Completed Sons of Liberty recently. What can I say, one more MGS game and one more example of masterpiece storytelling.
The theme of modern society and things that people pass to the next generations not via the genes was represented really well. It's important too pass memories to the next generations, and at the same time some certain memories or in some cases lack of them always corrupt the future generations, forcing them to make terrible mistakes over and over again without learning the lessons of the history... Is it good to filter those memories, or even alter them in order to make humanity better? If so, who has the right to decide how the filter must work? Both uncontrolled and controlled memory flows can be deleterious to the humanity. Lack of memory control reduces humans' ability to evolve, while none of humans and organizations really ready to the responsibilities of taking full control over the flow of memories to be passed to the future generations.
And of course, as in each MGS game I've already completed, all those thoughts were told through the very strong and tragic scenario. Very well told instructive story. Playing through each MGS game causes some tears to spill...
What you summed up is essentially an overarching theme, yes -- But it's centric to that of MGS1. MGS 2 is what could at best be considered the first post-modern video game. This game is my favorite, but also the most controversial of them all, because it confuses un-prepared minds and thus turns them off. The game itself represents a post-modern narrative, where reality and game-world blends famously together. As a supposed rookie-agent Raiden, you're placed directly into his shoes within the game -- The game makes this transition as soon as it prompts the player to enter their name, nationality and blood-type, as revealed later, this is written on the dogtag given to Raiden. In a cutscene much later you'll be able to spot Raiden looking at it, and notice the name you wrote down.
After control is shifted from Snake to Raiden, and you progress through the plot -- You start noticing recurring patterns -- the bloodied hallway, a Cyborg Ninja, a President that needs saving, former-special forces-being terrorist, heartattacks, remote controlled missile, a fight with a harrier/helicopter, A Snake being the main villain -- It all conspiciously sounds a bit too much like Shadow Moses, with good reason too. Things become more and more complicated, and Raiden starts to question reality after trying to assess everything that's happened. A Vampire, a woman who can't be hit by bullets. Note the occasionally odd remarsk in the Colonel's speech, or how the things the Colonel tells Raiden doesn't sit right with the people he meet.
All of this led to speculation as to whether the game functioned as a simulation of Shadow Moses. What about the Tanker Incident in the beginning? Could that be Raiden playing a simulation of that event in VR? The talk of VR, and Shadow Moses being used as a paradigm for the entire S3 plan exercise.
It's partially where the post-modernism come into play -- The parts that refer to Raiden questioning his own existence around him. Who are real and who are not? The girlfriend he thought he knew turned out to be someone else, she's nothing like how she was supposed to. The Colonel was just a highly advanced AI constructed by the Patriots to manage and control the United States, both government & public sectors alike -- It refers back to the central theme of Sons of Liberty -- Memes, information, we live in the information age and only the victor can write history. Anybody who controls the flow of information, ultimately also controls the flow of history itself. How much of ourselves can be controlled -- How are we coded into all this? Sons of Liberty evidently predicts the now-adays rise of Social Media, the rage of the Information Age and barriers between confidential private info and non-private being broken. It's quite scary.
The evidence of the story’s post-modern aspects comes in large doses which occur few and far between in the actual plot. Post modernism is hard to define, as one of the aspects of the genre is to redefine and reinvent definition itself. “Despite its by now widespread acceptance, writing about postmodernism has always been made difficult by a lack of agreement about what the term refers to…[it] questions the condition of art itself” (Trachtenberg, 1). An art critic Suzy Gablik describes post-modernism as a genre where “anything goes with anything, like a game without rules. Floating images … maintain no relationship with anything at all, and meaning becomes detachable like the keys on a key ring. Dissociated and decontextualized, they slide past one another failing to link up into a coherent sequence” (Burke, “Post Modernism and Post Modernity”).
The first evidence of post-modernism comes when Raiden meets a character named Vamp. Vamp, who is a member of Dead Cell , is, quite simply, a vampire. How and why would a vampire be written into a military thriller/tragedy? It is obviously an attempt on the part of Kojima to interweave yet another genre-bending event into the story, and leaves the player/viewer quite perplexed. It seems as if Vamp, who seems very out of place compared to the other realistic characters in the story, is meant to “test our intellectual responses and our tolerance of the work,” which is one interpretation of why post-modernism exists (Butler, 2). Even more perplexing is Vamp’s role. He exists in the story simply to taunt Raiden; he has little relevance in the main plot.
Another instance of the post-modern collides with Raiden’s tragedy during the game’s final minutes. When it is revealed that Raiden’s military support he has been speaking to over the radio are not humans, but a system of computer programs, he begins to question his very existence. It doesn't help that the very dog-tag around his neck isn't his own, but the player's -- It symbolizes the fictional reality that clouded Raiden's eyes from the start, set up by The Patriots, so they might control him. During the long conversation at the end, the Colonel even lets him in on the reason why he was chosen. It was because he was the only one who chose to forget.
But that particular scene also symbolizes the beauty of the ending. It showcases Raiden's first step of making his own impact on the world, and find something for himself to pass on to the future. He breaks free from the player, from the fictional, the reality that wasn't his own, and becomes his own man. This is where the traits of post-modernism comes full circle.
I could write columns about this amazing game but I'll give it a pause for now. Next up there is the worst MGS of them all in my opinion. But you'll probably enjoy it. Happy playing.
Retour en haut
