Critical Investigation

By Amardeep

Bharj

My Title

How are the narrative roles of hero/villain constructed in popular video games such as

the 'Call of Duty' and why are they more complicated than in earlier texts in the war

genre?

Linked Production

• Viral advert promoting a new video game that challenges hegemonic ideological assumptions

by avoiding casting the Muslim characters in the role of the villain/'Other'.

Break It Down..

• Violence • Gaming Narrative• Story Telling

‘Call Of Duty Franchise’

MIGRANE !

Language

• Protagonist• Antagonist• Diegetic sounds• Ideology• Realism on representation

Institutions

Welll It USED to be BOTH• Activision• Infinity Ward

( media power, websites )Hegemony

Genre

• Action – A LOT of violence, Gore, Swearing, Power,

( typical ‘Shoot Em Up’ Type of Game )• War

( confuse modes of realism ) ‘The tension the audience feels brings them as close as they’re going to get to the

real thing’

RepresentationNegativeStereotypes ArabsRussians

• TerrorismNo Russian - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmt9Xk-PIGE&feature=fvwv ( 2.30 )

Violence - Teenagers become increasingly violent acting on violent

games

Audience

• 18-25 according to content• My opinion would be from 13-25

• Male• Aggression

• Woman still interested through experience

Ideologies• Moral Panic

• Moral Effect - “Knowledge about young people’s views on violence and acceptance of violence in different contexts has

important implications for violence prevention initiatives”

• Post 9/11 – Negative representation of Muslims increased in gaming such as Call Of Duty.

Narrative• War Games

• ProtagonistDominant White Male ( hero )Government

• AntagonistDigital Arabs ( Villain )Digital Russian

SHEP

Social

• Moral Panic Stanley Cohen

• Moral Effect - “Knowledge about young people’s views on violence and acceptance of violence in different contexts has important implications for

violence prevention initiatives”

Historical

• Post 9/11 – Negative representation of Muslims increased in gaming such as Call Of

Duty.

Economical

• Has a massive appeal to teenagers, brings up a lot of discussion and controversy.

Political

• post 9/11 scared and if political influence has forces society to believe the ‘Arab scares’

Issues & Debates

Summary • Bias

• Moral Panics• Post 9/11 and the media

• Representation and stereotyping• Media effects

• Regulation and censorship

Media Theory

• Marxism and hegemony• Audience theories• Genre theories• Hypodermic Needle Theory• Post 9/11• Colonialism and Post-colonialism

Quotes I Will Use

‘Hollywood consistent use of cultural norms in narrative devices’

‘Ethnic minorities are continually misrepresented by racial stereotypes’

( Stuart Hall )

‘Some Individuals/institutions will always have greater power to portray how to react on situation’

( Howard Becker )

‘ To say we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’

‘If something is repeated often enough it will tent to be believed and remembered’

This fits into the contemporary media landscape because..

• The use of narrative roles in gaming such as Call Of Duty is still an issue in which is debatable as it suggests to its audience that specific cultures/races can play a role in realism on war

and war genre games.

• Misrepresentation in society is a highly controversial topic and games such as Call Of Duty have a part to play on how gaming can shape the minds of its audience through hegemonic views