206
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
victory. Staying with the genre conventions, they therefore display history
as shaped by the individual acts of the player. 7
Combining Evers’ and Hayton’s findings, the appeal of the Wolfenstein
video game series becomes explainable: within the fictional but semihistorical scenario of the Wolfenstein games, the player can seemingly fight
against engaging with the irrationality of Nazism and the Holocaust by
playing the game. The player as an individual can play through the etiological
mythos of the birth of the post-war world by purging it of National Socialism.
Apart from the etiological narrative structure, the mythologization of
National Socialism is achieved by depicting National Socialism as something
supernatural and demonic; an evil the player can destroy by aiming for its
corrupted leaders. This demonization is facilitated by the narrative conventions of first-person shooters, which model dichotomous worlds of good vs.
evil, in which National Socialism can take the place of transcendental evil.
This is a rather extreme example of mythologization as one of the general
principles of making a historical event palatable for cultural memory. 8
By only drawing on parts of historical National Socialism “the Holocaust
remains unspoken and Jews intriguingly absent” in the game. 9 This highly
selective historical accuracy prevents a connection of the game’s storyworld
to traumatic elements of the actual historical past. National Socialism is thus
conceptualized in the Wolfenstein games as partly detached from history’s
burden. Instead, National Socialism becomes a modern myth detached from
the all too concrete and ghastly aspects of 20th-century history. The myth
narrates a transcendental struggle between good and evil. In this form of
mythicized historical fiction, fictional and counterfactual narratives become
acceptable, appealing to the taste of a wider public. This mythical narrative
character not only detaches the game from the historical burden of its setting, it
also makes the inclusion of contrafactual fictional events, conspiracy theories,
and the fantastic acceptable, as these are often elements of mythical genres.
The Wolfenstein series’ constructions of the past aim for acceptability
by larger/mass audiences. These constructions thus need to conform to
their audiences’ cultural memories. The Wolfenstein games are part of an
international franchise, which aims to sell its products to various groups with
differing cultural memories. It is therefore interesting to see what changes
to products of this franchise are entailed by the process of localization
7 ibid., 202–206.
8 Aleida Assmann, Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit: Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik (München: Beck, 2006), 40.
9 Hayton, “Digital Nazis,” 210–211.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
victory. Staying with the genre conventions, they therefore display history
as shaped by the individual acts of the player. 7
Combining Evers’ and Hayton’s findings, the appeal of the Wolfenstein
video game series becomes explainable: within the fictional but semihistorical scenario of the Wolfenstein games, the player can seemingly fight
against engaging with the irrationality of Nazism and the Holocaust by
playing the game. The player as an individual can play through the etiological
mythos of the birth of the post-war world by purging it of National Socialism.
Apart from the etiological narrative structure, the mythologization of
National Socialism is achieved by depicting National Socialism as something
supernatural and demonic; an evil the player can destroy by aiming for its
corrupted leaders. This demonization is facilitated by the narrative conventions of first-person shooters, which model dichotomous worlds of good vs.
evil, in which National Socialism can take the place of transcendental evil.
This is a rather extreme example of mythologization as one of the general
principles of making a historical event palatable for cultural memory. 8
By only drawing on parts of historical National Socialism “the Holocaust
remains unspoken and Jews intriguingly absent” in the game. 9 This highly
selective historical accuracy prevents a connection of the game’s storyworld
to traumatic elements of the actual historical past. National Socialism is thus
conceptualized in the Wolfenstein games as partly detached from history’s
burden. Instead, National Socialism becomes a modern myth detached from
the all too concrete and ghastly aspects of 20th-century history. The myth
narrates a transcendental struggle between good and evil. In this form of
mythicized historical fiction, fictional and counterfactual narratives become
acceptable, appealing to the taste of a wider public. This mythical narrative
character not only detaches the game from the historical burden of its setting, it
also makes the inclusion of contrafactual fictional events, conspiracy theories,
and the fantastic acceptable, as these are often elements of mythical genres.
The Wolfenstein series’ constructions of the past aim for acceptability
by larger/mass audiences. These constructions thus need to conform to
their audiences’ cultural memories. The Wolfenstein games are part of an
international franchise, which aims to sell its products to various groups with
differing cultural memories. It is therefore interesting to see what changes
to products of this franchise are entailed by the process of localization
7 ibid., 202–206.
8 Aleida Assmann, Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit: Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik (München: Beck, 2006), 40.
9 Hayton, “Digital Nazis,” 210–211.