Memory and Representation of the Shoah in Video Games: Between the Construction and Reconstruction of Memory

Authors

  • Alberto Venegas Ramos University of Murcia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v10i20.760

Keywords:

Shoah, Videogames, Memory Studies, Visual Studies, Mass culture studies

Abstract

This work is intended to study the way in which the Shoah has been remembered and portrayed in the video game and computer game milieu. In order to obtain a satisfactory answer to this question, we will proceed to examine three specificCall of Duty titles: WWII (Sledgehammer, 2017), Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014) and Through the Darkest of Times(Paintbucket Games, 2019). Each of them addresses and represents the Shoah in different terms, which provides us a general framework to carry out a comparative exercise on its representation within this milieu. The three titles will be examined in terms both of what they show and what they do not show, since the absences and omissions are, in this case, just as relevant as the presences. Via the consultation of various interviews and testimonies, the manifest intentions of their authors to represent, or not, the Shoah and the audio-visual form in which it is represented to the user will be observed, as well as the visual elements of choice. The method to find a satisfactory answer will rest on their comparison with other mass media, most notably film or television, to try and explain the differences and similarities between the respective media formats. This comparative approach will be used in an attempt to integrate the video game into the wider debate on memory and its forms according to different authors so as to contribute two innovative ideas to the current state of the art: the first one, whether video game productions produce their own construction of the past or, on the contrary, reproduce previous reconstructions; and the second one, whether video games fulfil the “duty of memory” or, on the contrary, aestheticize and reify the events happened in the past, contributing to their trivialization and normalization.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Alberto Venegas Ramos, University of Murcia

Alberto Venegas Ramos (Badajoz, 1988), licenciado en Historia por la Universidad de Extremadura (2006-2011), Máster en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria por la Universidad de Extremadura (2011-2012), Máster universitario en métodos y técnicas de investigación histórica por la UNED (2012-2013), profesor de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (desde 2014), doctorando por la Universidad de Murcia con la tesis doctoral: Historia y Videojuegos: La Segunda Guerra Mundial en la cultura y la sociedad digital contemporánea (2017-2019) y autor del libro Pasado interactivo: memoria e historia en el videojuego (Sans Soleil, 2020). Miembro del grupo y proyecto de investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades Historia y Videojuegos 2.0: conocimiento, aprendizaje y proyección del pasado en la sociedad digital (HAR2016-78147-P). Director de revista sobre cultura del videojuego Presura y miembro de la Red Española de Excelencia sobre I+D+i y Ciencia para videojuegos (RIDIVI), proyecto financiado por el Ministerio español de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO) y por la Cátedra de Videojuegos, Gamificación y Juegos Serios de la Universidad de Málaga.

References

Aarón RODRÍGUEZ SERRANO: "Cuando los videojuegos escribieron el Holocausto: Análisis de Wolfenstein: The New Order (Machinegames, 2014)". Historia y Comunicación Social, 19 (2014), pp. 193-207.

Aarón RODRÍGUEZ SERRANO: "Nuevas formas audiovisuales de la representación del Holocausto. Lenguajes postmodernos para la construcción de la memoria". Revista Prisma Social, 6: (2011), pp. 6-22.

Aarón Rodríguez, SERRANO: "Holocausto, nazismo y videojuegos: análisis de Wolfenstein (Raven Software, 2009)". Vivat Academia, 127: (2014), pp. 82-102.

Adam CHAPMAN, Jonas LINDEROTH: "Exploring the limits of play: A case study of representations of Nazism in games". En Torill Elvira MORTENSEN, Jonas LINDEROTH, Ashley ML. BROWN, (Coords.) The Dark Side of Game Play. Nueva York, Routledge, 2015. pp. 137-153.

Adam CHAPMAN: Digitals games as history: how video games represent the past and offer access to historical practice. Londres, Routledge, 2016.

Alberto VENEGAS RAMOS: "El videojuego como forma de memoria estética". Pasado & Memoria. Revista de Historia Contemporánea, 20 (2020), pp. 277-301.

Alberto VENEGAS RAMOS: "Retrolugares, definición, formación y repetición de lugares, escenarios y escenas imaginados del pasado en la cultura popular y el videojuego". Revista de Historiografía, 28: 1 (2018), pp. 323-346.

Alberto VENEGAS RAMOS: Historia y videojuegos: la segunda guerra mundial en la cultura y la sociedad digital contemporánea [tesis doctoral]. Universidad de Murcia, 2020.

Alberto VENEGAS RAMOS: Pasado interactivo: memoria e historia en el videojuego. Editorial Sans Soleil, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2020.

Alejandro BAER: Holocausto: recuerdo y representación. Buenos Aires, Losada, 2006.

Alfonso AMENDOLA: "La visione distopica di Philip K. Dick. Indagine su "The Man in the High Castle": dal romanzo al processo seriale. Philosophy Kitchen. 10 (2019), pp. 35-46.

Alison LANDSBERG. Engaging the Past: Mass Culture and the Production of Historical Knowledge. Columbia University Press, 2015; en Aleida ASSMANN y Sebastian CONRAD (eds.) Memory in a global age: discourses, practices and trajectories. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Andrew J. SALVATI, y Jonathan M. BULLINGER: "Selective Authenticity and the Playable Past", en Matthew K. WILHELM y Andrew B. R. ELLIOTT (Coords.): Playing with the past: Digital games and the simulation of history, Nueva York, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 153-168.

Arturo LOZANO AGUILAR: Víctimas y verdugos en Shoah de C. Lanzmann: Genealogía y análisis de un estado de la memoria del Holocausto. Valencia: Universitat de Valencia, Servei de Publicacions, 2018.

Astrid ERLL y Ann RIGNEY, eds. Mediation, Remediation, and the Dynamics of Cultural Memory. De Gruyter, 2009.

Claude LANZMANN: Shoah. Madrid, Arena Libros, 2003.

Craig A. ANDERSON, Douglas A. GENTILE y Katherine E. BUCKLEY, K. Violent video game effects on children and adolescents: Theory, research, and public policy. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007.

Debra RAMSAY: "Brutal games: Call of duty and the cultural narrative of World War II". Cinema Journal, 54:2 (2015), pp. 94-113.

Debra RAMSAY: American media and the memory of World War Two. Nueva York, Routledge, 2015.

Dominick LACAPRA: Historia y memoria después de Auschwitz. Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2009.

Dominick LACAPRA: Representar el Holocausto: historia, teoría y trauma. Buenos Aires, Prometeo Libros, 2008.

Enzo TRAVERSO: La historia como campo de batalla, Ciudad de México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2017.

Federico PENATE DOMÍNGUEZ: “Heute gehört uns die Galaxie”: Music and Historical Credibility in Wolfenstein: The New Order’s Nazi Dystopia. Game". The Italian Journal of Game Studies. 6 (2017), pp. 71-89.

Georges DIDI-HUBERMAN: Imágenes pese a todo: Memoria visual del Holocausto. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica, 2004.

Gilles LIPOVETSKY y Jean SERROY: La estetización del mundo: vivir en la época del capitalismo artístico. Barcelona: Anagrama, 2015.

Giorgio AGAMBEN: Lo que queda de Auschwitz: El archivo y el testigo. Homo Sacer III. Valencia: Pre-Textos, 2010.

Harrison GISH: "Playing the Second World War: Call of Duty and the Telling of History". Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, 4:2 (2010), pp: 167-180.

Isabel CADENAS CAÑÓN: Poética de la ausencia: Formas subversivas de la memoria en la cultura visual contemporánea. Madrid, Cátedra, 2019.

Jacques RANCIERE: El destino de las imágenes. Buenos Aires: Prometeo, 2011.

Jane L. CHAPMAN, Dan ELLIN y Adam SHERIF (2015): Comics, the Holocaust and Hiroshima. Londres, Springer o Thomas DOHERTY (1996): "Art Spiegelman's Maus: Graphic Art and the Holocaust". American Literature, 68 (1), pp. 69-84.

Jeff HAYTON: "Digital Nazis: Genre, History and the Displacement of Evil in First-Person Shooters". En Daniel H. MAGILOW, Elizabeth BRIDGES y Kristin T. VANDER LUGT (Coords.): Nazisploitation! The Nazi Image in Low-Brow Cinema and Culture, Nueva York, Continuum, 2012, p. 248-269.

Joel PENNEY: "«No Better Way to ‘Experience’World War II»: Authenticity and Ideology in the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor Player Communities". En Nina B. HUNTEMANN y Matthew THOMAS PAYNE, M. (Coords.): Joystick Soldiers: The Politics of Play in Military Video Games. Nueva York, Routledge, (2010), pp. 191-205.

John B. THOMPSON: Los media y la modernidad. Una teoría de los medios de comunicación. Barcelona: Paidós, 1998.

José Luis BREA: Las tres eras de la imagen. Madrid, Akal, 2010.

José Luis MARTÍN PRADA: El ver y las imágenes en el tiempo de Internet. Madrid: Akal, 2018.

Manuel REYES MATE: Memoria de Auschwitz: actualidad moral y política. Madrid, Trotta. 2003.

Manuel-Reyes MATE RUPÉREZ: La herencia del olvido: Ensayos en torno a la razón compasiva. Madrid, Errata Naturae, 2008.

María Jesús FERNÁNDEZ GIL: "Censura 2.0 y Holocausto: el control de contenidos y su impacto en la imagen transnacional del genocidio nazi". Quaderns de Filologia. Estudis Literaris, 20 (2015), pp. 201-217.

Marita SURKEN: Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering. Berkely, University of California Press.

Matthew KAPELL, Andrew B.R. ELLIOTT: Playing with the Past: Digital Games and the Simulation of History. Nueva York, Bloomsbury, 2013.

Norman G. FINKELSTEIN: La industria del Holocausto. Barcelona, Akal. 2014.

Oren BARUCH STIER: Committed to Memory: Cultural Mediations of the Holocaust. Cambridge, University of Massachusetts Press, 2003.

Oren BARUCH STIER: Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory. Nueva Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 2015.

Paul FUSSELL: Tiempos de guerra: conciencia y engaño en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Madrid, Turner, 2003.

Peter NOVICK: Judíos, ¿vergüenza o victimismo? El holocausto en la vida americana. Madrid, Marcial Pons, 2007.

Saul FRIEDLANDER: El Tercer Reich y los judíos (1939-1945), Barcelona, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2016.

Shlomo SAND: El siglo XX en pantalla. Barcelona, Crítica, 2004.

Simone KÜHN, Dimitrij Tycho KUGLER, Katharina SCHMALEN, Markus WEICHENBERGER, Charlotte WITT y Jürgen GALLINAT: "Does playing violent video games cause aggression? A longitudinal intervention study". Molecular psychiatry, 24 (2018), pp. 1220-1234.

Svetlana BOYM: El futuro de la nostalgia. Madrid: Prometeo Libros, 2015.

Timothy SNYDER: Tierra Negra: el Holocausto como historia y advertencia. Barcelona, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2015.

Tzvetan TODOROV: Los abusos de la memoria. Paidós Ibérica, Barcelona, 2013.

Vicente SÁNCHEZ-BIOSCA: "Representar lo irrepresentable, de los abusos a la retórica". En BENET, V. J., y SÁNCHEZ-BIOSCA, V. (Coords.): Decir, contar, pensar la guerra. Valencia: Conselleria de Cultura i Educació, Subsecretaria de Promoció Cultural, 2001, pp. 53-70.

Vicente SÁNCHEZ-BIOSCA: Cine de historia / Cine de memoria. Madrid, Cátedra, 2007.

Víctor NAVARRO REMESAL: Libertad dirigida: una gramática del análisis y diseño de videojuegos. Santander, Shangrila, 2016.

Wulf KANSTEINER: "Transnational Holocaust Memory, Digital Culture and the End of Reception Studies". En Tea SINDBAEK ANDERSEN y Barbara TÖRNQUIST-PLEWA: The Twentieth Century in European Memory: Transcultural Mediation and Reception. Londres, Brill, 2017, p. 305-343, pp. 311-312.

Downloads

Published

2021-07-01

How to Cite

Venegas Ramos, A. (2021). Memory and Representation of the Shoah in Video Games: Between the Construction and Reconstruction of Memory. Revista Universitaria De Historia Militar, 10(20), 252–280. https://doi.org/10.53351/ruhm.v10i20.760

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 20 (2021): Imperios de corsarios y piratas: visiones globales de violencia marítima, comunidades políticas y expansión de poder

Section

Estudios

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License

By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License ("Public License"). To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.

Section 1 – Definitions.

  1. Adapted Material means material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights that is derived from or based upon the Licensed Material and in which the Licensed Material is translated, altered, arranged, transformed, or otherwise modified in a manner requiring permission under the Copyright and Similar Rights held by the Licensor. For purposes of this Public License, where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.
  2. Copyright and Similar Rights means copyright and/or similar rights closely related to copyright including, without limitation, performance, broadcast, sound recording, and Sui Generis Database Rights, without regard to how the rights are labeled or categorized. For purposes of this Public License, the rights specified in Section 2(b)(1)-(2) are not Copyright and Similar Rights.
  3. Effective Technological Measures means those measures that, in the absence of proper authority, may not be circumvented under laws fulfilling obligations under Article 11 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty adopted on December 20, 1996, and/or similar international agreements.
  4. Exceptions and Limitations means fair use, fair dealing, and/or any other exception or limitation to Copyright and Similar Rights that applies to Your use of the Licensed Material.
  5. Licensed Material means the artistic or literary work, database, or other material to which the Licensor applied this Public License.
  6. Licensed Rights means the rights granted to You subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, which are limited to all Copyright and Similar Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material and that the Licensor has authority to license.
  7. Licensor means the individual(s) or entity(ies) granting rights under this Public License.
  8. NonCommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. For purposes of this Public License, the exchange of the Licensed Material for other material subject to Copyright and Similar Rights by digital file-sharing or similar means is NonCommercial provided there is no payment of monetary compensation in connection with the exchange.
  9. Share means to provide material to the public by any means or process that requires permission under the Licensed Rights, such as reproduction, public display, public performance, distribution, dissemination, communication, or importation, and to make material available to the public including in ways that members of the public may access the material from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
  10. Sui Generis Database Rights means rights other than copyright resulting from Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, as amended and/or succeeded, as well as other essentially equivalent rights anywhere in the world.
  11. You means the individual or entity exercising the Licensed Rights under this Public License. Your has a corresponding meaning.

Section 2 – Scope.

  1. License grant.
    1. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Public License, the Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to exercise the Licensed Rights in the Licensed Material to:
      1. reproduce and Share the Licensed Material, in whole or in part, for NonCommercial purposes only; and
      2. produce and reproduce, but not Share, Adapted Material for NonCommercial purposes only.
    2. Exceptions and Limitations. For the avoidance of doubt, where Exceptions and Limitations apply to Your use, this Public License does not apply, and You do not need to comply with its terms and conditions.
    3. Term. The term of this Public License is specified in Section 6(a).
    4. Media and formats; technical modifications allowed. The Licensor authorizes You to exercise the Licensed Rights in all media and formats whether now known or hereafter created, and to make technical modifications necessary to do so. The Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any right or authority to forbid You from making technical modifications necessary to exercise the Licensed Rights, including technical modifications necessary to circumvent Effective Technological Measures. For purposes of this Public License, simply making modifications authorized by this Section 2(a)(4) never produces Adapted Material.
    5. Downstream recipients.
      1. Offer from the Licensor – Licensed Material. Every recipient of the Licensed Material automatically receives an offer from the Licensor to exercise the Licensed Rights under the terms and conditions of this Public License.
      2. No downstream restrictions. You may not offer or impose any additional or different terms or conditions on, or apply any Effective Technological Measures to, the Licensed Material if doing so restricts exercise of the Licensed Rights by any recipient of the Licensed Material.
    6. No endorsement. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be construed as permission to assert or imply that You are, or that Your use of the Licensed Material is, connected with, or sponsored, endorsed, or granted official status by, the Licensor or others designated to receive attribution as provided in Section 3(a)(1)(A)(i).

  2. Other rights.

    1. Moral rights, such as the right of integrity, are not licensed under this Public License, nor are publicity, privacy, and/or other similar personality rights; however, to the extent possible, the Licensor waives and/or agrees not to assert any such rights held by the Licensor to the limited extent necessary to allow You to exercise the Licensed Rights, but not otherwise.
    2. Patent and trademark rights are not licensed under this Public License.
    3. To the extent possible, the Licensor waives any right to collect royalties from You for the exercise of the Licensed Rights, whether directly or through a collecting society under any voluntary or waivable statutory or compulsory licensing scheme. In all other cases the Licensor expressly reserves any right to collect such royalties, including when the Licensed Material is used other than for NonCommercial purposes.

Section 3 – License Conditions.

Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following conditions.

  1. Attribution.

    1. If You Share the Licensed Material, You must:

      1. retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor with the Licensed Material:
        1. identification of the creator(s) of the Licensed Material and any others designated to receive attribution, in any reasonable manner requested by the Licensor (including by pseudonym if designated);
        2. a copyright notice;
        3. a notice that refers to this Public License;
        4. a notice that refers to the disclaimer of warranties;
        5. a URI or hyperlink to the Licensed Material to the extent reasonably practicable;
      2. indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and retain an indication of any previous modifications; and
      3. indicate the Licensed Material is licensed under this Public License, and include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, this Public License.
      For the avoidance of doubt, You do not have permission under this Public License to Share Adapted Material.
    2. You may satisfy the conditions in Section 3(a)(1) in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Share the Licensed Material. For example, it may be reasonable to satisfy the conditions by providing a URI or hyperlink to a resource that includes the required information.
    3. If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.

Section 4 – Sui Generis Database Rights.

Where the Licensed Rights include Sui Generis Database Rights that apply to Your use of the Licensed Material:

  1. for the avoidance of doubt, Section 2(a)(1) grants You the right to extract, reuse, reproduce, and Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database for NonCommercial purposes only and provided You do not Share Adapted Material;
  2. if You include all or a substantial portion of the database contents in a database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights, then the database in which You have Sui Generis Database Rights (but not its individual contents) is Adapted Material; and
  3. You must comply with the conditions in Section 3(a) if You Share all or a substantial portion of the contents of the database.

For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 4supplements and does not replace Your obligations under this Public License where the Licensed Rights include other Copyright and Similar Rights.

Section 5 – Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability.

  1. Unless otherwise separately undertaken by the Licensor, to the extent possible, the Licensor offers the Licensed Material as-is and as-available, and makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning the Licensed Material, whether express, implied, statutory, or other. This includes, without limitation, warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, absence of latent or other defects, accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors, whether or not known or discoverable. Where disclaimers of warranties are not allowed in full or in part, this disclaimer may not apply to You.
  2. To the extent possible, in no event will the Licensor be liable to You on any legal theory (including, without limitation, negligence) or otherwise for any direct, special, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive, exemplary, or other losses, costs, expenses, or damages arising out of this Public License or use of the Licensed Material, even if the Licensor has been advised of the possibility of such losses, costs, expenses, or damages. Where a limitation of liability is not allowed in full or in part, this limitation may not apply to You.
  1. The disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability provided above shall be interpreted in a manner that, to the extent possible, most closely approximates an absolute disclaimer and waiver of all liability.

Section 6 – Term and Termination.

  1. This Public License applies for the term of the Copyright and Similar Rights licensed here. However, if You fail to comply with this Public License, then Your rights under this Public License terminate automatically.

  2. Where Your right to use the Licensed Material has terminated under Section 6(a), it reinstates:

    1. automatically as of the date the violation is cured, provided it is cured within 30 days of Your discovery of the violation; or
    2. upon express reinstatement by the Licensor.
    For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 6(b) does not affect any right the Licensor may have to seek remedies for Your violations of this Public License.
  3. For the avoidance of doubt, the Licensor may also offer the Licensed Material under separate terms or conditions or stop distributing the Licensed Material at any time; however, doing so will not terminate this Public License.
  4. Sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8 survive termination of this Public License.

Section 7 – Other Terms and Conditions.

  1. The Licensor shall not be bound by any additional or different terms or conditions communicated by You unless expressly agreed.
  2. Any arrangements, understandings, or agreements regarding the Licensed Material not stated herein are separate from and independent of the terms and conditions of this Public License.

Section 8 – Interpretation.

  1. For the avoidance of doubt, this Public License does not, and shall not be interpreted to, reduce, limit, restrict, or impose conditions on any use of the Licensed Material that could lawfully be made without permission under this Public License.
  2. To the extent possible, if any provision of this Public License is deemed unenforceable, it shall be automatically reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable. If the provision cannot be reformed, it shall be severed from this Public License without affecting the enforceability of the remaining terms and conditions.
  3. No term or condition of this Public License will be waived and no failure to comply consented to unless expressly agreed to by the Licensor.
  4. Nothing in this Public License constitutes or may be interpreted as a limitation upon, or waiver of, any privileges and immunities that apply to the Licensor or You, including from the legal processes of any jurisdiction or authority.

Creative Commons is not a party to its public licenses. Notwithstanding, Creative Commons may elect to apply one of its public licenses to material it publishes and in those instances will be considered the “Licensor.” The text of the Creative Commons public licenses is dedicated to the public domain under the CC0 Public Domain Dedication. Except for the limited purpose of indicating that material is shared under a Creative Commons public license or as otherwise permitted by the Creative Commons policies published at creativecommons.org/policies, Creative Commons does not authorize the use of the trademark “Creative Commons” or any other trademark or logo of Creative Commons without its prior written consent including, without limitation, in connection with any unauthorized modifications to any of its public licenses or any other arrangements, understandings, or agreements concerning use of licensed material. For the avoidance of doubt, this paragraph does not form part of the public licenses.

Creative Commons may be contacted at creativecommons.org.