Ovid and Game Theme Analysis

Ovid writes in an interesting literary time, essentially following the myth of Homer and other ancient cultures while paving the way for modern writing that forms our current culture. Much of Ovid's Metamorphoses is explanatory on the surface, explaining the origins of various flora, fauna and phenomena. Plant and animal origins are very common in the Metamorphoses, possibly always resulting from the transformation of a mortal. Often these mortals are being punished by the gods, as is the case with the sisters turned into bats by Bacchus or Arachne turning into a spider, but mortals also turn into animals and plants as a means of seeking sanctuary or refuge from the horrors around them. Many a girl is turned into a bear or laurel or frankincense within the pages of the Metamorphoses, sometimes with divine intervention and sometimes without. Tereus transforms into a bird out of pure grief from the horrible act he has inadvertently committed, showing that a deity's hand is not always necessary for these metamorphoses, even if they do have some indirect influence on how events play out. These origin stories are interesting because they explain how different elements of the natural world came to be, not unlike many ancient stories from many ancient cultures, but they are also deeply metaphorical, allowing their tortured subjects to escape human nature, either their own or others, but changing into something not human. The punishments, too, are always logical in how the victim is transformed, even if Ovid makes the point that the punishment was unjust. I definitely see some blending between older mythological narrative elements and more modern literary elements in Ovid's work; he always seems to have a sharper point right under the surface of his work, such as the nature of love, or the purpose of art within society. (Within the books there are multiple references to weaving and singing, some of the primary artistic mediums besides Ovid's own.)

Through affairs, rapes, acts of vengeance and jealousy, the gods portrayed in Ovid's text seem to do more to antagonize the mortals within the book than they do to help or benefit them. Ovid doesn't present this as being because of any in-born malicious intent, but instead as a result of their remarkably human emotions and characteristics (Juno's jealousy) and their vastly differing world-view. (Jupiter's entitlement issues) When Minerva weaves her tapestry in contest with Arachne, she presents a world of structure and order, whereas Arachne presents the gods raping the mortals in a horrendous scene. I would not at all be surprised if Ovid is presenting his view of the misunderstandings and struggles politically within Rome at the time. I feel that the class-struggle feeling of the mortals versus the not-so-divine divines is apparent enough that I would label in a resonant theme of Ovid's work, supported and unified by the many acts and plots performed and planned by the gods against the people. Again, however, this is not because of any innate evilness on the part of the gods, but instead due to their feelings and emotions, as well as their robust power which allows them to plot and then act upon these feelings.

The game Morrowind has a very interesting theme that I will analyze from the perspective of the lenses presented in Schell's book. Morrowind does a great job of presenting its theme in a resonant way by use of many physical aspects of the world it has built and also by using many cultural elements created through player interactions with the thousands of NPCs within the world.

What Morrowind does a better job of more than anything else is make the player feel like he or she is really within a foreign world and culture.

The most obvious way Morrowind achieves this sense of the exotic is through the many physical elements of the world. First and foremost, the actual landmass you explore is a massive volcanic island, something that is exotic to most players. Because of this volcano and the story's events, the areas nearer to the volcano, the “Ashlands” as they are called, are plagued by massive whirling blight storms that disease the inhabitants and obscures your vision as you attempt to travel through them. The Ashlands are also marked by large rock spire structures, not unlike stalagmite, but without an obvious formative cause. Throughout the more fertile areas of Morrowind the landscape is dotted with gigantic mushrooms often in places where trees would be, giving the world a very alien feel. The creatures too are often very strange, from the floating jellyfish-like Netch that are kept in fields and killed for their leather to the dog-sized Kwama that have entire hives and colonies with foragers, warriors and queens.

The architecture of Morrowind bridges the gap between the physical appearance of foreignness and the foreign cultural elements of the inhabitants. The indigenous architecture of Morrowind comes in several styles, in the southern delta buildings are made of a sort of adobe style in a flat, blocky style with roofs accessible via trapdoor. The large city of Vivec is made of a similar material, but it is divided into huge, multi-tiered quarters, each a massive building the size of a city block, sitting in the water of the southern coast and connected to each other with footbridges. This style is interesting because while it might have been influenced by african, Islamic, or Native American architecture, it's synthesized well enough to where the influence is not immediately apparent. In the northeast the buildings become even more alien, as the main structures are actually massive plants grown my mages and hollowed out. These tall, spiraling towers have a bulbous quality and from a distance seem to tangle together. The interiors are strange and seem to be coated in a amber substance. In another part of the country there's a building that is actually made out of the exoskeleton of a massive, prehistoric crablike creature, with smaller rooms and living spaces built within. In addition to these and many other types of strange structures, Morrowind is part of the larger empire of Tamriel and as such, even though it's a backwater province, is home to many colonial influenced Imperial towns. These are filled with architecture that is very familiar to the average player, cottages, inns and castles, mostly, and they serve to ground the game in the traditional fantasy genre. They also provide a great source of contrast to Morrowind's intense culture, both in the style of their architecture, and in the inevitable cultural conflict that arises when these foreigners meet natives.

Morrowind's culture is sharply defined from the very beginning as being quite different from the player's own. The native people are the dark elves, their ashy skin reflecting their volcanic homeland, and they are notoriously xenophobic within the game's lore, most likely because of their geographic isolation. The player arrives to the country by boat, and is allowed to choose his or her race when creating a character, including the option of playing as a dark elf. No matter what the player chooses, however, the locals will always refer to him or her as “outlander”, your status determined not only by your race, but also by your implied mannerisms that characters inevitably pick up on. (I think if there was one thing I would want from this game, it would be that as the player replays the game and becomes more familiar with Morrowind's culture and politics, they could prove themselves through conversation and gain favor in that way) This sense of isolation is reinforced by the multitudes of culturally-specific references to politics, important people, institutions, language and religion that permeate the game. Most of this is either eventually explained to you or can be learned through independent study with the many books scattered throughout the game. Still, the sheer mass of information on top of the strangeness of the world around you make Morrowind quite an experience.