Resident Evil, LoTR , Dante’s Inferno

1. Resident Evil, LoTR, Dante’s Inferno Prof. Q

2. Resident Evil (Game Series) • Resident Evil [1996] • Central to the Survival Horror genre. • The game itself also had an important role in promoting the image that the PlayStation. • Possible variations are available to players as they are immersed in the experience of playing videogames.

3. Resident Evil [Game Series] • Player is dropped into an unfamiliar, terrifying and potentially fatal situation. • Environment of oppressive tension and constant danger. • Player gradually collects bits of information as the game progresses that allow them to understand what the nature of the threat actually is. • Primary Appeal: a genuinely frightening experience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI_5gohqtnQ&feature=youtu.be

4. Resident Evil [Aesthetics] • Cinematic aesthetics – cutting between static camera angles, showing the playable character from ever-changing viewpoints – were staples borrowed directly from the horror film genre. • This is effective for  Resident Evil  because they serve as signifiers, aiding gamers in seamlessly suspending their disbelief in order to be fully immersed in the horror experience. • Resident Evil promots the impression that the player has just entered a horror film.

5. Resident Evil 5 and Race • RE5 is racist because “A white man strides into an African village. The black villagers start morphing into crazed zombies, wielding pitchforks and knives. The white man starts shooting them down.” • Alex Pham (2009) • Hilary Goldstein (2009) • Kris Pigna (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILuP43jcaXw

6. Resident Evil 5 and Race – The Other Side • Let’s get this out of the way: Resident Evil 5 is not a racist game.For at least a year some black journalists have been wringing their hands about whether the game... inflames racist stereotypes because it is set in Africa. The answer is no... Resident Evil 5 exposes the perhaps uncomfortable truth that blacks and Arabs can become zombies too, just like anyone else... The point of the story is that the indigenous people have become the innocent victims of evil white people.All that said, Resident Evil 5 could not possibly have been made in the United States. Racial sensitivities and prevailing political correctness would have had American game executives squirming in their Aeron chairs the minute they read a budget proposal for a game featuring African zombies.Not so in Japan, apparently... Seth Schiesel

7. Resident Evil [Movie Series - Retribution]: A Metaphorical Reading • Red Queen – Umbrella Corp. AI Supercomputer. Has been read as communist ideology (red) and feminism. • The Cold War is referenced and made use of symbolically throughout the film, with resurrected undead Soviet zombies being used in the underground simulation cities. • Setting: Underground Umbrella base. • “…the NSA’s enormous basement, which stretches for city blocks beneath the Headquarters-Operations Building, undoubtedly holds the largest and most advanced computer operation in the world.” James BamfordThe Puzzle Palace, 1982

8. Resident Evil [Movie Series - Retribution]: A Metaphorical Reading • Umbrella is the “Illuminati” (in the game Resident Evil 4, you fight the “Illuminados”) with designs to re-engineer humanity to achieve the next level of evolution, while simultaneously using the T-Virus to kill off most of the human population. • Zombie symbolism represents the oblivious masses, all subject to the socially engineered alteration of traditional societies into the modernity.

9. Alternatively…

10. Lord of the Rings • Text: Focus on character development and action (plot) • Film: Focus on visuals and cinematography

11. Lord of the Rings [Common Themes] The Ring as a Sentient Character • The Ring "betrayed" Isildur. • It then "came" to Gollum, "waited", and later "abandoned" him. • It "perceived" that its time had come. • Something happened that it did not "intend". • It is "trying" to return to Sauron. The Ring as a Vampire? • According to Foster, vampirism is about "a refusal to respect the autonomy of others . . . Placing our desires, particularly our uglier ones, above the needs of another” • To achieve its desire, the Ring will trample or control whomever it must. It certainly doesn’t respect anyone’s "autonomy", as its very essence is about control over the wills of others.

12. The Ring as a Vampire? • The Ring’s vampirism is never more clear than in its relationship to Gollum. According to the film, it "ensnared" Gollum, gave him "unnatural long life", and "consumed him". The Ring ate Gollum. That is, it ate his essence, his life force. But Gollum didn’t die, because the Ring infused its own "unnatural" and unholy life force into Gollum.

13. Dante’s Inferno Circle 1: Limbo – Charon, Sadness Circle 2: Lust Circle 3: Gluttons Circle 4: Wasters and Hoarders Circle 5: Styx, Wrath Circle 6: City of Dis, Heretics, Atheists Circle 7: The Violent Circle 8: Fraudulent and Malice Circle 9: Betrayers http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-information.html

14. Dante’s Inferno [Game]

15. Dante Questioning Morality?

16. Some References • http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/10/editorial-is-resident-evil-5-racist • http://www.1up.com/news/resident-evil-5-racism-capcom • http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/arts/16evil.html?_r=2& • http://jaysanalysis.com/2012/09/29/resident-evil-retribution-2012-jays-analysis/