Enter Mass Effect
Mass Effect, and the controversy surrounding the ending of the final installment of the trilogy, is a prime example of Fake Things that represent Real Things, and the different ways different members of an audience can interpret a work of art, regardless of creator intent.
The creators have stated that Mass Effect is about synthetics vs. organics.
That paragraph isn’t any longer because the creators have been largely silent about the work ever since the widely negative fan reaction to the ending of Mass Effect 3.
Without any clear, concise announcement of Grand Authorial Intent to address the big gaping hole where a timely, relevant theme should be, we are left with our interpretation. While individual interpretations vary as wildly as individuals, fan reaction to the end of the Mass Effect trilogy can be broken down into four broad categories:
1) It’s a beautiful poem about stopping by some woods on a snowy evening.
Many fans embrace the literal intent of the authors, either because they always saw Mass Effect as the story of a literal conflict between synthetic and organic life with no deeper allegorical meaning except for the ending, or because this literal conflict and the three ending options don’t contradict their thoughts and feelings on any thematic conclusions they drew from the text up to that point. These fans did not see any thematic inconsistencies and were able to wholeheartedly embrace the original ending of Mass Effect.
2) Snow is depressing. As are woods. And why is the guy alone? Where’s his girlfriend?
The original ending of Mass Effect is, unquestionably, a downer. The mass relays are destroyed, Commander Shepard dies, and galactic civilization as we know it has ended. Some interpretations of the original included such delightful scenarios as: the combined military might of the galaxy is stranded around Earth, turians and quarians die of starvation, and everyone on the Citadel dies in a fiery explosion. For these fans, the intended ‘bittersweet’ ending completely missed the mark and landed squarely in ‘bitter’. This group points out that the ending is disappointing.
3) Wait, I thought I was reading a poem
This group of fans knows narrative. They know storytelling convention backwards and forwards, from the introduction/rising-action/climax/falling-action/denoument dramatic structure – which the original ending of the Mass Effect trilogy eschews – to the basic nature of the protagonist/antagonist relationship (protip: using the antagonist as the mouthpiece to present all the final ending options is a narrative no-no). This group also includes fans with a deep understanding of the lore and setting of the Mass Effect universe and an eye for plot-holes and inconsistencies. This group is very aware of the fact that every installment of Mass Effect is conventionally structured, adheres to genre standards, and was very well-written within the confines of standard narrative conventions – and found the sudden disregard for all of the basic elements of the craft of storytelling jarring and off-putting. This group points out that the ending doesn’t make sense.
4) I don’t even know you anymore.
For these fans, it was not the “downer” of the original ending, but the problematic themes of the ending options that present the real problem. Mass Effect, in the final twenty minutes, turned into something completely unexpected – in a bad way – shredding and negating every piece of thematic interpretation they’d made about what it all meant up to that point. The idea that Mass Effect was ever about a literal conflict between synthetic and organic life, rather than an allegory that used the Reapers to represent something else entirely, was completely foreign to them – and the allegory they saw in the text was entirely incompatible with the ending. In the context of their interpretation of the themes of Mass Effect, the thematic implications of the ending are revolting, and morally repugnant. This group points out that the ending is horrifying.
The controversy surrounding the ending of Mass Effect is simply that the number of fans who fell into groups two, three and four vastly outnumbered the fans who fell into group one according to every available poll on the subject. These fans, many of whom invested a great deal of time and money into the franchise and 100+ hours per run-through of the trilogy as a whole, felt very upset over an ending that was so wholly disappointing for so many fans on so many levels.
Fans in group one – and the creators themselves – have displayed a combination of confusion and irritation at the reaction of the rest of the fans. Usually lumping everyone into group two, or using dismissive, condescending language like “they just don’t get it”, the backlash against the backlash has almost been as vitriolic as the initial backlash itself.
While I cannot speak to anyone else’s interpretation of the ending of Mass Effect, I can say that I fall into groups two, three, and four. I find the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy completely awful on three different levels.
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Remember that whole 'not making decisions in a moral vaccum' (heh, vaccum..) thing with EDI?
