305 Question 3: Borderlands 2

3. Spectacle: Choose a recent media product: a videogame, TV programme, film or News story which has both memory/history/the past and power as key themes, or key aspects of its narrative.

1. Note down the ways in which your examples presents ‘the past’ or memory to you (style / age effect conveyed through stylistic techniques)

2. How is meaning created and why?

3. What does the message achieve and who benefits?

4. What makes the story or the presentation of it, spectacular? What does this achieve?

5. Does your example represent power and if so, what power is represented and how?

Borderlands 2: The past shows even within the first few seconds of the video game Borderlands 2, showing how the past of the previous game story has greatly effected this one, this is in fact a constant theme throughout the game. With the actions of the previous games protagonists (both in Borderlands 1 and in the time between games) has effected this world you are new exploring.,

This meaning is created through cut scenes as well as gameplay, with the quests and interactions with the games characters, showing how the past actions had caused issues a lot of issues for now such as; from spawning a cult around her where the main thing they do is burn themselves and others, have been fighting and causing a constant gang war.

It could be said that a main theme throughout the game is power and greed. As the games main villain a mask wearing mad man, Handsome Jack, a twisted and powerful CEO of a company that spans galaxies. From the start of the game he is trying to kill you and throughout it he is taunting you with either; how rich he is (such as buying a living diamond pony), how he is both smarter then you and the hero of this story. As the game progresses his fairly childish taunts to the psychopathic threats of a clear mad man. And of course its you causing this change in tone and the taunting. As it evolves from simple things like .’I was gonna call it “piss-for-brains” in honor of you’, into ‘This is my vow, every friend, every child, every person you ever passed on the street. I’m gonna kill them all.’ Really shows how much you, the player, has gotten to him and this isn’t shown through cut scenes, its actions you take that get to him.

Because this is a video game, so allot of the spectacle is caused by a mix of three things; Game play, Music and art style along with this the games narrative helps build spectacle and drama along with the player helping to do this as well.

“In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.”

(Guy Debord)

I can see why a suggestion of emptiness that comes with a lot of spectacle. looking at video games just as one. looking at the way they have involved a over the top amount of both color, excitement and loud sounds really raise up the spectacle.This is added more so brought forward by the fact you are the one doing this…its not a book or a film telling you to have these feelings of spectacle and awe, because its a game they can make you feel these things as you explore through this deadly world of death, guns and money.