Last week I, and two other classmates were asked to take on the avatar of a young black girl from the inner city playing the video game, Arcade Wire: Airport Security. The game is basically a game of concentration where as an airport security worker (cop) you are given the task of observing people and their luggage as they pass through an airport security check point. You have to catch the items that have been prohibited by your bosses and take the items off the passengers. You have to do this within a given time and not make too many mistakes.
The game is not too challenging but puts into perspective airport security in the post-9/11 era. It could have been quite eerie. Airport Security, however, is not eerie at all as it doesn't present any kind of real danger but instead trivializes what dangerous elements are being carried on airports. Then again, this might be the intention of the video game to portray how unnecessary some of these searches and some of the items that have been banned has been taken too far. This is the blurb about the game from the designers:
“They say the front line of the War on Terror is the airport security line. See if you’ve got what it takes to keep airline travel safe in this hysterical game of airport security. Better not let that tube of toothpaste get through your checkpoint — it could be a terrorist’s weapon against freedom (or maybe it just fights gingivitis)!
FREEEEEDOM!!”
From the perspective of our avatar or the person who we were supposed to be ( young poor, urban black girl) the game sets up a fantastical world where people are bringing in snakes and passengers are required to take off their shirts, pants or shoes to be able to pass security. From this eye, the world of the airport security guard could seem like a game because for our persona who might not have ever been to an airport or been on an airplane this world would be completely alien to her.
At the same time, she would never be able to identify with this domain because there are no black people, or young black girls for that matter, in the airport according to the game. The people who go the airport are mostly men who wear cowboy hats.
There is the whole the aspect of the game that simulates a fascistic state where everyone must stay in order and follow the directions of a certain kind of police. There is overhead announcements about warnings and this atmosphere could seem familiar to young inner city black youth who are continuously watched by the police like if they are criminals. In this matter it flips the script because you see this happen mostly to white passengers in this airport and you see how they get disgruntled by waiting on line.
But I don't think a young person necessarily would see this juxtaposition of societal roles. They would not see this as real life but as a domain that is playful, silly and farcical.
5 comments:
Well said, Romel. I referred to your blog post in my blog post. I also noticed the fact that the “script was flipped” so to speak. Could this virtual scenario possibly empower the seventh grade black girl?
Romel, thank you for commenting on my blog. In your comment you stated that, “in the end the game I think is pretty ridiculous because it puts nothing on line.” When you say the game “puts nothing on line,” what do you mean?
Sounds like a strange game indeed. I wonder what a game that didn't flip the script would be like -- if it exists, or would even be made. The hassles one can expect at an airport are pretty common these days. My trips number maybe one or two per year; even at that low rate, it's not hard to get in trouble. Lauren, I don't understand your question. How could this game empower Romel's avatar?
Georgia – I had the same avatar as Romel since we were in the same group. On my blog I mentioned that in this particular game, the player (the 12 year old African American youth) is an airport security person and therefore is placed in a position of authority over the passengers (mostly Caucasian men). My initial thought when I played the game was that this may give the player a sense of responsibility for carrying out a job or a vocation. Then after reading Romel’s post on fascism and the script being flipped on who is being “policed,” I thought this sense of authority could be empowering.
Romel the more I think about it the weirder the airport security game gets. I also agree about our fictional avatar's inability to relate to the game's characters. I also noted in my blog that I think it might actually lead to her disillusionment with the representation of the black community in all video games, especially as a young black girl that has limited access to computers and other gaming technology.
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