University of Calgary

Harmonized Dissonance: Parodies of Japan’s America in EarthBound

Book

Japanese Role-Playing Games: Genre, Representation and Liminality in the JRPG

Abstract

Ben Whaley considers the adaptation of parodic elements of the representation of the United States of America in EarthBound (Ape Inc., 1995). In particular, he addresses the implications of the localization of the Happy Happyist cult as a reference to the Ku Klux Klan racist organization, part of the assemblage of elements that designer Itoi Shigesato included in the game. This instance of ‘harmonized dissonance’ confronts the player through a case study in which adaptation does not completely ‘overwrite problematic nuances of the original parody’, generating discomfort in the midst of otherwise whimsical farce.

Publisher

Lexington Books
Lanham
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