Apocalyptic souls: the existential (anti) hero metaphor in the Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes games
Journal Title: Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology - Year 2015, Vol 6, Issue 1
Abstract
In the present study, I drew a correlation between Søren Kierkegaard’s (1813-1855) existentialist theory and apocalyptic representations in the Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes video games (Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Kojima Productions, 2004, 2010 and 2014). In this successful franchise, the game’s main character, ‘Snake’ personifies ‘the knight of infinite resignation,’ the ‘tragic hero’ in ‘the infinite movement’ towards the achievement of ‘higher causes’. Also, Snake’s mentor ‘The Boss’, who sacrifices herself in order to reconcile the world from its 1960’s Cold War antagonism would represent another Kierkegaard notion called ‘the knight of faith’, who believes in his/her faith (the cause) above all things. Such character traits enrich both gameplay and game narrative and the overall experience by introducing philosophical inquiries to the player. The methodology utilized was a free-form semiotic framework with emphasis on the symbolic representations along with Kierkegaard’s existentialism and other philosophical constructs as well.
Authors and Affiliations
Daniel de Vasconcelos Guimarães
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP41023
- DOI -
- Views 235
- Downloads 0
Hermeneutics of reason: the principle of common rationality as premise of understanding the Other(s)
The central argument defended in this paper is made up of two interconnected statements: i) that a minimally defined rationality is an anthropological constant, being shared by all conceivable human cultures; and ii) t...
Once upon a tale On the foundational role of narrative in constructing linguistic and social experience
This paper illustrates the importance of narrativity as a cognitive and linguistic procedure, and the role of storytelling as a social practice. After examining the structural analogy between the “story frame” and our...
Utopian horizons of downshifting in Romania. Some mediated stories
These research notes explore the political potential of online storytelling for the incipient downshifting movement in Romania. Qualitative content analysis techniques are used on a series of articles published in Dece...
Stories with and about wall carpets. An anthropological account on the inhabitation of Ursari Romanian Roma
The aim of this paper is to discuss the ways in which objects assist us in telling small stories about our positions in relation to our inhabited space, but also in relation to perceived dichotomised categories like us...
Schumpeter, Joseph Alois, 1939, Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical, and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process, New York and London, McGraw – Hill Book Company Inc
Joseph Schumpeter’s economic thought is indissolubly linked to the study of entrepreneurship and innovation. In Business Cycles, the book planned to be ‘the crown of his work’, Schumpeter carefully crafted a theoretica...