Assignment 3 - Dead Space

Part 1

In Ovid's Metamorphoses there are many stories within the first six books which have a connection with one another. In the first two books alone there are a myriad of tales that take place regarding the sexual desires of the gods. In the first book Cupid shoots Apollo with an arrow that makes him fall in love with Daphne and then shoots Daphne with an arrow making her flee from Apollo. This continues until Daphne is transformed into a tree which does not deter Apollo, who then proceeds to grope the tree. This basic premise of a god chasing a virgin happens several times just within the first two books. Jupiter chases Io, Callisto, and Europa all by himself in individual scenarios. Ovid seems to make the mighty gods of Roman culture seem like they are in the height of puberty with their hormones running wild instead of stoic beings of great moral fiber.

In book I and III, Ovid incorporates the use of magical creation of humans. After Jupiter creates the flood that kills all of humanity except for Deucalion and Pyrrha, they are instructed by Themis to repopulate the world. To do this they toss stones behind their backs and upon hitting the ground, each stone turns into a human. In book III Cadmus and his group of merry men are on a quest to establish a city based on the prophecy told to them by Apollo. A serpent kills Cadmus’ men, which is then killed by Cadmus. Minerva then instructs Cadmus to bury the deceased serpent’s fangs in the ground and upon being sown men grow out of the ground and fight until only a few remain which end up creating Thebes and thus fulfilling the prophecy.

Ovid also invents sly ways of transitioning from one seemingly random story to the next with some of the best segues ever written by man. When Mercury is sent to kill the many-eyed monster Argus, he lulls the monster to sleep by telling another story. This essentially gives Ovid the chance to tell a story within a story. In book I Ovid transitions from one character to the next by using friendship as a tool. Epaphus is the son of Zeus and Io and is introduced at the end of book I. At the beginning of book II Epaphus challenges the notion that his friend Phaeton is the son of Apollo and this makes Phaeton begin his story in the second book.

Ovid’s overall theme of the Metamorphoses is not surprisingly about the change that people and deities can undergo. This theme is found in almost all of the myths and tales throughout the first six books. By constantly reminding the reader about the changes taking place within the characters, Ovid is correctly using the Lens of Unification. Every chance Ovid gets to tell a story he takes it as an opportunity to show the audience how the character can change. Therefore he successfully uses the lens to the extreme and is essentially beating a dead horse enough to warrant a criminal investigation.

Ovid also successfully incorporates the Lens of Resonance into the Metamorphoses. Almost every person is intrigued by change. Change happens all around us, in the seasons, animals, people, technology, etc. and these changes allow for something new and potentially exciting or frightening to occur. This core theme of unexpected change is intriguing and makes the reader want to know more about what will happen to the character they thought they knew. Cupid suddenly shoots two people and a static relationship now becomes a whirlwind chase of lust that ends in tree groping. Who would have ever seen that ending coming? After experiencing a few of these moments it makes the reader want to continue just to see what else could possibly happen.

Part 2

Recently I have been playing Dead Space which was released in 2008 by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. Dead Space’s main story deals with the main character, Isaac Clarke (an homage to famous science-fiction writers Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) answering a distress call from the USG Ishimura. Isaac is not your typical space marine character but is instead a more humble and believable engineer. Throughout the game Isaac must try and repair different parts of the ship while rescuing the surviving crew members and escaping successfully. Of course there are enemies that are trying to prevent Isaac from escaping as well as living.

The main theme of the game is one of loneliness and the idea that Isaac is different than the generic soldiers that are prevalent in other games that are located in space. The theme of loneliness is enhanced by the use of a variant on the third-person shooter scheme. The camera is located much closer to the camera effectively reducing the field of view available and making looking behind the character impossible. This creates a claustrophobic and isolated feeling because you cannot check around you to see if you are safe.

To add to the atmosphere there are no cut scenes, menus, or HUDs within the game. All of the action takes place with the user in complete control. The HUD is replaced with a health on the back of Isaac’s suit and each weapon has a method of seeing its current ammo capacity. All menus are dealt with by having holograms appear within the game. If you want to check the map in this game it displays a holographic map that is semi-transparent created by a part of Isaac’s armor. Using the map or any other menu does not make you safe and an alien can and will kill you while checking.

Throughout the game there are portions that also lend to the feeling of isolation. Some portions of the ship do not have gravity and allow you to freely roam and “fly” from one surface to the other in a completely foreign manner. Other portions of the game take place outside or in damaged portions of the ship which are vacuums and therefore have no air within them. This makes them especially dangerous because you only have a limited amount of oxygen and you will die if you run out. Also since there is no air within a vacuum this also means that there is no sound. Normally you can hear a shuffling sound or a monster’s roar before they are within attacking range, but in a vacuum you can run directly into one and not even know it.

Another important aspect of the game is that you are not an elite soldier of any kind. You play as an engineer with no real physical prowess. Throughout the game you pick up various weapons that were originally designed solely for engineering purposes. The main weapon is the Plasma Cutter which fires a laser beam that is approximately a foot wide and was originally used to help chip away pieces of boulders. Two of the weapons available are the rifle and flamethrower which in most games would be considered some of the best weapons, but in Dead Space I found myself using them only as a last resort and instead focusing on using the Plasma Cutter or Ripper (remote controlled titanium saw). This focus on the engineer turn the generic idea of a strong brute space marine on its head and it is successfully done.