Sunday, March 20, 2016

September 12

“September 12” is very much a counter narrative. From the name alone I figured it would have something to do with the September 11th, bombing attacks and I figured it was going to be about American troops. In reality, it was about bombing a Middle Eastern town and watching the destruction unfold on the people that live there. As soon as you start the game it starts off by telling you how much it is not a game and how it’s a simulation, something that can happen or has happened. And you can either choose to shoot or not to shoot. There are men walking around with guns, these are the terrorists, and the rest of the town is full of pedestrians, simply walking around and minding their own business. When you shoot, you hear the guns charging up and watch as a missile heads towards the buildings and explode on impact. The bodies of those around it, whether they had guns or whether they were innocent bystanders, remain and other characters begin to surround them. You can literally hear the sobs of those surrounding the dead bodies. This game isn’t the narrative we’re given. We’re given the narrative that when America bombs other countries, we do it to fight off the terrorists, we’re never really told all of the innocent lives that are lost along the way. You don’t hear about the parents who lose their children or the children who lose parents because it doesn’t help build this idea that our war is good and necessary.  This game tells this story of the devastation that every attack that has been issued in Iraq and Afghanistan has just left millions devastated exactly like the attacks on 9/11 had done to America. This game just goes to illustrate the issues with war and the effects that aren’t reported to us each and every day.


Taylor

1 comment:

  1. Absolutely, the point that there are innocent people killed by bombing is a big point in this game.

    There is another dynamic -- If you play it long enough, more and more "terrorists" appear on the screen, making the game impossible to "win."

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