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The Downward Spiral: Postmodern Consciousness as Buddhist Metaphysics in the Dark Souls Video Game Series |
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| Author |
Menuez, Paolo Xavier Machado (著)
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| Date | 2018.04.14 |
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| Pages | 146 |
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| Publisher | ProQuest LLC |
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| Publisher Url |
https://www.proquest.com/
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| Location | Ann Arbor, MI, US [安娜堡, 密西根州, 美國] |
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| Content type | 博碩士論文=Thesis and Dissertation |
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| Language | 英文=English |
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| Degree | master |
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| Institution | Portland State University |
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| Department | World Languages and Literatures |
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| Advisor | Jon Holt; Laurence Kominz |
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| Keyword | Language; literature and linguistics; Social sciences; Dark soul; Japan; Postmodernism; RPG; Video games |
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| Abstract | This paper is about locating the meaning of a series of games known as the Dark Souls series in relation to contemporary social conditions in Japan. I argue that the game should be thought of as an emblem of the current cultural zeitgeist, in a similar way one might identify something like Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums as an emblem of the counter cultural 60s. I argue that the Dark Souls series expresses in allegorical form an anxiety about living in a time where the meaning of our everyday actions and even society itself has become significantly destabilized. It does this through a fractured approach to story-telling, that is interspersed with Buddhist metaphysics and wrapped up in macabre, gothic aesthetic depicting the last gasping breath of a once great kingdom. This expression of contemporary social anxiety is connected to the discourse of postmodernity in Japan. Through looking at these games as a feedback loop between text, environment and ludic system, I connect the main conceptual motifs that structure the games as a whole with Osawa Masachi’s concept of the post-fictional era and Hiroki Azuma’s definition of the otaku. |
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| Hits | 373 |
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| Created date | 2023.04.19 |
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| Modified date | 2023.04.19 |
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