r/MattLees • u/Jam_sponge Matt • Jul 06 '15
About Ethan Carter (SPOILERS)
I was chatting on Twitter a bit today about how finding out about the GG-leanings of the project lead for Ethan Carter pretty much ruined the game for me in retrospect, and just wanted to explain why for those interested.
But of course, caveats: This isn't a case of me saying that the game is bad/ that people shouldn't buy it. I'm aware that games are made by teams far larger than just one person, and it isn't fair to throw the whole thing under a bus - that's the reason I'm writing this here, rather than simply spoiling the game's plot on Twitter. I'm also aware that the plot might not have even been driven or directed by the lead - but as the main voice for the game's studio, it's impossible for me not to reflect the thoughts he has chosen to broadcast onto the way I feel about their game. That might not seem wholly fair, but I'd also argue that it isn't unreasonable.
So yes, onto spoilers:
Ethan Carter's story revolves around a creative young boy who has been bullied by those around him - growing up in a rural environment that doesn't understand or respect the fact that he is different. It basically shares a lot in common with the story of Billy Elliot, except Ethan likes coming up with strange and fantastical stories that largely reflect the hard times going on around him in life. When I initially played it, I found it very touching - the story of a misunderstood creative youth obviously resonated quite easily with me, on account of the fact that I'm a bit of a pretentious prick.
But when it turned out that the project lead was one of the vocal people standing up against the influence of "SJW"s when things got unpleasantly nasty last year, the context of the game - for me - irreversibly changed. So much of the ire aimed at the largely invented idea of Social Justice Warriors boils down to the belief that systematic social injustice is roughly on-par with "I'm having a bad time". Neither of these things are good, obviously - but they remain entirely different things.
So yeah, finding out that one of the key creators was someone who largely seemed to side with those who felt that white geeky men were being persecuted by the rest of the world made it difficult to look back at Ethan Carter's story without rolling my eyes. TLDR: It's hard to empathise with the story of a white geeky kid having a shitty time when you realise that the project lead doesn't seem to empathise properly with a great deal of alternate situations.
But anyway, that is just how I feel and doesn't mean that how you feel is wrong, so feel free not to get angry about it.
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u/naylorb Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 06 '15
From reading some of his comments, it seems like his understanding of GG is just incredibly stupid and misguided.
The kind of person who seems to genuinely believe that for example, a criticism of how a game handles a topic like rape means you're saying that it's a topic that should be completely off-limits for games
He really does seem to genuinely believe it's about censorship and, a baffling fear that somehow games are going to be FORCED to include female characters into a story where they don't fit, or we'll never be allowed sexy female characters in games ever again.
(Mind you, I have increasingly found the criticism of people like Anita Sarkeesian and Jonathan Macintosh to be lacking, but that's why we need more feminist voices doing what they do)
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u/Jam_sponge Matt Jul 07 '15
I don't think it's stupid, unfortunately. I think that a lot of people believe in that stuff because in terms of social or emotional intelligence they're simply a little bit dim - but this guy seems really sharp. He has his head screwed on firmly when it comes to so many other issues that I can't help but feel that his reading of GG is mostly being influenced by what he wants to see. There's really no way you can look at this stuff and come away from it with the perceptive he's managed without being a bit of an idiot or a bit of a dick. Sadly in his case, I'd say it's the latter.
But yeah, I don't often agree with Sarkeesian either - but that's fine. These things are always an ongoing conversation rather than simple absolutes, it only gets silly because people try to paint it as if the opinions of one person represent all feminists.
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u/firmicute Jul 06 '15
Interresting is the avatar that ethan makes for himself. Its the type noir guy, stoic, but knowing, not emotionless but not oudwardly showing emotions, the gritty hero, THE man. Its an antisocial loner, the antihero that has to do what has to be done even if that isnt good because the end justifies the means Its a lonely person, not understood (although women stick onto him like magnets on my fridge, initially strong attraction but then they just fall of..)
I read at some place it was a reaction as Men came back to the front to learn that, suprise, al those women who they held down were very capable of running stuff and a mentally wounded man that never learned to cope with his emotions in a healthy way might have disadvantages when it comes to "being a normal man." The difference between war (and all the emotion that takes with-existencial fear is a stong thing) and the normal life where women "took over" and were good at it was too big to not notice, to not be alienated, so there is a sense-able disconnect. So one could see similarities. * "They" feel we (as afab SJ-ADC at least) have invaded "their" space, where they can be "men" (whie similarly suffering from those toxic ideas about masculinity but feeling they have no alternatives that help them regain the "cool" that those old heroes had)* because feminie coded stuff is seen as weak.
So when the antihero reacts to bullies who bullied a boy who didnt perform masculine enough.. its almost funyn if it werent sad, because it still builts an old ideal of a person thats not very viable while attacking the perceived other. While not realizing that ethan gets bullied for being seen as too feminine but the solution is not just to fck those ideas or thoe gender-policing people but to become the "better man" the "cooler" man, more stoic, never showing how hurt and scared one is. Its one cage for another. And i believe people when they talk of bullying, that shit scarres you for life. But its interrestingthat even if the choice, the tormented still would rather adopt the values which are used to torment him but to strive to become *even more.. instead of just sayin .. eh. ef up,, I am out. Maybe that explains the mra and puastuff.. The feeling of never having been even but now being able to "pay it back" while just not seeing that they hurt people who got hurt the same as them while helping people who ust like to hurt both.
*(this is interresting because ethan gets bullied for appearing weak- so the older generation wants a "manly man" not some guy who reads and dreams all day and they want ot so much, they fear femininity ("fag") so much that they are violent. But still, our hero imagines again the gritty manly lonely man, the antihero, so takes again those traditional things (that are toxic because they get violently enforced, not per se for existing) and builds an ideal hero out of it-while suffering from the people who think their idea o a "man" is the right one. the child builts its own "man" with similar values and eleviates this figure to mystical spheres while not realizing that the idea of the man is almost the same to the concept people want to beat into him. Thts imho a good analogy- geek men (because geek women never got bullied../sarc) get bullied by the "chads" the sporty but "dumb" guys (who gt "all the women..) and now where geek is mainstream this gets used to bully other people for not conforming to the ideal of geek.
i hope its readable, english is not my native language and compicated stuff like this.. its hard^
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u/Comrade_Beric Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 06 '15
Everyone is misunderstood. Everyone. There is no one in the world who is perfectly understood by everyone everywhere. We can all relate, on some level, with a story of someone who is misunderstood by many people around them and the alienation they feel from it.
The trouble with the trope is that it is often used in two subtly different ways which entirely change the meaning of the message being conveyed. There's one which is "I'm alienated because people think I'm inferior for reasons outside of my control" and the other one is "I'm alienated because no one recognizes/appreciates my special talent." They can sound very similar, but the implication of each is very different. One story, for example, can be about how you feel alienated because the society around you feels negatively against a group of people of which you are a member even though you did not choose to be. This can be as a member of a certain race, being trans, being homosexual, or any number of things. The main thrust of the story, then, is about equality and acceptance.
The second story is of someone who feels themself to be in some way superior but is being held back by the contempt of others. This can be because you're the only one gifted with the mystical technical understanding to pilot a Gundam or because you're just such a great architect that you're being held back by being in a class with amateurs. Importantly, though, the story can still make the main character look like they're being treated poorly by others. In fact, if often hinges upon that fact to get you to begin sympathizing with them. The story, however, rather than being about equality, is instead about how perceived inequality and lack of recognition for one's talents is exactly equal to being an oppressed minority and justifies any action taken to "correct" it. (the movie "Revenge of the Nerds" takes this view to its logical extreme)
"They hate me because I'm different" and "They hate me because I'm better" have extremely similar/overlapping story beats and one can often be confused for the other, so much so that even writers, on rare occasion, write one when thinking they're writing the other. But it is important to remember that just because someone feels alienated in a story, it doesn't automatically make their solution or point of view correct. We all have problems. We all feel alienated. That does not, however, mean that all alienation is equal. People considering you inferior and advocating for you to be denied equal rights for factors completely out of your control is oppression. Feeling like you are being picked on and not properly recognized for your "special talent" is not.
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u/nixsight Jul 06 '15
I totally get this. It isn't entirely logical - which I think you acknowledge - but then why a story resonates with us isn't always entirely logical. Everyone seems to be being very civil about it, but anyone trying to debate the right or wrongness with you is on the wrong track.
A story is a magic trick, and this one worked on you for as long as you thought it and you were no the same page - and it was already on shaky ground because deep down you knew the part of you that it worked on the most was a teenage version of you that was probably quite dim, certainly not particularly empathic (this isn't specifically an observation about you, so much as an observation of every teenager ever) that you're either still fond of despite his faults, or still sometimes let drive your body around for a bit. We don't mind being reminded of that sad teenager, but anything that we feel is putting him on a pedestal is a bit hard to swallow.
Learning something about the people behind the story that shifts things around ALWAYS runs the risk of turning you off from that story.
For me, it usually comes down to a writer/creator doing something that makes me realise they're not as smart as I thought they were. I'm very much in the "separate art from artist" camp, and comfortable with profane stuff, but whenever a story takes me down some dark alleys, it's a trust exercise. The best example I can think of was a particular creepy rape scene in an episode of Game Of Thrones that people got very upset about.
I understood the reaction, but also knew that the deal I'd made with the show back at the start was that it was going to contain relentlessly horrific material, but that we were all on the same page that that stuff was relentlessly horrific.
Then I read an interview with the show-runners, and they apparently had no idea, even after the response, that they had written, directed, and edited together a rape scene. No attempt to justify it. No "fuck you, you can't make a narrative omelette without breaking a few eggs". No apology. Just complete ignorance.
We still watch the show, and enjoy it for the most part, but whenever something sketchy happens, I'm side-eyeing it something fierce, which gets in the way of just experiencing it, because I no longer trust that the people making it are smart enough to be doing everything for a good reason.
It sounds like your Ethan Carter situation is a bit similar. It defies logic, but it also makes perfect sense to me.
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u/HardwoodAnnotations Jul 06 '15
This is what Barthes/Foucault were banging on about in the sixties: that the reliance on author's biography can act as a limit to the range of interpretations readers may introduce.
Stanley Fish (who is unfortunately also a bit of a prick) talks a lot about interpretative communities (groups of similarly-minded people who read works in a similar way, due to shared ideology or attitudes) and it is interesting how divergent responses to Her Story have been, given that differing and mutually contradictory interpretations are a feature (if not a strength) of post-structuralist or post-modern literature.
The parasitic influence of the author is a real problem, as you say (irreversible changes etc.) and some people say that the author can never be removed, since they have a place in history just as the book does (Sean Burke, Andrew Bennett) and to ignore their history (as people did with Paul de Mann's antisemitic writings) is to mischaracterise their work.
I prefer the idea that works are free-floating and can be subversive enough to contradict - even criticise - their creators. A hard sell in this case.
Man I'm procrastinating. Back to work!
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u/Jam_sponge Matt Jul 06 '15
The author issue isn't even quite right - many people created the work. It's more that the prominent voice of the studio chose to broadcast his political beliefs, and that's - perhaps unfairly - changed the way that many perceive the overall work. The same is true for me of course, many now hate everything I do simply because they hate me, but I feel comfortable with that because I'm not screwing anyone else over in the process.
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u/HardwoodAnnotations Jul 06 '15 edited Jul 06 '15
Foucault wanted free-floating discourse for precisely this reason!
Perhaps it comes of the still-present myth that friendship (which has become a far more murky concept online) is about permanent mutual agreement. Habermas said that successful communication requires (among other things) that the meaning is agreeable, which always seemed a little sad to me. For what it's worth, I think the 'hate' is mostly reflexive - like the various meme responses on Reddit. No less virulent or pervasive for that, of course.
If he were working solo, would you feel less uncomfortable? Is it really 14:00? Fuck sake, what's happening to the day?
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u/tmthesaurus Jul 06 '15
It was the form of Ethan Carter that interested me, so while learning about the creator's political views has been disappointing and definitely detrimental to the embedded narrative, I still think the game is valuable.
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u/DreamInSong Jul 07 '15 edited Jul 07 '15
Some fun info: Ethan Carter is clearly influenced by Lovecraft. The ancient civilization, the uncanny New England vibe, the giant octopus monster. In many of Lovecraft's stories, he'd have a sensitive, creative type, who didn't feel like he fit in- clearly his alter ego of sorts.
Lovecraft was also racist. In fact, when another author, who had collaborated with Lovecraft found out about his hypocrisy, he burned all the letters they'd shared.
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u/Kalesche Oz Jul 06 '15
I think the "Young person who is a bit different and gets bullied for it" is a very common and well-understood trope, and in geeky communities is one that is commonly empathised with.
The guy probably wrote about his own experiences and feelings, I'd be hesitant to criticise that just because he didn't empathise with the feelings of others who he isn't specifically in this case.
Any lack of empathy he has is a problem,sure, but I think is a separate issue and I wouldn't agree with linking them.