..................................................................48 1.5 Living Photographs and Virtual Memories at Game’s End .......................................50 Level 2: The Politics of Marriage and Childbirth in Catherine ...............................................59 2.1 Playing Catherine ......................................................................................................61 2.2 The Modern Japanese Family as Imagined in Catherine ...........................................65 2.3 The Monstrous Unborn ..............................................................................................70 2.4 Playing with Distanced Engagement .........................................................................76 2.5 In Lieu of a Conclusion – Multiple Endings ..............................................................84 Level 3: Phantoms of War and Traumatic Memory in Metal Gear Solid V ...........................88 3.1 A Vocal Cord Parasite and the Erasure of the World’s Lingua Franca .....................90 3.2 Tactical Espionage Operations and the Never-Ending Battle ....................................98 3.3 Strategies of External Engagement ..........................................................................102 3.4 “I’m Big Boss, and you are, too” .............................................................................106 3.5 Phantom Pains and Post-Traumatic Memory ..........................................................111 Conclusion: Toward a Gameic World .....................................................................................123 Works Cited .................................................................................................................................130 iv LIST OF FIGURES Disaster Report 1. Masayuki Sudō rests on a street corner with Higa Natsumi ......................................................29 2. The tsunami approaches bringing a tanker ship along with it (pictured behind the traffic light) ...............................................................................................................................................34 3. Masayuki carries the injured editor-in-chief of the local newspaper on his back through Windrunner Park as Mari stands at his side. ..................................................................................39 4. Masayuki holds onto Mari’s hand and helps her cross a gap in a collapsed staircase ...............40 5. Inventory management is carried out by storing or removing items from Masayuki’s backpack. This bag contains two plastic bottles each with three servings of fresh water .............42 6. Masayuki mimics the real-world earthquake preparedness drill of “drop, cover, and hold on” during an aftershock ................................................................................................................43 7. Players must choose whether to encourage or dismiss other characters and whether to act in their own self-interest or in the name of shared survival ...........................................................46 8. The visuality of Disaster Report is filled with scenes of citywide destruction .........................47 9. Eerily realistic disaster photographs are used to convey the magnitude of the earthquake during the game’s opening moments .............................................................................................52 10. Disaster Report makes use of a variety of graphic styles meant to mimic different forms of representation. Here, disrupted security camera footage shows the earthquake’s moment of impact .............................................................................................................................................53 11. Jinnai Kōji’s photograph collection can be viewed once the game is completed. Here, photograph number 26 captures Jinnai (foreground) with Masayuki, Mari, and Natsumi in the background next to the Capital City Tower. Jinnai laments wasting film on this silly shot .........55 Catherine 12. The three main characters: Katherine McBride (left), Vincent Brooks (center), and the mysterious Catherine (right) ..........................................................................................................62 13. Vincent at the Stray Sheep bar during the daytime gameplay sections ...................................64 14. Vincent climbs a treacherous tower of