Classic Literature as Insipiration for Video Games

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Originally Posted by Barbarous

Can you see a distorted view?
(keep in mind that Dante is huge muscular figure with a skeleton scythe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdqY2a9iRXw

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Heh. Whatever. That game looks like fun!

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Originally Posted by virginiawang

To make a game out of classic literature is one of the most offensive ideas I've ever come across. To twist a piece of literature out of its natural shape and adapt it into some practical use insults not only the work of literature itself but its writer as well. I am sure a writer may want to jump out of his grave and vent his complaint immediately after he sees a game created out of his work. In my opinion, literature is art. We are supposed to appreciate it by our hearts.

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So, I'm assuming you feel the same way about all movies adapted from classic literature?

There's a spanish adventure game adaptation of The Name of the Rose, called La Abadía del Crimen (Abbey of Crime).

I haven't played it but it seems it's good. You can download it here. It's in various languages.

And there's already a Robin Hood adventure game from Sierra called Conquests of the Longbow. From 1991 or 92. And it's here.

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Originally Posted by mayneverhave

No, obviously it will not ruin the Divine Comedy. The poem has survived nearly 700 years, there's no reason that a video game (no matter what its quality) could even remotely ruin Dante's reputation. The people who determine its reputation - i.e. academics - will not take the game into consideration, and the people who determine the game's reputation will not take the poem into consideration.

But of course to imagine Dante as a muscular Crusader-figure wielding a large scythe is to completely miss the point of the Inferno, and therefore the game certainly misrepresents the poem, and thereby the poem in public consciousness.

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That's true about misrepresentation in the public consciousness. You get the Frankenstein, bolt through the neck, dumb monster effect; of course nothing like the original.

Yes, literature, film, computer technology are different mediums and directors can do with it what they like, but it ain't half irritating sometimes.

Having said all I have said however, I don't really care about the game much, one way or the other.

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Originally Posted by Neely

That's true about misrepresentation in the public consciousness. You get the Frankenstein, bolt through the neck, dumb monster effect; of course nothing like the original.

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Thinking about it, film has actually - and in a sense with Dracula too - distorted this work. I mean the majority of people in one of my classes, back in school, thought that Frankenstein was actually the monster's name. Just think of all the teenagers and game players that will now assume that Dante was some kind of demon killer.

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Originally Posted by Adagio

Thinking about it, film has actually - and in a sense with Dracula too - distorted this work. I mean the majority of people in one of my classes, back in school, thought that Frankenstein was actually the monster's name. Just think of all the teenagers and game players that will now assume that Dante was some kind of demon killer.

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Yes absolutely. Film has massively distorted Dracula and Frankenstein, they have taken on a whole new myth, which has nothing to do with the novels which bred them. Just consider the huge amount of film spin-off's that these two novels have had too.

Of course the game will never be widely popular, but many of those that do will still associate something outrageous with it as you say. Really the Divine Comedy is a supreme work of literature, but look what the modern world does with it.

Anyway with a bit of luck we will be able to purchase "Dante's demons" with every Happy Meal soon; or something like that.

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Originally Posted by Adagio

Thinking about it, film has actually - and in a sense with Dracula too - distorted this work. I mean the majority of people in one of my classes, back in school, thought that Frankenstein was actually the monster's name. Just think of all the teenagers and game players that will now assume that Dante was some kind of demon killer.

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Not only that, but the poem's Dante actually faints from fear on occasion.

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Originally Posted by Neely

Anyway with a bit of luck we will be able to purchase "Dante's demons" with every Happy Meal soon; or something like that.

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And hopefully a nicely detailed one of Ugolino gnawing on Ruggieri's head.

All media, whether books, films, video games, newspapers, or magazines, will continue erecting off each other, because they inspire each other, some more directly than others. Personally, I do not feel bothered by their making a game out of Dante's Inferno, and, following the supplied YouTube link I felt quite impressed by the graphics, but what I really dislike involves the misrepresentation - Dante rescuing Beatrice from Lucifer? From what I recall, there exists nothing in the whole of The Divine Comedy that resembles this elementary plot; if anything, I would say Beatrice actually rescued Dante by sending Virgil to him to guide him through hell and purgatory. I do not think the makers of this game adapted it from Dante's Inferno, and I question if the makers read any more the Cliff's Notes edition to create it; they took Dante, Beatrice, Lucifer, and hell, subtracting even the basics of the epic plot, then added the predictable heroism to give the game some brainless Mario-and-Luigi-rescue-the-Princess-from-Koopa-like hype. I agree with others that it would take a lot to ruin The Divine Comedy, but the makers of this video game have certainly given it a beating.
As to whether this should inspire gamers to read The Divine Comedy, and I wish them all the luck, I do not feel confident many of their undoubtedly strong thumbs could get through the first canto, provided what a misrepresentation this video game suggests. I have felt inspired to read a book, having seen the movie, or something along those lines, but at least the movies tend to follow the bare essentials of a novel's plot; this video game, on the other hand, bears no similarities. A gamer would more likely begin reading Inferno expecting to encounter some heroic tale of a man attempting to rescue his deceased love from Satan holding her hostage, then feel overwhelmed with the total change in plot, the great amount of history, politics, theology, and other such allusions, and particularly find that Lucifer never held Beatrice hostage, but that she sat in a high circle of paradise. The misrepresentation would seem overbearing, I think, for the average reader, and most, I think, would likely toss the book away with exclaimed frustration in a cracking, peripubescent voice. If the game actually followed some kind of resemblance to the plot of Dante's Inferno, I would have a different opinion, but this sounds like one of the most absurd media adaptions I have ever heard of, created quite obviously by people who have no intellectual capacities away from a game console. Even if the makers had created the game according to the plot, I do not think it would go well amid fans and gamers - sure, it sounds adventurous, but the complexities sound too great.

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Originally Posted by Drkshadow03

Actually it would've been cool if they took Dante's hell and you can choose different characters to play, but the different characters are different famous writers (Shakespeare, Dante, The Beowulf Poet, Emily Dickinson), and they have special movies based off their work: Shakespeare has an acting ability where he can shape-shift into different Shakespearean characters and gain different defensive/fighting attributes and techniques, The Beowulf Poet already comes with sword in hand, Emily Dickinson can spin villians into words with her voice. So then you get to play around with an original story that needs to explain why all these literary giants are trapped into Dante's hell. Maybe the villains aren't just the denizens of hell, but also other writers. Make the story more puzzle-oriented than action-oriented.

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As much as I appreciate and respect your creativity, please tell me you meant this as a joke, Drkshadow.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

Moby Dick would make an excellent mini-game. Maybe a downloadable game? :lol:

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I guess I stand by my opinion that media will keep expanding off of each other, and I would likely not play it (not a fan of video games), but as long as it would bear some resemblance to the plot, I feel curious how it would turn out, especially if it inspired some people to read Melville's masterpiece. Since heroics, action, and conquering seem such common themes in video games since they started, Moby Dick might go well, but I would advocate more for something like Cervantes' Don Quixote, where one can play as a brainless knight committing almost random acts of violence and perjury in the name of chivalry.

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Originally Posted by mono

As much as I appreciate and respect your creativity, please tell me you meant this as a joke, Drkshadow.

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Psht, you're just jealous you didn't think of it first.

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Originally Posted by mayneverhave

But of course to imagine Dante as a muscular Crusader-figure wielding a large scythe is to completely miss the point of the Inferno, and therefore the game certainly misrepresents the poem, and thereby the poem in public consciousness.

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Originally Posted by Neely

That's true about misrepresentation in the public consciousness. You get the Frankenstein, bolt through the neck, dumb monster effect; of course nothing like the original.

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Surely I'm not the only one here tickled by the irony of all this hand wringing about misrepresentating Dante to the public, when The Divine Comedy did essentially that very thing to Virgil?

Guys, guys. I think we're not appreciating the enormous raw potential we have here, the possibility for great and marvelous things. I talk, of course, of Clash of the Classics: Brawl Arena. Can Darcy take on Rochester? Can Holden Caulfield out-angst Rodion Raskolnikov? Who can kick off more tragically in a head to head death match, Juliet or Bovary?

I think this is worth exploring.

I think it's perfectly fine to have a classic influence a game due to it being in the same vein as a movie or even another book (as someone pointed out earlier, this Virgil in The Divine Comedy) But as I pointed out earlier the unclear and distorted view the game throws upon the players is obnoxious, that being the bottom line.

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Originally Posted by Drkshadow03

Psht, you're just jealous you didn't think of it first.

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:lol:

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Originally Posted by bluevictim

Surely I'm not the only one here tickled by the irony of all this hand wringing about misrepresentating Dante to the public, when The Divine Comedy did essentially that very thing to Virgil?

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Good point, very good point, but at least Dante kept Virgil as a man and fellow poet of honor of mutual Italian descent; Virgil maintained his literary roots throughout the Inferno and Purgatorio, and Dante saw him as a man of virtue, patience, and influence. This video game does even give Dante the justice as a poet, but instead an immense warrior clad in armor, battling Lucifer and his cronies for Beatrice, allegedly trapped in hell. Dante may have taken Virgil a bit out of context in The Divine Comedy, but he hardly portrayed the epic poet as a fictional character, rather as a dignified, wise, and tolerant individual; the gaming industry, however, has taken Inferno ridiculously far out of its context, going to so far as to subtract the plot, using only its basest elements.

The thing is, if this game is successful will that then inspire the creators (i forget the company name) to look at other epic poems and literature to create their next project? I think so. In fact, as they wanted a sword-wielding hero why didn't they just choose The Odyessy instead of 'Dante's Inferno', I mean atleast that way they didn't have to blow things completely out of context.

Edit - double post.