Over-glorification of the stereotypical representation of sacrifice and redemption can embed fictitious and unrealistically idealistic thoughts in the heads of audiences “through perpetual myth making”, 5 making them less cautious of their actions. While it is good to spark hope in viewers, it is dangerous when overdone. Hence, apocalyptic texts’ popular representation of sacrifice is merely a blind transposition of the Bible’s representation. 4 Especially since the Bible is a popular text in modern society, it is no wonder that the Bible’s theme of sacrifice and redemption was so easily recognised and adapted. While the positive theme may have been aimed at bringing hope to its readers, apocalyptic texts seem to follow this theme not out of the same intention, but rather as a product of human’s innate nature to imitate ideas according to the Girardian Mimetic theory, which states that humans have a strong tendency to reproduce already presented ideas.
The theme provides audiences with comfort that wrongdoings can be covered and eventually undone. It implants in its readers the possibility of atoning for one’s sins and earning forgiveness from peers and God through selfless actions of sacrifice. 3 The Bible constantly highlights such a theme, acting as a ray of hope to dire situations. Almost always do people associate the theme of sacrifice and its relation to redemption with the Bible. However, if popular representations of sacrifice in majority of apocalyptic texts portray such a jaded and oversimplified view, why are such texts so… popular?Īudiences are not sympathising with the popular representation of sacrifice, but instead sympathising with the history of the representation of sacrifice. Popular representations usually only take into consideration the possibility of redemption through selfless sacrifice while WHF accounts for multiple possible routes including ignorance. From this comparison, it is evident that there is a stark contrast between the popular representation of sacrifice as compared to that of in WHF. Otherwise, a large chunk of the plot revolves around the portrayal of game characters and how they make self-centred sacrifices which lead to ignorance instead. This ideal was only subtly hinted when the main character leaves the comfort of his city in the closing scene to face the painful truth and atone for his sins. WHF on the other hand barely portrays any sort of sacrifice leading to redemption. However, Schindler’s List has heavy emphasis on the Nazi character, Schindler, and how he redeems himself by sacrificing his resources, wealth and safety to protect as many Jews as he could from the merciless Nazis. As such, one would expect the two texts to share similar sentiments and portrayals especially since the general background is a historical event cast in iron. 2 Schindler’s List acts as a good comparison namely because it depicts the same temporal period WHF is depicting, World War II. An example I would like to cite as a popular representation of sacrifice is the film Schindler’s List. How is this fear further emphasised and what is the purpose of doing so? By examining the game plot of WHF, this article seeks to answer these questions and argue that there is a dangerous over-glorification of sacrifice and redemption, in which WHF seeks to provide a more comprehensive and thereby realistic overview of what sacrifice can lead to, reminding players of the implications of making careless sacrifices.īefore discussing WHF’s unique representation, there must be context on what the popular representation of sacrifice is in majority of apocalyptic texts and the reason behind the over-glorification of such representation. Using such a pessimistic portrayal of sacrifice, WHF interestingly amplifies players’ fear of being unable to atone for one’s sins instead of appeasing them. WHF opens with an ominous vibe, repeatedly depicting characters carelessly sacrificing but not reaping any benefits, seemingly suggesting that sacrifices conventionally lead to negative outcomes. The computer game, We Happy Few (WHF), 1 is a unique apocalyptic text which deviates from the popular optimistic representation of sacrifice.
This simplistic telescoped representation of sacrifice is merely an optimistic ideal in which misleads naïve audiences. Realistically, sacrifice is not always good natured and seldom leads to redemption. In most apocalyptic texts, sacrifice and redemption are idealistically portrayed together A singular hero selflessly sacrificing something, otherwise beneficial to oneself, for the greater good.