<p> This paper is about locating the meaning of a series of games known as the <i>Dark Souls</i> 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 <i>The Dharma Bums</i> as an emblem of the counter cultural 60s. I argue that the <i>Dark Souls</i> 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. </p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10637267 |
| Date | 14 April 2018 |
| Creators | Menuez, Paolo Xavier Machado |
| Publisher | Portland State University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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