Beyond Two Souls

Video games and single player stories have become heavily intertwined as technology continues to expand opportunities to explore stories using multiple aspects. Stories revolving around environments that are massively detailed, expressive facial features from playable and non-playable characters and dependence on player choices all impact the progression through the main story. These features allow game developers to create a more uniquely linear, player driven story that solely relies on what, who and how the player interacts within the game. Having a game that focuses on linear storytelling coupled with player choice, creates opportunities for players to return to the game later and make different decisions during their playthrough. With every option affecting the story, this playstyle creates almost endless possibilities for the player. This mechanic is readily used by developer Quantic Dream, as each of their games relies on how the player interacts with the story. However, these story driven games are not without their flaws, depictions of stereotypes within the game; Beyond; Two Souls, portrays tropes that other popular forms of media use when describing Native Americans. The implications of Jodie becoming the white savior towards the Native Americans, as well as using mystic tropes reinforce stereotypes. This post is a discussion on how Beyond; Two Souls uses stereotypes within the game.

Beyond; Two Souls centers the story around Jodie Holmes, a young white woman who has had a mysterious psychic connection with an entity named Aiden, whom she communicates telepathically with, performing actions such as possessing people and moving objects. The story partitions segments that transport the player into different times of Jodie’s life, exploring her relationships with characters and environments at different ages. Decisions made during Jodie’s early life will impact her interactions and relationships with characters later on. Throughout the early stages of Jodie’s story, Jodie’s isolation within a heavily secured building is a result of her conflicted relationship with Aiden being dangerous to the outside world. Growing up, Jodie is forced into a military program, enhancing her strength with Aiden, becoming the CIA’s priority weapon. Upon realizing the CIA’s intentions of overturning the Somalia government, Jodie leaves the program and becomes a vigilante. As Jodie continue to flee from the CIA, this is where she runs into the Native American family.

The player is introduced to the Navajo family as Jodie stumbles onto their farmland in the middle of the desert. Jodie is cautiously greeted by the oldest Navajo teenager, which later becomes her romantic interest. After the conversation, the father enters and speaks Navajo to his son. Ater the conversation, Jodie enters the house, the family insists having her have dinner with them. During dinner, the father explains to Jodie that they are the last family living out on their traditional territory, as members of their reservation left to find work in the city.

The scene ends with loud spiritual noises coming from outside and Jodie being escorted to her room. Jodie is told to stay in her room until morning. During this section of the game, Jodie’s dreams revolve around the spirits or monsters that she encounters. are the same ones that she has come across throughout earlier chapters of the game. The game implies that the monsters from earlier in the game come from this Native American background. Jodie begins to have dreams/visions of the Native American family. These dreams/visions are of the Native American family and images of a spiritual mystic shaman character. Jodie then wakes up and has the option to explore during the night. If she opens the front door, she sees the mysterious shaman character in her vision. This character seems to be in an attacking pose. The section ends with the family furious at Jodie’s lack of respecting their wishes to stay in her room.

The following morning, Jodie is asked to stay and help around the farm. Jodie’s persistence asking Paul to explain the mystical creatures that came out the previous night. As a result of the lack of explanation, Jodie sneaks out the next night to explore the farm. During her ventures outside, a sandstorm depicting a demon like face approaches the farm. As this monster enters the farm, Jodie sees the mystical men that have appeared while staying at the farm fighting off the demon creature.

These mystical people follow similar stereotypical appearances seen within other forms of media, wearing buckskin clothing and warpaint painted across their bodies. The sandstorm chases after Jodie throughout the farm. The storm eventually catches Jodie, but with the help of Aiden and the mystical creatures fight off the storm. Paul and the young men come out of the house and meet with Jodie, explaining that the storm is called Yé’iitosh, is a wendigo type spirit that feeds on blood.

The following day, the player explores the sheep ranch with the oldest son, he explains that five spirit guardians protect their tribe from the Yé’iitosh, the monster comes at night and steals souls as a form of punishment for living on that land. After their conversation, Jodie travels to the well to investigate the lack of water pumping. Upon entering the well house, the walls are decorated with buckskin artwork of what appears to be buffalo hunting and beaded artworks alongside the artwork. After leaving the well house, Jodie is shown a vision of the traditional Navajo nations teepees and totem poles being burnt down by the monster.

One of the ghosts appears and points around the community to show Jodie what this monster has done. Jodie flashes back to present time, where the word “crown” is written in the sand. The player is then shown a flashback of a shower scene where Jodie sees the same word written on the wall. This similarity implies that the “traditional Native American” that has been protecting this land throughout generations spoke and understood English. Doesn’t really make sense it would make more sense if symbols or actual Navajo language.

Jodie must travel to Fort Crown, where she discovers a sword that shows a vision of the spirits attacking the settlers in the fort. Jodie continues to travel and finds a symbol in the sand. Jodies finds five masks and four talisman within the symbol. It is revealed that the fifth talismen is being held by the grandma. It is shown through a cutscene that the mystical creatures/monsters opened up a portal, because of their hatred for the settlers.

Jodie builds a fire and convinces the family to recreate the symbol and hold onto the talismen. Gets the grandma to start the incantation, she starts chanting, opening the portal. The mystical people start fighting the monsters sending them all back into their dimension. Grandma dies and is buried in this traditional burial ground area. While exploring the burial ground, Jodie enters a secret cave and sees “traditional” cave paintings depicting her story. Throughout this section of the gmae, Jodie’s is portrayed as the white savior fighting off the spirit creature haunting the Native American family for generations. It is only until Jodie arrives on the reserve to battle the spirit that the family can finally live in peace.

Westerado and 16-bits of Western

Video game development within the independent scene has seen an exponential rise in recent years as more smaller companies begin to rise through digital platforms like PC Steam, the PlayStation store, and ID @ Xbox. Each of these platforms gives the opportunities for smaller companies to continue their push into mainstream video game markets with each platform becoming more popular with gamers as the years and technology advance. This introduction into mainstream markets is the story from developer Ostrich Banditos, a five-person studio that took the famous 16-bit western themed of the early 1990’s and built a unique action adventure game. Westerado uses and plays with Native American stereotypes in numerous ways throughout the game in both comedic and violent ways. This post will discuss Westerados uses of Native American representations.
Westerado combines the 16-bit art styles with the complex narrative storyline of an adventure game to create a unique story-driven game. Throughout the game, the player takes control of the character Gunslinger who is on the hunt for his families killer. The game requires the player to explore the entire environment of Westerado searching for clues, talking to or assisting townsfolk to gather more clues about the murder. Depending on choices the player makes, portions of the story fall off as some missions require the player to attack a Non-playable character (NPC), which cancels that NPC’s story progression mission. Having unique story progression paths requires the player to replay the game multiple times to uncover every type of playable character, outfit, or weapon in the game. One particular quest that spawns from this type of progression is interactions with the Native Americans.
As the player explores the world of Westerado, NPC’s will discuss their issues with the Indians. The player will venture out East, where a group of Native Americans reside. As seen in the image below Gunslinger discussing with a person in the town about the Native Americans living in the region.

During this story mission, the player will continue their journey to the East where a Native American camp is established. Upon entering the village, the camp is depicted with many Native American stereotypes including favorite garments that the Native NPC characters wear (buckskin clothing, the single feather in the hair), and the chief of the village wearing a full feathered headdress. In addition to the buckskin clothing, all Native American characters also brand the red war paint across their exposed skin. The village also displays numerous teepees similar to ones in Hollywood Western movies as well as, totem poles which is another famous symbol used by non-Indigenous peoples in popular media.

Native American village the player first encounters

The player has the option to either assist the Native Americans to take over the fort or kill the chief and report back to the soldiers that are just west of the village. If the player chooses to assist the Native Americans, then they must first rescue all the trapped bison that are being detained by the local townsfolks to first gain the trust the of the village. Upon returning from that task, the player is told to then travel across the mountains to meet up with another Native American village to join forces and attack the fort.

The second Native American village that the player travels to

Similarly looking, the second village has similar representations of Native Americans compared to the first village. Both totem poles and teepees are present, as well as, the NPC depicting the same visual tropes mentioned previously. After the player completes their interactions with the second village, the story then takes the player to outside the fort where both chiefs are united and begin to attack the fort. The soldiers are depicted as having a similar visual relation to civil war soldiers with the square shoulders and blue outfits. Once the player kills the soldiers, the Native American characters then proceed to attack the neighboring town, that the player previously interacted with. The player is given a tomahawk that replaces the gun as the primary weapon.

Westerado plays with famous Western themes throughout the primary story mode of the game. The player can choose to assist the Native Americans in their quest to destroy the nearby white settlers, reinforcing the “savageness” imagery that western movies use to justify killing the Native Americans. The game uses images like teepees and totem poles to enhance tropes consistently seen in popular media as depictions of Native Americans. These images do not depict a specific Native American culture. Instead, it illustrates an amalgamation of what people think of Native American cultures. What Westerade displays to the player is the same Hollywood stereotypes seen when Native Americans are depicted in media revolving around westerns.

 

Gunsmoke; Devil Hawk and the 8 Bit Western

Western-themed shooters profoundly influenced video games throughout the late 1980’s, as more developers latched onto Native American pop culture imagery. Famous game developer at the time Capcom made excellent shoot em ups (a genre of game) where players were forced to continuously fire streams of bullets at enemies as they traversed numerous levels. These games usually comprised of the main character running or scrolling (depending on the role) through various locations tied to a general theme, as the level continuously navigated along with them, perceiving that the player was physically moving through the level. Heavily popularized shoot em up games like 1942 and Commando pushed the genre onto home consoles with developer Capcom wanting to transition the arcade experience of shoot em up games onto the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the late 1980’s. Gunsmoke was brought over from arcades, mostly intact as player controlled a cowboy character on their journey to tackle the treacherous wild west setting all from the comfort of their home.

Box art for Gunsmoke. Retrieved from: https://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/578544-gunsmoke/images/158879

Gunsmoke is a western themed shoot ’em up released in November 1988. The game focused on automatic scrolling upward levels that allowed the player to shoot in three different directions (left, center, and right). The game’s story centers around main character Billy Bob, as he must rid the town of Hicksville from the devious criminals known as Wingates. The Wingates include Bandit Bill, Cutter, Devil Hawk, Ninja, Fatman Joe, and Wingate himself. The primary focus of this post is going to be on the character Devil Hawk and the representation that he has within Native American stereotypes.

 

Devil Hawks level is the midway point in Gunsmoke, as Billy Bob enters a Native American village. Billy Bob is quickly attacked by Native American enemies depicted as shirtless characters, wearing buckskin pants, and wielding tomahawks, guns or spears. The player is forced to traverse through the village killing every Native American enemy in the village. Similarly seen in games like Mad Dog Mcree 2, the game uses favorite Native American stereotyped images to reinforce Savage stereotypes. Examples of enemy characters having red skin, wearing both red and blue buckskinned clothing will either shoot at the player, throw tomahawks, or even throwing fireballs. Comparatively, the protagonist Billy Bob portrays white characteristics, using tools like pistols and shotguns, giving the main character more of a humanistic feel. The game ultimately describes Native American features similar to famous Hollywood Western movies that heavily popularized savage stereotypes at that time.

 

One of the main boss characters the player must fight against, Devil Hawk is depicted as wearing only blue buckskin leggings with a large white feathered headdress. As the player fights Devil Hawk, he will continuously jump sporadically across the screen, throwing fireballs at the player. The depiction of fire in this game is not known as to why it is only used in this section of the game.

Gunsmoke portrays characteristics that cast similar savage stereotypical features that other Native American characters in Western-themed games. Players are required to remove the “savages” from the game by shooting them in their villages, as a means to conquer the untamed West.

Whomp ‘Em and Reskinning Games

Whomp ‘Em North American cover. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whomp_%27Em

Early video games heavily relied on characters that presented exaggerated appearances, animations, and themes that revolved around popular stereotypes and tropes in that era. In the early 1990’s, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was slowly declining in popularity as Sega’s Genisis console and the Super Nintendo (SNES) were on the verge of releasing worldwide. The NES continued to be supported by a multitude of game developers resulting in games, once exclusively released only in Japan, becoming repackaged for the North American audience. One game that followed this trend was Whomp ‘Em. Whomp ‘Em was reskinned from the Japanese exclusive Siayuki World 2: Tenjokai no Majin, which was a game that portrayed the main character Sun Wukong, the King Monkey, who is based on the famous Chinese story: Journey to the West.

Comparing Whomp ‘Em and Saiyuki World 2: Tenjokai no Majin. Images from http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/whomp-em/screenshots

Whomp ‘Em is an action platformer that put gamers into the role of Soaring Eagle who is going on an adventure to find totems throughout the land to fill his magic pouch. The game has six different levels with an end of stage boss the player must defeat to get said totems. The six different levels the player must progress through are; Fire Test, Secret Cliff, Ice Ritual, Water Test, Magic Forest, and Sacred Woods. After completing each test (level), the player is given a unique item that will assist them in beating the final stage and boss of the game.

 

Stages or Tests in the game. Retrieved from http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/whomp-em/screenshots/gameShotId,255475/

 

The cover art of Whomp ‘Em closely resembles favorite Hollywood western movie images of the Native American. Soaring Eagle is wearing a large singular feather on top of his head, as well as, wearing a buckskin vest, mocassins, and finally wielding a giant spear. Throughout the game, the spear is the characters main weapon which players use to traverse each level and fight off enemies. The cover presents Soaring Eagle as an aggressive character by having him pose like he is about to stab something in front of him. This bold pose symbolizes Soaring Eagle as a character who continually fights other characters or entities in this world. This type of posture is seen in similar appearances of Native Americans in other media where Native Americans always seem to be in an aggressive state or action when interacting with other characters or environments. This impression is used as a way to attempt to characterize the Native Americans as very conflict centric, comparatively different than other non-Native characters. These differences are used to ultimately try and disconnect the Native American populations in current times as a people or nation that are vastly different than those who live in non- Native American environments. The aggression of Native American characters can be comparatively seen in the images below. Both the Whomp ‘ Em box art (right image) and the Death of Jane McCrea (left image) both share similar characteristics of Native American men being shown in popular Western Media.

The Death of Jane McCrea, John Vanderlyn (1804) shows similar aggressive gestures that Whomp ‘Em portrays, albeit, more “mature” imagery as both Native Americans are attacking a white settler woman in a very graphic scene. However, it is the aggression through the way the characters are positioned that both images find similar outcomes when describing Native American peoples in media that reinforces savage tropes. Mainstream media formats like comic books, television shows, movies and especially video games rely on these characteristics to connect mainstream audiences to these characters.

Whomp ‘Em reskins Saiyūki World 2: Tenjōkai no Majin, a video game based on a popular Chinese story and repurposes it around stereotypes of Native Americans in popular western media as a way to interest western audiences to consume. The game Whomp ‘Em does not encompass a positive reinforcement of Native Americans, but also, it also reinforces the argument that any game can be “reskinned” by using Native American tropes for a North American audience and be acceptable in actually representing Indigenous people in video games.

Mad Dog 2: Digital Shooting of an “Indian”

 

Mad Dog 2 Box Art. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_II:_The_Lost_Gold

 

During the mid- 1990’s, light gun shooting games became a highly popularized genre in many arcades around the globe. Many of these games were short in length but pushed the player’s reflexes, and hand-eye coordination with densely populated levels, urging the player to spend large amounts of quarters in arcades around the globe. One said series of light gun shooters is the Mad Dog McCree games. Developed by American Laser Games, the Mad Dog McCree series placed players in the shoes of a silent protagonist, often referred by non-playable characters as merely “stranger.” The setting of these games mainly revolved around locations that closely resembled Hollywood Western movies, television shows, and comics. Places like saloons, mines, jailhouses and most notably Native American camps pitted players to shoot and kill multiple enemies throughout each stage. Native American characters were most notably displayed in the second game of the franchise; Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold.

In Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold, players must track down a wanted outlaw, Mad Dog, as well as, eliminating anyone who associates themselves with Mad Dog’s gang. In addition to the gang, the player also has to fight banditos and renegade Indians throughout other branching storylines. After the player passes the tutorial section of the game, they will have a choice to make between three guides; Buckskin Bonnie, the Professor, and Shooting Beaver.

 

Shooting Beaver: Retrieved from http://www.popflock.com/learn?s=Mad_Dog_II:_The_Lost_Gold

 

The player first meets Shooting Beaver as some outlaws are hanging him just outside one of the town barns. The first interaction with Shooting Beaver similarly resembles scenes in famous western movies where the Native American character who assists or helps the main protagonist in the film often faces near death experiences to provide the viewer to feel empathy towards the said character, often labeled as the “Noble Savage”.

Shooting Beaver’s first appearance. Retrieved from http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/md2.asp

After defeating the outlaws, Beaver takes the player into the “wilderness” where the player must kill the renegade Indians that continue that block their path to the lost mine and unknown amounts of treasure. Both Shooting Beaver and the renegade Indians both share similar visual and verbal features in this game. For example, both characters wear the famous single feathered headpiece, buckskin leggings and a variety of beaded clothing pieces that resemble favorite spaghetti western tropes of the savage Indian. Every enemy Indian follows similar motions that resemble famous spaghetti Western movies. As the player traverses the wilderness, enemy Indians will shout and come onto the screen, wearing brightly colored beadwork garments and face painted warrior designs.

The “Indian warriors” that attack the player. Retrieved from http://theisozone.com/downloads/pc/windows-games/mad-dog-ii-the-lost-gold/

Gameplay revolves around the player requiring quick hand-eye coordination as they are only given a few seconds to shoot enemies. After every enemy in the location is defeated, a cutscene is played followed by a transition to the next level. Each level has its own setting, revolving around favorite western themes, but more importantly, the characters are entirely separate and unique to each location. For example, before the branching paths, the player is in a small town, where the population is only white men and women. However, as the player continues to progress, they are introduced to the wilderness and the savage Indian. Enemy characters themselves are entirely separated from each other, emphasizing the wildness aspect that only evil characters reside outside of town.

During Shooting beavers branching path, the player goes through the wilderness which includes; swamps, hills/ valleys and finally through the renegade Indians village. The most notable setting in this branching path is, of course, the Indian village.

The “Indian Village” that Shooting Beaver takes the player

The village itself depicts several teepees in the middle of a meadowed territory where enemies continue to spawn for the player to shoot. These characters in this section fit the similar Hollywood savage tropes mentioned previously. Nothing about said tee pees incorporates the traditional or significant meanings of them and are used only to reinforce the uncivilized Native American image.

Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold heavily relies on popular western movie stereotypes of savage Native Americans as an enemy for the player to gun down and exterminate. Furthermore, it includes Shooting Beaver as the “Noble Savage” character that further reinforces the tropes of the Hollywood Native American images, disconnecting Indigenous people from civilized nations. Another point is that this game reinforces the impact the player has on eliminating “enemy” Native Americans. Because this game is a light gun shooter, the player must physically point the gun controller at the Native American enemies to kill them. Ultimately putting the player in a position of power and dominance over those non-playable characters. The light gun game mechanic in Mad Dog 2 puts players in the role of a colonizer protagonist, the player must remove all enemies, which means the extermination of the Native American rebels that are in their way.

 

Wendigos and Vision Quests in Kona

 

Taken from: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/kona-review-ps4-xbox-one-pc-deep-silver-a7643061.html

 

This post contains spoilers for Konas final boss and the main story.

The next game that involves Indigenous representations is the first person mystery adventure game Kona. In Kona, players take control of private detective Carl Faubert; who, after serving time in the military begins a new career as a private investigator. Carl receives a significant amount of money from the major copper mining businessman W. Hamilton to investigate vandalism and theft from local Cree peoples surrounding the small remote town in Northern Quebec. The game starts the player off entering the community on a calm fall afternoon when suddenly, an oncoming car causes Carl to serve off the road and crash. Carl awakens to a chilling blizzard with no recollection of what happened or what occurred while he was unconscious. The game uses stereotypical representations of “vision” quests as well as a Wendigo creature to connect itself to Indigenous culture.

Kona’s gameplay focuses on a combination of gameplay mechanics that relate to one another well. Firstly, the game initiates survival mechanics as Carl regains consciousness, he must find shelter, warmth, and food to survive the first few gameplay moments.The survival gameplay mechanics in Kona present multiple puzzles that require the player to gather materials like; wood, clothing, firestarters or matches, weapons and even essential items to repair all-terrain vehicles, which assist in quicker and safer traveling through the treacherous remote wilderness. The player is not alone in this world either, as they venture further into the isolated community, enemies like wolves and other entities are surrounding the town and will attack and hunt Carl. The player must scavenge weapons, ammo and health kits if they wish to survive the wilderness. These examples are just some of what Kona’s survival mechanics do for a player, with the culmination of their skills being put to the test as they must outsmart and defeat the creatures that hinder their progression.

Another important gameplay mechanic in Kona is the adventure or puzzle type mechanic. Much, if not all of Kona’s story revolves around Carl and the player exploring every house, vehicle, and even outhouses to find journals, newspapers and sometimes even evidence that links the dangers occurring in the community to an entity of a non-human form. During exploration, the player uses a camera, when taking a picture of a particular blue ice chunk or area around the ice chunk, spiritual or nonphysical tracks will appear, requiring the player to follow the trail to find the piece of the story.

 

Trails from photos lead to people frozen in homes, businesses or out in the wilderness. Taken from: https://dvsgaming.org/game-preview-kona/

 

When found, the player transports into a dream or vision like environment where a piece of backstory explains what happened to a particular resident. After the player collects four distinct vision stories, those “spirits” assist the player in breaking open a massive ice wall that hinders progression to the final area of the game. Upon passing through the broken ice wall, the player begins their battle with the final boss Wendigo creature.

 

Each of these spirits is feed through vision journies upon finding their frozen bodies. Taken from: https://dvsgaming.org/game-preview-kona/

 

Similarly seen in the game Until Dawn, the Wendigo creature portrays the main antagonist of the story in Kona. After resource extraction disrupts and disconnects the residents in the community, the people slowly turn on each other and begin to act out on one another violently. There is little to no connection to an actual Wendigo story from the Cree community that is in the game. Resource extraction loosely ties this Wendigo to the idea presented in the Until Dawn post that mentions Wendigo creatures form from destroying mother Earth through acts of removal.

 

depiction of the Wendigo creature. Taken from: http://kleinburd.ru/news/kona-a-survival-adventure-game-by-parabole/

 

The final instance is shown through the “vision” aspect the game relies on to tell the main story of the game. Throughout Carls journey, he finds several journal entries alluding to an affair happening between two residents, and a hunting accident that would be uncovered later on in the story. The woman who was the victim in the hunting accident happens to be one of the spirits that the player frees after completing that characters “vision” mission. Kona uses this “vision” aspect as well as the Wendigo creature to connect themes revolving around Indigenous culture.The community can only be saved form the Wendigo if Carl, a non-Indigenous outsider to the community defeats the monster himself. The “visions” that Carl experiences are an attempt to connect Carl to the Indigenous communities “spirit” to help fight the Wendigo. However, with no direct relationship linking the animals, people and environments seen in said visions, this representation of visions completely disconnects the relationship that visions have within particular Indigenous cultures and communities. Many Indigenous communities use vision quests as important traditions that give a person valuable lessons or answer important questions the person seeks. These experiences involve the person fasting in a particular location of traditional importance in that community, which an elder gives to the individual. As a result of this disconnection, the importance of visions and vision quests themselves become compromised, leading to those traditions becoming unessential to the identity, culture, and community of that person.

Kona is a game that uses both stereotypical representations of the Wendigo creature and visions and vision quests from the Cree community that the game’s story revolves around. Without relating traditional knowledge about the Wendigo creature or the importance of vision quests themselves, the game disassociates the importance of both Wendigos and visions within Indigenous communities, cultures and identities.

Mega Man 6 and Tomahawk Man

 

 

Tomahawk Design. Image taken from:http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Tomahawk_Man

The Mega Man series has been a part of video game history for over 30 years. Initially, starting out on the iconic Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, the series followed player controlled cyborg Mega Man as he defended the world from invading robots controlled by the evil scientist Dr. Wily. The player will venture through multiple stages, where if successfully defeating the boss, will earn said bosses unique weapon to use to in their future progression of the game. The boss characters themselves are robots that follow different themes (Fire man, Ice man) where the environments revolve around their abilities. The characteristics of the environment play a significant role in the Indigenous representation of Tomahawk Man’s character in Mega Man 6.

Inital starting location of Tomahawk Man’s stage. Image taken from: http://www.themmnetwork.com/blog/2014/12/22/a-critical-look-at-mega-man-6-stages-tomahawk-man

During Tomahawk Man’s stage, the player sees the layout of the level through depictions of cactus and deep canyons, and sunset filled skies filling the backgrounds as the player traverses the stage from left to right. The first enemies that the player interacts with are the cowboy hat wearing robots that continue to shoot at Mega Man until the player eliminates them. The player must traverse through the stage by jumping over pits and spikes that will kill the player if touched or entered.

Transition from Western to futuristic settings. Image taken from: http://www.themmnetwork.com/blog/2014/12/22/a-critical-look-at-mega-man-6-stages-tomahawk-man

Crossing Tomahawk Man’s stage depicts the transition of the player from a “dated” western themed location (starting location) to an area filled with robotic caverns and structures that completely change the theme of the previously mentioned portion of the level. The futuristic robotic parts of the level depict nothing associated with the first cactus and canyon background images seen when the stage begins. The starting scene feels like the stereotypical location of Hollywoods Western themed Cowboy and Indian movies are known for, finalizing into a futuristic catacomb of machines. The foreignness of machines in both the Western setting and the caverns (futuristic setting) of the stage depicts the Native American stereotype as something unreal. The only way the Native American exists is through presenting him as a robot.

Tomahawk Man depicted with red war paint, headress and silver tomahawk. Image taken from: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3WmBsvi8QIg/hqdefault.jpg

Both sections of the stage are shown within one pixelated character art as to the impact mentioned earlier. That depiction is through the stages final boss Tomahawk Man. The character himself is a robot, which Dr. Wily, the main series villain, controls. The robot design has features that encapsulate reinforced stereotypes of Native Americans. These features are shown through both; a large red and white feathered headdress, and a tomahawk as his primary weapon to attack. The game uses familiar stereotypical symbols to attribute Tomahawk Man as a Native American, disassociating important stories, teachings, and cultures connected to those symbols. “Native American mascots misrepresent, distort and trivialize many aspects of Native American cultures, such as drumming, dancing, singing, and some aspects of religion” (King, 25). Most people who support mascots do not understand the meaning or realities of Native American lives and cultures (King). “ The mascots and most other images of Native Americans in popular culture lump all nations (i.e., “tribes”) of Native Americans together, incorrectly conveying that there is a single Native American culture and rendering the diversity of Native American cultures invisible” (King, 25). Additionally, the boss characters face is painted with red lines to represent red paint that many Native American characters used in modern movies to reinforce their warrior status.

The great battle between Mega Man and Tomahawk Man. Image taken from: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3WmBsvi8QIg/hqdefault.

It is important to note that it is not only how Tomahawk man looks like, but also what the character does during fights that also reinforce negative stereotypes. For example, during battle, Tomahawk Man will throw silver Tomahawks at Mega Man but also uses a quicker attack, throwing silver feathers. Upon defeating Tomahawk Man, Mega Man receives the special power Silver Tomahawk that he can use the rest of the game. The depiction of feathers and tomahawks used as weapons reinforces the savage warrior representation of Tomahawk Man.

The headdress and the tomahawk show the use of stereotypical modern media symbols of Native Americans. These familiar symbols are what many non-Indigenous people relate to identifying who or what is Indigenous. To put these stereotypical symbols on a character the player must defeat, symbolizes the continued removal and colonization of the Native American “savage.” The player only sees a “Native American” as a fantasy, similarly and comparatively displayed with robots. Depicting them as something foreign to the player like robots, only mimicking what the programmers want them to act. When showing only tomahawks, headdresses as well as depicting the Native Americans as savage warriors through their pixelated head dresses and war paint, illustrates Native American peoples as a culture of fantasy.

 

Sources:

King, Richard. The Native American Mascot Controversy: A Handbook. The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, 2010.

 

Burial Grounds and Pop Culture Representations in Silent Hill

Silent Hill is a third person survival horror game based around psychological and mental horror themes. Originally started on the Sony PlayStation in 1999, the Silent Hill series extends over ten games. Although each game has a different story, characters, and some games even stray away from the gameplay style of the original, each game revolves around the iconic town of Silent Hill. In earlier installments, Silent Hill was a town shrouded in cults and demonic possessions. The eerie setting escalates as the town’s environment is covered in a thick smoke as a result of a slow burning coal fire underneath the town. Throughout the series, Indigenous representations are present in a few different ways. One is through the use of mystical burial grounds while the other involves popular stereotypical imagery.

Lost Memories:

One of the more notable pieces of Indigenous representation used in Silent Hill is the use of Native American burial grounds and the mysticism behind it. Silent Hill is said to be used by the local Native American tribes as “The Place of Silenced Spirits” or “The Place of the Silenced Spirits.”  It was not only the spirits of the nations relatives that used the area, but also the spirits of the trees, rocks and the water surrounding them. The land was long considered to have a spiritual significance and air of mysterious power. The location was deemed to be a very holy place where rituals and ceremonies were held. A tribe who worshipped a deity known as Kwekwaxwe Kanesda, meaning “Nest of The Raven” thought of these grounds as spiritually significant. After colonization began to wipe out the remaining Indigenous populations surrounding Silent Hill, many European settlers began to colonize the land, turning the sacred grounds into a livable town, Silent Hill. During the 20^th century, the formation of The Order, a cult who incorporated the beliefs of the Indigenous people that used to inhabit the lands surrounding Silent Hill, would reach their peak influence surrounding the town. One side story item that explains the history of the area is the book “Lost Memories” article is found in Silent Hill 2. In this book, it states:

“The name comes from the legend of the people whose land was stolen from them. They called this place ‘The place of the Silent Spirits.’ By ‘spirits’ they meant not only their dead relatives but also the spirits that they believed inhabited the trees, rocks, and water around them. According to legend, this was where the holiest ceremonies took place. But it was not the ancestors of those who now live in this town that first stole the land from these people. There were others who came before. In those days, this town went by another name. But that name is now hopelessly lost in the veils of time. All we know is that there was another name and that for some reason the town was once abandoned by its residents”.

The land surrounding Silent Hill is based on the stereotypical assumptions surrounding Indigenous burial grounds. The game’s history does not represent the importance of burial grounds for Indigenous communities. Western mainstream culture continues to be fascinated with disconnecting Indigenous sacred grounds with reality. “The American subject is obsessed with an originary sin against Native people that both engenders that subject and irrevocably stains it. Native American ghosts haunt American literature because the American nation is compelled to return again and again to an encounter that makes it both sorry and happy, a defiled grave upon which it must continually rebuild the American subject” (Bergland, 22).  Removing history of significant and sacred locations dissociates the history of the nation. “Living Natives threatened the survival of new settler communities determined to carve a presence in colonized landscapes, and their removal through so-called Indian Wars and forced marches to Indian Territory is remembered as tragic and justified, fearsome and inevitable” (Boyd, xiii). Ghost stories change the perspective on the importance of Indigenous burial grounds, making them less connected to a culture’s identity.

Another use of Indigenous imagery is surrounding a convenient store in Silent Hill called: The Indian Runner.

 

The location first appears in Silent Hill 1 (PlayStation) as well as makes a minor appearance in Silent Hill Shattered Memories (PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii). The only significant piece from the store aside from the name is the Native American statue that is displayed outside. The figure represents a stereotypical Native American man with headdress, beaded shirt, buckskin pants. Similar examples have been seen in other forms of traditional media as well. Television shows like Seinfeld, and Family Guy, show similar featured Native American stereotyped characters. The  Native American statue follows patterns of negative stereotypes that reside in popular Western themed movies, comics, and television shows. The figure as well as the name of store represents a society that has taken over a once sacred Indigenous location, and celebrate the colonization and removal of the community, by placing their “trophy” of the Native American situated outside the Western themed grocery store.

Sources:

Bergland, Renée. The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects. University Press of New England, 2000. Page 22.

Boyd, Colleen E. Phantom Past, Indigenous Presence: Native Ghosts in North American Culture and History. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 2011.

Mayerfeld Bell, Michael. The Ghosts of Place Theory and Society 26. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997. Page 832.

 

Until Dawn: The Western Depiction of a “Wendigo”

Until Dawn is a 3^rd person horror adventure game set in an isolated cabin in the northern mountains of Alberta, Canada. In the game, you take control of 9 friends; Josh, Jessica, Sam, Emily, Mike, Ashley, Matt, Chris, and Beth, who return to Beth’s family cabin one year after a tragic event. Throughout the game, the player controls multiple characters between chapters, often exploring both new and familiar surroundings previously examined. The main story revolves around the teenagers, as shortly after reaching the cabin, something or someone begins to hunt them down. Every interaction, dialogue choice and button press or button miss press impacts the character’s path through their portion of the story.

Until Dawn uses multiple characters to portray a terrifying story

 

The “butterfly effect” as the game describes it early on, is the primary mechanism that revolves around the player’s choices and weaves them into pieces of the story. Every choice the player makes shifts the story into another direction. For example, if the player decides one character should be killed or accidentally fails a chase scene, where button combination completions are required to see a character safely cross a dangerous section of the level, the player will lose a piece of the story that only that player can acquire. Ultimately, player choice having such a greater impact on the story is an essential mechanic that keeps the player emotionally invested in ensuring every character contributes to their portion of the game.

The story involving the playable characters is not the only story told, however, as the player explores the mountain environment, they will find side story tidbits revolving around the previous residents living up on the mountain. The game describes the mountain as having a checkered history. The game details that in 1893, “the Cree” were the original habitants among the mountain. Upon colonial expansion, Tin and Radium were discovered in the region causing a massive mining boom. After a lack of maintenance, a devastating structural collapse in the mine caused 30 miners to be trapped in the intricate tunnels of the pit. After numerous days of surviving on only a small stream of water, 12 miners resorting to cannibalism. The miners were found and rescued and placed into the recently built Blackwood Asylum, where the miners would slowly turn into cannibalistic creatures. In the early 1990’s, property near the Asylum was purchased by the American movie mogul Bob Washington and a vacation home was soon constructed. This vacation home is the location surrounding the player’s main story.

Multiple interactive cut scenes determine if characters live or die throughout the game

 

Until Dawn uses multiple Indigenous representations throughout the game. Firstly, the Indigenous group that the story revolves around is Cree. The Wendigo depicted in the game are based on legends that describe a creature or monster who transforms from a human into a cannibalistic monster. The story states that anyone who ate human flesh would run the risk of being possessed by the Wendigo around the Blackwood Mountain. During a playthrough, if the player finds the “Strangers Journal,” it describes that the Cree believed that the Blackwood Mountain was sacred land. It also details that prophecies were foretold of butterflies guiding ones to wither good or bad fortune. As mining began to disrupt the sacred grounds, the Wendigo was released. The sacredness of the land to the Cree people is also depicted in another hidden collectible: Melinda Washington’s Native American Letter, where she writes to Dr. C.J. Swaffham from the Race and Ethnicity Department in Vancouver. The letter reads:

“Thank you for your response. It’s good to know that the tribe still feel an attachment to the land here, even if we have a few unfortunate problems (graffiti, people sleeping in the outbuildings). This is their ancestral home. I have made contact with the descendants of the tribe and intended to make a donation to their elder council. Healing the wounds of the past won’t be easy, but I feel it’s a step that is necessary.”

 The attachment that once solidly connected the Cree nation to the Blackwood Mountain region would dissipate by the destructive measures of mining in the area.

Over consuming resources are also described as another symptom of transforming a person into a Wendigo. Basil Johnson argues in; The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway, that over consuming of an individual rather than supporting his/her family can also contribute to the Wendigo becoming stronger.

“There is nothing more harmful in humankind’s inclination to rest, play, celebrate, feast, and pursue hobbies. The trouble is that some people don’t know when to stop and appear not to care, because nature, or Kitchi-manitou, has endowed them with slightly more than is good for them: appetites, passions, and desires that dilute their talents, common sense, and judgment. It doesn’t take much. A fraction too much or too little of anger, envy, or lust is enough to create an imbalance in a person’s character to impair his or her judgment and weaken his or her resolution” (Johnston 223-224)

 Johnston describes the rapid western colonial expansion, similarly to the development mentioned in the game, as a crucial contributor to the survival of the Wendigo entity. “Profit, wealth, and power are the ends of business. Anything that detracts from or diminishes the anticipated return, whether it is taking pains not to violate the rights of others or take steps to ensure that the land remain fertile and productive for future generations, must, it seems, be circumvented”(Johnston, 237). When exploring the miner’s side story clues, the player would find out the history of the miners themselves and 1952 mine collapse. The game also makes mention in a Journal clue found as a secondary source of information about the slow transition into Wendigo’s as some would resort to cannibalism. It is important to note that the game designers did not use resource extracting as another symptom that would lead the miners to turn into Wendigo’s, only the idea of resorting to cannibalism set the transformation into play.

Another example of Indigenous images in Until Dawn is through the totems that are scattered throughout the environment for the player to acquire. There is a total of thirty different totems to collect, with six different types: death, danger, loss, guidance,  and fortune. These totems are explained to the player to be based on Indigenous beliefs that signify prophecies are appearing in the form of a butterfly, with different colors relating to various meanings behind them.

The six different types of totems to collect

After acquiring a totem, the player receives a mini cut scene depicting a future event, allowing the player the opportunity to avoid danger or follow a certain route. Acquiring all 30 totems gives the player an additional movie that depicts “The Stranger” character talking to his grandfather, who both devoted their lives to protecting the mountain from the Wendigo. The duo attempt to fight off the main antagonist Makkapitew, resulting in the death of the grandfather as well as the tragic incident that occurred during the first chapter of the game.

Totems upon acquiring all 30

 

Until Dawn plays with an iconic 1980’s horror movie trope setting to tell a story of isolation, desperation, and revenge. The mystery surrounding the Wendigo is solely upon the fear surrounding nonhuman actions like cannibalism rather than a multitude of factors that could change a character into a Wendigo like gluttony, or cannibalism as Johnston describes earlier. The depiction of wendigoes as a “mythical” or nonhuman like entity that completely dissociates the creature from a human. The game uses Wendigoes as creatures that only transform through nonhuman actions (cannibalism) and not that of massive resource extraction or other harmful actions caused by greed or desires.

Sources:

Books

Johnston, Basil. The Manitous:  The Spiritual World of the Ojibway. Key Porter Books Limited, 1995.