Black New World Order [Chapter 2] (4.5/5 stars).
In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth wrote “For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” At the turn of the eighteenth century, the artistic form was still burdened with the focus of improving the moral life of the reader, but such sentiments were already starting to wither away, when the authors lost their paternal authority, and the considerations of form and function took on a marked individualistic cast. The shift on the focus of art shifted from the pedagogical purposes of uplift to the conception of art as a product of the artist. The desiderata of art was less about renewing old lessons, but breaking away from tradition, and creating a piece of art through new means. Ezra Pound’s famous dictum, “make it new” was the rallying cry of the modernists, and for better or worse, their decadence helped erode the bastions of the old epoch with provocative attacks on the bourgeois culture. In place of the dying order, the modernists constructed their new morality.
What does this have to do with Black New World Order? Well, in order to fully judge and access a piece of work on its own merits, there has to be a question of intent on behalf of the author. Why was this game made? There are two main schools of thought on the purpose, what the point is. A popular sentiment follows this game is a satire of tropes associated with NTR, made obvious by the self-consciously puerile presentation and confrontational tone of the writing. The game shamelessly exploits the racial tension and latent anxieties of white people through the use of stereotypes. Black men are desired by white women, because black men are not allowed to act on their desires, so white women deliberately tease them. White men cope by sexualizing racism (raceplay) to deal with their inferiority complex. Shakespeare made Iago refer to Othello as "the beast with two backs" and a "Barbary horse" for the same reason. In this universe, such received wisdom regarding the superiority of races is inversely employed, and racial stereotypes are exaggerated to a comical degree, through the enslavement of white women. Incidentally, the term "Queen of Spades" originates from Pushkin, a Afro-Russian. Is the widespread usage of these stereotypes not conversely harmful and operating on the same logic perpetuated by white supremacists? According to some people, yes. This leads into the theory the game isn't meant to be satire, but is meant to be taken seriously. It's a provocation, a hateful screed, an attack on white people. Or how about the people calling it a cynical ploy? Black New World Order fails to be sexually stimulating, because it’s meant to be an exploration of how desire functions, almost like a science experiment or a poll. The game throws in a bunch of sexual fetishes and kinks: rape, incest, murder, bestiality, drugs, and couples them with what is traditionally associated with female domination: humiliation, scat, torture, urination, cum-eating and so on, and the game proceeds on how the game is received by the audience, the construction of a game by committee. Some question if this is even a game, there's no gameplay, no music or sound, the render quality is unremarkable, and the sexual content, though present, is not the draw. The game is contingent on the set-up, establishing the scenario, and instantiating the vision of the developer in a systematic way.
There’s some truth to these theories. Black New World Order is part of a litany of games with similar themes from the author. Yet there’s no reason to doubt the sincerity of the game’s pronounced beliefs. There’s just too much work in this game, and in the promotion of the developer’s previous games for this to be an exercise in nihilism. You say authorial distance, no one could believe in this stuff, not even the creator. Perhaps, but such a pattern has the taste and feel of a worldview behind it. One might disagree, but it's not an objection without a basis.
Whatever the case might be, whether this game is part of a satiric project in the spirit of Jonathan Swift (or Ari Aster, cited as an influence) or if it’s meant to be a sociopolitical statement, or cynically motivated, Black New World Order is commendable; no, not because of any ideological or aesthetic considerations, but because it is an exhibition of atrocity. Black New World Order is not meant to be a satire, or propaganda; it's a fable, producing the overflow of spontaneous feelings of shock, boredom, disgust, and moral decrepitude. Shock value has its own objective value outside of the ones traditionally sanctified as moral or ethical, and is certainly better than games with no value.
In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth wrote “For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” At the turn of the eighteenth century, the artistic form was still burdened with the focus of improving the moral life of the reader, but such sentiments were already starting to wither away, when the authors lost their paternal authority, and the considerations of form and function took on a marked individualistic cast. The shift on the focus of art shifted from the pedagogical purposes of uplift to the conception of art as a product of the artist. The desiderata of art was less about renewing old lessons, but breaking away from tradition, and creating a piece of art through new means. Ezra Pound’s famous dictum, “make it new” was the rallying cry of the modernists, and for better or worse, their decadence helped erode the bastions of the old epoch with provocative attacks on the bourgeois culture. In place of the dying order, the modernists constructed their new morality.
What does this have to do with Black New World Order? Well, in order to fully judge and access a piece of work on its own merits, there has to be a question of intent on behalf of the author. Why was this game made? There are two main schools of thought on the purpose, what the point is. A popular sentiment follows this game is a satire of tropes associated with NTR, made obvious by the self-consciously puerile presentation and confrontational tone of the writing. The game shamelessly exploits the racial tension and latent anxieties of white people through the use of stereotypes. Black men are desired by white women, because black men are not allowed to act on their desires, so white women deliberately tease them. White men cope by sexualizing racism (raceplay) to deal with their inferiority complex. Shakespeare made Iago refer to Othello as "the beast with two backs" and a "Barbary horse" for the same reason. In this universe, such received wisdom regarding the superiority of races is inversely employed, and racial stereotypes are exaggerated to a comical degree, through the enslavement of white women. Incidentally, the term "Queen of Spades" originates from Pushkin, a Afro-Russian. Is the widespread usage of these stereotypes not conversely harmful and operating on the same logic perpetuated by white supremacists? According to some people, yes. This leads into the theory the game isn't meant to be satire, but is meant to be taken seriously. It's a provocation, a hateful screed, an attack on white people. Or how about the people calling it a cynical ploy? Black New World Order fails to be sexually stimulating, because it’s meant to be an exploration of how desire functions, almost like a science experiment or a poll. The game throws in a bunch of sexual fetishes and kinks: rape, incest, murder, bestiality, drugs, and couples them with what is traditionally associated with female domination: humiliation, scat, torture, urination, cum-eating and so on, and the game proceeds on how the game is received by the audience, the construction of a game by committee. Some question if this is even a game, there's no gameplay, no music or sound, the render quality is unremarkable, and the sexual content, though present, is not the draw. The game is contingent on the set-up, establishing the scenario, and instantiating the vision of the developer in a systematic way.
There’s some truth to these theories. Black New World Order is part of a litany of games with similar themes from the author. Yet there’s no reason to doubt the sincerity of the game’s pronounced beliefs. There’s just too much work in this game, and in the promotion of the developer’s previous games for this to be an exercise in nihilism. You say authorial distance, no one could believe in this stuff, not even the creator. Perhaps, but such a pattern has the taste and feel of a worldview behind it. One might disagree, but it's not an objection without a basis.
Whatever the case might be, whether this game is part of a satiric project in the spirit of Jonathan Swift (or Ari Aster, cited as an influence) or if it’s meant to be a sociopolitical statement, or cynically motivated, Black New World Order is commendable; no, not because of any ideological or aesthetic considerations, but because it is an exhibition of atrocity. Black New World Order is not meant to be a satire, or propaganda; it's a fable, producing the overflow of spontaneous feelings of shock, boredom, disgust, and moral decrepitude. Shock value has its own objective value outside of the ones traditionally sanctified as moral or ethical, and is certainly better than games with no value.
keep it up Jobeo
