Okay guys, I'm back with a couple more cases and a whole thing of dips. They were out of jerky so I just got a bag of –
wait. What's going on? Why's everyone so glum? Is that
My Chemical Romance playing on the stereo?
...You weren't talking about Indoctrination Theory, were you? What did I say about that?
What did I say?
Well, actually I guess I said that it would be awesome. I
believe I said something along the lines of it heralding in a new age of artistic expression that would judo-chop Picasso, give James Joyce an atomic wedgie, and tell Orson Welles to stop hitting himself, stop hitting himself... Because that's how I roll – what with the excessive hyperbolic diatribes. But, as you have all masterfully pointed out, it seems that at present there will be problems in any version of this ending without some kind of miraculous rewrite. In any instance of the game as-is, we are backed into the corner of having to commit a heinous act: obliteration, domination, eugenic purging.
I'm aware of the very real danger of this thread being sidetracked by this discussion, so I'll be (my version of) brief and say that for the time being, I personally
have to cling to the (admittedly near atomically-downscaled) hope that Bioware's plan was always to push us into an extreme act, an act for which we could never forgive ourselves, in order to (clumsily) force a kind of empathetic bond with the major villains of the work. In such a case the question would become
how much could you/would you, Shepard, be willing to sacrifice to save the Universe – as a prelude to the
real conclusion, waking the character from whatever choice was made in DLC and stomping some Reaper ass. Still awkward, still vile, still an utterly unjust violation of the player's agency, but one that intentionally muddies the stark moral delineation between the potential for action of this universe's heroes and 'villains', forcing a hypothetical moral conundrum upon the player that will reverberate even after the uplifting conclusion... (he said, now just shamelessly fantasising with no basis in reality whatsoever). Of course, this presupposes that the Reapers are little more than the rocks upon which our characters dash themselves, and Shepard is compelled to see the choice that confronted all those who pursued these creatures before him/her, hoping to control or thwart them.
I guess for me, the Indoctrination Theory is like a scratch on the roof my mouth that I cannot help but keep touching with my tongue. It lingers because although I can ultimately dismiss almost everything else that supports Indoctrination theory under the shortcomings of apathy, rushed design, or happenstance, one doubt remains. Sure, no one looks at the creepy kid as he scrambles onto the ship; fine, because who's looking anywhere but at the giant mutant insect blowing civilisation into powder? Sure, there is
absolutely no way that Anderson could have gotten in front of me with pristine clothes and no visible wounds; but he said the walls were moving around and maybe the devs. (somehow) didn't catch that logistical speed bump. And yes, even those goddamn dreams – intrusions into my Shepard's semi-cipher identity that really stick in my craw (it's a thing; a craw can be a thing!); if I squint a little in my mind's eye I can finally dismiss them as purely clumsy, woefully mistimed swings at emotional engagement.
But – much as Hawk227 said earlier –
that breath scene. Someone has to explain that Shepard breath scene. I have to have it explained.
Need it explained: justified, contextualised, even deleted as a fault – anything. But something needs to be done, because at the moment, from whatever angle I read it, it seems to be saying to the audience: 'Oh, and by the way, gentle player:
F**k you.
'...No really. You, drayfish. You. F**k you.'
Because that scene has no merit whatsoever besides
intentionally, openly trolling the audience.
They know that we're not infants – simply shaking a set of keys in front of our eyes will not delight us to forget everything else we've seen. They may not have known that a healthy portion of the fans would react as vehemently to the principles of the endings. They may not have foreseen that everyone would (I think entirely justifiably) interpret the Relays exploding as the ruination of all life (although when you pull out to a universe-sized wide-shot that reveals tsunamis of devastation rippling into countless stratospheres, I'm not sure what else they were expecting). But that breath scene is an
addition (needless at best) to this salad of gormless iconography. And because it goes nowhere, asking its viewer to believe that Shepard not only
survived the Reaper destruct code that was meant to kill him/her, but lived through the structurally devastating Crucible explosion; and then lived through re-entry into Earth's now blighted atmosphere, the premise goes so far beyond the realm of the fantastical that it would be like the creators sat down with a game of Mad-Libs to devise the ending plot:
'I was walking through
LONDON when I found a
GIANT LAZER that sent me to
SPACE . It was here that I met
CREEPY GHOST who made me feel
EXISTENTIAL NIHILISTIC ANGST until I
BLEW UP the
UNIVERSE and went home for more
DLC .'
If the creators of this franchise really have
that little respect for their audience then there is little left to say at all. If the Extended Cut emerges and indeed the breath scene has no relevance except to continue to tantalise with utterly fruitless speculation, then I fear that my investment in this franchise will be truly eroded through – and I desperately do not want that to be so – because it really will mean that a
prank was more important to the creators of this universe than thematic cohesion and narrative sense.
...Even as I type this, however, I can acknowledge with sorrow that I am in the bargaining stages of having my hopes dashed. It's Christmas Eve, I'm standing in my pyjamas, a teddy bear tucked under one arm on the staircase as I watch my parents stuffing the stockings with gifts from a trash bag, both hushing each other in case they wake me. 'But – But there is still a Santa, right?' I'm murmuring into the dark.
Come on, Bioware. Let there be some kind of impossibly fortuitous path through the murky narrative haze. Give me back Santa. You have
no idea how much I still want to believe.
p.s. – I've hated being gone the past few days – of course, life intrudes – but I have delighted in catching up on the (I'm thrilled to see
many) pages of wondrous insight. Welcome to some new voices including (but never in any way limited to) Fapmaster5000 and sH0tgUn jUliA. I am – as I always am when returning to this marvellous thread – stunned by the clarity, the insight, the generosity of spirit that dominates throughout. Even when things get heated, or when sorrow threatens to overwhelm, I feel that there is foremost a respect and an affection for each other's points of view that carries us through.
And like frypan, I too hope that Hawk227 is still with us. Hawk227 your insight has been invaluable (and I cannot tell you the number of your posts I have wanted to call out as I've read my way up to date). Indeed, the most frustrating part about being kept away from the interwebnets for the past few days is now being unable to speak to all of the fantastic discourse that has already passed me by.
Modifié par drayfish, 16 mai 2012 - 01:58 .
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