Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) is a classic comedy film that made Audrey Hepburn an icon for the rest of time. It was loved by audiences upon its released, was feted with Oscar wins and critical praise, and over fifty years later is still appreciated as a great movie.
There’s a problem, though, and it’s the character of Mr Yunioshi as played by Mickey Rooney. It’s an overt racist stereotype played for laughs at the expense of Asians everywhere. It’s a glaring blunder in an otherwise charming film that can never be altered, especially now that Breakfast at Tiffany’s has been inducted into the National Film Registry by the US Congress, every last bucktooth and rolled-R of it.
So while the makers of the film have continued to receive accolades for this cinematic treasure, so to have they apologized for it.
Times change, but art is forever. It may have been acceptable to portray Asians this way back in 1961, but it was a different a totally different era.
Four years before Breakfast at Tiffany’s was released, the National Guard was mobilized to protect nine black students attending the newly desegregated Little Rock High School in Arkansas. Such acts of extremism are unfathomable to us now, but we’ve changed as a society, and that’s because progress has been made, even if it isn’t accepted by certain individuals.
Change can happen—if we’re aware of it and willing to undergo it. But for all the huzzahs that video games has received for being art, no one seems willing to take a hard look at the games we play beyond the instant gratification they give us.
Norse by Norsewest (1997) is a game stuck out of time. It’s a key theme used in its story, but it’s also a game originally made in 1992 that wound up as a remake on later platforms like the Playstation. Five years is a long time in video game/dog years, and we can see that Norse by Norsewest really sticks out against other titles in the Playstation library in its looks and gameplay.
As it is, Norse by Norsewest is a solid game. Players are in control of three characters with separate unique abilities that are each needed at various points in the level. It’s a puzzle game in that you’ll need to figure out who goes where and does what as the game keeps getting harder, earning it a place in the “easy to learn, tough to put down” category.
But Norse by Norsewest is also a game with an embarrassing side to it. It features crude characterisations of an ethnic group using exaggerated features and toilet humor. If you can visualize “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” then you can imagine how this game portrays the usual Viking stereotypes.
I totally get why no one would care because “it’s just a game”, and “games as art” is a term reserved for quirky indie sidescrollers with outstanding visuals. But as it is, Norse by Norsewest has established a legacy for itself that continues to be relevant. Having established its roots as an early game published by Blizzard, it can be downloaded from Battlenet for any modern gamer to enjoy.
Perhaps a comparison with Breakfast at Tiffany’s is unfair because Norse by Norsewest doesn’t’break any cultural taboos—yet. And to be honest, maybe the idea of an offensive Nordic stereotype doesn’t exist. After all, we’ve got Thor in the next Avengers movie taking his shirt off as our go-to Viking role model for the moment.
However, that’s all irrelevant because whether or not Norse by Norsewest is offensive, no one cares. It’s a classic video game, and that’s all any video game can ever hope to become: some aloof object to be left untouched by criticism due to the wave of positive nostalgia surrounding it. It may be “just a video game”, but that because the attitude surrounding video games hasn’t changed since it came out over twenty years ago.
Way back in 1992, video games featuring such characterizations were made this way back then: there were technological limitations as well as the need to tell a story simply using easy-to-grasp tropes. That’s just what they did.
Nowadays, we can see that we’ve made advancements in the games industry because we don’t portray ethnic groups this way. As technology has advanced, the need to depend on stereotypes as a way to facilitate game play has lessened.
As great as this is, it seems gamers are still unaware of the content and themes of the games they play. If video games are art, and art has a historic and cultural context for them to be appreciated, then video games need more than just to be played to develop into something better.
How far I got in half an hour: I got to the third or four level
The good: Star Wars references
The bad: Star Wars references
Would I play this game again once this year is up: Probably. I’m sure it’s legacy will grow over to the Android platform, so we’ll be playing this as a classic of the genre, just like The Jazz Singer
Days so far in the year of the Play-a-DayStation: 19
Play-a-Daystation 