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Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 3, Futurism and facism

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Modern facism is intrinsically linked with futurism in their love for violence and glorification of warfare. Power and the subjugation of the week are also concepts that both movements share. These are ideals that can be found amongst the Orks. 

I will not dive too deeply into either of these movements in this chapter, and I will mainly show enough evidence to present certain similarities between the Orks in Warhammer 40k and the aforementioned movements. 

I want to start with specifying that my arguments here are somewhat of a simplification of the movements and their motivations. There is for example, an anxiety over economic and cultural values being diluted that exists within facism that have little or no direct links to the Orks. Futurists, and fascists alike like to point towards a corruption in the current system and a need for change that is not present in the Orks, as the Ork society itself is already in constant flux and change.

Futurist Orks

Depictions of Orks tend to reflect some elements of Italian futurism. Italian futurism was founded and spearheaded at the beginning of the 1900s by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and some like minded artists in order to escape the decadence and corruption they saw in their society. They believed that the past had forever entrapped their nation in a state of stagnation and decay. They saw ruins of ages past, and museums dedicated to old masters and they despaired. The Orks do not make history, and have no interest in preserving their own or others. (Games Workshop. 2014, Rye. 1972)

The futurists, as their title entails, praised the future and a forward motion, and despised the past and traditions. A purist futurist would burn all the world’s museums and exhibits, and would expect their followers to do the same. The new world was one of automation, speed and war, of thrills, fast cars and big guns. The future was for the bold, strong and young. The Orks are likewise obsessed with guns, fast machines and loud sounds. (Games Workshop. 2014, Rye. 1972).

Machines and cars

The speed and novelty of the car and motorbike is something that tends to appear in Futurist art. Futurist art tends to display the glorification of these machines, and most specifically for the speed it provides. One needs only to look at the Futurist manifesto to find several examples of the joy of speed and the allure of industry. The power that comes from driving a large, fast or powerful machine, or from the heavy industry that takes part in its manufacture, the Orks are likewise obsessed with speed and machinery. (Rye. 19722)

The thrill of speed and loud engines is something that fascinates the adrenaline hungry Ork. The Speed freaks are the most prevalent example of the Orkish need for speed and the allure of the reave of engines and the smell of gasoline. Like many other of the Ork, and Futurist obsessions does the love of machines steam from the sensation of adrenaline, danger and power that they exude. This is particularly true for large, fast or otherwise dangerous machines. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Guns and war

The Futurists despised pacifism, moralism and what they weakness in any form. Many times this was professed through their love of weaponry and war. It was only through the conquest and killing of the weak that the strong may rule. But more importantly, the act of wanton destruction and violence was in and of itself, an expression of art and freedom. (Rye. 19722)

The links to the war hungry and weapons obsessed orks is not a difficult one to make. Just like the futurists, the Orks also seek war for its own sake, and destruction for the joy of it. The act of shooting a gun, or burning down a building is very much seen as expressions in and of themselves, and acts that are enjoyed not for the outcomes they bring, but rather for the joys of performing them. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Kill the past!

A grand statement of the Futurists was their object hatred of the past. To burn down the libraries and museums of the past, to let the foundations of the old cities were seen as ultimate expressions of freedom, and a way to lead humanity into the future. The Futurists lived for the future, yes, but more importantly they lived in the present, and they embraced the fact that one day they too would be discarded for the future generations. (Rye. 19722)

While the Orks do not have an outspoken hatred for the past, they do not spend much time or energy in preserving it. Besides some storis and legends carried by the Runtherders, an Ork profession dedicated to slavery, are they not described as creating any lasting monuments, cities or works of art. An average Ork is described as being a creature of the present, rarely having a plan further than to his next meal. They live purely for the moment, and for the violent and turbulent experiences of the present. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Orks often end up destroying and burning the past of other races in their conquests, many of who have their own relationship to their past. The Eldar as described earlier are representations of a bygone age, of the glory of the past, a trope depicted by the Elves first in Tolkien’s works, and then in later fantasy novels that followed in his wake. Humanity is depicted as being in fear and reverence of their past in equal measures, and the Necrons are creatures of the past brought into the present. In other words, does the Orks not necessarily follow the Futurists hatred for the past, or their wish for its destruction, but their actions non the less leads to these goals. They are an expression of Futurist goals, if not intentions. (Games Workshop. 2014)

The asexually reproducing warrior

It is impossible to speak of the Futurists without mentioning gender. As the astute reader have already noticed does the interests of the Futurists, and the Orks fall within activities that would in the 1910s, as well as today, fit into a stereotype masculne stereotype. The love of war and guns, the need for speed and industry are all traits that are labeled as masculine. The hatred of the femenine and as a result, the queer is something you once again only need to look at the Futurist manifesto to find. To detest women and feminism is clearly and overtly stated as one of the primarily goals of the Futurists. Womanhood and femininity is seen as weak, nurturing and pathetic. One of the Futurists dreams were to device a way for many to be able to reproduce asexually, without the need of women. Creating an unbroken line of voulent, adrenaline hungry men.  (Rye. 19722)

While the Orks are not openly antagonistic towards women, they are described as despising many of the traits stereotypically related to women. Empathy, emotions and softness are traits that are often given to the Orks enemies, by the Orks. More importantly are the Orks all depicted as masculine, being referred to, and referring to themselves as He. The Orks also reproduce Asexually, once agian expressiong Futurist goals, if not intentions. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Facism and the right of might

Many of the same questions and goals that drove early Italian Futurism also came to drive both German and Italian facism during world war 2, and beyond. The ideas of facism has been discussed in the Imperium of man segment at large, but I will go over some of the points again here, as I relate them to the Orks.

The hierarchy of might

One of the founding tenets of facism in its many forms has always been, the fact that might, gives the right to rule.  While this might be physical in the case of the Orks, this is not always the case. This might come from perceived breeding, intelligence or ideology. The important part is that a group uses a perceived superiority to control another, and that it is the fate of said group to be ruled by their supposed  supperiors. (Nathan Crick. 2022)

The Orks, as I have shown, is a highly hierarchical society that uses violence and intimidation to keep those under them in line. It is quite literally the rule of the strong. Orks do not care for intelligence, carisma or vision in their leaders, only strength, brutality and fearlessness. The Orks are described as being instinctively receptive to follow the biggest, meanest and strongest of their kind. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Us and Them

In order to have a society of might, you must have clear definitions of a we, and a them. In order to have a superior class of rulers, there must always be an inferior one to be ruled. This distinction is the basis of many alt right movements, the Italian fascists included. In order for the ideology of facism to truly work, there must be an eternal enemy, an eternal theme that We can show superiority ovcr. For a facist narrative to work, they must first present an in group of the We. Most often is this we took the shape of a nation state or a specific political organization (Nathan Crick. 2022).

Facism often grows in the wake of discontent and worries. The facist arguments works by taking these negative emotions, and forcing them on a real or projected other. Immigrants, national or religious minorities, social and medical others are all common targets for this other (Nathan Crick. 2022).

When it comes to the orks is this distinction is twofold. Firstly there is the distinction of the Orks and the rest of the universe, then there is the distinction between the Orks of different clans, and even Orks within the same clan. Though not ideologically driven most of the time, the Orks seem to primarily use this us and them mentality as a justification to start fights with everyone around them. (Games Workshop. 2014)

The eternal war

As mentioned before, does facism in its many forms need an enemy to show its superiority over. This always necessitates an eternal war or struggle against this other. In order to unite the we, there must, scoring to facist rhetoric, be a they to unite against. To be superior, there must be an Other than can be inferior. Facism can not last without an enemy to fight. There can, in other worlds never be a peace, as peace would imply that there is no longer an Other to use to put the self in relationship to. If an external enemy can not be found, I would argue that an internal one needs to be created, something that we have examples off in Nazi Germany, but also Stalinist Russia.  

The Orks are quite literal in this sense, as they can not thrive, quite literally, without being at war. The concept of peace is not only undesirable, but utterly outside of the Orks world of understanding. Life is strife and war, and fighting, there exists no peace, only periods where there is currently no fighting happening. (Games Workshop. 2014)

When the Orks can not find an external enemy to fight, they are more than happy to fall upon each other in civil wars, vendettas and enslavements and destruction. Due to the ways that the Orks are described to work, does this lead to a net positive for the Ork society as a whole. The Orks are in other words proof that, at least for them, the Facist doctrine does work, war and strife, where the strong survive, is truly the only way towards success as a civilisation.

Divine destin

A grant part of the facsit mythos is the idea of a divine, or preordained destiny, of the We. A destiny to rule all others. For example did the nazi ideology in based on the concept that the Germans were the rightful inheretor of the Arian race, and are destined to rule al of the Euriasuan continent. Divine destiny is something we have discussed before, and I indeed dedicated an entire chapter to the concept when discussing the Imperium of man. Many movements, be they religious, like the Crusades, or secular like the European colonial projects, have used the justification of a divine or otherwise preordained plan to justify their atrocities. (Nathan Crick. 2022)

The Ork version of this is known as Ragnarork, the myth that one day we’ll all of the galaxy be covered in war and strife, and on this day the Ork gods will materialize into the moral realm and lead their children to ultimate victory. The Orks, as most of the other factions in the franchise, see themselves as the galaxy’s true and justified ruler. (Games Workshop. 2014)

Conclusions

As I have attempted  to show in this chapter, do the Orks follow or live up to many of the Facist and Futurist aspirations, while not always having the same motivations. The Orks live the life of a warrior and destroyer, while existing within a deeply structured and hierarchical society. Many  core concepts liek asexuality and eternal conflic ois something that is fully, and intricate built in to the Ork society, and the Ork as an individual.

My second goal with this chapter was to introduce the reader to a deeper understanding of both Facism and Futurism, as well as to point to how these two movements are linked with each other.  As facism, and its justification is a big part of the Warhammer 40k setting, especially when it comes to the Orks and to the Imperium of man, is it vital to have at least a surface level understanding of these concepts.

References

Games Workshop. (2014) Codex Orks 7th Edition

Nathan Crick (2022). The Rhetoric of Fascism [Elektronisk resurs]. University of Alabama Press.

Rye, J. (1972). Futurism. London: Studio Vista.

Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 2, nature of the beast

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

Introduction

This chapter is meant to be an introduction to those of my readers new to the franchise. This series will focus on the seventh edition Orks, to keep with the rest of the series continuite. These Orks do look a bit different from their modern counterparts. This notroduction will be crucial to understand the rest of my arguments in this series. I will make plentiful references back to this chapter throughout this mini series, so feel free to return back here whenever you need it.

Nature and nurture

The Orks are some of the primary antagonists of the Warhammer 40k setting, an ever present evil that forever threatens the other races with their warfare and raiding. Described to be one of the oldest races of the galaxy, the Orks were with the Necrons and the Eldar at the beginning of the beginning of the history of the Warhammer universe. The Orks are described as being genetically engineered by the Old Once, woh created the Orks toghter with the Eldar to fight the tyrannical Necrons. The Old Once play the role of the predecessor trope, common to many sci-fi settings, as well as conspiracy theories. Notable examples are the Alien series by Ridley Scott, and the Old once in HP Lovecrofts series, a source of inspiration I have mentioned earlier in this series.

The Orks are described as being musculair built with very little body fat, no hair, and with a height that would outstrip a human if they “would just stand up straight”. They have small red eyes, almost non existent noses and  the huge sharp teeth of a predator. Everything in the descriptions of the Orks physical appearance aims to convey the sensation of a creature breed to kill. The are for all intent and purpose, purebred killing machines. The Orks are secribed as reproducing asexually, and reproduce by relesing spores in to their environment throughout their lifetime.

Furthermore the Orks are depicted to get stronger from the strife and pain they endure. More specifically, Orks grow stronger, bigger and tougher from the act of violence, be it a bar room fight with another Ork or a prolonged firefight with an alien army. All these sensations of violence are described to be highly beneficial to the Ork in question. Even the act of preparing for a violent act, such as making weapons or preparing once armor is described as beneficial to the Ork. The fact that the Ork, unlike most of the galaxy, requires this form of activity to remain strong and healthy, is the basis for much of the setting’s conflict, as Orks has no real choice then to seek out conflict wherever they can.

Warfare as culture

As mentioned above, are Orks dependent on a steady diet of foolhardy violence much in the same way as a human is in need of food and sleep, and will go to great lengths to acquire this stimuli, including taking any opportunity to start a brawl with a fellow Ork. These acts of random bloodshed would make the Ork society highly self destructive if it were not for their toughness and positive reactions to violence, as well as their instinctive desire to follow those bigger and stronger than themselves.

The Ork society is deeply rooted in the notion that might makes right, and it only seen as natural that the bigger has the right to boss over the smaller. In the hierarchy of the Orks, there is almost always someone smaller than you to bully. For each large Ork there is a smaller Ork, and for each smaller Ork, there is a Gretchin etc etc.

Much of what an Ork knows, and believes, he gets directly from his DNA. An Ork is predisposed to have certain traits, such as a need to go fast, or have an unquenchable thirst for looting, depending on what faction that each individual Orks grew from. Ork experts, such as engineers and medics are also born with a rudimentary knowledge of their craft, that they can later improve by experimentation. While the Orks have specialists, the most prominent fields being engineering, and medical care, much of their advances in technology and science are described to be due to their ability to will a certain reality into existence.

Mind and matter

I have discussed in earlier chapters the concept of the Warp, and the psychic energies that flow from there. While humans and Eldar are able to directly affect and direct these energies, are the Orks not as much in control of psychic energies, as they exude them. The Orks are described as creating a sphere of energy around themselves that subtly changes reality to what the Ork in question believes it to be. For example, does many Ork guns work, partly because the Ork wielding it believes it to work.

The Orks are in other words projecting their own reality onto the “objective” reality around them. The extent of this ability varies from edition to edition, and writer to writer. In some cases is this psychic power able to make any form of machinery work as long as they roughly look the right shape. In other cases does this ability simply provide the last push needed to get a barely functioning device or weapon to work.

A large quantity of Orks has the ability to draw others to its kind, if they happen to be part of a particularly intense battle, or if a particularly powerful leader is preparing an invasion. This combined invasion, colonization effort and sacred war is what’s known in universe as a Waaagh!. Many narratives are started, or fully driven by the arrival of a Waaagh! on a planet, or in a star system.

The kingdom of shrooms

Lastly, I will spend a little time discussing another point that makes the Orks such an interesting antagonist and driving force of the Warhammer 40k franchise. I mentioned before that the Orks reproduce by leaving spores to create new Orks, but this process creates far more than just Orks.

At first this process will only create more mushrooms, large fields of them in caves and other shaded areas. These mushrooms will form the basis for the Ork diet, as well as provide everything from fuel to medicine to alcohol. Next comes the Snotlings, weak miniature Orks whose only purpose is to tend to the mushroom fields and the squigs that form alongside them. Squigs are aggressive reptilian creatures that form all manner of functions in the wider Ork society, from food to tools, these creatures make the backbone of the Ork ecosystem.

Following the Snotlings and Squigs are the Gretchin, larger creatures that share many of the tropes of a fantasy goblin (source), in that they are malicious, greedy and not very smart. The Gretchin function as the slave class, making everything from builiding shelters and carrying supplies to making breakfast and shining boots.

Lastly does the Orks emerge, taking the longest to form. When they do emerge, they do so to an environment custom tailored to their comfort and approval, with food, medicine and servants enough to focus all their time and energy on waging war on anyone in their reach. The Orks are in other words, not only designed perfectly to fight, but their entire society grows organically to make sure they can spend all their time doing so.

Conclusions

The information in this chapter will form the basis of my analysis into the world of the Orks in Warhammer 40k. This chapter is not meant to be exhaustive by any means, and as usual if you wish to get the full experience I suggest you go and read the source for yourself. This rundown is simply meant to give enough background that a reader with no prior knowledge of the setting will be able to follow along with my reasoning and discussion.

Next chapter will focus on the ties between Facism and Futurism, and how both cultural movements can be seen within the depiction of the Orks in Warhammer 40k.

Games Workshop. (2014) Codex Orks 7th Edition

Warhammer 40k an in depth analysis: Part 5, The Orks: part 1, Introduction

~ SamRandom ~ Leave a comment

This chapter will serve as an introductory chapter to the Orks as well as to the concepts I will discuss in this part of the series. Because the Orks are the ever present antagonist of the franchise, as well as somewhat of a comic relief, I have decided they are worthy of their own series altogether. Each of the topics presented in this chapter, will have their own fully fleshed out chapter later. The reader is free to jump to whatever chapter they find the most intesteresting, but they are written to be read in order.

The nature of the beast

In this second chapter I will outline everything needed to be able to follow along with the rest of the augmentations I will make in this series. If you are already familiar with the setting of Warhammer 40,000 you may want to skip this chapter, as I will be retreading a lot of familiar ground.

This second chapter will focus on the in universe description of the Orks physiology, history, society and quirks. Their faith and strange abilities to seemingly warp reality will all be covered here. The Orks are described as power hungty, murderous monsters who lives only to kill, burn and destroy in the other factions narratives. In their own narratives they are described as being driven by pure need for adrenaline and action, for fast cars, guns and violence, something that I will show ties them closely to futurism.

The Orks furthermore are driven by absolute certainty in their own greatness and invulnerability. Each individual Ork is fueled by an absolute sense of self, and the deep rooted belief that he alone is the greatest, not only amongst his kin, but amongst every species in the galaxy.  The Ork race as a whole see themselsves as the true masters of tue universe, and this belif justifies them subjecting and murdering as they see fit, a traits they share with the Imperium of man, even tough their flavour of facism is somewhat different.

Futurism and facism

Facism is a common theme within the Warhammer franchise as a whole, as seen in my series on the Imperium of Man, a militaristic empire run on cruelty and xenophobia. Facism, being the ideology that the mighty and the strong have intrinsic rights to rule over the weak, for if the weak were strong enough to rule themselves, they would not have been subjected. The ideology of might making right is something that is deeply tied to the Ork narrative of Warhammer 40k.

One of the defining features of facism, and similar movements, is the need for an Other. The concept of the Other is one I have discussed several times before on this website. In short teams, the other here is defined as something or someone that exists outside the self, and can as a result be used to define what self is not. If the othter for example is weak, the self is strong, if the other is dumb, the self is wise.

The artistic tradition of futurism is one that fascists of Europe lashed on to, arguably at least at the beginning of the 1930s, before they became too rebellious for the status quo of the ruling parties. For, as I will discuss later in its dedicated chapter, is futurism, at its heart, an ideology of change. Formed out of the frustrations of stagnation and cultural and political corruption in 1920s Italy, Futurism aimed to throw off the old, scorch the land, and build the new on the burning ashes, only to have their predecessors repeat the cycle.

Comedy and the importance of narrative points of view

As mentioned before, does the Orks often serve as dark comic relief to the rest of the otherwise melancholic setting. The Orks provide a dark variety of slapstick and brutal comedy, often in the form of dramatic irony. As I have hinted before is the Ork presented in their own texts, rather different then the one presented in the other races narratives.

This is predominantly down to dramatic irony, a narrative device where the reader of a text knows more than the characters in said text. In this case, the irony comes from the fact that the reader knows that the Orks, and the rest of the characters see the universe radically differently. The Orks have no concept of mortality and death, they feel very little pain, and grow stronger, smarter and overall healthier by fighting, much in comparison to any other species, who rarely comes away from a prolonged fight without losing something.

The eternal antagonist

In the last chapter before the conclusion I will shortly discuss the idea of an eternally irredeemable foe in fiction. Be it the droids in Star Wars or the zombies in Night of the living dead movies, are vital for the genre of action to function. The audience needs an unambiguously evil force that the protagonist can dispatch with impunity. Tolkien mentioned in his letters that he struggled with his rendition of the Orcs, wanting to give them humaninsing traits, but yet seeing the need for a foe that the heroes could strike down in vast numbers, without becoming villains themselves (Tally, 2010).

The Orks with their monstrous physique, absolute lack of empathy and morals, as well as their obsession with violence and guns makes them a perfect foil. The fact that the Orks themselves do not suffer in any real way from being hurt, or even killed, furthers their role as a perfect fodder for the protagonists of the franchise as a whole.

Next chapter

The next chapter will give the reader an in-depth presentation of the narrative threads and important characteristics of the Orks within the wider franchise. This will allow me to present more deep and nuanced topics, without needing to pause to explain context.

Tally, Jr., Robert T. (2010) Let Us Now Praise Famous Orcs: Simple Humanity in Tolkien’s Inhuman Creatures, Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 29 : No. 1 , Article 3.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol29/iss1/3

Essay: Ebooks, and the tactile feeling of turning a digital page

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I have thought about why the sensation of reading things on Archive.org or in games like Skyrim had a much more satisfying feeling than reading something on a pdf. The reason is the tactile feeling these texts have. In this text I will explore the sensations of tactility, and their effects on the sensation of, and appreciation of reading.

Introduction

Tactility is something that has often been touted to describe the superiority of physical books over digital ones, and I have to agree with them. There is a completely different feeling to reading a physical book, flipping the pages, and holding the book, than scrolling through pages on a phone or PC. The feeling of flipping a page, of pulling your finger through the page. The ability to earmark a page or put in a bookmark. There are of course other senses that also play in on to this, smell sight and sound are some of these senses that can not fully be integrated into a reading on a digital book. This text will focus almost primarily on the sensations on touch, and how they relate to the feeling of experiencing a book. I personally find that I can draw a much closer connection to a book if I am able to touch it, flip through its pages, and run my hand along its spine. Just the sensation of flipping a page is enough to highlight the importance of touch when it comes to reading a book.

By tactility, I will in this text relate to the sensation of physical touch or feel, or as you will read, the digital approximation of this sensation. I aim to show that tactility is not limited to the sense of physical touch, but also the digital recreation of it. Heat, pressure and texture are all important parts of the sensation of touch, and tactality as a result. The sensation of a book can be as varied as the books themselves. From the brittle pages of an old tomb, to the rough pages of a cheap paperback novel. Many of these sensations, such as heat, can currently not be transferred to a digital medium, but I will argue in this text, that some approximations of other tactile sensations can still be found.

The PDF

The first type of text I will discuss is the one that most people are familiar with, and that most of my viewers have used in their daily lives, the humble PDF document. This document type is designed to be read only and is not written over, making it difficult to be modified (though exceptions do exist). A PDF document by default is meant to look like a physical piece of paper, with the text represented on it as if it was printed. The text itself is presented in the centre of the program, and may take on a number of forms. Different colors on the background paper, and the typeface may have been used, as well as different fonts, just as with any physical book. The program itself is made out of the previously mentioned central reading area, as well as a black and white border, where several options of reading can be found.

The PDF reader has a few options on how you may read your file, size, amount of pages on the screen at once etc but the base is still going to be of a number of pages on a blank background for you to scroll through. I bring up the PDF primarily to have something to compare the later texts with. While I do find reading a PDF document slightly less tiring than say a word document, it is still not what I would call an enjoyable experience. Why I find PDF files less tiring, I could not say for sure.

Epub and Kindle

A slight step above the humble PDF document is Adobe’s own digital book reader. Note that the same problems and advantages can be found with things like kindle readers and the like, but I use Adobe digital editions simply because it is the one I am personally the most familiar with, which is why I have chosen to use it as my example.

These platforms will present the text in a slightly more book emulated fashion, but still not very close to the actual feeling of holding a book. You are still reading text documents much in the same way as you would in a PDF document, though with a few more bells and whistles a more customizable outline of the book’s pages. Note that the books often retain some of the page layouts and typefaces of the physical books they are based on, which do lend a bit more of a tactile feeling to the experience, though this can equally be done with a PDF document.

Project Gutenburg

First and foremost, must I say that Project Guthenburg is an amazing initiative and that has done wonders for the academic world. It is an amazing project to digitize and make available enormous amounts of materials from the public domain. Most, if not all of these can be downloaded and read in formats such as Epub and kindle, which makes these texts very easy to work with. Their dedication to continuing to make available otherwise difficult to reach texts is truly the be commended. 

With that said, their reader on the website is atrocious to say the least, large blocks of text with huge margins on each side makes the writing stretched out in a strange column, and the empty spaces makes it hard to focus on any area in particular. Not to mention that the font choices were not chosen to primarily be read on a screen. It is unfortunate that such a wonderful collection of texts should be limited in its use by a less than user-friendly interface and reading experience. This is a good example of the importance of tactility, even in digital reading materials.

Archive.org

The project of archive.org is similar to that of Project Gutenburg, though larger in scope, as their efforts stretch way beyond books and other printed materials. But for this text I will simply focus on the texts, and at that the more professionally scanned and presented texts that can be found within the website’s archives.

These books have not only been masterfully digitized using state of the art techniques, they have also been recreated and presented in such a way to have the books be readable, as physical books. 

With this I mean that every single book to Archive.org in this way has pages that can be flipped through as if it was a physical book. Each page can be flipped back and forth, and the process of doing so is fully animated. This seemingly simple addition gives a dimension to the reading that is not present in any of the other digital alternatives I have mentioned so far.

The fact that the book itself is scanned and not just the text, means that the color and texture of the page itself is also preserved, for better or worse. Due to the books being recreated from photographs, also means that any notes, scribbles or stains are kept from the original. These slight imperfections further create the illusion of dealing with a physical book rather than a digital recreation. The addition of front and back covers, that can be flipped open and closed, also adds to the experience of reading through a physical book.

The Elder scrolls

The Elder Scrolls series are far from the only game series that has readable books, and not the only one that presents them in such an interactive way. I choose this series for a number of reasons, first of all is it a series that many of my readers are familiar with, it is also one that I have a lot of personal experience with personally. 

I furthermore think that the Elder Scrolls  does an exceptional job at presenting its texts in an immersive and enjoyable way. The books are written in a distinct handwritten style, the paper of the books in Skyrim and onwards are unevenly cut, making the illusion of thickness to the book even more apparent. The books also have clear animations for each page being flipped, accompanied by a satisfying page turning sound. 

Many other games have presented their written in universe materials in similar ways, and one can argue that there are examples of it being done better, but the Elder Scrolls is non the less a good example of what I aim to show with tactality. Their plentiful books and journals are easy to find in all the later iterations of the games, and can in some cases be rather integral to solving certain puzzles and quests in the games.

Conclusions

I wished to show in this text, that the tactile feel of reading a book, or for that matter carrying out most tasks, is not necessarily limited to the physical touch of that item. Digital recreations of certain items can come close to, even if not fully replacing the tactile notion of the real thing.    

This same feeling of tactality can be found in certain puzzle games, or simulator games, such as the The Room series of games. Virtual reality technology like the Oculus rift will most likely take this tactile experience even further, but for this text I have chosen to solely focus on the recreation of flipping a page. 

I furthermore wish to show the importance of these tactile elements being taken into account when designing a digital reading experience. By giving the reader a more, sensuary complete experience can they come closer to the text, and hopefully get less fatigued from the reading experience. At least, both of these outcomes have been true for my own experience, but further research is needed to say anything definitive on the subject.

Short story: Transmutations: part 1: Notes

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This is part one of a short suspense horror novel. Each part will be presented in a different form of medium, from notes to emails and newspaper clippings. These texts are meant to be read as pieces of a large puzzle. And only when you have the entire set will everything make sense. Note that this is also a quite big experiment for me as a writer, so it will be a bit rougher around the edges than my other writings. Comments, tips, and sharing my work around is as always, highly appreciated!

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Warcraft 3 and the otherness of the Horde: Orcs

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The archetype of the Orc is perhaps most well known today as the primary foil for the heroes of the series Lord of the Rings as well as many Dungeon and Dragons campaigns. The Orcs, just as the other factions discussed in this series have had a history of being portrayed as villains and monsters, obstacles to be dispatched by various heroes and forces of good.

Introduction

The Orcs of the Warcraft world is described as warlike and proud, living a life of conflict and warfare. The Orcs of the warcraft world live for the honor of their clan and their name, and will rather die than to lose either. The influences of war and combat can be seen in most depictions of their culture and traditions, from the titles of their leaders, to the layout and construction of their buildings (Blizzard 2012).

The comparison between Orcs in warcraft and certain stereotypes relating to African natives is a topic that is very well handled in the text by Spiecker (2011). I will in this text primarily focus on the Orc as an expression of the other. Here the Orc will be positioned against the more westernized human. This dichotomy is something that has existed since the series inception. The humans always presented as logical, civilized and faithful. The Orcs, and later the hoard being their opposite of vilient, illogical and savage.

The other

The Other is one way of describing the object of the self, is to relate it to, or contrast it with something outside of the self. This outside force or individual is known as the other, and by defining the other, the individual can use said outer to describe what they are not. This sense of otherness can be used to draw lines between, secualities, nationalities religions and cultures. Otherness can furthermore be related to individuals, as well as to groups of people, be them companies, religions or nation states.

I will primarily use the other to discuss race, and nationality, but also religion and politics to some extent. The other has been used to describe the underlying motivational forces, and justifications for western colonialism, where the western white and supposedly enlightened race was set against the so called savage and wild African and later Native American nations. By describing what the European explorers saw as wild, savage and uneducated, they could place themselves as cultured, logical and educated. The Others were creatures of wars, cannibalism and brutality while the Europeans represented peace, enlightenment and prosperity. The process of describing the west by a perceived other is what  is in academic circles often described as Orientalism. (Mountz 2016)

The otherness of the Horde

I have described in earlier chapters how culture and religion has been used to present some of the members of the hordes as stereotypically “non European”, starkly contrasted to the eurocentric Alliance. The same sort of tropes that were used by Europeans to describe the other is present within the Horde, and within the Orcs in particular. Characteristics such as violence, superstition and “primitive” craftsmanship are all things that make out the visual language of the Orcs and the Horde as a whole.

Due to the Orcs and the Humans being the most fleshed out factions, being the only ones playable in all three original games, it does make sense that these factions, more than the rest, color the visual language of the games. It is not a far stretch to imagine that the human is meant to be considered the protagonist of the series, seeing that the writers, as well as the players are indeed human. As mentioned before, human architecture and cultures borrow heavily from western medieval costumes and architecture, something that’s made even more apparent when taken in account the witness of all of the major human characters’ skin.

One source of the creative decision of the Warcraft series comes from its original inspiration, Warhammer Fantasy. A series that is set in a fantasy version of Europe during the late medieval period,, Indeed most continents are present in the Warhammer Fantasy world, but with a large focus on Europe or “the old world”. Warhammer fantasy is a series I will return to later on.

Orcs are, as discussed earlier, often used as the typical antagonist in modern fantasy, a brutal warlike evil that can be set against the heroes and can be dispatched with impunity. While Warcraft, especially Warcraft 3 goes out of its way to humanize the Orcs and give them more redeeming qualities throughout the campaign, they still represent a society of war and strict hiercies. Where the humans have kings and ministers, the Orcs have warchiefs and warlords. Instead of building citides, they create war camps and forts. Each thing the Orcs create seems to be geared towards violence and aggression.

While the human faction also has soldiers, and fought in wars, it is not described to be so integral and tied to their culture and way of life. While not necessarily the intentions of the creators, this distinction nonetheless points towards a trend in western fantasy of the era. By tying certain cultural traits and tropes to the human factions, the text creates a link between certain culture, and humanity.

The image of the Orcs supposed savage nature is driven home by their architecture. Their buildings use bones and leather, giving them a more “primitive” look, when placed next to the human versions of the same buildings. The human buildings are mundane town houses and straw roofed hamplets. The orc houses are in comparison made out of stone and spiked poles, clearly made to be defensive structures. Even the seemingly civilian wood cutting structure of the Orcs is known as a War mill, further defining the Orc culture as one with a focus on martial traditions.

This dichotomy can most clearly be seen in buildings that create spellcasters. The Horde has a tent that brings to the imagination northern native american tribes. The human arcane sanctum that draws the imagination to alchemists and astronomers, with astrological devices and strange glowing runes. This distinction can be found in the units these buildings create as well. Where the humans have sorceresses and priests, the Orcs have shamans and witch doctors. Terms that I have discussed earlier in this series, but that rings of a clear Western and Non-western theme.

Conclusions

Throughout this series, I have used the trilogy of Warcraft to discuss the concepts of otherness when it pertains to race, faith and culture. In this final chapter I have discussed how the use of war and warlike traditions is used to differentiate between the more civilized Humans, and the savage Orcs. This destinction is one that has been used several time in human history to justify slavery and conquests. The example I have chosen in this chapter is the European colonisations of so-called “less civilized people and nations”. I hope to show with this comparison that no piece of media is made in a vacuum, and we are always colored by what came before us. But by becoming aware of this history, can we make more active and informed decisions of what kind of stories we wish to tell, and listen to in the future.

This series was made primarily to show that pop culture can be a great way to explore the people, societies and cultures that created it. It can help us understand ourselves and others, and our place in the bigger context of the societies we find ourselves living within.

Media literacy 101, part 2, The author

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In this chapter I will present the reader with a number of ways we can approach the concept of the author, and how to critically deconstruct and analyze it. All the methods I mention here are viable and used in media and art analysis. I will present the various methods in a rough historical order.

Note that, just as my other texts in this series, this chapter is simply meant as an introduction to the topic, and a way to start learning more about the media we all love to enjoy.

The scribe and the codex

Without going too far back, but still getting some context to the rest of the text, I will start by quickly describing how scribes worked in medieval Europe and how these scribes created their codexes, texts created to be specifically made for a single customer’s needs. A scribe was foten, but not always employed by a monestary, and were tasked to copy texts for reditrtbuition and selling. Some texts were copied as is, but many texts were made out of materials from various diferent texts, to create compilations of certain topics.

These compilations of knowledge could contain anything from poetry, to history and philosophy and alchemy. It was not uncommon for historical or mythical events to be subtly changed to give the contractor’s family a bigger role in the commissioned version.(Woodmansee, 1994). More importantly were these books seen as objects in and of themselves Many of these texts that were sold, were carefully and lovingly edited and decorated by the scribe or one of the scribes colleagues. These codexes as a result were created as unique one of a kind items.  These items were created in a communal setting, with a clear tradition and history behind their creation (Barthes, 1968).

There were of course well known named authors and scholars in medieval and renaissance Europe, though much less before the introduction to the printed word. These writers would publish under their own name, and have their works copied and circulated by the above mentioned scribes. Attributing one’s findings and research to a more well known, or even mythical figure was also far from unheard of either

I bring this up primarily as a background for what we will discuss later on in the chapter, that what we imagine as the writer and the artist is a relatively new invention all things considered. What is of most import to this discussion is the fact that the author, creator of the text, and the text itself was not nearly as closely entwined as they are today.

The genius and the craftsperson

During the late medieval and renaissance period, a new image of the creator and artist started to arise. The individual changed from a craftsperson that has worked within a tradition of art and craftsmanship to create singulair items, into a genius creaing series of texts or works. This new creative figure worked in isolation, and whatever they created, was from their own mind, or divine inspiration. This is in stark contrast to the more collectively driven bardic and craftsman traditions of past artistic endeavors (Barthes, 1968).

Ownership of the art also moved from the owner of the piece, to the originator of said piece. This has a number of reasons, as well as ramifications, but we are interested in two of these today, intellectual property rights, and canon forming (Barthes, 1968).

By strengthening the image of the writer as a genius, of one with almost divine inspiration, could works be more tightly tied to them. This meant that a specific work of art was seen as the unique and singulair creation of the genius artist, rather then the continuation of a comunal tradition. By tying the work to a singular person, can more strict control over production and distribution be justified (Barthes, 1968, Woodmansee, 1994). The elevation of the creator of art, from a mere craftsperson to one of an artist and genius also helped funding in a landscape where patronage from wealthy nobles and business men became less and less available.

The author and their environment

We would today argue that no creator exists in a vacuum, and this approach aims at understanding the text and the creator from their contemporary history. Every written word can, acording to this methond be placed within a certain context, that can, at least partly explain why the work turned out the way it did. J.R.R Tolkien’s works can for example be contextualized by his dramatic experiences fighting in world war 1, where he got a first hand experience of the brutal war machine.

We must always be weary in that when making these sorts of analyses we can not fully escape our own biases. Our knowledge and lived experiences will inevitably lead us to focus on certain aspects of the author’s experiences over others. With that said, a thorough investigation, and immersion into the context of a work’s creation, can open up a more rich and detailed understanding of the text you are taking in.

“Death of the author”

The phrase “Death of the author” refers to an essay by French literary scientist Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980) by the same name . This essay formed the basis of a new form of  analysis that discards the agency and creative power of the writer, in order to move the text to the forefront of the analysis. The arguments layed forward, and that are often used in modern literary criticism can be laid out like this. The authorial intent of a text can take two forms. They can either:

a) Be apparent in the text, and as a result, it would be pointless to ask the author, since the reader can discern it themselves.

b) Not apparent in the text, and as a result, was the author unable to bring forth their intention, and as a result, it is not relevant to the text.

This removes the focus of analysation and interpretation from the author, and moves it to the reader themselves. No longer would the writer have the utmost say in what and how their works conveyed (Barthes, 1968. Woodmansee, 1994). These ideas tie closely into the idea of sender-message-receiver I discussed in the previous chapter.

To give a practical example. Will Wright, the creator of the series of video games, the Sims has argued that he did not create the game The Sims 1 in order to parody the modern American dream. I would argue, and many others have, that this is just what Will Wright did. I would argue that the focus on the acquisition of material things, chasing careers, and eventually owning the biggest house on the block, neatly transfers into a cynical, if lighthearted take on the capitalist American dream.

This method does have several advantages, primarily by removing anything between you as a reader, and the text itself, at least for as far as that is possible. I want to once again reiterate that allowing yourself to take the author, and their lived experiences into account, will also equally lead to interesting discoveries about the text in question.

Final thoughts

I have with this chapter presented a few ways one may look at the concept of the author and how we might understand them in relation to their work. The author has in this text gone from being a craftsperson or the creation of a text, to isolated genius, to being a genius that wads non the less influenced to their environment, to once again stepping down and giving the text the ultimate center stage.

All these methods do have their uses, and I wish that my readers will see these, not as competing theories, but rather as tools that can be applied to different problems when it comes to thinking about art and media. In the next chapter we will add even more tools to this theoretical toolbox.

Sources and further reading 

Barthes, R. The Death of the Author 1968 – University Handout

Woodmansee, M. (1994). The author, Art, and the market: Rereading the history of aesthetics. Columbia University Press.

Essay: Abandoned digital spaces; part 2, Second life, Life amongst the relics

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Introduction

Second Life was a popular three dimensional chat room in the early 2000s, following in the footsteps of several programs and applications. What sets these chatrooms apart is the fact that they are fully modeled 3 dimensional spaces you can explore and interact with, much like in a first or third person video game. These environments are more often than not the creations of the users of the program themselves, often aided by tools created by the developers of the platform. Many of these areas, due to their technical limitations, as well as the varying artist skills of their users, often exhibit an alien, or surreal quality to them.

The creators of Second Life, Linden Labs envisioned, as the title of the program entails, that people would live two lives, one in real life, and one in Second Life. Businesses, relationships and educational endeavors were all things that were envisioned to, and still do to this day. Second life does indeed still have a very vibrant and colorful population, and the platform is far from abandoned. It is on the other hand not these areas that we are going to explore in this text, but rather we are going to use second life as a vehicle to explain creation, entropy and decay in the digital spaces.

Creation and destruction in digital spaces

The act of creation in a digital space as Second Life must by its very nature be an active act. Even if this creation is made by a program, or random algorithm is it something that needs to be started. What this means is that every single surface, regardless of how naturally created it seemed, is always willed into existence in one way or another. When it comes to the lands, the sea and the sky of Second Life is this created by Linden Labs, the self professed gods of the world. A topic worthy of its own essay, as well as the supposed roles of these gods.

Destruction is a more complicated topic to discuss. I will label destruction in two ways, intended and unintended. This distinction related to whether or not the program in question, here being Second Life, accommodated for this destruction to happen or not. In other words is intended destruction any form of deletion that happened in the similar way that creation happens, ultimately intentional and user created. Unintended destruction pertains to things not planned for by the program or its creator, such as glitches, power outages or hardware and software malfunctions. I would argue that the first category can be said to exist within the context of the digital world, while the second form pertains to destruction of the very world itself.

Degradation and entropy

The concept of degradation will here be defined as the slow and natural degradation of al mater and energy into its base components. everything breaks down, melts and crumbles, before it can be reformed into something else.

How can we tackle and quantify entropy and degradation in a world that, ideally never rots, breaks down or slows down. These examples would all fall under what I earlier described as external destruction. As we discussed before can these forces only enter the world of second life via external forces outside of the program itself. Outdated drives, invalid i.p addresses and the inevitable shutdown of a server. I would not argue that this is not to be seen as entropy in the world itself as the change of organic matter within an ecosystem or the reshaping of the planet itself. This would rather be a slow and inevitable degradation of the very framework of the world itself, the slow heat death of the universe.

Intentional destruction, as discussed before, pertains to the deletion or alteration of certain aspects of the worlds, either by the creators themselves, the creators of the program, or in some cases, by mellitus third parties such as hackers. These acts, are as the title implies, direct and intended acts of destruction, and can as a result not fall under our standard definition of entropy.

Abandoned lands

For a space to be considered abandoned in this text, must it still be available in the game world itself, but no longer in use by any of the original inhabitants or creators of the space. The space must also have fallen out of regular use and awareness of the population of Second Life in general. As long as these spaces are not actively removed, they will continue to exist in this state, in theory forever.

An area that has not been used, but not been deleted, will still exist within the world, unchanged, in status, until the server one day fails. While abandoned and left to their own devices, will their digital nature keep them from ever degrading or changing in any way, not unless any form of external or internal destruction occurs.

I have spent much time in these abandoned areas of second life in my travels of the program. It is an utterly serene, and horrifying notion to go through these still intact ruins, many of which will not be visited again for years, and will most likely never see use again. This state of affairs will however not last forever. As technology changes, code is rewritten, and new hardware is invented, these will become more and more out of sync with the rest of its reality. Visual objects will fail to load, links will break and, if care is not taken to renew these areas, will users eventually be unable to visit these areas altogether. And so, death comes to a digital land.

Reappropriation and renewal

Just as with the degradation and abandonment of an area, the appropriation and renewal of an area be made with even more of a direkt and active effort then any sort of real life area would need. Linden Labs as discussed earlier have the power to change, remove or regain control of any area or item in the game at any moment. This fact is not unique to Second life, and is indeed a basis to any website or internet product controlled by a single company. What sets Second life, and similar three dimensional chat rooms apart, is the visual aspects. Being able to control your character moving around a statue, and interact with it in real life, makes its disappearance, or replacement different, more tactile then if the same thing happened to say an image on a message board. 

The size and scope of the current Second life servers makes it unlikely that many areas need to be removed, though lands on what is known as the mainland is regularly bought, sold and confiscated as it is, as Linden Labs put it “under their direct control”. Other lands are known as Estates, and are, in theory, under the direct control of whoever leases the land, though they are as well, truly under the control of Linden Labs, if they would choose to enact their powers. These estates will, just as land on the mainland, assuredly be taken back by Linden Labs if the users are found to be in breach of the companies terms of service. It is very likely that, due to the economic and popular demand of Second Life, that no region or item in under Linden Labs care will ever become so obsolete that it will become inaccessible, but this too, is also temporary in the grand scale of time.

Conclusions

It is very likely that, due to the economic and popular demand of Second Life, that no region or item in Linden Labs care will ever become so obsolete that it will become inaccessible, but even I have, in my short travels through the lands, found a fair share of unavailable modules, addresses that no longer exist, and textures replaced with error messages. 

Second Life has reached its peak, and though their number of users seem stable, it is unlikely that it will make much of a resurgence in the future. So far the denizens of Second Life, and their worlds are safe from the slow breaking of their world, and if you stay within the populated areas, you would most likely not even notice it was happening.

But I implore you, if you ever visit Second Life, veer off the beaten paths, wander off into the never changing wilds, and behold the slow heat death of a universe with your own eyes.

Pictures taken from https://pixabay.com and used with their promition,