Resident Evil, LoTR, Dante’s Inferno

Prof. Q

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.

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

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.

Resident Evil 5 and RaceRE5 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

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

Resident Evil [Movie Series - Retribution]: A Metaphorical ReadingRed 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 Bamford The Puzzle Palace, 1982

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.

Resident Evil [Movie Series - Retribution]: A Metaphorical Reading

Alternatively…

Lord of the RingsText: Focus on character development and

action (plot)Film: Focus on visuals and cinematography

Lord of the Rings [Common Themes]

The Ring as a Sentient CharacterThe 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.

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.

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

Dante’s Inferno [Game]

Dante Questioning Morality?

Some Referenceshttp://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/10/edito

rial-is-resident-evil-5-racisthttp://www.1up.com/news/resident-evil-5-raci

sm-capcomhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/arts/16e

vil.html?_r=2&http://jaysanalysis.com/2012/09/29/resident-e

vil-retribution-2012-jays-analysis/