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Resistance: Fall of Man
I’m staying quiet on the whole Church of England vs Sony thing. However, one line from the C of E’s response did catch my eye:
“However, we do not move from the position that we are against violence and especially the gun violence seen in this portrayal of the Cathedral.”
So… should there be an invasion of aliens bent on killing and maiming all humans… and should there be military personnel sheltering inside Manchester cathedral…
What, pray tell, would the Church of England like said military personnel to do? Turn the other cheek? Fall on their knees and pray for forgiveness? Perhaps make a substantial donation to the Church in the hopes that God will intervene and save them all?
Yeah, that will ensure the survival of the human race. Right. In the immortal words of Colonel Carl Jenkins:
“You disapprove? Well, too bad! We’re in this war for the species, boys and girls…”
Manhunt 2
In other news, the BBFC have finally refused to approve a game – Manhunt 2. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, a game showing “unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal slaying and the sheer lack of alternative pleasures on offer to the gamer” sounds uncompromisingly grim and the world would probably not be any worse off without it. On the other hand… it seems like an awful lot of equally violent slasher films are approved recently – Paradise Lost a.k.a Turistas (in the rest of the world), Captivity, Saw III. It seems rather unfair. Seriously, take a look at the plot keywords for Saw III. Here’s a sample:
- Mutilation
- Stabbed In The Head
- Neck Breaking Scene
- Drill
- Severed Foot
- Gruesome
Does portraying all that filmed fear and pain and violence magically become okay as long as the villain pauses for a moment of contemplation?
*sigh*
My feelings on game (and other) censorship are as follows:
- I thought the whole point of having an adult classification was that adults (in general) can be trusted to make their own judgements. Does that no longer apply when the fictional bad guy fails to get his comeuppance? Let the game through with an 18 rating and let those who want to play it have their twisted idea of fun. I won’t buy it any more than I wanted to see Saw III. If a game based around unrelenting brutality does become a blockbuster multi-million-pound hit… UK culture probably has some fundamental underlying problems that need more than censorship to address.
- The world is seriously fucked-up enough. Take a look at today’s news. Do we really need this sort of shit in our fantasy entertainment, too?
The problem is – Counterstrike has an unrelenting agenda for the player – kill other human beings. Whilst it might be grim, I’m not sure the BBFC can countenance the fact that they gave I Spit On Your Grave a rating yet refused one for this rather purile game.
I think this argument has really gotten out of hand – it’s a game after all. Furthermore, have you ever really been affected by a game? I can think of a few films right off the bat that have shocked me, made me think, me me concerned etc, but rarely have I done so with games. Manhunt 2 is cartoony and silly, and a bit of fiction. Hell the first one was almost set up like The Running Man.
Wait, Counterstrike was refused a rating? Really? (I was living in Singapore until 1999 so my UK knowledge prior to that is pretty hazy)
And I Spit on Your Grave… I suppose it’s a) revenge for a despicable crime (coz, y’know… vigilante justice is sooooo right) and b) that whole non-interactive=different chestnut that keeps popping up.
Both poor excuses in my book.
Video games suffer from the preconceived notion that they are not the equals of, entertainment or artistic wise, books, movies or even music. Video games have surpassed rock and rap music as the scapegoat for all of society’s ills.
While I don’t condone or enjoy the type of entertainment provided in Manhunt, I don’t place blame on it for the problems of a society. People should focus on the causes of problems rather than the symptoms.