Iluminace 2023, 35(3):5-38 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1770

„The Victims Were Apparently Eaten“. Reflections of the Japanese Aesthetics and Society of the 1990s in the Resident Evil Trilogy (1996–1999)

Josef Tichý

Akademie múzických umění

The Japanese video game series Resident Evil is often cited as a prime example of the mukokuseki (“without nationality”) aesthetics due to its setting in the fictional world of the United States. Thus, the principal aim of this article is to explore within the broader context of Japanese culture and society, how the above-mentioned saga reflects a whole range of elements specific to the Japanese environment and even the personal experiences of its creators. The opening quote appropriated from the introductory video sequence of the first title, speaks somewhat pathetically about victims who “were apparently eaten,” thus reacting to the rhetoric of newspaper articles and the tradition of exploitation films. And yet, in a naturalistic manner, unburdened with the strict rating systems of the West. Divided into four sections (including a summary of previous research and theory), the article provides an analysis of the first three volumes of the series published between 1996 and 1999, illustrating not only manifestations of several concepts from Japanese aesthetics but also Japanese social conventions as defined by the renowned Japanese psychiatrist Takeo Doi. Within the broader framework of Japanese literary tradition and topicality, particularly from the point of view of narratology and with the help of “diaries” and other written records found in the game environment, it further demonstrates how these games either metaphorically or through transposition reflect some anxieties and fundamental social dilemmas of the Japanese society of its time. At the end of the last part of the trilogy, echoes of the dropping of nuclear bombs on Japan at the end of World War II resonate almost explicitly. They also offer a starting point for new contemplations of this still-controversial topic.

Keywords: US fictional world, Japanese society, Resident Evil, critique of representation, videogames

Received: March 15, 2023; Revised: October 27, 2023; Accepted: December 15, 2023; Published: January 16, 2024  Show citation